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TIONAL LIBRARY  OF MEDICINE     NATIONAL LIBRARY OF " = 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS.
                                     Loaisitlle, Nov. 18, 1839.
  John C. Gunn, M.D.—I have, with pleasur^ perused the work of
Dr. John C. Gunn, entitled "Domestic MedicuiA; or, the Poor Man's
Friend :"  and having had the experience of nearHforty years' practice
of Medicine myself, I feel satisfied that but few Uany medical works
contain more valuable and useful practical remarks,w comprise a more
plain and concise method of treating diseases.   It istruly suited to the
plainest understanding, and well calculated to be insn-mental in reliev-
ing the sufferings of thousands.             Wm. Ochran, M.D.
                                Louisville, Deccmth- \\^ 1839.
  To Dr. John C. Gunn.—I have examined " Gunn's Lrncstic Medi-
cine," and consider it a valuable compendium of the app\vej moc|efn
practice of physic, simplified and divested of technicality^ a decree
that  better .adapts  it to the use of families than any work\* tne ^n^
within my knowledge.                Wm. A. M'Dowej\ m.D.
Ve
  Dr.  J.  C. Gunn.—Dear Sir:—I have examined with \e y0lir
" Domestic Medicine and Poor Man's Friend."  It contains a^mpre.
hensive description of the  diseases incident to  the  United S^s? as
also the remedies to be employed ;  and with pleasure reconimeUt t0
all families, as being the established practice of the profession. \
                          Respectfully, your ob't serv't.      \ .
  Louisville, Dec. 9, 1839.                J. W. Knight,  M.\

                                 Louisville, Ky., Dec. 9,  1839:
  Dr. J. C. Gunn.—Dear Sir:—I  have examined your medical wov
." Gunn's Domestic Medicine, or Poor Man's Friend," and unhesitating^
advance the opinion that it is better calculated for the use  of planter*,
families, &c, than any work of the kind extant, and take great  plea-\
sure  in recommending its general use.
             Respectfully, yours,        John M. Talbot,  M.D.
  To J. C. Gunn,  M.D.—My dear Sir:—I have  examined  your
"Domestic Medicine, or Poor Man's Friend," and find  it, in my opi-
nion, a most valuable work of the kind, and well suited to the use of
families, and for planters;—a work containing, in plain language,  di-
rections for the treatment of disease,  conformable to the most approved
practice of modern times.            Yours,  respectfully,
  Louisville, Ky., Nov. 30, 1839.                I. Vail, M.D 
2
  T)r J  C  Gunn.—Having examined the  general arrangement or
  Gunn';  Domestic Medicinl  or Poor Man's Friend," and  lookea
somewhat minutely into a few of it. detail.  I can ?^™f£™
state that it appears to me to be a highly useful popular ~™P^ «
the  modern  practice o< physic, in 'a dress well adapted to the wants,
of individuals on plantations, and other country situations, remote irom
the  regular faculty.                   G. E. Pendergrast, M.D.
  Louisville, Dec. \ 1839.

                                     Louisville, Dec. 10, 1839.
  To Dr. John 0 Gunn.—I have  looked  into " Gunn's Domestic
Medicine'" and  insider it a plain practical work, well adapted to the
purposes for wh5n *tis designed, and will be found a valuable assist-
ant  to families i  any sudden  emergency, and in all  situations where
regular professjnal attendance cannot be commanded.
  °                                 Llewellyn Powell, M.D.

  Dr J. cGi'nn.—I have attentively  perused " Gunn's Domestic
Medicine.' I consider it the best popular work extant.   It is the phi-
losophy ome(j*c*ne- divested of its scholastic technicalities. No family
possessir  tn^s W0T*k will, in ordinary  cases, have occasion to give
away nr*1 ra°ney to a physician.
                               James R. McConockie, M.D.
                   Honorary Member of the Medical Society of Philadelphia.
    j) Gunn.—I  have  examined  " Gunn's Domestic Medicine,  or
  p0, Man's Friend," and  have no hesitation in  stating it will be sig-
  n3' productive of good to all who may use it, as was the design of
  tj.author;  which was,  that its instructions should not beget too much
  ,ifidence in the discriminating judgment of those who consult it, and
  ereby prevent the timely reference to the skilful living physician of
 nportant or obscure cases, but be regarded as  a directory in all  ordi-
nary diseases, before it becomes expedient to call a medical adviser.
  The style of the work is good, indeed fine, and the author entitled
tc much praise for the labour  and research he  has bestowed upon it.
The work, likewise, though disclaiming originality, is so, in several
-particulars.                              B. H. Hall, M.D.
         Formerly a Member  of the Board of Faculty, and lute Resident Physician
               and Surgeon of the Louisville M. Hospital.
  Louisville, Dec. 17, 1839.
                                   Louisville, Ky., Dec. 6, 1839.
    Dr. Gunn —Dear Sir:—By your favour I have had an opportunity
 of examining your work entitled " Gunn's Domestic Medicine," and
 j im happy to state that I am much pleased at  the manner in which  it
 js prepared and got  up; and furthermore, so far as  my judgment ex-
 pends, I would recommend it to private families as a very useful book.
*            Respectfully, vours,         H. M. Wakefield, M.D 
3
                                     Louisville, Dec.  11, 1839.
  J. C. Gunn, M.D.—Dear Sir:—Having examined your "Domes-
tic Medicine, and Poor Man's Friend," I state with pleasure, that it is
a compend of  the practice of medicine, containing very much invalua-
ble  medical  knowledge, and is well calculated  for  the perusal of all
planters and  farmers,  who  may, by following  the directions therein
given,  not only save  much expense,  but  be instrumental in  saving
many lives.   The directions are plain,  and the practice scientific, safe,
and valuable.                               J. W. Brite, M.D.
                                     Louisville,  Dec. 17, 1839.  ■
  John  C.  Gunn,  M.D.:—1  have  examined  "Gunn's  Domestic
Medicine," and cheerfully recommend it as a useful and safe guide in
the practice of medicine on modern principles, simplified and adapted
to the comprehension of non-professional readers, &c.
                                          A. P. Elston, M.D.
                                     Louisville, Dec. 17, 1839
  Dr. J. C. Gunn.—Dear Sir :—I have the satisfaction to inform you
of my very favourable opinion of the arrangement and contents of your
Domestic Medicine.
  I feel confident that the  value of it will be as justly appreciated by
private families, &c. &c, as by your friend, &c. &c.
                                           W. C. Galt, M.D.
      PROFESSORS IN  THE LOUISVILLE MEDICAL
                         INSTITUTE.
  Dr. J. C. Gunn :—I have examined " Gunn's Domestic Medicine,"
and find it a plain work, valuable for families in many cases of emer-
gency, when a regular physician or surgeon cannot be procured.
                                               J. Cobb, M.D.,
                    Professor of Anatomy in the Louisville Medical Institute.
  Louisville, Dec. 13,  183'J.
                                     Louisville, Dec. 19, 1839.
  Dear Sir:—I have looked through the revised  edition of your
work, and am pleased to see in it many things calculated  to make it
useful  as a book of reference in domestic medicine.  Respectfully,
&c, I  am yogrs,                          C.  W. Short, M.D.,
                Professor of Materia Medica in the Louisville Medical Institute.
  Doct. Gunn.
  J. C.  Gunn,  M.D.—Sir:—Your  "Domestic Medicine"  is not
onlv an imposing work in its exterior, but embraces much knowledge,
which  must prove valuable to families  residing in remote neighbour*- 
4
hoods,  where medical practitioners are inaccessible.   }* embraces
vast amount of information relative to all the "ills which flesh is heir
to," together with a list of the best remedies, their doses &c.   witn
wishes for your success,  I am, very respectfully X^^^^^JJ^.

                    Professor of Chemistry in the Louisville Medical Institute.
  Louisville, Dec. 19, 1839.

  Doct. Gunn.—Dear Sir:—Having perused your " Domestic Medi-
cine " I  take great pleasure in commending it to  non-professional
readers as an excellent guide in cases where the  services of regularly
educated practitioners cannot be readily procured.   As a book of refer-
ence it is  plain and intelligible to the comprehension of the general
reader, and the  work, in  short, is presented in a form which reflects
much credit on the taste of its author.
        Respectfully, &c, your ob't serv't,         W. H. Donne,
                  Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Louisville Medical Institute.
State of Kentucky,
City of Louisville.
  I, Fred. A. Kaye,r Mayor of the City of Louisville, do hereby cer-
tify, that the gentlemen, who have certified to the above, are resident
physicians and surgeons of the City  of Louisville, and are all person-
ally known to me, with the exception of Dr. McConockie.
  %*-****-*££   In testimony whereof 1 have hereunto  set my name,
  5  L. S. £ and caused the seal of the corporation to be affixed, this
  $>rinnn& 29th day of April, 1840.
                                        Fred. A. Kaye, Mayor.
  Copied from the certificates of Drs. M'Dowell and Withers, St. Louis, Missouri.
  I have examined Dr. Gunn's work on the Practice  of Medicine,
designed for the use of families,  and consider it valuable. Such a book
in the hands of those remote from physicians cannot fail to be of great
service.  I would commend it to the use of families  generally.
                With respect,         Jo. N. McDowell, M. D.
           Honorary Member of the Philadelphia Medical Society, late Professor
             of Special Anatomy in the  Cincinnati  College, and Professor ot
                      Anatomy and Surgery in Kemper College, St. Louis.

                                       St. Louis,  Sept. 5, 1840.
  Upon a full examination of Dr.  Gunn's Medical Work, I am per-
fectly satisfied that it will add much to the health and happiness of the
community at large :  I therefore recommend to all those who have not
purchased a copy, to obtain one so soon as they can.
                                         L. A. Withers, M. D. 
 
 
                    GUNN'S

DOMESTIC    MEDICINE,
                           OR
          POOR  MAN'S  FRIEND,
    IN THE HOURS OF AFFLICTION, PAIN- AND SICKNESS.

                      THIS  BOOK
POINTS OUT, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, FREE FROM DOCTORS' TERMS,
                       THE DISEASES OF
        MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  CHILDREN,
                           AND
    THE LATEST AND MOST APPROVED MEANS USED IN THEIR CURE,
                       AND IS INTENDED
      EXPRESSLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF  FAMILIES.
               IT ALSO CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
MEDICINAL  ROOTS  AND  HERBS
                          OF THE
                 UNITED  STATES,
     AND HOW THEY ARE TO BE USED IN THE CURE OF DISEASES.

           ARRANGED ON A NEW AND  SIMPLE PLAN,
 BT WHICH THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IS RF.DVCED  TO PRINCIPI.T-? OP COMMON SF.IWE.
                          **»
Why should we conceal from mankind that which relieve* the distresses of our fellow-beingal

                    -*» ■. x 6 •*-*•   if-.-
             FIRST REVISED EDITION, ENLARGED IN 1840.
          PUBLISHED BY B.  J, WEBB &  BRO.,
                 FOR  THE  PROPRIETORS,  1844. 
        Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by
               G. V. Raymond, for the proprietors,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
/\nviex
    WB
     120
  G-976J
    I &*H
     J. TAN COURT, PRINTER,
*)UARRY STREET, NEAR SECOND, PHILAD.
9 
INDEX.
%
ABQRTION
  Accidents, ordinary
            compound
  After-pains
  Ague and Fever  -
  Alum root
  Aloetic mixture
  Amputation of the arm
             of the thigh -
             of the leg
             of the forearm
             of the fingers and toes
  Anger    ...
  Anodynes
  Antispasmodics
  Apoplexy
  Asthma  -
BATH, WARM OR TEPID
                   Cold -
                   Sulphur
  Balm    -      -
  Beer for consumption
  Blackberry, common
  Bloodroot
  Bloodletting
  Bone-set
  Burns   -     ' -
  Butterfly'weed
  BucjLu leaves
CATARRH  OR COLDS -
  Catheter, use of   -
  Canjer
  Canfer root
 , Camomile
  Cas'or oil -
  Canphorated powder and Julep
  Centaury (American)
  Cb/olic (ordinary)  -
        during pregnancy -
        in children
  Cholera morbus   -
        epidemic  -
        infantum  -
Page 505
     828
     861
     531
     191
     636
     796
     863
     866
     866
     867
     868
      31
     767
     767
     380
     388
     160
     168
     174
     662
     819
     656
     663
     738
     652
     833
     680
     734
     341
     366
     451
     651
     657
     704
    797
     687
    210
    494
    597
    213
    216
    608
.8 
4
INDEX.
Chills    ------       Page 530
Childbed fever   ------     **J>
Chirayita herb   -----            7|jj
Citric acid and carbonate of soda  -       -       "         „  ;„„
Cbp......*^*H
Colchicum seed, tincture of                                '°„
Columbo
662
  Cologne water   ------    8°0
  Consumption    ------    290
  Corns    -.....-    456
  Constant desire to make water during pregnancy  -      -    **9°
  Constipation     ------    596
  Convulsions or fits       -       -      -      -      "    ®"2
  Contusion or blow       -       -      -      -      -831
  Concussion of the brain  -----    832
  Compression of   do.           -      -      ••      -    ^33
  Cramp.......497
  Croup......-    604
  Croton oil       -       -       -      -      -      -    798
DISEASES OF WOMEN       -      -      -      -    458
            of children    -----    583
  Dittany  -------    649
  Directions for preserving roots, flowers, and barks       -    736
  Dispensatory    -       -       -      -      -      -754
  Dislocations, generally   -----    856
              of the lower jaw   -                         857
              of the shoulder     -           ■  -      -    857
              of the collar bone   -                         858
              of the elbow       -      -      -      -    858
              of the wrists, fingers, &c.  -      -      -    858
              of the thigh -----    859,
              of the knee pan    -      -      -   .   -    8#0
              of the leg  -       -      -      -           /860
              of the foot -       -      -      -      -     861
  Dogwood       -      -       -      -      -       -.A 634
  Drinking cold water, effects of          -      -       -   i? 338
  Drops of life    -       -       -      -      -       -   f  794
  Dropsy  -      -      -       -      -      -   *    -   '  344
  Dyspepsia       -       -       -      -      -       -  c  280
  Dysentery or flux       -       -      -      -       -  l  322
  Diarrhoea or looseness    -                             621*, 325
EARACHE       -.....400
  Eating snuff     -       -       -      -      -       -     801
  Emetics  -------    755
  Emetine -------    797
  Epilepsy -------    382
  Eruptions of the skin    r                                 369
  Ether, sulphuric ------    765
  Exercise -      -      -      -      -      -       -153 
INDEX.
5
   Exercise of children     -                          Page 592
 FALSE PAINS IN  PREGNANCY     -       -           501
   Faintings after delivery   -      -      -       -     . •■    530
i   Falling of the palate     -      -      -       -      -    807
f   Fear     -      -       -      -      -       -            26
   Fever, general remarks on       -      -       -      -    185
         bilious    ------    197
         nervous   -       -      -      -       -      -    202
         scarlet    -       -      -      -       -      *    207
         in children       -      ...      -    607
   Flooding -      -       -      -      -   .    *      -    502
   Food     -------    177
   Friction  -      -       -      -      -                  750
   Fractures (generally)     -----    848
            of the bone of the nose -                        848
            of the lower jaw      -      -       -      -    848
            of the collar bone      -                        849
            of the arm                                -    850
            of the forearm  -      -  •   -       -      -    850
            of the wrist          .  -      -       -           851
            of the ribs     -----    851
            of the thigh    -      -      -       -      -    852
            of the foot                          -      -    855
 GINSENG......637
   Ginger......           696
   Gleet.......438
   Glysters.......762
   Green sickness   -       -      -      -       -      -469
   Grief.......67
   Gravel   -------    354
 HARTSHORN, SPIRITS  OF    -       -       -      -    765
   Harrowgate salt^artificial -      -      -       -      -    791
   Headach     4.....-    399
   Heartburn       ------    496
   Hope    -------     28
   Horsemint       __----    703
   Hysteria        ...---    543
   Hydrophobia    -       -      -      -       -      -812
 INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH      -      -    326
                  of the bowels    - ,     -       -      -    328
      '            of the brain     - '     -       -      -    330
                  'of the spleen    -      -       -           333
                  of the kidneys  -      -      -           334
                  of the bladder   -      -       -      -    336
                  of the lungs    -      -       -      -    805
                  in child-bed    -      -       -      -    531
                  in  the breasts of women -       -      -    532
   Intemperance    ------     78
   Jndian physic   ------    676
      A2 
6
INDEX.
Indian turnip	m		m	.	Page 685	
Iodine	. •		^	.	. -	793
Ipecacuanha	_	_	_	-	-	658
American	.	_	.	.	-	677
Issues	^		_	.	-	751
Itch	m	m	m	.	-	378
JAMESTOWN WEED	.	^	_	_	-	628
Jalap	.	.	_	.	-	682
Jaundice -	.	m	_	.	-	808
Jealousy -	_	_	.	.	-	36
Jerusalem oak	.	.	_	.	-	648
Joy	.	m	m	.	_	29
KING'S EVIL	_	m	m	.	.	809
LABOUR, ordinary	-	.	.	.	-	511
difficult	.	.	.	.	-	517
directions after	.	.	„	_	-	526
Leeches -	.	.	.	„	.	820
Liver, diseases of	.	.	_	.	.	303
Liverwort	*-	_	.	.	.	779
Liquorice	.	.	_	_	.	795
Love	.	.	_	m	.	49
Locked jaw	.	.	m	m	_	450
Lochia	.	- V	m	_	.	529
Lobelia inflata	.	.	m	.	.	688
MALFORMATION	.	m	„	_	.	589
Materia Medica -	.	.	m	_	.	622
May apple	.	.	m	.	_	649
Manna	.	.	m	m	.	671
Menses or courses	-	_	m	_	_	461
obstructed -	.	.	.	.	_	465
great flow of	-	-	.	«.	.	471
cessation of	-	.	.	„	_	473
Meconium	.	_	m	J*		588
Measles -	.	.	m	.		614
Mercury -	-	.	„	m		777
Midwives, directions for	-	.	m	m		520
Milk fever	-	-	.	_	„	533
Morphine	-	-	_	m	_'	779
acetate of	-	.	m	_■		782
Mortification	-	.	«	m		814
of wounds	-	-	-	_	#	Kt"9
Mumps -	-	.	.	.	.	401
Mustard seed, white	-	.	_			705
NIGHTMARE	.	.	m			811
OINTMENTS	-	.	_	_	m	774
Opium	-	-	.	.	.	697
Otto of roses, how made		.	.	_	.	800
PASSIONS, TREATISE ON		-	_	.	_	25
Palsy	-	-	-	-	-	r^f
 
INDEX.
7
Pains of the face -	-	.	.	4	Page 447	
in the head during	pregnancy		-	.		495
Peppermint	-	-	.'	.	.	695
Piles (generally) -	- '	-	.	.	.	394
during pregnancy	-	-	-	-	.	500
Pleurisy -	-	-	-	-	.	350
Pox	-	.	.	.	425	, 427
Poisons -	.	.	m	.		440
Pregnancy	-	-	.	.	.	481
signs of	-	-	.	.	.	486
cautions duripg		-	.	.	.	488
diseases of	.	.	_	m		490
Prickly ash	.	.	„	m		683
Pulse	.	.	.	.		189
Putrid sore throat -	-		.	.	.	396
Purgatives, active	-	.	.	.	.	759
laxative	.	.	.	m		761
QUININE, SULPHATE	OF	.	_	.		792
RELIGION	.	.	„	m		108
Red gum -	-	.	.	.	.	594
Rheumatism	.	„.	.	_	m	271
Rhubarb -	.	.	m	^	,	673
Rhatany root	-	-	-	.	.	729
Ringworm	-	.	.	.	.	372
Rickets	-	.	.	.	.	812
Round leaf cornel, tincture of		.	.	.	_	789
essential salt of			-	.	_	790
Rue	-	-	.	.	.	662
ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE	-	.	.	.	.	371
Sassafras -	.	.	.	_	.	635
Sarsaparilla	-	-	-	.	.	626
Sage	-	-	-	.	.	661
Saint Vitus' dance	-	-	.	.	_	813
Scurvy	-	.	.	.	.	348
Scaldhead	-	-	.	_	.	373
in infants	-	.	.	.	_	698
Scalds and burns -	.	-	.	.	«	454
Senna, foreign	-	-	-	-	-	666
American -	-	-	-	.	.	668
Sickness of the stomach	-	-	-	-	.	493
Sleep	-	-	-	-	-	146
want of	-	-	-	-	.	499
Slippery elm	-	-	-	-	-	647
Small pox	-	-	-	-	-	413
Snuffles -	-	-	-	-	.	593
Snake root, Seneca	-	-	-	.	.	622
button	-	-	-	•	-	657
Sore legs -	-	-	-	-	.	391
Sore eyes	-	-	- ■	-	.	403
in children	•	-	-	-	-	599
 
6
INDEX.
  Spirits of turpentine
        of lavender      -      -
  Sprains          -  •    -
  Stoppage of urine
  Stillborn               •>
  Stimulants      -
  Sudorifics       ...
  Swelled legs     -      -      -
  Swaim's panacea -
  Swelled leg     -
TANSY  ...      -
  Tartar emetic ointment
  Tetter  **
  Teething -
  Thrush   -
  Tight lacing     -
  Tincture of ginger and camomile flowers
  Toothache      -
  Tobacco  -      -      -      -
  Tonics   -      -      -      -
  Treatment of new born infants
  Transference of vital power
  Twins         -
URINE, SUPPRESSION OF   -
        great flow of     -
        stoppage of, in pregnancy -
  Uva ursi        .      -      -
VACCINATION  -
  Venereal disease  -      -       -
WARTS   -
  Walnut, white    -      -       -
  Wen, cure of     -
  Whidow -       -      -       -
  Whooping cough -       -       -
  Whites   -       -      -       -
  White swelling   -
  Wild cherry tree  -       -       -
  Worms   -      -       -       -
  Wounds, treatise on
          incised  -       -       -
          punctured
          contused
          of the ear
          of the scalp
          of the  throat
           of the chest
           of the belly
           of the joints
           of the tendons  -
 YELLOW  GUM  -
Page 766
     766
     832
     360
     584
     764
     773
     497
     778
     534
     661
     796
     372
     600
     595
     571
     788
     374
     638
     768
     586
     826
     518
     360
     362
     498
     643
     410
     417
     457
     672
     813
     407
     613
     476
     816
     686
     616
     834
     836
     838
     840
     843
     844
     844
     844
     845
     846
      846
      594 
INTRODUCTION.
  It is now seven years since I introduced the first volume
of my " Domestic Medicine, or Poor Man's Friend."   It
then contained only 450  pages, and  has  gone through
•eleven editions, and the astonishing number of one hun-,
dred thousand copies have been sold in the southern and
western states, and the demand is increasing.
  I now offer it revised, corrected, and enlarged to 900
pages, and executed in superior style.
  When I reflect upon the weight of  responsibility rest-
ing upon me, on account of the  immense  number of my
fellow-beings who  confide in what I have written for their
benefit, in the spirit of truth and soberness, I fall pros-
trate as a worm of the dust before Him  " with whom I have
to do," and supplicate His blessing upon my labours; and
I also return my most grateful acknowledgments to  my
medical brethren for the high and  honourable manner in
which they have sustained this family work, as being the
established practice of the profession.
   The rapid sale of my book, and the great patronage I
have received in my humble efforts to  be useful to my fel-
low-creatures, fills my heart with joy and gratitude, and
language is inadequate to express to  my fellow-citizens,
how much I estimate their goodness, or how willing I feel
still to continue my feeble efforts, through the assistance
of Almighty God,  to do them good, and to unfold to them
such things, in plain language, as may  soothe their bodily
infirmities, and perhaps be the means of  relieving them
from pain and sickness.   To the profession of medicine
                          2                   9 
10
INTRODUCTION.
the life of man  stands  greatly indebted through all  its
ages, from the cradle to the grave, and that the use of
secondary means was intended  by the Deity, cannot be
controverted. . Behold the spontaneous gifts of nature,
yielding in almost every fragrant herb and flower, medi-
cine to heal  and relieve our maladies, recalling to our
minds the splendid proofs of the divine Majesty, showing
the incomparable* superiority of nature over the most ele-
gant works of human contrivance.  Behold, for a moment,
the forms and colours that embellish the vegetable world,
and see how many thousands of  the human race, like the
grazing cattle, without reflection, trample on the flowery
meads, and forget that those plants are the works of God,
and intended by  our heavenly Father., in  infinite mercy,
for the use of his creatures;  wonder not then, that so
many constitutions are  destroyed in this country by the
daily and constant use of mineral poisons, which, if pro-
perly treated by the medical plants, would have been
otherwise preserved, leaving the  system free  from the
effects of such medicines as I consider worse  than the
original disease.  But the time is not far distant, when
the reflecting part of this community will be fully satisfied,
that the medical herbs and roots of the United States are
better adapted to our constitutions and diseases, than the
mineral poisons so constantly and  freely used in the pre-
sent day.  I have ever  loved  and  cherished an exalted
opinion of the vegetable kingdom, and I never  have pre-
scribed a single  mineral,  without feeling sensible  there
was something defective in my medical education.  And
although I have prescribed them throughout my work in
the spirit of  truth, and according to the practice of medi-
cine  at  this  time, I still deplore and conscientiously
acknowledge, that there is not a substitute for that her-
culean remedy,  calomel, in which  any confidence can be
placed, notwithstanding  the  many  boasted  substitutes 
INTRODUCTION.                  H
daily advertised by quacks and pretenders in the healing
art, nor has this invaluable  remedy, or boasted panacea,
of our profession, developed its  powers so as to be per-
fectly and fully understood by even the most learned and
observing practitioners.  That it has done much good to
mankind, I acknowledge, by its affording relief in many
diseases which would  otherwise  have proved incurable,
or perhaps terminated fatally, but whether  the effects of
this powerful  medicine are  left lurking in the system for
years, and perhaps never eradicated,  is quite  doubtful;
the ocular demonstration of my daily practice,  and inter-
course with my fellow-men, proves beyond the possibility
of doubt, as to  the injurious effects produced in many
cases by the indiscriminate use of calomel, particularly to
those whose constitutions and inherent disorders subject
them to the most awful effects from this medicine.
   Then let me, as a parent  bestowing his parting coun-
sel and benediction on his children, advise you to avoid
as much  as  possible,  this,  as well as  all other active
medicines, remembering to  administer it with due  cau-
tion and  judgment;  and when  required to use it, let it
be administered in active doses, by which I mean it is to
be removed from the  system, and  for this purpose an
active dose is  by far the best, by enabling it not  only to
be beneficial, but work itself off.   You will find in  the
practice of medicine, that in nine cases out of ten, active
purging will relieve; you are also to remember that  the
mind has a powerful influence not only over disease, but
particularly over  the digestive  organs.   Thus  when  the
mind is intensely occupied,  the digestive powers of  the
stomach  are  suspended;  mental activity  controls  the
functions of the stomach to an equal extent.  During the
period of deep thought, the vital energy of the body is
so entirely directed to the brain, that not only the  sto-
mach, but the extremities  experience a diminution of] 
12                 INTRODUCTION.
excitement, as is proven by their coldness and insensibili
ty.   This condition of the brain will so affect the sto .
mach and intestines, as even to suspend  the operation ot.,
active medicines.  Doctor Rush states  that, during  the
Revolutionary war, he knew officers who were unexpect-
edly drawn into battle after  having taken drastic cathar-
tics, and yet suffered no  inconvenience  from them until
the excitement of it had passed away.  I have seen, too,
distressing  sea-sickness promptly relieved by the mental
anxiety produced by an engagement  between vessels of
war.  The stimulation caused by this sublime spectacle,
produced a revulsion from the stomach to the brain,  and
thus relieved the one of the irritation accompanying  this
distressing  disease, and  the other from that depressed
state indicated by languid feelings and obtuseness of in
tellect.   The mind having such full and powerful effects
over the whole system, should be a sufficient evidence to
guard you  in many  complaints, particularly in diseases
of the stomach, against the use of too  much medicine;
depending  generally upon diet, moderate exercise, rest,
temperance in all  things, particularly in eating,  change
of climate, in sea bathing,  and the  use of  the tepid or
warm bath, mineral springs, foot  exercise in all chronic
complaints, and in assisting nature, by innocent remedies,
to throw off disease.   Your good sense will suggest to
you the importance of  time, and the  remedies mentioned
in chronic  disorders, by which I  mean  diseases of long
standing, rather  than destroying the coats of the stomach,
and paralyzing the last glimmering of hope, by a farrago
of medicines.   Physicians prescribe much, but use  few
medicines  themselves.  Let, then,  this  hint suffice, by
showing you that much is to be  expected by simple re-
medies, discriminating judgment, and the influence of the
mind upon the corporeal  body: but do not understand me
that I wish you to discard medicine altogether; but by 
INTRODUCTION.
13
 its limited  use, and depending  much  on the simple, yet
 efficient directions I have here recommended to you, you
 will have but little  use for  physicians or their prescrip-
 tions.
   Man, in  the early days of nature, lived  in  a  state  of
 health, both in Lody and in mind:  The earth produced
 its fruits for him without culture;  there were neither irre-
 gularities nor inclemencies of the  seasons.   In a state of
 innocency, and  under a mild and  clement sky, there was
 nothing to produce disease;  spring was perpetual.   Pro-
 tected by the immediate presence of the Almighty, and
 as yet  innocent of  any violations of his laws, he was
 happy in the enjoyments which the spontaneous  benevo-
 lence of nature afforded him.  But he has been  the arti-
 ficer of his own untoward destinies.  He has transgressed
 the  sacred  laws  of  his Creator—and incurred the pe-
 nalties annexed to his own transgressions!   His days are
 now shortened, and encumbered with disease; spring is no
 longer  perpetual; for him now, " the earth brings forth
 thorns  and briers;" and for him the world  has been
 visited with earthquakes, sterility, storms, and  variations
 of the seasons, which blight the fruits of his labours, and
 bring mortal diseases and fatal maladies on their wings.
   Among the moral causes that have abridged the life  of
 man, there is one which merits the attention of the philo-
 sopher—it is civilization!  Civilization, by polishing man,
 and  depriving him of his primitive rudeness,  seems  to
 have enervated him:—it seems to have made him purchase
 the  advantage,  at the expense of a multitude of diseases
 and  miseries to which the  first  inhabitants  of  the world
were strangers—and with which  the savages who only
give  way to  the impulses of nature are still unacquainted.
Man, in associating with his fellow-beings in large assem-
blages, seems in some measure to have relaxed the strong
 ties  on his  earthly existence; society, by extending the
      B 
14
INTRODUCTION.
 circle 'of his wants, by giving greater energy to  his pas-
 sions, and by generating  those that fire unknown to  the
 man of nature, seems to have become a frightful  and in-
 exhaustible source of calamities.   But was not man born
 for society; did not his individual weakness, and his severe
 and pressing wants, make him abandon at an early period
 the wandering life he had led in the forests in pursuit of
 game—and associate  with his  fellow-man?   Could he
 not by associating with his fellow-beings, the better pro-
 tect his existence, secure  his happiness,  and expand  his
 truly astonishing faculties ?  There exists no country, in
 which men are not found in a social state; this is  the
 case even in the most remote and frightful solitudes, from
 the Arabian deserts to the Polar  regions.   But cannot
 the social ties of men be drawn too close ?  Witness  our
 large  and opulent cities, where the population is immense,
 and where assembled multitudes seem to  be crowded on
 each other; where, although the comforts and luxuries of
 life are to be found in abundance, the horrors of want  are
 extreme !   Are not these  extremes always hostile to  the
 social nature of man;  are not these large cities continu-
 ally the seats of mortal  diseases; the abodes of crime and
 immorality; and are not  physical  and moral depravity,
 always the consequences of such enormous accumulations
 of people?
  When men first  united, it was  in small bodies;  and
 they passed their days in innocence and simplicity.  We
 should not then be astonished if they were robust, and if
they then arrived to a great  age.   They were  exempt
 from the greater part of the diseases which affect us,  be-
 cause they had none  but natural wants, which they could
 always satisfy without  excess.   The beverage  of nature
 quenched their thirst without the aid of spirituous liquors,
and the friendly hand  of  nature gave  them sustenance;
but, in proportion  to the  increase  of  associations, they 
INTRODUCTION.
15
 generated a  multitude of fictitious wants, which continu-
 ally torment us, their offspring, and render us unhappy;
 whence, instead of those simple foods which always pro-
 longed life, man has the poisons  of every chymical and
 foreign luxury served upon his table:  and what are the
 results?  Why—prematurely borne down  with  infirmi-
 ties, and  devoured with  remorse,  he dies  disgusted and
 exhausted with excesses, reflecting on innocent nature,
 whom he has  outraged!  The greatest number of dis-
 eases and infirmities are of our own begetting; because
 we have  infringed the healthy laws of nature.   Fifteen
 out  of twenty  cases of  sickness,  are  produced by our-
 selves ; it is  by luxury and scandalous  excesses, that we
 render our existence unhappy, and abridge  its length.
   Man is a creature of habit; urged on by  the propensi-
 ties of his nature, he not only abridges the  period of his
 life, but inflicts on himself the displeasure of his Creator.
 The rising morn, the radiant noon, the shadowy eve, all
 tell him as they pass, that his temporal existence is short,
 his advance to  eternity rapid!
   When  we  view man in all  his bearings and dependen-
 cies, we find, and the profoundest philosophers have done
 no more, that he is involved in mystery.   The greatest
 philosophers  have  only  discovered  that they live; but
 from whence they came,  and whither they are going, are
 by nature altogether hidden;  that  impenetrable gloom
 surrounds us on every side, and that we can seek in reve-
 lation  alone,  the only source of comfort and explanation.
 The  seasons are a  memento of life.  Spring, breathing
into life the  new-born flowers; Summer, with his genial
warmth, ripening his luscious fruits; Autumn, with her
golden harvest,  bestowing  plenty on man;  and Winter,
with icy mantle, sounding the  requiem of the departed
seasons.   First comes creeping infancy; next merry boy-
hood and  aspiring youth; then, resolute and industrious 
16
INTRODUCTION.
manhood; and last of all,  decrepit,  cold, and  declining
age; emblematic of the winter of existence, the shortness
of human life.
  Behold the changes that have taken place in our whole
western country, wit'.iin the lapse of a few short years .
Look for the wigwam of the poor Indian, who was once
lord of the soil you now possess: it is gone, and his bones
mingle with the dust of his habitation.   The  storm of
enterprising civilization has wreaked its fury on the poor
Indian; his  land  has passed into the hands of the white
man, whose  splendid mansion now rests on the graves of
his  ancestors.   His peaceful forests, once the  abode of
solitude and savage life, in which he  unmolested tracked
his  game, now resound with the festivities of civilization,
and the busy hum of labour.  Those innocent and forlorn
people, who received our forefathers in the spirit of friend-
ship, instead of being fostered by the genial hand of civili-
zation, have been driven to the feet of the Rocky or
Oregon, mountains, and present a sad and solitary  spec-
tacle of their former greatness !  In a few more years, the
race of the poor Indian will be forever extinguished, and
his  council fires blaze no more : the wilderness has been
subdued, and  the  house of God has been  built, where
once ascended the smoke of warlike and idolatrous sacri-
fice : cultivated fields and gardens extend over a thousand
valleys in the  west, never  before since the  creation re-
claimed to the use of civilized man;  in  the enjoyment of
civil ar.d religious liberty, institutions of learning  are
hourly springing forth, diffusing the light of knowledge,
and establishing the enjoyments and happiness of  the
western v orld.  A few years since, even within  the me-
mory of :  any of the present  inhabitants, this immense
region was a perfect wilderness : the darkened intellect of
the savage knew  God but in the winds and thunders; on
every side, the dark foliage of the shadowy forest waved 
INTRODUCTION.
17
in the silent majesty of nature, and  her noble  rivers
moved on  in  silence, with no  other  commerce than the
peltry of the savage hunter.  Most of these rivers are
now navigated by steamers, affording the quickest facility
of transportation, and the most lucrative commerce; sup-
plying the remote  interior of our country with the rich
products of every foreign  climate; our  public roads are
covered every year with the advance guard of civilization,
and  demonstrate what must in a short period be the
result, under our wise, equitable and politic constitutions
of government.   The  tree  of peace spreads its broad
branches from the  Atlantic  to  the Pacific; a thousand
villages are reflected from the waves of almost every lake
and river;  and the west now echoes with the song of the
reaper, until  the wilderness  and "the solitary place has
been  glad for  us, and the  desert has rejoiced  and blos-
somed as the rose."   God, in the infinitude of his mercy,
lias  stored our mountains,  fields and  meadows, with
simples for healing  our diseases, and for furnishing us
with  medicines  of our  own, without the use of foreign
articles; and the discoveries of each succeeding day con-
vince us, that he has graciously furnished man with the
means of  curing his own diseases,, in all  the different
countries and climates of which he is an inhabitant.  There
is not a day, a month, a year, which does not  exhibit to
us the surprising cures made by roots, herbs, and simples,
found in our kingdom of nature, when all foreign articles
have  utterly failed; and the day will come, when calomel
and mercurial medicines will be used no longer, and when
we .will be independent of foreign medicines, which are
often difficult to be obtained, frequently  adulterated, and
always command a price  which the poor are  unable to
pay.   The yet uncultivated wilds of our  country, abound
in herbs and plants possessing medicinal  virtues, and pro-
bably thousands of them, whose virtues and qualities re-
      Bg                  3 
18
INTRODUCTION.
   main unknown.  The ti avels of Lewis and Clarke led to
   high expectations in every branch of science ; the observa-
   tions and  inquiries of these gentlemen,  particularly  of
   Lewis, were directed, among other things, to the diseases
   and medical remedies of our Indians; and they have given
   a large portion of interesting information on these points.
   Much,  however, is left to be done by the wisdom of our
   legislative bodies: for the  time  is rapidly approaching,
   when the beautiful temple of medical science, will stand
   divested of. all quackeries and superstitions, and its  re-
   builders be rewarded  by the blessings, the gratitude, and
   the admiration of mankind.
     Professional pride and native cupidity, contrary to  the
   true spirit of justice and Christianity,, have, in all ages and
   countries, from sentiments of self-interest and want of
   liberality, delighted in concealing the divine art of healing
   diseases, under complicated names,, and difficult or  un-
   meaning technical phrases.   Why make a mystery of
   things  which relieve the distresses and  sufferings of  our
   fellow-beings ? Let it be  distinctly understood, when I
   speak  of  professional pride and avarice, that I do  not
   intend to  cast an imputation on all my profession, for want
   of that heaven-born principle, charity, to our fellow-beings.
   On the contrary, we  are furnished by history, with many
   prominent examples of this divine form of humanity. Hip-
   pocrates dispensed health and joy wherever he went,  and
   often yielded  to the solicitations of neighbouring  princes,
   and extended the blessings of his skill to foreign  nations.
   "fhe great Boerhaave did a great deal for the  poor,  and
    always discovered more solicitude and punctuality in his
    attendance on them,  than on the rich and powerful:—on
    being  asked  his  reason  for this, he promptly replied—
%   <• God is their paymaster."   Heberden's liberality to the
    poor was so great, that he was once told by a friend, he
    would exhaust his fortune: " No,"  said he,  "I am afraid 
   ♦                 INTRODUCTION.                  19

that  after all my charities I shall die shamefully rich."
Fothergill once heard of the death of a citizen of London,
who had left his family in indigent circumstances:—the
doctor immediately called on the widow, and informed her
he had received thirty guineas from her husband, while he
was  in prosperous circumstances, for as many visits;  "I
have heard of his reverse of fortune, take this purse, which
contains all I received from him: it will do thy family more
good than it will do me."  Similar occurrences of the liber-
ality of this great and good man might be given almost with-
out end : indeed it is said, that he gave away one half of the
income of his extensive  and profitable  business to the
needy and  afflicted, amounting, in the course of his life, to
more than  one hundred thousand pounds.   What an im-
mense interest in celestial  honour and  happiness  must
this sum not produce at  the  great day of accounts—the
general judgment!  With what unspeakable  gratitude and
delight, may we not suppose the many hundreds—perhaps
thousands, whom he has fed, clothed, and relieved in sick-
ness by his charities, will gaze on their benefactor in that
solemn day, while the supreme Judge accredits those acts
as done to% himself, in the presence of an  assembled uni-
verse !
   But these good and great men have gone where we
must all shortly follow;  and are now receiving the rich
reward of all their virtues, in that kingdom where pain
and affliction cease.   When we trace the powers of hu-
man intellect,, and the  monuments of human  greatness,
and all that genius has instituted and labour accomplished;
when we trace these things  through  all their grades of
advancement and decline—where is  the  pride of man ?
Behold in  each successive moment, the monuments of-the
rich, the great, and the  powerful  tumbling into  their
native  dust;  and  the  hand  of time mingling the proud
man's ashes with those of the menial slave, so that  their 
20                 INTRODUCTION.

posterity cannot distinguish them from each other \ When
the sable curtain of death is drawn, where  is the bright
intellect of genius—and where are those we  have loved
and  honoured?  At  the threshold  of eternity,  reason
leaves  us and we sink, notwithstanding all our precau-
tions, and the aid of distinguished physicians.   Yet, such
is  the  course of nature, that those who live long  must
outlive those they love and honour.  Such, indeed, is the
course of nature, and the  condition of  our present exist-
ence, that life must sooner or later lose its associations.      i
and those who remain a little longer, be doomed to walk
downward to the  grave alone and  unregarded, without a
single  interested  witness  of their  joys or  griefs!  It is
evident that the decays of age must terminate in  death ;
yet where is the man who does not believe he  may sur-
vive another year ?
   Piety towards God should  characterize every one who
has any thing to do with the  administering of medicine;
nor  should  any  individual  ever  administer medicine,
without first imploring the Almighty for success on  his
prescriptions; for where is the man who can anticipate
success without the aid and blessing of Heaven?  Galen
vanquished atheism, for a considerable time, by proving
the existence of a God, from the wise  and curious struc-
ture of the human body.  Botallus, the illustrious father
of blood-letting in Europe, earnestly advises  a physician
never to leave his house, without  proffering a prayer to
God to aid and enlighten him.  Cheselden, the  famous
English anatomist,  always implored  the aid and blessing
of heaven on his hand, whenever he laid hold of an  in-
strument  to  perform a surgical operation.   Sydenham.
the great luminary and reformer of medicine, was a reli-
gious man; and Boerhaave spent an hour every mornin**-
in his closet, in reading and commenting on the Scrip-
tures, before he entered on the duties of his profession. 
INTRODUCTION.
21
Hoffman and Stahl, were not ashamed of the  gospel of
Christ;  and Waller has left behind him a most eloquent
defence  of its doctrines.   Doctor  Fothergill's  long life
resembled an altar  from which incense of adoration and
praise ascended daily to Heaven; and Hartley,  whose
works will probably only perish with time itself, was a
devout Christian.   To this record of these great medical
men, I shall  add but one remark;  which is, that the au-
thoritative weight of their names  alone, in favour of the
truth of revealed religion, is sufficient to turn the scale
against all the infidelity that has ever disgraced the sci-
ence of medicine since  its earliest discoveries.
   I have seen the flower of life  fade, and all its freshness
wither;  I  have seen the bright eye of beauty lose its
lustre;  and my last and best friends close their eyes in
the cold and tranquil slumbers of death—and have said,
" where are  the boasted powrers of medicine,  the pride
of skill, the vain boast of science ?"—How humiliating to
the pride of  man !   Let every physician put this solemn
question to himself: what will  avail all the means I can
use,  without the  aid  of  the  Almighty?   All  efforts
founded on  years  of  experience and  study,  vanish at
the  touch of death; and the  hold on life by the physi-
cian  is  as brittle and slender as that possessed  by his
patient:  and those remedies,  so often used with success
in the case of others, will assuredly fail him in his own
case at last.  In some unexpected moment, a wave in the
agitated  sea of life  will baffle all his struggles; and he,
in his turn, will be  compelled to pay that debt, which na-
ture has  claimed from thousands of his patients.   When
on the couch of death, and whilst perusing the works of
Rousseau, the last words of the great Napoleon were, ir
the language of that author—" it is vain to shrink from
what cannot be avoided; why hide that from ourselves.
which must at some period be found; the certainty of 
22                  INTRODUCTION.

death is a truth  which man knows—but which he will-
ingly conceals from himself1'    We  shall all shortly
finish our allotted time on earth, even if our  lives are
unusually prolonged, leaving behind us all that is  now
familiar and beloved.  Numerous races of men will suc-
ceed us, entirely ignorant  that we once lived,  who will
retain of our existence, not even the vestige of a vague
and empty remembrance! 
            GUNN'S

DOMESTIC  MEDICINE:
    corrected and enlarged by the author
              in 1839. 
 
•
                 GUNN'S

DOMESTIC  MEDICINE.
              OF  THE PASSIONS.

   All the passions of man seem to have been bestowed
on him by an all-wise Creator, for wise and beneficent
purposes; and it is certainly the province of human wis-
dom, to keep them under due regulation.  In a moral
point of view, when  the  passions run counter to reason
and religion, nationally  and individually  they produce
the most frightful catastrophes.   Among nations, if suf-
fered to transcend  the bounds  of political justice, they
always lead to anarchy, war, misrule and oppression; and
among individuals, do we not easily trace the same dreadful
and disastrous consequences?  With monarchical and
despotic governments,  we frequently see the unruly and
ungoverned passions  of one  man  destroying and laying
waste whole empires in a single campaign;  and with de-
mocratical or republican institutions of government, have
we not frequently witnessed the terrific consequences, to  -
moral and political justice, which arise  from the disor-
ganizing and turbulent passions of the sovereign people?
Individually and nationally,  then, the consequences of
misdirected and  uncontrolled passions are precisely the
same, as regards every thing connected with political,
legislative, and moral justice.
      C                 4                  25 
 26                THE PASSIONS.

   But, as it is not my intention to enter into a disserta-
 tion on the  passions, farther than as they relate to man
 as an  individual, and to their influences  on  the state ol
 his physical system, I will first  observe, that it  is of the
 very highest  importance  to  the  healthy action  of the
 human system, that  the  passions should be held in due
 subjection.   If you give way to  the passions, you destroy
 the finest ol the vital powers : you destroy digestion and
 assimilation;  you weaken the strength  and energies of
 the  heart, and of the whole nervous system.  The  sto-
 mach is the workshop of the whole human frame,  and all
 its derangements are immediately felt in the extremities;
 and to prove how strongly the connection exists between
 the  stomach  and heart, the latter immediately ceases to
 beat when  the powers of the  former  sink and are de-
 stroyed.  Distress of mind is always a predisposing cause
 of disease; while, on the other hand, a calm and con-
 tented disposition, and a proper command over our pas-
 sions and affections, are certain to produce consequences
 which operate against all predisposing causes of disease.
 (Vny complaint arising from  great agitation of mind, is
 more  obstinate than one  occasioned by violent corporeal
 agitation.  For  instance : eating  and drinking, and par-
 ticularly in  the case of drinking, disease may be combated
 by  rest, • sleep, temperance :  but neither  temperance,
 rest, nor even sleep itself, as every one knows, can much
 affect those diseases which have their seat in the passions
 of the mind.  I shall  not enter into the subject of the
* passions at full length.

 !                        ----------------■
                                                      )
                        FEAR.

   Fear is  a base passion, and beneath the dignity cf man.
 It takes from him reflection, power, resolution,  and judg- 
FEAR.
21
mcnt';  and, in  short,  all  that dignity and greatness of
soul, which properly appertain to humanity.   It has great
influence in occasioning, aggravating, and producing dis-
ease.   It has been a matter of much speculation with me,
whether any man was born constitutionally a coward:
and my decided opinion is, that cowardice and  courage
are  generally the effects of habit, and moral influence*
I have frequently seen  brave men, acknowledged  to be
such on  great  and important occasions  during  the  late
war, who trembled at the mere  approach of  danger, and
acknowledged  their want of  firmness.   The  great  Duke
of  Marlborough was once seen to tremble  on the eve of
battle ; being asked by a soldier the cause of it, the Duke
made the  following  reply—"my  body trembles at  the
danger my soul is about exposing it to !"  And does  it
not appear surprisingly singular, but no less  true, that a
man shall  be one day brave and the next day a coward ?
That there is a close affinity between the condition of the
physical system and the passions, there can be little doubt:
the  same man  who under the influence of opium, would

  * Immediately preceding the great battle of Waterloo, on which was about
to be suspended the great political and military destinies of Europe, Napo-
leon employed a guide who was well acquainted with the country, to accom-
pany him in reconnoitering the field of battle, and the relative positions of
the  hostile armies.  When the battle commenced, his peasant guide, who
had never before been exposed to the tumultuous shock of hostile armies,
manifested strong and decided indications of fear, by dodging from side to
side at the sound of the shot.  Napoleon observed  it, and taxed him with
cowardice, which he acknowledged.  He then reasoned with him on the
absurdity of his conduct.  "Do you not know," said  he, "that there is a
power infinitely superior to man, who rules and governs all, and who holds
in his hand'our destinies ? If this be true, of which there can be no doubt,
you cannot die until your time arrives: why then dodge the sound of a ball ?
when you hear it, it has passed you; and besides, when dodging the mere
sound of one shot,  you may throw yourself in the way of another."  This
reasoning had the effect: it banished all suggestions of fear, and the guide
afterwards rode erect and steady, and manifested no indication  of fear.  I
mention this circumstance, to show how much we are under the influence of
moral power or the force of reason respecting both cowardice and courage* 
28
FEAR.
 brave danger in its most giant form, is seen to shrink like
 a sensitive plant, when deprived of that influence.  There
 seems  to  be a reciprocal exercise  of influence between
 the body and the mind, which by man is absolutely  inex-
 plicable ; but of this we are certain, that cowardice dis-
 orders and impedes the circulation of the blood ; hinders
 breathing with  freedom; puts the  stomach out of order,
 as well as the bowels; affects the  kidneys  and  skin, and
 produces bad effects on the whole body—-and it may be
 for these and  similar reasons that the ancients elevated
 courage into a moral virtue.  Many persons  have fallen
 down dead, from the influence of cowardice or fear; and
 can it then be doubtful that this passion has much  influ-
 ence in producing and modifying diseases ?   I feel assured,
 from practical experience, that  in disorders that are epi-
 demical or catching, the timid, cowardly, and fearful, take
them much  oftener than those  who are remarkable for
fortitude and courage.  Napoleon was so well convinced
of these facts, that when his army of Egypt was  suffer-
ing dreadfully from the ravages  of the plague, murder to
inspire his soldiers with courage, and to ward  off those
dangers which might arise from  the fears of his  army, he
frequently touched the bodies of those infected, with his
own hands.  Fear weakens the  energy or strength of the
heart, and of the whole nervous system;  the infectious
matter has greater power on the frame at this time—con-
sequently, the  system being deranged,  loses its healthy
action, and cannot resist and throw off the  epidemical
disease.
                      HOPE.
  Hope ! what a source of human happiness rests in the
pleasures of hope!   Man cherishes  it to his very tomb
Take from  him he  >e, and  life  itself would be a burden! 
HOPE.
29
How wisely has our Heavenly Father blended in our cup
of misery soft whispers of our future exemption from its
influence.  Without hope, how wretched, how miserable
our existence ! what a powerful effect it has, when labour-
ing under pain and bodily disorder!   It raises the spirits;
it increases the action and power of the heart  and nerv-
ous system; moderates the pulse, causes the breathing to
be fuller and freer;  and quickens all the secretions.  It
is, therefore, proper and advisable,  in all  disorders,  to
produce hope in the mind, if you wish to have any chance
to effect a cure.   Is there a being who  lives without this
balni of consolation, this hope  of heavenly birth, which
tells of happier days in bright anticipation ?  If such are
the advantages of hope, as to the things of this  field of
thorns and briers—this vale  of tears—what may we ex-
pect from that  emotion,  when it embraces  the certainty
of enjoying felicity with  God  in eternity.
   When in  ordinary health, and engaged in the  pursuits
of life, hope is attended with many favourable effects of a
fortunate event, without possessing the physical disadvan-
tages : the anticipation of happiness  does not affect us so
excessively as the actual  enjoyment;  yet it has frequently
produced  more benefit  by its influence  on health,  than
fortune realized.
                        JOY.
  This is a beneficent passion;  it produces an extraordi-
nary effect, and  is of infinite  benefit to the constitution,
when indulged in moderation; but, if it should be exces-
sive, or very sudden, it frequently does serious and lasting
injury to persons in good  health;  and  to those who are
weak, or afflicted  with disease,  it  sometimes terminates
fatally.   The following instance  of  the melancholy effects
     "c2 
30
JOY.
of the too sudden influence of joy, will fully exemplify
the power of this passion on  the  physical system, even
when in health.  It may be relied on, as  it came very
nearly under my own observation.  A gentleman  in the
state  of Virginia, who had once been very wealthy, but
whose pecuniary circumstances  had  become  much de-
pressed, not to say desperate, as a last hope of redeeming
himself  and his family from distressing embarrassments,
purchased  a lottery  ticket, for which he gave the  last
hundred dollars he could command.  The  purchase was
made, under a presentiment, if  such it may be called, that
a certain number would  draw the highest prize.  All his
property was then under execution.  When the day of
sale arrived, his father-in-law and himself took a walk into
the fields, leaving his family much  distressed with their
misfortunes.   A gentleman on  horseback immediately
from  Richmond, rode up to the house and asked for Mr.
D----,  and was directed by his wife where he would be
found.  When  the  gentleman  rode up to  Mr. D----,
without exercising the least precaution, he announced the
fact that the ticket had drawn one hundred  thousand dol-
lars !  The effect was such as might have been expected;
Mr. D----immediately fainted, and was with  much dif-
ficulty, and after many  exertions, restored.  In the cir-
cumstance I have just related, the  great influence of this
passion  will easily be seen;  and I trust it will be as dis-
tinctly inferred from it, that excesses of joy are frequently
as dangerous to the constitution of humanity, as those of
grief, if not more so.  I need scarcely remark here,  that
to persons labouring under disease, as well  as to those in
merely delicate health, joyful intelligence ought always to
be communicated with much caution. 
anger.                     31
                      ANGER.
   "Next anger rushed—his  eyes  on  fire!"—Of this
most dreadful  of the human passions,  had I sufficient
space to allot it, much might be said that would be of high
importance.  There is no passion incidental to humanity,
an indulgence in which leads to so many dreadful, not to
say horrid and  frightful consequences :
       " To count them all would want a thousand tongues—
        A throat of brass and adamantine lungs."
  I have before remarked, that all our passions were in-
tended by the God of nature, if kept under the  control
of reason and humanity, to be beneficial to the happiness
of man.   This position is demonstrable by reason, and
sanctioned by the highest authority—the word of God
himself, " who never made any thing in vain."   It is not
the application  of our passions to their natural, reasona-
ble,  and legitimate objects,  that constitutes crime and
ends in misery  and misfortune.   No; it is the abuse of
those passions  by unrestrained  and intemperate  indul-
gence, and the  prostitution of them  to  ignoble and dis-
graceful purposes!  Was a  noble spirit of resentment,
for unprovoked and wanton injuries, ever intended by the
God of nature to degenerate  into senseless anger and
brutal rage?   A  noble  spirit of resentment,  upon the
strictest moral principles,  was intended to punish wanton
and unprovoked  aggression,  and by preventing a repeti-
tion of the deed,  to reform the offender.   I am perfectly
aware  that I here occupy a  new, but by no means an
untenable  ground.  Was the passion of love, the refined
solacer of civilized life; the harbinger of successful pro-
creative power; the nurse which  ushers into life succes-
sive  millions of the human race, ever intended by the
God of nature to degenerate  into brutal lust, and to be 
32
anger.
 followed  by a train  of venereal diseases,  which canker
 life at its very core,  " and visit the iniquities of the fa-
 thers  upon the children to the third and  fourth genera-
 tions ?"   Was the deep-seated and natural sentiment of
 sblf-preservation,  that essential safeguard of man  in
 every  stage of his moral existence, ever intended to dege-
 nerate into  that childish, superstitious, base,  and ignoble
 passion called fear ?   Was the elevating and ennobling
 passion of emulation that  only seeks to rival  superior
 excellence, so honourable to the pride of man and so con-
 sonant to the native dignity of his soul, ever  intended to
 degenerate into a dastardly passion of envy, which seeks
 to destroy by slander and defamation the excellence  it
 has not the honest virtue even to attempt to  rival ? Those
 who blindly decry the legitimate gratification of the hu-
 man passions,  although they may do so from  what to
 them seems the best of motives, ought to beware that
they do not arraign the wisdom of Providence, for im-
planting them into the human  bosom:  and  they ought,
 also, in all cases, to avoid confounding the natural and le-
 gitimate uses of the passions, with the abuses of their lofty
 and powerful energies.  The passions, confined  to  their
 native  objects,  and, as I have  said before, kept in due
 subjection *to the restraints of reason and moderation, are
essential to the enjoyments,  the preservation,  and the
happiness of man; they only  become  dangerous and
criminal when permitted to produce misrule in the human
breast, and are  placed beyond the  arbitrium and control
of moral  virtue, which is  the  true  science of human
wisdom.
  I remarked in the  outset, that there  was  no  passion
known to  humanity, an unrestrained indulgence in which
was so fatal in  its consequences to the peace of  society
 and the happiness of  man, as Anger.  This deformer of
 the human countenance and character, is everywhere to 
anger.                     33
be found;  and its  ravages  seem  co-extensive  with its
existence;  in other words, it seems  to  live through all
human life, and to  extend through the whole extent of
society.
  It is even sometimes  seen to wrinkle  and deform the
maiden brow of youthful beauty with a frown!  But do
not my fair countrywomen know, that the passions never
fail to leave their impress on the  countenance,  and that
habitual anger will render them more disgusting than the
witch of Endor ?  They may be assured, and my remarks
are not  founded on cursory and superficial  observation,
that the more of native beauty there is to be found, in the
female countenance, the  more easily will it be deformed
by the vicious passions, and particularly by that demon
Anger.   The  female countenance  is  more  expressive of
the finer, softer, and more amiable  passions than that of
man ; in other words, the female face seems to be formed
from  finer  materials,  and to have been cast in a finer
mould, and it is from these causes,  that the female face is
more expressive of the moral feelings, and sooner betrays
indications of a depraved and vicious temper. The stern
countenance of man can  assume  and maintain a fixture
of expression under any  circumstances;  and  it  is the
consciousness of this power, that  frequently tempts him
to play the hypocrite and deluder :  for were he conscious
that his  face would always betray the  emotions  of his
soul, he would never even attempt to deceive!   To the
practised eye  of philosophical research and rigid  scru-
tiny, no expression  of the human countenance ever passes
unobserved.  To such an eye, all the wiles of the human
heart stand revealed; nor can any  subterfuge of counter-
feit expression, conceal the reality from  its observation.
The Scripture itself sanctions this  doctrine :  " A man
shall  be known  by his  look—and  a  proud man by his
gait."  If my fair countrywomen would reflect  well on
                           5 
34                     ANGER.
the doctrine  I have just laid down,  they would always
cultivate the softer and more benevolent feelings of the
heart;  and always endeavour to be in reality what they
would wish to appear; for they may receive it as a valua-
ble truth, not to be controverted by any of the artifices
of self-deception, that they were  never  formed by the
God of nature for deception and hypocrisy : and that the
purity and  elevation of their moral feelings, or the cor-"
ruption and  depravity of their real  characters, are as
easily distinguished from each other,  as is the surface of
the ocean in a settled calm, from that same ocean, when
lashed into mountain billows by the winds of heaven.
   Do we not see the ravages of this moral curse  called
anger,  in every department  of society ?   We4 see  it be-
neath the domestic  roof, imbittering the enjoyments of
the rich and poor; laying waste the harmonious sanctity
of connubial life, and often  entailing misery and misfor-
tune on a helpless and unoffending offspring.  But  this is
not all.  We see it manifesting itself in  its most horrid
forms, in our halls of legislation; in our seats of legal
justice : and even in our elections, in which every man
ought to be  permitted to act with perfect freedom, and
without the least accountability to another.  In all our
electioneering conflicts, at least of late years, we can see
the  old and disgraceful maxim revived  and fully  acted
on :—" those who are not for us are against us;"  as if a
ma4i could not exercise a right of selection, and prefer one
man to another, without forfeiting the friendship, and in-
curring the enmity  of all the  opposite parties.   If we
would  reflect correctly on  this subject,  we would soon
discover, that personal friendship and  personal  enmity1
ought to have nothing  to do with the matter; we  would
soon distinguish that a real statesman, or an enlightened
legislator,  ought to be  the  mere tool, for factional pur-
poses,  of no  party whatever.   The  noble and devoted 
ANGER.
35
patriotism, which gave birth to  our truly great political
institutions, emphatically forbids that the American peo-
ple should ever sacrifice  to  the narrow views of party
spirit, what was destined by the God of nature for the
benefit of the human race!  This government presents
to  Europe a  spectacle  of  no  ordinary character; in
which  their statesmen read  the future destinies of man,
and the political fate of nations.   We are the  only peo-
ple of any age  or  country, who have  organized a truly
representative government, whose  experiments  in legisla-
tion, diplomacy, and arms, are to settle the important
question, yet undecided, whether the mass of mankind can
bear the wide tolerations of political freedom ;  and whe-
ther man, under any circumstances, is capable of assuming
and exercising  the  high prerogative of self-government!
For what  a principle, then,  against all  the  monarchies
and despotisms of Europe and  Asia, are the people of
this government contending;—a principle, as  I before re-
marked, in which the whole human race are interested!
Before  this view of the subject, my reader, how do our
party squabbles and brawls at elections dwindle down to
nothing;  to less than  nothing!   God  forbid!  that I
should ever seem to turn censor of the age; or assume a
dictatorial tone, even in the cause of truth and modera-
tion.  I have been led into a slight  notice of the preceding
subjects, by their strong connexion with  the  moral con-
dition of  man, and his too  frequent subjection to  the
ravages of a most devastating, and I had almost said, a
most damnable passion, which  it  seems  is scarcely con-
trollable, by all the energies  of reason and moral  senti-
ment combined.  Anger was never yet  an evidence of
justice, a proof of virtue, or a demonstration of superior
intellect;  a mind of  elevated endowments, will always
endeavour to correct its sanguinary impulses and to expel
its influence.   The man of cool  reflection, sees in its un- 
36
ANGER.
restrained dominion, a thousand evils which escape com-
mon observation.   He sees that it frequently fills our
prisons with delinquents;  that it is sometimes the cause
of endless remorse; and  that it often  loads the gallows
with a melancholy victim!   To speak of other than moral
and religious remedies, for this dreadful malady, would be
idle  and nugatory.   I might  tell you, as a physician, to
deluge your head with water as cold  as  the  snows of
Zembla; I might tell you  to open  every vein in  your
bodies to calm the raging  and ungovernable impulses of
anger ; I might tell  you that an emetic would curb the
tumultuous fever of  rage,  and restore you to yourselves:
all these remedies would produce but a temporary cure;
they would be but  clipping the twigs from the bohon
upas, and  leaving the root untouched!  The only sove-
reign powers,  or remedies, if you please, which can be
efficient in correcting the evils of anger, must be sought
for in early education, and in moral and religious princi-
ples, instilled into the mind at an early period of life.
                   JEALOUSY.
  This is a passion, the causes of which  have seldom
been investigated, although the effects of it are everywhere
to be found.  The causes of it have generally something
to do with love ; but not always.  The coxcomb  and co-
quette, both of whom are incapable of genuine love, may
be powerfully affected by jealousy; yet in both  these  <
cases, the lady  and gentleman have only experienced a
slight mortification of their vanity, and love of general
admiration.  The wound here is not deep,  and  is  gene-
rally healed by  the consolatory admiration of some other
jilt or jackpudding, as the case may be.  I am not going
to speak of the jealousy of the warrior, which is sangui- 
JEALOUSY.
37
nary and faring; of that of the diplomatist, which is poli-
tic, cunning and circumventive ;  or of that of the states-
man, which is  imbittered by  spectres and phantoms of
future glory!   Nor will I trouble myself with  noticing
the jealousy of the poet, which is harmless, though  vin-
dictive ; of the historian, which is long  winded and untir-
ing in the pursuit of fame; or  of the philosopher and man
of general science, which is learnedly  dull and heavily
investigative, in the pursuit of truths which eternally elude
human researches ■  I shall confine myself to  the  single
subject, of that jealousy which  sometimes subsists between
husband and wife, and which  generally  renders both the
objects  of public curiosity, compassion,  or contempt.
   Marriages  are  contracted  upon  various principles;
such as the love of person, the love of  fame, the love of
money,  &c.   So soon as the rites and ceremonies of
marriage  are duly solemnized, and  rendered matter of
legal record, the parties individually acquire certain rights
and privileges, of which it is  a breach of the municipal
law to deprive  them,  as well as a violation of the law of
God.   If the love  of money induced the lady to marry
the gentleman, or the gentleman  the lady, any  deviation
of conduct, however  indecent and immoral on  the  one
part, ought never to be complained of on the other^ pro-
vided the true intent and meaning of  the compact be
complied  with, in relation to  the cash itself!   The
same doctrines apply, in the case of a marriage contracted
on any  other principles.   If the fame of either of the par-
ties, induces the other to enter into the marriage bonds,
and there be no other stipulation expressed or implied,
infidelity  to  the  nuptial bed,  profligacy of  conduct, and
even the most indecent deviations from moral rectitude,
ought never to make  a breach between the parties; the
tenor and spirit of the compact being complied with, there
is nothing more to  be said.  Nor would there be in nine
      D 
38                    JEALOUSY.

cases out of ten, if married  persons who are induced to
captiousness  and disagreement, would only be particular
in calling to mind the  real motives  which operated in
inducing them  to  marry.   If  the mere  love of person,
without any considerations relating  to  temper,  moral
excellence, and intellectual elevation  of  character, were
the leading principle  which induced the  parties to bear
the yoke of life together,  surely  neither  of them have a
right to complain of the want of excellences, which were
overlooked, disregarded, and absolutely undervahmd in the
stipulations of the compact.   I think this reasoning  is
fair; and absolutely too logical to be refuted ;  and, as I
intend this book as a family museum of useful instruction
and advice, I trust that  what I have  so  far said  on the
subject of jealousy, and  other causes of domestic  discon-
tent, will have its due weight.   What right have  parties
who have been improperly matched, or rather those who
have improperly matched themselves, to disturb  the peace
of whole  neighbourhoods and communities, with their
winnings,  scoldings,  and  recriminations  of each  other?
Will these proceedings benefit the parties themselves ?
Will these bickerings and brawls, divorce them from each
other?   Will their  domestic disagreements, and their
"fisticuffcombats" if they should happen to be  so far
advanced in the "sweets of comiubial love,"  reflect any
respectability or honour on their  innocent and  unoffend-
ing offspring?   Will their neighbours endeavour to com-
pose their strifes, and hush  them  into peace  with a
soothing lullaby?   No! they will in ten  cases  out of
eleven, be gratified at finding  out, that there are  others
more miserable than themselves; and  do every thing, they
possibly can,  to inflame  the  contest, by  taking  sides.
Some will take the part of the husband; these  are o-ene-
rally the  gentlemen  of the little  body politic;  some will
take the part of the  wife; these  are  generally  the lady 
JEALOUSY.
39
peacemakers of the neighbourhood: and  before  six
months pass round, the whole country will be roused
to a war of words, and resemble "a puddle in a storm."
  But, to conclude the subject of this species of jealousy.
with as much seriousness as it seems to deserve ; it may
be remarked that the passion is generally founded  on
the tales and  hints of servants, the surmises of tale-
bearing gossips, and the malignant inuendoes of those
who delight in the diffusion of slander and defamation.
There  is a class of people in  all societies, who  are
seriously afflicted with a disease called by physicians
" cacoethes  loqusndi."  It is a disease that is generated
between ignorance, petty malignity, and restlessness of
tongue, wrhich forbids  the  repose of society: in Eng-
lish, it. is the " disease of talking."   These people have
considerable powers of invention; but, from their igno-
rance of the common topics of enlightened and manly
conversation, they seem to  be absolutely compelled to
lie their way into notice!   The  education of these
people, commences at an early  period of life.  Wheii
very young, just perhaps able to go on an errand to a
neighbouring  house, they  are immediately asked  on
their return home, as to every thing they saw or heard
there ;  their answers are such as might be expected, a
mixture of truths and lies.  Finding, at length, that
their parents are interested in such tales—they  com-
mence with telling Jibs—and end, confirmed and ma-
lignant liars !  Parents, this is especially addressed to
you; it  is worthy of your most serious consideration.
  But there is a species  of jealousy of a most malig-
nant and terrible character, such as  that delineated bv
Shakspeare in his Moor of Venice, which  sometimes
takes possession  of the human bosom, and shakes the
throne of reason to its very centre.   This  passion, or 
40
JEALOUSY.
-t
rather this insanity, seems to me to  be  founded on
almost speechless and unbounded love ; a love border-
ing on absolute veneration and idolatry.  This is an
abstruse and intricate subject, and I freely confess that
I approach it with unfeigned diffidence.
  There certainly does exist, in the very nature of
man, certain strong sympathies and antipathies,  for
which he is absolutely  unable to account on reasoning
principles: and which, therefore, must be referred to
the  native inspirations of human  instinct.   These
sympathies  and antipathies  are  everywhere  to be
found ;  nor do I believe there exists on  earth, one
single individual, male or female, arrived at mature
age, who has not strongly felt the influences of these
instinctive, I  will not say  unerring principles.   They
are discoverable in our choices of dogs, of horses, of
farms; in fact, they are discoverable  in all eases where
the biases of self-interest and ambition have no voice :
and where nature herself rules the empire of election.
Doctor Fell  once  asked Dean Swift, what  was  the
reason, after all the advances he had made to conciliate
his friendship, that he could not gain  him over; and
received  the following  reply, which  speaks a  volume
on the subject:
             " I do not like you Doctor Fell,
              The reason why, I cannot tell,
              I do not like you, Doctor Fell."

  These attractive and repulsive principles have been
felt by every  individual;  and the probability  is. that
their influence is stronger or  weaker, in proportion to
the warmth or coolness of the  human temperament:
for I hold it to be impossible, that so sensitive a beinp-
as  man  can  ever  behold an object possessed  of any
strength of character, and  feel perfectly indifferent 
JEALOUSY.
41
 respecting it.   If these sentiments of attraction or dis-
 gust, existed only in cases where the character oft the
 object portended benefit or injury to the beholder^ the
 matter might  easily  be explained, upon  the  rational
 principle of self-interest on the one hand, or of self-
 preservation on the other.  Such, however, is  not the
 fact; every man knows from his own experience, that
 the first view of an object is pleasing or displeasing,
 attractive or repulsive; and in fact, an object of attach--
 ment or disgust in  some  degree, without  the  least
 relation to the sentiments of self-interest or self-pre-
 servation.   How much  stronger, then, must be our
 feelings of attachment or disgust for an object, when
 we know or believe that the character of that object is
 to determine, under certain circumstances, the happi-
 ness  or misery of our  whole lives!  Parents  and
 guardians of the destinies of youth, if you can lor one
 moment suspend the delusions which  fascinate you
 respecting wealth and aggrandizement, I wish you to
 remember, that the closer in contact you bring those
 who have no natural affinity for each other, the greater
 and more distant will be the rebound !   Have you never
 experienced an emotion of loathing and disgust, by
 being merely in the presence of an object, whose native
 and unalterable character was repugnant to yours ?  In
 other  words,  have you never  experienced  a moral ■
 nausea of all the sensibilities of your nature, by being
 compelled to an association with a being whose feel-
 ings, whose sensibilities, whose very modes of thinking.
spoke a language abhorrent to your souls ?■  If you have.
you can form some  idea  of the irresistible repulsions
which sometimes influence the conduct of persons in
the married state: freeze the  few and cold affections
which habits of enforced association  may have pro-
      d2                 6 
t2
JEALOUSY.
 duced;  and which seldom fail, sooner or later, either
 to make them unfaithful to each other, or to separate
 them forever.  This is not a threadbare dream of the
 imagination, a mere chimera of the fancy;  the affec-
 tions of  mankind are absolutely beyond their control.
 How often have  you seen instances in which the
 purest and strongest sentiments of parental duty, and
 all the efforts  of reason herself, have been unable to
 overcome a repugnance to the  marriage bond!  Was
 this apparent contumaciousness the offspring  of wilful
 disobedience, and a fixed design to thwart  your inten-
 tions of bestowing connubial happiness on your child ?
 No, it was the struggle of nature herself in  deep dis-
 tress ; it was the last effort she could make, to prevent
 the violation of one of the  most sacred of her  laws!
   Seeing, then, as  I think has been  clearly demon-
 strated, that human affections are not under our con-
 trol, at least so far  as to be influenced by sentiments
 of duty,  or admonitions of reason, are we not  to pre-
 sume, from the great variety of motives which influ-
 ence many to enter the marriage bond, that thousands,
 are badly paired, and worse  matched?  I think  so;
 and those who doubt the  fact, for their own satisfac-
 tory conviction of error, will do well' to investigate the
real causes of so much domestic discontent as is every:.
 where to be found ; of so many quarrels and connubial
 bickerings:  and, finally, of so  many divorces.   I
assert it to be the fact, and  it will be supported  by the
experience of thousands, that wedlock is a perfect hell.
and the worst one  we know of on earth, even when
surrounded  by all the  splendours of wealth  and
trappings of power, if it is not hallowed  by. human
affections;  and I assert further, and am  in  no way
apprehensive of experimental contradiction that where 
JEALOUSY.
43
wedlock is consecrated by fixed and virtuous love, it
is, and must be a source of high enjoyment, even sur-
rounded by the hardships, privations, and daily suffer-
ings of labour  and drudgery.   I have  often  been
surprised, on  going into some  of  our  cabins on the
frontiers; there was the meat hanging in the chimney -
the bread-tray on the only table;  the straw  bed on a
rude frame; the blankets and counterpanes about the
floor, from which perhaps a dozen or less of healthy,
ruddy  children  had just risen; there was the corn in
the crib, the  cow  standing with her head  in at the
door, and the meal bag under the bed.   Great God, I
have said to myself, is it possible that wedded love can
exist in such a place as this !  But I was  soon unde-
ceived ; the whole enigma was solved satisfactorily:  it
had  been a marriage of pure and  virtuous love, un-
trammeled by the  calculations of avarice, the mean-
ness of false pride, and the grovelling aspirations of
petty ambition.
  On the other hand, I have frequented the  mansions
of the  great, the wealthy, and the powerful; where,
surrounded  by luxury and wealth, and  reclined at
ease on a gilded sofa, love might  have held a court
superior in splendour and  magnificence to that said to
have been  held in the  fabled  mansions  of Jove!
What  did  I see?   I saw discontent, suspicion, and
prying distrust lowering in every eye.  I saw that the
hearts  of the  inhabitants  of these  splendid  mansions
were estranged from each other.   I saw the servants
in varied liveries gliding in solemn silence  from room
to room; nor  did one sound of cheerfulness or festi-
vity break the  dull monotony of this splendid solitude :
this  gilded, carpeted, and festooued hell of wedded
misery!   I saw the owners-of all  this wealth and 
44
JEALOUSY.
waste of luxury, take their solitary meal;  for nature
had denied them  offspring, in revenge for  a violation
of her laws.   They approached the festive board.
which was  loaded  with luxuries  of every  climate,
with eyes averted from  each other.   No  social con-
verse : no interchange of thought or sentiment, enli-
vened  the  cold and hollow splendour of  the scene.
The servants in attendance helped them; even the
common forms of superficial-politeness were unob-
served ; nor did they recognise the presence of each
other,  unless in stolen and hateful  glances.   They
seemed to sit on thorns;  and no sooner was  their
miserable repast ended, than the one betook himself
to the  gaming  table, and probably the  other to her
paramour.
  These two delineations of life, are  not mere visions
of the fancy; they are to be met with in every country.
They prove conclusively,  that  marriages  contracted
from improper motives, are always followed by conse-
quences destructive to human happiness and the best
interests  of mankind.  All the conflicts, discontents,
and jealousies of  the married state, may be traced  to
improper motives  for marriage or improper  conduct
after  it.   Perhaps there is one exception;  which  I
shall name.   The husband sometimes becomes jealous
of the wife, and the wife of the husband, where there
is no infidelity on  either side ; from a mere conscious-
ness of being unworthy of an  attachment.  Cases of
this character frequently -occur; and it may generally,
if not  in every  instance," be laid down as a fixed and
settled principle in human nature, that where there is
no positive demonstration  of connubial  delinquency,
the party disposed to suspicion and jealousy, derives
these  surmises of  deviation, from the simple fact of a 
JEALOUSY.
45
 consciousness of  being  too depraved to be an object
 of love !  I am aware that this is a severe and degrad-
 ing sentence, against those who entertain  causeless
 suspicions;  but the opinion is not less true than severe.
 The  following is the routine of reasoning, usually ob-
 served by a man  about  becoming jealous of his wife.
 "This woman arrests much of the  public attention.
 She is  everywhere wTell  spoken of.  In all public
 assemblies,  where I am considered  a mere  shadow,
 she commands the most unbounded respect, and I
 view every compliment  paid to her beauty and accom-
 plishments,  as an  indirect satire on myself.  I am  un-
 doubtedly her inferior in everything; and particularly
 in sensibility and  intelligence.   I am conscious of  my
 own  meanness and depravity;  she  possesses too much
 perspicacity and  penetration  not to  have discovered
 my real character—and cannot love  me.—I saw  her
 bowed to in the street;  she returned the compliment
 with  a  smile.  Yesterday, from my neglect and inat-
 tention, a gentleman of fine appearance and command-
 ing manners and  address handed her to her carriage;
 she thanked him for his  polite attentions—by h-----n,
 she never  did love me!  At  Mrs. Fidget's ball,  the
 other night, she attracted general attention; her chair
 was continually surrounded by gentlemen of figure,
 compared with whom I felt myself a mere cipher; a
 gentleman  bowed politely to her in  passing,—angels
 and ministers defend me!  It was the gentleman who
 handed  her into  her carriage—and I am no  more
 thought of—I am a lost  man forever."  Man of fanci-
ful miseries and  imaginary cuckoldom, behold  your
 portrait.  Thisisthe light in which the world  behojds
 you.
  Having;  now in some measure accounted  for the 
46
JEALOUSY.
 passion of jealousy, which is unfortunately too preva-
 lent in this country, I will conclude the subject by
 some general remarks.
  The marriage compact is entered into for two pur-
 poses.   1st. The happiness of the  parties themselves;
 2d.  The rearing  and educating properly the off-
 spring of the marriage contract.  The principles of a
 genuine attachment, such as ought always to be found
 in wedded life, can never exist in any degree of per-
 fection, unless there is a natural affinity between the
 parties—in temper,  disposition, passions, taste, habits,
 and pursuits of mind.  When this congeniality is abso-
 lutely and entirely wanting, the parties will gradually
 and almost imperceptibly become estranged from each
 other, and finally experience the influence of indiffe-
 rence,  and more probably of settled and confirmed
 hatred.   In this event, if our laws would sanction the
 practice, and if there were no offspring to provide for,
 it would be  much more consonant with justice and
 expediency, that the parties could separate, and else-
 where form new and more agreeable engagements.  It
 certainly is worse  than useless, to  compel persons to
 associate together, and that too in  the most close and
 intimate manner, when they are mutually actuated in
 relation  to each other by sentiments of  hatred  and
 contempt.  According to the present state of things, in
 relation to  divorcement, the person wishing a release-
 ment from the marriage bond, must first become pub-
licly and notoriously infamous; or resort, as has been
 proved by the several late executions of malefactors,
 to the dreadful alternative of murder.   What a terrible
 lesson do these late executions hold out to society, on
 the subject of marriage, and the absolute necessity of
 its being based on genuine love. 
                    JEALOUSY.                  47

  Many persons marry who only fancy themselves in
love!   A little master or miss, who would have been
well employed in reading the fables in the spelling-
book, gets hold  of the  -'Sorrows  of Werter,"  or
Rousseau's '• Eloisa," or Petrarch's '■ Laura," or some
other work of the same character, in which unfortu-
nate love is delineated in the colours of the rainbow,
and leads its unfortunate and most melancholy victims
to whoredom and suicide!  With a head full of such
trash, and  a heart as tender and  susceptible as a beef-
steak that  has been well beaten for the gridiron, no-
thing will do the little gentleman or lady but the very
fact of falling in love; and that, too, with the very first
object which presents  itself.   Papa and mamma  are
cruel;  they will not assent to the match, and the event
is probably an elopement.  Then comes the appalling
discovery, that the lady is not quite a goddess, nor the
gentleman entirely a demigod ; then comes the disco-
very, that they are  badly paired, and infinitely worse
matched;  the gentleman becomes tired of the lady, and
the lady of the gentleman ; and finally their papas and
mammas  have to take them home and support them.
I have  known  many  instances of this kind, which
clearly prove, in addition to what I have noted above,
that marriages ought to  be  predicated  on natural con-
genia lity of character, and as far as possible, sanctioned
by the exercise of reason and reflective power.
  I have  mentioned the rearing and education of  off-
spring, as duties annexed to the married state.  How
can such elevated and responsible duties be performed
by persons who  are disqualified  even from regulating
their own conduct, so as to set a correct moral exam-
ple ?  I am very willing to admit that teachers of much
ability are everywhere to be found; but no influence 
48
JEALOUSY.
 can possibly act on the infant and youthful mind in the
 formation of future character, with half the force, depth
 and durability Of impression, as that derived from the
 precepts and examples of parents: and I presume it will
 be'admitted, that those who are destitute of the capa-
 city to  make a judicious selection of partners for life,
 are scarcely capable of forming the infant mind.  The
 wives of the Greeks and Romans and their domestic
 regulations, were truly the nurses and thfe nurseries of
 those  two great races of statesmen and heroes.  The
 best biographers of Washington, whose moral, political,
 and military life presents the noblest portrait of man
 to be found on the records of time, ascribe much of
 the purity, elevation and patriotism of his character, to
 the sound judgment and intellectual energy of his  mo-
 ther.   The influence which the manners, example,
and precepts of a mother, exercise over the intellectual
 dawning of the youthful mind and passions, can scarce-
 ly be appreciated by men of  the  most acute and pro-
 found observation; a proof of which, in addition to the
 millions of others which might  be adduced, may be
 inferred from the remarks made by the illustrious and
 greatly unfortunate captive of St. Helena, on the mo-
 ral and intellectual, qualifications of his mother.
  The truth is, and I mention it with no ordinary sen-
 timents of regret, that the education of females in  the
 United States, is  not only viewed in too unimportant
 and contemptible a light, but  that it is absolutely dis-
 graceful to the spirit of our institutions and  the
 REAL GENIUS OF THE PEOPLE. 
LOVE.                    49
                     LOVE.
  This is one of the master passions of the human
soul, and when  experienced in the plenitude  of  its
power, its devotions embrace with despotic energy and
uncontrolled dominion all the complicated and power-
ful faculties of man.  It was implanted in the human
bosom for the noblest and most beneficent of purposes,
and when restricted to its legitimate objects, and  re-
strained within due bounds by moral sentiment, may
be Galled the great fountain of human happiness.  No
passion incidental to humanity embraces so vast a space,.
and such an infinite multiplicity of objects; it com-
mences in the cradle with tender emotions of filial
attachment and veneration for our parents; it animates
and accompanies us through all the checkered vicissi-
tudes of life, attaching itself  to every object which
can afford us enjoyment and happiness, and finally, in
accompanying us  to the  last  resort of the living, it
concentrates all  its  pure and sublime  energies at the
great fountain of existence, the throne of  the living
God.
   Like all other elementary principles of human na-
ture, its essence baffles the keenest researches of phi-
losophy  and science;  and its  existence can only  be
recognised by a consciousness of its presence, and the
effects which are manifested in every department  of
life, by multiplied exhibitions of its energies.  It  at-
taches the infant to its parent, and the domicile of  its
earliest days of helplessness and dependence: it attaches
the youth to the objects of his playful years, to the
companions of his innocent and festive mirth, and to
the first objects of  his youthful fancy. Without  its
animating influence, as concentrated on objects of true
     E                    7 
50
LOVE.
glory, the hero would degenerate into a poltroon, the
statesman into a political driveller, and the patriot into
a mere citizen of the world, without friends, without
home—and  without  those endearing and sacred ties
which  bind us to our native land.   The beneficent
and heavenly aspirations of love are everywhere to be
found; they bind the solitary and warlike savage to
his native forests; the Moor, the Arab, and the Negro,
to the burning plains of the torrid zone; the Russian,
the Swede, the Norwegian, and Laplander, to the snows
and glaciers of the polar regions; and the courtly and
civilized  European and American, to the refinements
and  comforts of the more  temperate regions of the
globe.   Without local, relative or  personal attach-
ments, man would be eternally discontented  with his
condition;  he would become like Cain, a fugitive and
a vagabond  upon the face of the globe; in fact, the
deep foundations of  domestic  and  national society
would  soon be broken up and scattered to the winds
of heaven, were it not for the strong attachments of
man for the objects among which he is placed.
   If you require proofs of the truth of this  universal
doctrine  of love, ask  the parent what price would in-
duce him to part with his children;  ask the husband
of a woman of elevated and noble character, what sum
in gold or jewels he would consider equivalent to her
value ; ask the savage what would induce him to aban-
don the  dangers of the chase, and the deep and silent
solitudes of nature,  and to  reside  in your  crowded
cities, amidst the hum of business and the  confusion
of assembled multitudes.  Ask the Samoide  and Lap-
lander, what would induce them  to change the fogs
and snows of the north, for the  mild and balmy tem-
 perature of countries  presenting eternal spring and 
LOVE.
51
unfading verdure.   They will tell you that they love
their parents, their children, their friends, their  coun-
try.   Man, unlike the inferior  animals of creation, is
indeed the citizen of every climate; and his capacities
of forming local and relative attachments are as varied
and extensive as  the  powers by which he overcomes
difficulties, and forces nature to yield him the comforts,
conveniences, and positive enjoyments of existence.
  Philanthropy, or  love of our species, is founded on
favourable perceptions of the purity, the beneficence,
the elevation, and the true dignity of the human cha-
racter ; nor did ever an individual, of any age or coun-
try, become a confirmed misanthrope, but from con-
trary  perceptions  of human nature.  A man who is
naturally a hater of his species, without having had
his character soured by  the deceptions, frauds, and
oppressions of mankind, is by nature cowardly, timid,
and selfish.   Nothing great, patriotic, or disinterested,
can be expected from such a man; he is cruel, vindic-
tive, avaricious, fraudulent, and roguish in the extreme;
he only seems to have been placed among mankind, as
a sort of standard of meanness and demerit, by which
we are enabled to measure and duly appreciate  the
elevation  of character and dignified virtues of other
men.   There are various degrees of misanthropy, in a
descending scale  from that which  characterized  the
mind and feelings of  "Timon of Athens," downward
to the mean,  sordid, and exclusive self-love, which
manifests itself in taking all possible  advantages of
mankind, for the  hoarding  and accumulation of ill-
gotten wealth.  These pigmy misanthropes, or haters
of mankind  on a petty scale, are everywhere  to be
found.  They are the scoundrels who, in all societies,
cheat and swindle  upon every occasion; they are the 
#2                    LOVE.

men who will sacrifice, or, in other words, purchase aff
half its value, on an execution sale, the little property
of the needy, and who would not scruple  to rob  the
widow and the orphan of the little that  sickness and
misfortune had  spared  them.   You  will see these
swindling vagabonds, adding hypocrisy to  their petty
villanies, by making an  absolute mockery of religion
itself at the communion table.  That insatiable avarice
is a disease of the mind, there can be no  doubt, and
that this disease requires a moral treatment of cure,
there can  be  as little  question.   If these men would
reflect on the brevity of human life; if they would
consider that  their ill-acquired wealth  must soon pass
from their possession, and that death will unload them
at the gates of eternity, surely they would  soon  disco-
ver the folly, impolicy, and heinous immorality of such
a course.
  The passion  of love, properly so called, or that
strong and indissoluble attachment which frequently
exists between the two sexes," is one of the  noblest and
most powerful emotions that ever animated the  hu-
man bosom.   As I remarked before, under the head
of jealousy, this  pure  and elevated attachment is  the
great solace of human life; the harbinger of success-
ful procreative power; the precursor and nurturer of
successive  millions of the human race; the  great
moral parent of all the numerous races  of men to be
found in every climate of the globe.  It is the native
of every country that has been invaded by the  enter-
prise of man, and is  found to  bloom  and flourish in
perfection wherever man has fixed his habitation.   It
finds a congenial  soil in the booth of  the  hunter, the
hut of the savage, the tent of the wandering Arab,
the leafy bower of the African of the Gambia, as well 
LOVE.
53
as in the haunts of civilization  and the  palaces of
kings.
  As I have remarked under another head, there exists
in the human  bosom, certain  instinctive sympathies
and antipathies, which we are unable to control, either
by the force of moral sentiment or the efforts of rea-
son ;  and which are absolutely inexplicable by all the
boasted powers of human genius.  The existence of
these instinctive  principles, are only known by  our
own  consciousness, and  the powerful  and  decisive
effects they are known to produce.  No two human
beings, especially of different sexes, and more especially
if their affections were unengaged by previous prepos-
sessions, were ever yet in the presence of each other
for any length of time, without experiencing the force,
in a greater or less degree, of the sympathy or antipa-
thy before noticed.   When the attraction is mutually
strong, the parties soon become conscious of a conge-
niality of temper, disposition, taste, and sensibilities;
this sympathetic attraction has, by some writers on the
subject, been denominated "love at first sight." When
on the other hand, the physical, moral, and intellectual
characters of the parties are essentially and  radically
different from each other; in other words, and in more
fashionable phraseology, when  the natural characters
of the parties are the antipodes, or direct opposites of
each other, the repulsive powers of natural antipathy
are so strongly experienced, as to produce  involuntary
hatred, if not fixed and unalterable sentiments of con-
tempt and detestation.  I am thus particular in giving
my opinions on these subjects, not only because I know
that their correctness will be sanctioned bv the actual
experience of thousands, but because I trust they will
be of service to many, in disclosing the extreme dan-
      E 2 
54
LOVE.
ger to human  happiness, which invariably arises from
uniting those  to  each other, by merely artificial and
factitious ties, whom God and nature have put asunder.
By opposition  of  native character, I mean a plain and
palpable dissimilitude of temperament, taste, and intel-
lectual  and  moral pursuits.  Can physical and moral
beauty be in love with physical deformity and moral
depravity of character ?   Can wisdom and intelligence
be in love with folly and stupidity ?  Innocence and
spotless purity with  guilt and  corruption ?  Virtue
with vice ?   No!
         " Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
           That to be hated, needs but to be seen."
  I am willing to admit, and believe it to be strictly
true, that persons who are characterized by vice, cor-
ruption, guilt, stupidity,  folly,  moral  depravity,  or
personal deformity, may form strong attachments  to
persons of  diametrically  opposite  characters:  this
would be but  admitting what every person knows;
that vice and imperfection, under all their various forms
and characters, if endowed with the common faculties
of perception,  must and always will  pay involuntary
tributes of respect, veneration, and  such love as they
are capable of  experiencing, to virtue and moral purity
wherever found.  The love of the depraved and im-
moral  portion  of mankind, is precisely such as may
always be expected from such characters; it is selfish,
base and ignoble; utterly devoid of tenderness and
consideration for the object beloved; it is precisely such
love as the wolf bears for the lamb, or the fox for the
hen-roost!   It has always been matter of much asto-
nishment to me, that females of refined sensibility, lofty
sentiments  of  moral virtue, and  high orders of intel-
lectual  power, should expect a reciprocation of pure 
LOVE.
55
and virtuous love, from the scum and dregs of society,
the off-scourings of brothels, and the hoary and  de-
praved veterans of the gaming table!  They might as
well, I think, and with much better hopes of success,
attempt to extract candour from confirmed hypocrites,.
honour  from thieves, and  humanity from  highway
robbers.  There is no way of solving this enigma, that
I know of, but by supposing that women of virtue and
honour  are incapable of distinguishing the particular
claims which these gentlemen have to their detestation
and contempt; or by presuming  that they always, by
the aid of their imaginations, invest the characters of
such men with factitious virtues, which have no  ex-
istence ; for I cannot suppose they can truly love them.
and yet be  fully acquainted with their intrinsic cha-
racters.  The strength and quality of an attachment,
must certainly depend, in a great measure, on the phy-
sical and moral qualities of the object beloved, and on
the capacities of a lover  to perceive and appreciate
those qualities.  I am perfectly convinced, and that,
too, from experience, that a woman of moral purity of
character, never excites the same impure sentiments
and  base passions, that are produced or excited by a
female of a contrary character, and whose countenance
and deportment betray indications of immoral habits
and loose desires.  There is  something of immaculate
purity; something of the very divinity of virtue,  in
the countenance and deportment of a woman of chaste
desires, elevated moral sentiments, and cultivated in-
tellectual powers, that represses the low-born sugges-
tions of lust and  depravity, and  awes all the vicious
passions  into cowardly submission to the dignity of
female perfection.  No man, however vicious and de-
praved in his habits and pursuits, ever yet had the 
56
LOVE.
 impudence and audacity to contemplate the deliberate
 seduction of an accomplished  and beautiful woman,
 unless he were under the influence of a species of libi-
 dinous insanity; had formed a contemptible  opinion
 of the  female character,  or had discovered some vul-
 nerable part in her armour of chastity and virtue.
   Few women, and I  mention the  fact with much
 regret,  are proof against  the thrilling suggestions of
 vanity, the allurements of flattery,  and the fascina-
 tions attendant  on a passion for general admiration;
 they ought early  to be taught by their parents and
 preceptors that  true pride, which is in reality dignity
 of character, is always hostile to the  foolish and dan-
 gerous suggestions of vanity; that  flattery, called by
 an old and quaint writer, " the  oil of fool," is a direct
 and positive insult; and that a female passion for uni-
 versal admiration,  especially in the married state,  is
 hostile to domestic peace,  and absolutely at war with
 connubial enjoyment and  happiness.
  That flattery is  an insult, is  evident from the  fact
 that no flatterer  ever yet ventured upon  the practice
 of his art, without first concluding  that the object of
 his addresses was a fool; the truth  is, that flattery is
 always  addressed  to our  personal  vanity, which in
 plain language means, a strong  propensity to an over-
 estimate of our own merits and perfections.  Manly
 and dignified pride, has always been  found a specific
 against the frivolous passion of vanity, and hence it has
 been frequently said, that a man or woman may be too
 proud to be vain;  the fact is, that vanity is the false
and empty pride of fools!   Napoleon  intended much
when he expressed himself thus to some of his friends:
•• I had hoped  and expected that the  French were a
 proud nation,  but I have  found by experience  that 
LOVE.
57
ftiey are only vain."  The passion for universal admi-
ration is the distinguishing  and strong characteristic
of a coquette;  it is the offspring of personal vanity,
begotten upon  coldness of  temperament, ignorance,
and folly.  A coquette, in the female world, is what a
eoxcomb is among men,  a  being void of sentiment}
sensibility, and  intelligence, and utterly incapable of
genuine love.
  The marriages of both  coquettes  and coxcombs, in
conformity with the coldness and shallowness of their
characters^ are  always predicated on other principles
than those of attachment to the object.   They are
absolutely incapable of feeling the soft refinements, the
elevated sentiments, or the deep-toned energies of real
love; those people are never  in danger of suffering the
tortures of a broken heart,  nor can they experience
either much happiness or  any considerable  degree of
misery in  the  maTried state.  The love of general,
admiration is their master passion j> and whenever this
is the  case, it  is impossible that a concentration of
affections can take  place, and be exclusively directed
to a single object;  fire can  never be produced from
the separated and scattered sunbeams, they must be
concentrated by a  convex glass, called a lens, before
they can be rendered sufficiently intense to produce
warmth, heat and combustion;  The love of general
admiration was wisely implanted in the human bosom,
and for the best of purposes; but wherever it gains the
full possession of the female breast, it  freezes all the
domestic and conjugal affections, and sometimes leads
to jealousy and discontent, with all their dreadful train
of consequences: in other words, and I wish the  sen-
timent to make a well-merited and indelible impres-
sion,, the married man who can prefer  the admiration;
                         8 
58
LOVE.
 pf other women to that of the wife of his bosom, is a
 traitor to all the hallowed solemnities of the marriage
 compact, and a cold  and calculating violator of the
 laws of God!  Nor, on the other hand, is the married
 woman less a traitress to connubial love, to the honour
 and happiness of her husband and  family, and to the
 best interests of society, and domestic enjoyment, who
 can prefer the shallow and superficial admiration of
 fools and coxcombs, to the  deep and  devoted attach-
 ments of a husband, who would not scruple to make a
 sacrifice of life itself to insure her happiness.
           " Woman alone was formed to bless
            The life of man, and share his care ;
            To soothe his breast, when keen distress
            Hath lodged a poison'd arrow there."

  I have mentioned, that persons of diametrically op-
posite physical, moral, and intellectual characters, could
never assimilate with, and become strongly attached
to each  other, notwithstanding the powerful attractions
of the sexual instinct.   By opposite natural and ac-
quired characters, I do  not mean  mere contrasts of
mental  and corporeal  disposition and characteristics.
I cannot otherwise  disclose my   precise  meaning,
respecting things which are direct opposites, and those
which are only contrasts of each other, than by citing
the example of colours. Black and white, for instance,
are the opposites of each other, and when placed in
 juxtaposition, always pain the eye;  but, either of those
colours, when compared with any other of the primi-
tive colours or  even shades, are only considered con-
trasts.   St. Pierre, in his Studies of Nature, has been
explicit on this ingenious and novel subject, which is
certainly worthy  of  much  consideration.   There
seems to exist, between persons of opposite  physical 
LOVE.
59
characters, a decided  indifference  as  regards  sexual
communication; or if  not a decided and entire indif-
ference, there certainly does not obtain between them,
that ardent and passionate sexual propensity, which is
found between persons who are the contrasts of each
other.  I have remarked in innumerable instances, the
strong attachments which existed between persons of
contrasted  complexion, contrasted colours of the eyes
and hair, and especially of strongly contrasted stature
and dimensions;  and I have no doubt, that the  reader
of this new, if not very interesting part of my reflec-
tions, will recollect very many instances, of the exist-
ence  of marriages voluntarily entered into from the
strongest of possible attachments, between persons who,
in point of stature and  size, were  perfect contrasts of
each other.  Ask a tall, robust and athletic man what
sort  of  a wife  he would choose; and  you  will very
soon ascertain that his choice would fall on  a female,
the contrasted  reverse of himself.  In fact, you will
always  find on inquiry, that a lean man  prefers a
woman of  size, and  rather large  proportions; a short
man, a woman of lofty stature, and so  on to the end
of the chapter of contrasts in personal character.  The
gigantic and brawny Roman warrior, Mark Antony,
fell in love with the sylph-like and fairy form of Cleo-
patra, the celebrated Queen  of Egypt, who was re-
markable for being  of very diminutive proportions,
though  very beautiful; in fact, thousands of such in-
stances might be cited from both ancient and modern
history.   The  contrast of physical proportions and
character, united in the marriage  bond, seems to have
been  intended  by Providence to equalize the  breed
of mankind, and to  prevent  them on  the  one hand
from  running up into  a race of  giants, and on  the 
60
LOVE.
other from degenerating into a train of diminutive and
contemptible pigmies.
  But on the subject of contrasts, that is not all; con-
trasts in  moral  and intellectual qualities seem to be
equally favourable to love; and here again I am com-
pelled to resort to figurative language  to convey my
meaning. There are concords and discords  in music:
perfect concords always fall  upon the ear with a dull
and  cold monotony; whilst  perfect discords always
grate harshly on the auditory nerves, producing exqui-
site sensations which are still more unharmonious and
disagreeable.  It will not be.necessary to  say much
on this subject of moral and mental contrasts •; I only
suggest,  that the reader may make his own observa-
tions, respecting this singular anomaly  in the human
character.   We know  perfectly  well, that  persons of
moderate intellectual powers, both  male and female,
provided their tempers and dispositions be  gentle and
amiable, are invariably the  objects of love  and the
most tender regard, with those  who possess uncom-
monly lofty and powerful characteristics of genius and
intellect. This fact is even  so notorious in all socie-
ties, as  to have become a  proverb; and,  how often
.have we all  seen  instances in conjugal life, in which
fortitude has been united to despondency, fickleness
-and inconstancy of resolution, with the most unshaken
and resolute tenaciousness of purpose, timidity with
consummate bravery, and the highest  order of moral
courage, with the  shrinking cowardice of superstition
and childish ignorance.  We know these to  be facts,
and can only account for them on  the great scale of
divine wisdom and providence, by presuming them to
be intended for equalizing the human  species  in wis-
 dom and moral energy, and for forming additional and 
LOVE.
61
indissoluble bonds in the  social compacts  of man-
kind.
  -1 have several times mentioned, and I think demon-
strated, so far as the force of facts and moral reasoning
will go, that the passion of love is measurably invo-
luntary, and beyond  the control of moral sentiment
and  reason; nor can  there, I think, exist any doubt,
not only that  the strength of the passion depends on
the  peculiar temperaments of  individuals,  but  that
the distinctive characteristics of the  passion or emotion
called love, are essentially connected with the physical,
moral, and intellectual qualifications of the objects or
persons beloved.  If,  then, the strength of the passion
is in any proportion  to the natural temperaments of
individuals; and if its peculiar qualities or character-
istics depend on  the natural and acquired qualifications
of the objects of attachment, how ridiculous, absurd,
and  perfectly irrational it  must be for any man or
woman to expect, that he or she can possibly be an
object of attachment  with any person of rational and
scrutinizing mind, on account of qualifications which
are not possessed, and which in fact are  known and
perceived to be entirely wanting.   I mention the sub-
ject in this way, and  place it in this light, in order to
prevent the exercise  of  hypocrisy between the sexes,
which is  always dangerous in its consequences—and
in order, also, that those whose happiness in life de-
pends  on their  being objects  of esteem, friendship.
veneration, attachment, and  love, may see the absolute*
necessity of deserving the homage of such refined and
virtuous sentiments; in other words, that they may be
deeply impressed with the important and eternal truth,
that candour, honour, and moral virtue, are  the great
passports to human happiness. I  have often witnessed
     F 
62
LOVE.
 the tremulous solicitude of females, of the most amia-
 ble and exalted qualities of person and mind, respect-
 ing the public opinion of their merits and character,
 and frequently been interrogated by them on the sub-
 ject.  In these cases, I have uniformly answered, in the
 words of an old  Grecian  sage, '-Know thyself;" and
 your opinions of yourself, if correct and well founded,
 will  be precisely such as  are entertained  for you  by
 those whose esteem and approbation  are  of any im-
 portance.  Genuine and rational  love commences in
 the natural, and, if I  may be allowed the expression
 as applicable to human nature, the instinctive sympa-
 thies  of individuals for the society of each other; it is
 cemented and powerfully strengthened by the endear-
 ments of sexual enjoyment, of which I  have before
 spoken :  and it is crowned with both temporal and im-
 mortal duration, by the mild purity and unfading lustre
 of the moral virtues, and the imposing splendours of ge-
 nius and  intellectual power.  As I said before, it is con-
 fined to no particular climate, and to no exclusive region
 of  the globe; its benign  influence is experienced, as
 well among the polar snows of the north, as in the mild
 climates  of the temperate zones.   It  is the exclusive
 guest of no .particular rank in life : the rich, the poor,
 the exalted, the base, the  brave, are alike participant
 in its genial warmth and heavenly influence.  In the
 words of Laurence Sterne, " no tint of words can spot
its  snowy mantle, nor chymic power turn  its sceptre
 into iron; with love to smile upon him as he eats his ■
 crust, the swain is happier than  the  monarch, from
 whose court it has been exiled " by vice and immorality.
 This is  that undebased and  genuine love, which is
 founded  in unlimited confidence,  mutual esteem, and
 the mild sublimities of virtue and integrity of charac-
% 
LOVE.
63
ter.  It illuminates the countenance with the sparkling
brilliancy of soft  desire; and is in fact  the  safeguard
of female virtue,  and of chastity itself, whenever as-
sailed by unprincipled and seductive fascination.
  With respect to the passion of  love, there is a com-
mon error of female education, which will also apply
to the early instruction of males, of which I must speak
in plain terms in the conclusion of this subject   Eve-
ry human being, at a very early  period of life,  from
peculiar modes of instruction, and the examples pre-
sented to the mind, forms some idea of the qualifica-
tions  which constitute human excellence.   If, for in-
stance, at an  early period, the parents and instructors
of a female impress upon her mind, that the mere de-
coration of the person will render her an  object of
tender regard, without the cultivation of her moral and
intellectual qualities, the result will  be, and it cannot
be  avoided, that aiming at what she believes to be the
great excellence of the female character, both her mo-
ral and intellectual energies will retrograde into bar-
renness and insipidity: in other words, she will become
what the world denominates a pretty woman, the idol
of  fools  and  coxcombs, but an object of compassion,
indifference, or contempt, with men of lofty sentiments
and distinguished characters.  Peter the Great of Rus-
sia (on account  of her  superior intellectual endow-
ments) chose for a wife, and  made  her empress, a
woman  of obscure and  lowly  origin.   And in  more
modern  times (I had the information from a person
well acquainted with the facts) we find  the spirit, dis-
crimination, and  sound judgment of Peter the Great
respecting the value of a woman of a cultivated mind,
revived in the person and character of Lord  Morgan.
Sidney Owenson, his present wife, was the daughter of 
64
LOVE.
a comedian on the Dublin stage.  At an early period,
this youthful female discovered strong traits of genius of
a literary character, and Ovvenson, though in impove-
rished circumstances, determined to educate his daugh-
ter.  He did so; in consequence of which she became
an object of strong attachment with a man of distin-
guished mind, who preferred  her to the titled and the
rich, and she is now Lady Morgan.
  Mrs. Hamilton, a lady of some celebrity, who has
written much on female education, makes the follow-
ing remark on women: " Where there is no intellect,
there is no moral  principle;  and where there is  no
principle, there is no security for female virtue."   This
is the truth, but not the whole  truth: had Mrs. Hamil-
ton recognised religion as an  essential prerequisite in
preserving  the  moral virtues of woman, she would
probably have said all that was necessary on female
education.  The accomplishments of women ought
always to have some relation  to their future duties in
life; but it is evident, that the cultivation of their minds,
cannot with justice to themselves and society be dis-
pensed with, no matter what  may be their future de-
stinies.  A cultivated mind is a never-failing passport
to the best society; it always  insures the extension of
friendship and civility, when accompanied by correct-
ness of conduct and a virtuous  deportment; it prevents
women  from becoming the dupes of artifice, and the
victims of seduction; it expands the heart  to all the
principles of sympathetic feeling for the distresses of
others, and induces a commiseration for the misfortunes
of mankind;  it holds up to a  distinct and scrutinizing
examination, the real characters of men, and enables a
woman to make a judicious selection  betwixt men of
real worth and coxcombs and fools, by which, if wealthy 
                      LOVE.                    65

and  distinguished by personal beauty, she may heper-
secuted with addresses.   It fits her for the superinten-
dence and regulation of a family, and enables her to
make correct impressions on the minds of her offspring.
  The want of mental culture,,among females of all
ranks in life,  has frequently led to disastrous conse-
quences.  By mental culture, I do not mean those
shallow and  frivolous accomplishments which  are
sometimes taught at boarding-schools, nor do I mean
by a refinement of the female mind, a proficiency in
drawing roses which resemble a copper coin, in thrum-
ming a waltz on the piano, or fidgeting through  the
lascivious  gesticulations of an Italian  or French fan-
dango !  I mean, by mental culture, the acquisition of
solid accomplishments ; those which can be rendered
useful to domestic policy, be an example to  society in
the correction of its morals, and reflect honour on the
national character.  Such an education always represses
the waywardness of the fancy, and lops away the use-
less, and  often dangerous exuberance of a powerful
imagination;   it affords a  never-failing resource of
comfort in solitude, and finds a healing balm  for  the
wounds of a  wayward and unfortunate destiny.  In
fine, no woman possessed of a judicious  education,
even under the pressure of the most trying misfortunes,
ever yet lost the just equipoise between her strength
and  sensibility, or  became  the victim of a broken
heart!
  The exquisite miseries  which spring from disap-
pointed  love, and sometimes terminate  in  a  broken
heart, (for I am well persuaded  there is really such a
disease,) always arise from visionary creations of the
fancy, and disorders of  the  imagination:  in other
words, they are the  offspring of overstrained and ima-
      F2               9 
66
LOVE.
ginary conceptions of the qualifications of the object
of attachment; they are, in fact, the melancholy re-
sults of an over-estimate of  the virtues and perfections
of human nature;*of.which- the woman of a culti-
vated mind, and really philosophic acquisitions, stands
in no possible danger.  A woman who cultivates her
imagination by the unlimited perusal of novels and
romances, at the expense of the solid qualities of her
understanding, is  always in danger of becoming the
victim of a wayward fancy; and, should she live  to
have the errors of her imagination corrected by prac-
tical experience, will have nothing of the imagination
left, but the ashes of a consumed sensibility, on which
no future attachment can possibly be predicated.  A
woman of cultivated mind, sees objects as they really
are—and not as they are  clothed by an inflamed and
disordered fancy; she knows that human nature is not
perfection itself, and expects nothing from it, but what
appertains to the natural character of man; she knows
it to be a compound of weakness and strength, virtue
and vice, wisdom and folly: and never over-estimating
the virtues and perfections of an object of attachment*
her desires are chastened by moderation, and her loves
by the high-toned philosophy of true wisdom !  Such
a wroman, unlike the melancholy victim of a morbid
sensibility, and a high-wrought and disordered imagi^
nation, is in no danger  of  sinking into the  diseased
apathy of disappointed love, and becoming the victim
of partial or total insanity, or a disconsolate and broken
heart; for which all the mere medical remedies known
to human genius  and science  are but miserable and
inefficient palliatives.  Religion, change of scenery,
and attractive and interesting company, in some cases
have  considerable  influence in detaching the  mind 
LOVE*
67
from the concentration of its reflections on an object
of deep and vital love; but in the more numerous in-
stances, they have all been known to fail, and even to
baffle all the efforts of friendship and parental attach-
ment.   In fact, it seems to me, and I have paid much
attention to  the  subject, that judicious  education, and
a well cultivated mind, acting as preventatives to the
disorders of  the  imagination, are almost the only and
powerful specifics against the occurrence of the mise-
ries of disappointed love.
                     GRIEF.
  This depressing affection of the  mind, called  a
passion when experienced in the extreme, sometimes
degenerates  into confirmed  melancholy,  despair, and
fatal insanity.   It is the offspring of so many and such
various causes, that it is next to impossible to enume-
rate  them.  It is sometimes caused by cheerless and
gloomy presentiments of the futuFe  : sometimes by the
heavy pressure of present evils and  calamities; and,
not unfrequently, by strong and vivid recollections of
losses which can never be  retrieved.  Against its in-
roads, and often fatal effects on  the health of the phy-
sical system, (which are varied according to the tem-
perament and character of the individual,) neither the
internal nor external exhibition of  medical drugs can
have much avail.
  The force and effect which grief exercises and pro-
duces,  in deranging the functions of  the  physical sys-
tem, seem, in a great degree, to depend on the poig-
nancy and acuteness of those sensibilities which cha-
racterize the  nervous  system.  Where  the nervous 
68
GRIEF.
system  is tremulously sensible, and  easily susceptible
of external impressions, which is generally  the  case
with persons of distinguished  genius, there is invaria-
bly found a constitutional  melancholy, which delights
in retrospections of the past, and serious, if not cheer-
less anticipations of the future. At an early period of
life, these persons are highly susceptible of the charms
of nature, and also of  her more  gloomy and sombre
scenery; and being deeply sensible of the influence of
what to other men would be slight  impressions, their
feelings always exhibit themselves in the extremes of
animation or  depression  of  spirits, for which they
themselves are utterly unable to account.  In fact, it
is not unusual to witness in the varying sensibilities of
these persons, and that  too in the lapse of a single day,
the reflective  calmness and  profundity of  the great
southern Pacific ocean—the urbanity and cheerfulness
attendant on  anticipations of future  prosperity and
happiness—and those storms of ungovernable and un-
subdued passions, whose  undulations  resemble  the
mountain billows of the Atlantic when  lashed by the
hurricanes and tornadoes of the torrid zone !  This is
not only the  constitutional temperament of  true and
unsophisticated genius, of which  so much has been
said, and so  little known, but it is also the soil which
produces sensations of exquisite happiness and misery ;
distinguished principles of moral rectitude and depra-
vity of conduct;  great virtues and great vices !
   Seriousness, depression of spirits, melancholy, grief,
despair, insanity, are but the different modifications of
the same passion or predisposition of the moral facul-
ties, of whose essence *we in reality  know  nothing
abstractedly,  only  differing in  degree  of force and
effect,  in proportion to the strength or  weakness of 
GRIEF.
69
operating causes.   For  instance;  seriousness  and
solemnity of feeling are always produced in a mind
of sensibility and  reflection, by the sight of a dead
body;  of the human limbs lopped away in battle; of
the human mind in ruins; and of human misery exhi-
bited to us under any form : in these cases the effects
produced are only  temporary, and usually pass away
with the removal of the objects which excited them.
If, however, serious and solemn feelings be  often re-
produced in the mind, by  reiterated  exhibitions of
objects capable of exciting them, their impressions will
become more durable, and soon produce an habitual
tone of  feeling, denominated depression  of spirits.
When this depression of spirits is  habitually  indulged
in for any  considerable lapse of time, it is apt to gain
so great an ascendency over the  active and  resolute
powers of the mind, as to dispose  the person  affected
with its influence, to seek, in solitude and  retirement
from society, an indulgence  in inactivity, irresolution.,
and gloomy reflections, which, becoming fixed, and as
it were  immovable, settles down  into  melancholy.
Seriousness, depression  of  spirits, and melancholy,
sometimes  produce mental  derangements: but they
are generally of a harmless, unobtrusive,  silent, and
inoffensive character, where  the nervous system is tre-
mulous and exceedingly delicate:  or where the tem-
perament, if I  may  be allowed  the  phraseology, is
characterized by  weakness, irresolution,  and  timi-
dity.
  Compared with the above affections, which  seem at
first view to have their seat in the  imagination, and by
some  are denominated hypochondria in men,  and
hysterics in  women; grief and despair are certainly
affections of a more active and powerful character, and 
70
GRIEF.
much sooner ending in fatuity or mental exhaustion,
and outrageous or confirmed insanity.
  As I  have somewhere mentioned, and the proba-
bility is that the fact will be acknowledged by all well-
informed  physicians, (by  which  I  mean those who
have discovered how little can be essentially known on
the subject  of  affections of the  mind,) that  the par-
ticular and  direct  influence which  these  and other
strong passions  have in deranging the organization of
the brain, cannot well be ascertained.  All we know
about the matter is, that we cannot think with accu-
racy and profundity of  research, without  a well-
organized brain, and that any derangement of that
organization and its natural functions, produces coequal
and  coextensive derangements, of the intellectual or
mental powers.  The probability  is, that refined, sus-
ceptible, and strong organizations of the brain, consi-
dered in the aggregate, have much influence in im-
parting  to  the mind  those  refinements  of. taste,
susceptibilities of feeling, and superior intellectual ca-
pacities, which we call genius,  for want  of a term
which can be more clearly understood.  We  are per-
fectly aware, that without  a  well-organized  eye,  no
definite  or accurate ideas  can  be formed of colours,
forms, dimensions,  distances:  that without  a well-
organized and susceptible ear, no clear and distinctively
correct  impressions can be  made,  by what  we call
sounds,  or vibrations of the air, for want  of a more
expressive term, on the auditory nerves: that without
a well-constructed nasal organ, vulgarly denominated
a nose, no clear and distinct impressions  can be made
on the olfactory nerves, or nerves of smelling, by the
effluvia  arising  from bodies: that, unless the  portions
of the nervous system which are incorporated with th 
GRIEF.
71
tongue and its appendages, be unobstructed by malfor-
mation of the organs of taste, no distinctions of flavour
could be recognised between sugar, gall, and vinegar ;
and that unless the nerves which are spread over the
cutaneous surface of the body, and particularly that of
the hands, be perfect both in organization and tone, no
adequate or correct ideas could ever  be  formed of the
shape, solidity, &c, of bodies with wiiich we come in
immediate contact.  The fact seems to  be, and I con-
sider the theoretical conjecture inferior to none which
has been published by medical men, that  whenever
the affections of the mind derange the tone and sus-
ceptibility of the senses,  these  derangements always
bring to the censorium, or focal point of mental im-
pression, incorrect and  distorted ideas of  external
objects, which, as in hypochondria, make us believe in   <
the existence of phantasmagoria of a  most childish and
superstitious character.   This is a species of insanity,
connected  with  unnatural  and  painful  seriousness.
habitual  depression of spirits,  and confirmed melan-
choly.
   On the other hand, when afflictive impressions are
made upon  the  mind  of  an  unusually active and
powerful character, and sufficient to impair and par-
tially destroy the organization itself, as in the cases of
intense  and poignant grief, or absolute and hopeless
despair, the partial dissolution of the physical struc-
ture and  organization of the brain, it  is not impro-
bable,  leads to  offensive,  mischievous, and  terrific
insanity, amounting to  absolute frenzy, and  finally
terminating in dissolution.  The fact is, and it is well
known to physicians, that a dissolution of the organic
structure of the frame, if that dissolution take place in
any vital organ,  particularly the brain or stomach, 
72
GRIEF.
between which there exists a close and almost identi-
cal sympathy, decidedly morbid effects are produced
to the whole system, physical, moral and mental; in
fact, the brain  may  be called the father, and the
stomach the mother of the system.
  I have only as yet spoken of the influence which is
produced upon  the physical functions of the system,
by the passion of grief, and other strong affections of
the same or a similar character.  The same  effects as
those produced by the passions above  enumerated, are
sometimes the offspring of other causes, not connected,
in the first instance, with the passions, but which
afterwards  operate strongly upon  them, and assist in
destroying the nervous, vital, and moral functions and
organization of the system.  We know perfectly well,
for instance,  that there are many substances which,
when  taken  into  the  stomach, affect  the  passions
strongly by irritation and excitement: produce morbid
derangements of the physical  functions, and, not un-
freimently, moral and mental alienations.   The effect
of tincture of cantharides  on some  of  the  passions,
when taken into the stomach, is perfectly well known;
nor do I believe, that if its application to the stomach
were long continued,  it  would ever fail to produce
morbid irritations  and inflammations, which would
terminate in functional derangement, and actual dis-
solution of  organic structure in the brain.  The effect
which opium produces, where it is used in immoderate
quantities, as among the  Turks, is well  known; and
that  it not  unfrequently ends in derangement of the
physical  system, and  absolute  insanity  with all its
horrors.   Nor  is  the  intemperate use  of spirituous
liquors, used to  such excess and in such  immoderate
quantities in our own  country, far behind the use of 
GRIEF.
73
opium,  in  producing the same deleterious effects  on
the brain, through  the  medium  of the  stomach.
Every man who will tax his recollections, will find his
memory furnished  with innumerable  instances,  in
which a long  train of physical diseases  has been fol-
io wed by derangements of the intellect, which  none
of the boasted powers of science or medicine could
relieve or rectify, merely from the immoderate use, or
rather abuse of spirituous liquors.   Have we not all
witnessed instances,  in which the abuse of spirituous
liquors  has produced visceral obstructions of a  most
deadly  character: and  mental derangements which
have been confirmed and rendered durable to the end
of life?   How is this  fixed and confirmed mental
alienation to be accounted for, but upon the presump-
tion that those stimulants, long continued, affect not
only the nerves, but the  organic structure of the brain ?
Do we not know that a fit of intoxication is a paroxysm
of mental derangement,  and that impressions often re-
iterated will wear their  channels  in  the  brain, injure
its unrivalled  and delicate  organization, and render
those effects  durable?   What are the effects which
immediately  follow  a fit of excessive  intoxication?
Are they not the very same as those produced by the
influence of  the passions  of which I  have before
spoken?  Are they not seriousness, depression of
spirits, melancholy, grief, despair, insanity ?  This is
the point at which I  intended to arrive.  I intended to
demonstrate in a plain  and simple manner, that dis-
ease, insanity, and death are produced as well by moral
as by  physical causes; and  that a physician ought to
ascertain both the state of the  body and mind, if he
really intends to effect a cure, or removal of the  class
of diseases  just mentioned.  I know it to be a com-
      G                 10 
74
grief.
mon practice w ith physicians, to listen  to long details
of the physical symptoms of their patients,  without
the least inquiry as to the moral or mental causes of
their diseases; when the fact is, that in five cases out
of ten, arising among persons  of sedentary, refined,
luxurious, studious, and intellectual habits; and among
delicate females,  in seven cases of disease out of eleven,
particularly those which are obstructional, the causes
will be found seated in the mind and passions.  I need
not enlarge on this subject; every man possessed of any
experience and  common sense, must have observed,
both on himself and others, the remarkable effects pro-
duced on  the physical system by the mind and pas-
sions ; nor can such an individual be ignorant of the
fact, that deleterious  substances, when taken  into the
stomach, frequently operate with immense power on
the passions, as well as on the organic structure of the
physical system.   The truth is, that although w7e are
well convinced of the intimate connection of the mind
and body, and also  of the reciprocal influence  they
always  exercise  alternately over each  other,  no man
has ever yet been able fully to develope  the mysteries
of that connection, or the natural mediums  through
which they operate on, and  influence each other; in
other wrords, all  we certainly  know  respecting the
matters under consideration, must be confined to the
effects daily  and hourly witnessed, in the reciprocal
and varied action of the mind and its passions, and the
body and  its affections, on each  other.
   When morbid derangements of the  system are de-
rived from the  action of the mind and passions the
consuiations of  religion and  philosophy are  of  "Teat
importance; because they teach  mankind, in a language
not \q  be misunderstood, that  cheerless and gloomy 
GRIEF.
76
 presentiments of the future, only unfit us for combating
 and vanquishing present difficulties: that the heavy
 pressure of present evils, and  calamities which are
 irremovable, are lightened  of  half their ponderous
 and depressing influence  by that masculine fortitude
 which is derived from the inspirations of wisdom, and
 that celestial hope of relief  which springs from genu-
 ine religion : and that it is the height of human folly
 and weakness unavailingly to mourn over losses which
 can never be retrieved!   When the causes of our dis-
 eases and miseries are connected with physical princi-
 ples in some degree under  our  control, it becomes a
 moral  duty, as far as it be  possible, to remove them :
 and that too by physical means: and lam decidedly
 of opinion, generally speaking, and  a few individual
 cases which might be enumerated left out of view, that
 moral causes of diseases and misery are to be combated
 by  moral means—and that physical causes of function-
 al  derangement, and violations  of organic  structure
 derived from such causes, are to be combated and over-
 come by physical  means.   I am perfectly willing to
 admit, that the  influences of the imagination, and of
 the animating passions, are very considerable in pre-
 venting disease, and removing obstructions when not
 firmly seated; but I am not willing to allow that either
 the imagination  or the animating passions, can  render
 flexible  the coats  of an ossified artery^ or remove  a
stone from the bladder!   The  fact is, that the line of
demarcation where moral  causes cease to  operate, and
where the influence of physical ones commences, is  a
mystery hitherto too profound and  inscrutable for the
boldest efforts of human genius.  We are well aware
that many malformations of the human fetus take place
previous to birth, such as in cases of hare-lip, external 
76
GRIEF.
 impressions on the skin, &c. but at what period of ges-
 tation such malformations  and external  impressions
 cease to be made, it is absolutely impossible to conjec-
 ture with even a probability of truth.
   The following case of the powerful effects of imagi-
 nation, put by Doctor Cypricanus, is recorded in this
 work, to place pregnant females on their guard, and to
 exemplify the effects of the imagination on highly sus-
 ceptible materials.   " A female child," says this distin-
 guished man,'; was born with  a wound in her breast
 above four inches in length.  It penetrated to the mus-
 culi intercostales, and was an inch broad, and hollow
 under the flesh round about the wound; besides which,
 there was a contusion with some swelling, at the lower
 part of the wound inside.  The child  came into the
 world  without any violence; and consequently it did
 not receive the wound in its birth; it was caused by
 the strength of the imagination; for, about two months
 before, the mother had, by chance, heard a report that
 a man had murdered his wife, and with his knife had
 given her a great wound in the breast—at which rela-
 tion she changed, but not excessively.  It is not merely
 probable, but absolutely certain, that the child received
 the wound  in its mother's body at the very moment
 she was affrighted; because the wound was very sordid,
 and the inside, as well as the outside, beset with slime
proceeding  from the water in which  the child lies in;
its mother's wromb—besides which, it had every appear-
ance of an old wound."
  The effects of grief, which is an extremely depress-
ing passion, and its morbid influences on the body or
physical system, are very remarkable.   It  diminishes
bodily  strength in general, and also the action of the
heart in particular.   It impedes  the circulation of the 
GRIEF.
ft
fluids, stagnates the bile invariably, atld occasions indu-
rations of the liver; or by throwing the bile into the
circulation of the blood, it produces jaundice or dropsy.
Grief also diminishes the perspiration, renders the skin
sallow, aggravates  the  scurvy; and is  particularly ef-
fective in producing and aggravating putrid fevers: it
also disposes persons t6 being easily affected with fever,
arising from excessive  irritability, or  constipation or
costiveness of the bowels.  Its effects in changing the
colour of the hair are well known; and many ipstances
have occurred, in which the hair has been turned from
a deep black to gray in  a few hours.  From grief,
blindness, gangrene, and even sudden death, or as it is
emphatically called, a broken heart, have  not unfre-
quently  resulted.   From  the excess of  this  passion,-
persons who indulge in melancholy reflections for any
length of time, become peevish and fretful; and so ex-
tremely irritable that their minds find new food for
sorrow in every object presented to them.   Thus the
whole  imagination  becomes seriously affected with
confirmed melancholy, sometimes producing  nervous
fevers, or, what  is  still  more dreadful, total insanity.
The remedies, usually resorted to with  salutary effects,
are gentle  opiates taken  with caution; exercise on
horseback;  change of  scene;  the use of  the swing,-
which has in very many instances  produced  signally
beneficial effects;  friction of the body  and  limbs with
flannel or a  flesh brush—this friction ought to be fre-
quently resorted to and continued, to give  impetus to
the blood, when the extremities become cold; wash-
ing the  body with strong  vinegar, &c.  Mild wines
temperately administered,  may be given, and should
they produce acidity of the stomach and loss of appe-
tite, exercise and other tonics ought to be resnrto^ + 
78
GRIEF.
Change of climate is often in desperate cases found be-
neficial, also a diversion of  the  mind from  its original
imaginations, and particularly the frequent use of the
tepid bath is recommended : and in cases of the  sup-
pression of the menstrual discharge occasioned by grief,
the tepid bath  has  invariably  been found beneficial.
The powerful influence of the  mind upon the womb,
when affected by grief, can scarcely be computed by
the best observers; who generally attribute to merely
physical causes, effects which are to be sought for in
the mind.  But more will be developed on this import-
ant subject, as regards female  diseases, under another
and more appropriate head.

                                           i
               INTEMPERANCE.

  Intemperance is the offspring of so many and such
various causes, that it seems impossible to  enumerate
them, or even to reduce them to any thing like scien-
tific order.  I will commence my remarks on intempe-
rance, which-, in its broadest signification, means excess
in the  gratification of our propensities,  passions, and
even intellectual pursuits, by emphatically observing
that it is generally found in strong  and intimate con-
nexion, when really traced to its origin, with the plea-
sures and enjoyments, as well as with the miseries and
misfortunes of mankind.  I have before remarked un-
der another head, that with regard to  the elementary
principles of the passions, propensities, and intellectual
powers of man, we know absolutely nothing with cer-
tainty;  and that all we  can possibly understand with
respect to them, is derived from our consciousness of 
INTEMPERANCE.
79
their* existence,  and from  the  effects  they  daily and
hourly produce upon our observation.
  Every capacity or power of the human system,
physical and intellectual, when exercised in modera**
tion and with strict conformity to the laws of nature,
is productive of enjoyment and happiness: this naftural
and moderate exercise of our propensities, passions,, and
mental energies, when matured into habits of life and
character, we call temperance; and it- is  the abusive
degradation of those same intellectual powers, passions
and propensities, by their unrestrained and  excessive
indulgence, to the destruction- of health and happiness,
that we call intemperance.  I will give some familiar
examples of the application of  these principles*, in or-
der that they, may be fully comprehended by those for
whom I write.  We are all liable to hunger and thirst;
and all  of us require sleep, for the  renovation of our
bodily flnd mental powers, when fatigued.  These  are
natural  wants; and their gratifications are always es*-
sential to health and happiness.  We all know perfectly
well,  for instance, that when  wt satisfy our  hunger
and thirst in moderation, and  renew the strength of
our systems, of mind and body, by sleeping no more
than the requisite time for producing those effects,  the
satisfaction of these natural .wants invariably produces
healthy action of body and mind, attended with* enjoy-
ment  and pleasure.   But, on the other  hand, when in
eating or drinkingf we overload! and surcharge the sto-
mach with meat and drink, and when in sleeping take
more  repose than is required for the renovation of our
bodily and mental  systems,  our excesses are  always
productive of nausea, uneasiness, indigestion, and stu-
pidity, and we habitually become gluttons, drunkards,
and sluggards, and  are a disgrace to ourselves and  so- 
&.0               INTEMPERANCE.
ciety.   The same doctrine and mode  of reasoning
may be applied to the passions of  mankind.   When
they are indulged in with  natural moderation, and
never suffered to run into riot and excess, they are al-
ways conducive to health ; and productive of many of
the enjoyments and pleasures of life ;  but, when they
gain the ascendancy of the moral feelings and rational
powers, when they prostrate the bulwarks of religion
and  morality, and are indulged in all their debasing
and  destructive excesses, the progress of the  passions
proclaims the premature decay of health, strength, and
happiness, and emphatically announces to the unfor-
tunate victims of excess, that they are fallen  indeed!
In truth, what has just been remarked with regard to
the natural wants and passions of men, may With strict
justice be applied t6 the  lofty and powerful  energies
of the mind itself.  It has been truly remarked by an
acute and profound  investigator of  the faculties of the
mind, that " he who thinks with great intenseness and
profundity, will not continue to do so for many succes-
sive years": and in  proof of this, I will  note some in-
stances which will have much weight in demonstrating
the  fact.  Sir Isaac Newton, who was probably the
greatest astronomer and mathematician of his own or
any other age, several years previous to the close of his
life, was utterly unable to  comprehend the meaning
of his own works ;  in addition to which I will notice
as a well authenticated fact, that the celebrated Dean
Swift, the energies  of whose mind were inferior to
those of no literary man of the same age, several years
previous to his death, became a driveller and confirmed
idiot.   Whether it be true, that intense, subtile, and
powerful intellect,  acts upon the mere carcass as a
sharp sword does upon the scabbard; or whether the 
                  INTEMPERANCE.               81

mind itself becomes exhausted and worn  out, by an
overstrained and  continued excitement of  its powers,
I leave for metaphysicians to determine: but we  cer-
tainly do  know,  and the experience of all ages and
generations proves the fact, that excessive mental ex-
ertion not only produces fatigue and lassitude in a few
hours, but that if such  exertion be continued for a few
years in succession, it invariably  blunts  and wears
down the keenest and soundest intellectual energies of
man.  The broad and  comprehensive view I have just
given of temperance and intemperance, in regard to the
physical wants,  passions, and intellectual  powers of
man, I believe to be the only correct exposition on ge-
neral principles that can be given; because it embraces
all the destructive excesses to which man is prone, and
refers all those excesses to the abuses and degradations
of his elevated and noble faculties.
  I commenced with remarking, and I wish the prin-
ciple to be kept in view by the reader,  that the vices
of intemperance, when fairly traced to their origin, will
always  be found in  connexion with the enjoyments
and pleasures, as well as with the miseries and misfor-
tunes of mankind.
  Mankind may be distinguished into two great classes
or divisions: First, those whose pleasures and enjoy-
ments, and whose pains and miseries partake so great-
ly of a physical character, as nearly always to be refer-
able  to corporeal or  bodily functions and sensations:
this Class is composed of men who are properly deno-
minated  sensualists; in  other words, they are  indi-
viduals who can only be rendered happy or miserable
through  the  medium  of the senses.   Second, those
whose general characters partake more of  the nature
 nd  habitual influence  of the intellectual powers; and
                        11 
82              INTEMPERANCE.

of the emotions and passions of the mind; and whose
enjoyments, pleasures, sufferings, and miseries, are more
intimately connected with the mind and imagination;
these may With much propriety be denominated men-
talists.  Among the great aggregate  of mankind, the
reality of the distinction between animal and intellect-
ual man, as regards the native basis Of the human
character towards one or the other extreme, is demon-
strable from the following facts:  Hunger and thirst,
for instance, are corporeal wants; they are essential to
the health, strength, and support of the physical or bo-
dily system; and may be called  corporeal or bodily
passions, when they become so powerful as to impel
men to gluttony and drunkenness:  desires and pro-
pensities being nothing more, when considered in rela-
tion to the corporeal system, than slighter shades of the
physical wants and passions of  men.  Love and ambi-
tion, on the contrary,  are passions of the mind and
imagination: they are the offspring  of refined sensi-
bility, and deep-toned energies of intellectual charac-
ter ; and when acting in their native  sphere, are so far
abstracted from all corporeal considerations, that they
only occasionally act on the physical wants and pas-
sions, and then  only  for the attainment of specific
objects.   When the passion of loVe, for instance,  is
directed  to  the  perpetuation  of the human species,
which, I will remark in passing, was not the case in the
love Which existed between Jonathan and David, the
intellectual passion of love only acts on the sexual and
corporeal  functions; but I would ask any skeptic on
this point, whether the love of literature, mathematics,
astronomy, or any other science or intellectual pursuitr
has any connexion whatever with propensities, wants,
and passions, founded on the merely corporeal or bodily 
INTEMPERANCE.
83
functions of mankind.  And  surely it will  not be
questioned., that the food and nourishment required for
exercising, giving  pleasure to,  and strengthening  the
mind, are essentially different from those required for
the sustenance, health, and strength of the body: and
we all know perfectly well, in reference to the corpo-
real and  intellectual functions  and capacities of men,
that the strong predominance of either class operates
unfavourably and sometimes destructively to the other.
The fact is, that we oftentimes find  the loftiest and
strongest passions and mental energies, connected with
delicate and sometimes feeble corporeal organization,
debility of stomach, and prostration of strength : nor is
it unusual to observe, that those who possess uncom-
monly high health and physical strength, are frequent-
ly in the other extreme, as regards the exercise of  the
mind and passions.  But further;  every man who has
acquired  any experience, respecting those states of  the
physical system when the mind and passions act with
the greatest force,  must know that a  full stomach al-
ways blunts the mind and feelings; and that inanition
or emptiness of the stomach, is favourable to intellect-
ual operations.   This fact  is so well  known, that the
Creek Indians, in all their public deliberations on im-
portant national concerns, use what they call the black
drink, made of the parched leaves of the spice-wood
boiled, which vomits them copiously and produces  the
inanition just mentioned:  without which, they allege.
they are inadequate to deliberating on  their  national
affairs.  Some medical writer has remarked, that phy-
sical debility, and a diseased state of the system, impart,
as it were, a preternatural excitement to the mind; and
instances the cases  of Boilieu, Erasmus, Pascal, Cicero,
Galba, Pope, and several  others, wrho were as remark- 
84              INTEMPERANCE.

able for the feebleness of their physical constitutions,
as they were for their gigantic energies  of intellect:
the same writer also remarks, that abortive, feeble, and
sickly  children,  almost invariably  display powerful
characteristics of intellect when growm to maturity;
and instances the cases of the great Lord Lyttleton and
Mrs. Ferguson, both  of whom  were  seven  months'
children:  to which  he might have added  the case of
Richard the  Third, who, according to  Shakspeare's
account, was " deformed, unfinished, and sent into this
breathing  world scarce half made up."   On the other
hand, it has frequently been remarked by men of acute
and scrutinizing minds, that high health, great corpo-
real strength, and uncommon muscularity of frame,
are seldom remarkable for subtile and profound genius,
or for  an  attachment to purely intellectual pursuits.
This is so  notoriously  true, that  the opinions generally
formed by the vulgar, of the persons of men  who are
conspicuous and renowned  for great intellectual pow-
ers, are almost invariably the very reverse of what may
be called the corporeally contemptible realities.  In de-
monstration of this fact, innumerable instances might
be given, in addition to those found in  the persons of
Alexander of  Macedon, Frederick, king  of  Prussia,
John Philpot Curran, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamil-
ton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jack-
son, and, lastly, the late  Emperor Napoleon, who  was
nicknamed by his own soldiers,  from his contemptible
stature and proportions, the little corporal.  I will here
make an observation  on this subject, which I do not
recollect to have seen made by any writer.   We are
always to presume, that the soundness and strength of
the physical constitutions of men, lead to great longe-
vity or length of days: and  it is a fact,  as notorious as 
INTEMPERANCE.
85
•rue,that such  men are seldom or never possessed of
much mind; in other words, the sword  is not suffi-
ciently sharp to cut the scabbard,   I am acquainted
with a man, a pauper, of this country, who is said from
good authority to be one hundred and ten  years of age,
who, I was  informed on inquiry, never,  even in  the
meridian of  life, had more than a very ordinary mind:
and Thomas Parre, who died in London on the 16th
November, 1635, aged one hundred and fifty-two years,
it is said, was greatly noted for having been a man as
remarkable for  his deficiency of mental energies, as for
his lascivious and sensual propensities.   " It wras  ob-
served of him," says  the London Medical Museum,
" that he used  to eat often, both by night and by day,
taking up with old cheese,  milk, coarse  bread, small
beer, and  whey; and which is more remarkable, he
ate at midnight, a little  before he died ; and on being
opened  after his death, his  body was still found very
fleshy.  I would by no means wish to be understood,
that there are no individuals possessed of high health
and great physical strength, who are remarkable for
strong intellectual powers;  Newton, Johnson, Shak-
speare, and a thousand other instances might be given
as exceptions to the general  rule just noticed; but wTe
are all well convinced, not only that high health and
strength lead  to corporeal  amusements  and pursuits
unfavourable  to intellectual improvement, but  that
debility and disease act in various ways extremely fa-
vourable to  accessions of mental strength.  In the first
place, debility and disease lower the tone of those pas-
sions  which impel us to active exertion and amuse-
ment;  in other words, they impose a  powerful re-
straint  on  the physical appetites and   propensities;
circumscribe us to amusements and pursuits connected
      H 
86
INTEMPERANCE.
with the operations  of the mind,  confine us to  the
company of our elders, whose superior experience and
knowledge are  beneficial to our intellectual improve-
ment;  and "by keeping up an action in the brain, in
common with other  parts of the body, they tend to
impart vigour to the intellectual faculties."
  From what has been  sajd, I  think  it will appear
evident, that from both natural and accidental  circum-
stances, there is a distinction to be dfawn between
those men  whose pleasures and pains are connected
with physical or corporeal character, and those whose
enjoyments and miseries are more intimately associated
with the powers and  passions of the mind; and it was
for these reasons that I alleged in the outset, not only
that intemperance was the offspring of various physical
and intellectual causes, but that when traced  to its
origin,  it would generally be found in strong and  inti-
mate connexion, as well with the pleasures and enjoy-
ments  as with the miseries and misfortunes of man-
kind.   This is a view of  the subject of intemperance
and its causes, which I presume  has never before been
taken by any writer; and although it must of neces-
sity, like every thing else human, be subject to imper-
fections both in data and  conclusions, jet it may have
some salutary tendencies.  It may possibly invite  the
attention of  the learned to further  and more  satisfac-
tory investigations of the subject; it may exhibit  the
necessity of seeking  for the real causes of intemperr
ance,  in removing  its habits and  effects  from  the
human system ; and it may invite society to the  exer-
cise of more lenity and compassion, when  labouring
for the reformation of its unfortunate and melancholy
victims.  Abuse and degradation were never yet in-
fluential in  reforming the intemperate; for, what 
INTEMPERANCE.
67
interest did any man ever yet feel for the* preservation
of that which  he has been  convinced, by abuse and
degradation, Was  of no estimation or value?  Intem-
perance is confined to no rank in life; to no particular
grade  of genius  and  intellectual power,  between a
Socrates and an  idiot; it is  found in the  hut of the
savage, the haunts of the learned,  the  hovel  of the
beggar, and in the palaces of kings; its causes are as
various as  the  capacities of man for enjoyments and
pleasures, and as multiplied as the various miseries and
misfortunes to which he is subjected  through life:
what a farce then it must  be  for any  physician to
attempt to remove the different causes  of intemper-
ance, without knowing what those causes are, and by
the application of one specific remedy fo such an infi-
nite variety of causes.  Would you attempt to remove
diseases of the mind, by merely physical remedies?
Would you, on the other hand, hope for the  removal
of merely  corporeal  diseases, by the application  of
intellectual means?   Would you soothe the mental
anguish of remorse, without the consolations of reli-
gion, and assurances  of Divine forgiveness ?   Would
you, in other words, attempt to destroy a poisonous
variety of plants,  without striking at the roots of their
existence and vitality ?
  The mere pleasures of sense, as well as those of the
intellect, are  susceptible of being, rendered more in-
tense by the application of stimulants:  in the varied
and endless Catalogue of stimulating  powers are to be
found all the  great allurements to dissipation and con-
firmed intemperance; but it will hardly be contended,
that one grade of stimulants possesses the same strength
and adaptation of allurement, with all the varieties of
mankind.   Physically  speaking, one man's system is- 
88
INTEMPERANCE.
excited to pleasurable sensations by snuff, the system
of another By tobacco, of another by wine, of  a fourth
by spirits and opium, of a fifth by highly seasoned and
stimulating food, &c. &c; and we  are all perfectly
aware, that a persistency in the use of any, or all the
above stimulants, will  sometimes degenerate into a
confirmed habit of  intemperance in  their  use, too
strong for the  restraints of either the moral  or intel-
lectual energies of the self-devoted victims.  You  will
frequently hear the  devotees of any, or all the above
excesses, execrating the very  agents they employ  in
wearing dowm their constitutions with incidental dis-
eases  and premature  decay, and  moralizing  with the
finest touches of elocution on the heinousness and im-
morality of such dangerous and degrading excesses;
and what does all this prove?  Why, it demonstrates
conclusively, that the habits of dissipation and intem-
perance, like all other derelictions from the  standard
of nature and philosophic moderation, are to be resisted
in their first  formation, and before they  can acquire
the resistless force of torrents, before which all human
resolutions, and efforts of  preservation, sink to rise  no
more!  There are  two periods of human life; there
are two marked and distinct periods in the progressive
excesses of dissipation and intemperance.  In the rise
of life, we act u.pon every thing around us from a con-
fidence in oar own strength, and a consciousness of
being able to master and shape our own destinies:. in
the  decline of life, when the physical,  moral, and
mental energies begin to fail, we act upon less resolute
and less confidential principles; in other words, we
merely act on the defensive,  and resort to expedients
for warding  off diseases,  dangers, and death.  These
two  periods are strongly marked  in the lives and 
INTEMPERANCE.
89
 characters of all men ; from the general, who achieves
 victories in his youth, and sustains defeat in his old
 age, to the man of intellectual powers and pursuits,
 who, like  the  immortal Milton, writes a "Paradise
 Lost," in the meridian of life and intellectual resolu-
 tion, and a " Paradise Regained," when  the tremors of
 old age and irresolution have erept over him.  This is
 a faithful picture of a man of dissipation and intemper-
 ance.  At  first he adventures on an excess, partly from
 the attractive force of the allurement, and partly from
 the consciousness of moral and intellectual resolution
 to withstand any temptation to dangerous indulgence.
 In the formation of intemperate habits, this  is a pre-
 carious and hostile ground:  the Scripture says,  "let
 him who stands, take  heed lest he fall."   The  habit
 of intemperance is of slow or rapid growth, in propor-
 tion to the strength or weakness of our resolutions to
 withstand  temptation.  Where many and strong
 motives combine to retard our progress  in excesses of
 intemperance, we advance  slowly and  almost imper-
 ceptibly to self-destruction.  When the  animations of
 youth, and the convivialities of conversation, are suffi-
 cient for the  production  of pleasurable sensations:
 when we-are  highly susceptible of impressions  from
 the varied  charms of nature:  and while the  brilliant
 prospects of along and animated life, seem " to bid an
 eternal  Eden smile around us," the temptations to
 degrading intemperance are only those which enhance
 the intensity of other pleasures.  But,  in proportion
 as all these fairy prospects fade  on the vision; in pro-
portion as the repetition of these enjoyments causes us
to lose the sentiment of novelty, and especially when
satiety of such enjoyments produces lassitude and cold-
 ness, we  invariably  descend  to more sensual and
     H 2       *         12 
90               INTEMPEllANCE".
intense expedients, for renewing sensations of pleasure:
and unfortunately for mankind, those  expedients are
too often connected with the dissipations and intem-
perance of the glutton, the  epicure, the opium-eater,
and the drunkard.  This descent  to  confirmed  habits
of intemperance, in all its varied stages  of degradation,
need not be delineated ; these graduated debasements
are visible in every  department of society, and are so
common,  as  almost everywhere to have  lost their
novelty and impression.
  I have not yet spoken of those dissipations, which
seem to be connected with the energies and passions of
the mind, and compared with which, the intemperate
excesses of the mere animal  appetites and passions of
man dwindle into a comparatively insignificant  and
ordinary character.  Where  the character of  an indi-
vidual  is decidedly intellectual, there always  will be
discovered, at an early period of life, a strong native
propensity to an indulgence  in  intellectual pleasures,
and in  those passions which are  more closely allied to
the mental powers.  I mean here those pleasures of
the mind, which have their  rise in the memory, the
understanding, the imagination, &c, and those which
are the offspring of an indulgence in those passions of
the mind,  which we  call love, hope,  ambition,  &c.
With regard to  the pleasures of memory, they are as
various and unlimited  as the  objects by which we are
surrounded in nature: they comprise every thing cog-
nizable by all the senses*of  man,  the impressions of
which can be stamped upon the retentive faculty; and
they embrace, also, those recollections of our own con-
duct, which are fraught with the  pleasures  of a good
conscience.  It is absolutely impossible to define or
limit the pleasures of memory .*  they embrace our pa- 
INTEMPERANCE.
9f
rents, our early friends, and all the objects of our youth-
ful  attachments ; the houses in which we were born
and educated, the haunts of our youthful and innocent
diversions, and  all the objects of our early pursuits.
The pleasures of memory also comprise all we have
learned of the heroism, the magnanimity, and the in-
telligence of the great warriors and sages of antiquity;
they, in fact, embrace all the recollections of the mind,
in its recognisance of all the objects and events which
have ever been pleasing  to us: and they particularly
afford us happiness from a review of a well-spent life.
But are  there  not pains, as wrell as pleasures of me-
mory ?  There are; and  here commences the cata-
logue of dissipations, the first impulse of which is to
be found in the mind.   Was it an inherent baseness
and brutality of native character, that rendered Robert
Burns intemperate?   Was it a bestial  love of  the
liquid  poison, which finally destroyed him, that origi-
nated  and  confirmed  those habits of intemperance
which sent him to an  early grave ?  No:  his dissipa-
tions commenced in the convivialities and pleasures of
a refined, delicate, and  superior mind; and were con-
firmed into habits of intemperance too stubborn for the
eontrol of his moral energies, by the  lowliness of his
fortunes, the poignancy and vulgarity of his sufferings,
and the  pains  of his  memory!   Why do we see a
man  like this, the prey of a  morbid and confirmed
melancholy ?   And  why  do we  hear him warbling
forth his distresses,  when  contemplating  objects yet
dear and painful to his memory, in the following in-
spired and tender strains: '-ye mind me  of departed
hours—departed, never to  return !"  The fate of Ro-
bert Burns has been the fate of thousands, whose names
are lost to fame, and who  have sunk into obscure and 
92
INTEMPERANCE.
lonely graves, unpitied and unknown.  Thomas Paine
once remarked, that one of the greatest miseries of
human life, consisted in not being able to forget what
it was painful to remember.  Mr. Paine's character
was highly intellectual: his whole life had been devoted
to conferring political benefits and  moral miseries on
mankind: and it is not merely possible, but highly
probable, that the desertions of society on account of
his theological writings, and'the pains of his memory,
led to those confirmed habits of dissipation and intem-
perance,  which ultimately  destroyed  him.   But  the
instances just submitted?to the reader, are but two out
of thousands which might be adduced, to prove  the
influence of the pains of memory, in originating and
confirming fatal habits of dissipation and intemperance.
Howr many millions have sunk  into the vortex of in-
temperance,, from the influence  of. those pains* of me-
mory,  called an accusing  conscience ?   Physician,
" canst thou minister to a mind diseased," by medical
prescriptions which can only affect the body ?  Surely
not.
  The pleasures and pains of the understanding come
next under consideration: and present such a field for
the  investigation of philosophy,  as can only be deline-
ated in outlines. Curiosity is the first passion, or rather
emotion  of  the human understanding; it  leads  the
mind to the investigation  and scrutiny of all the  ob-
jects of nature and art which present themselves to
man, betwixt the cradle and the grave: the emotion
or passion of curiosity does  more; it leads  us  to  the
investigation of objects beyond the boundaries of time
and impels us to attempt a revelation of the great enig-
mas of eternity itself!  The mind of man is naturally
attached to truth, and always experiences pleasure in 
INTEMPERANCE.
93
the discovery of itrwhen the disclosure is found bene-
ficial to comfort, health, fame, or to enjoyments of any
description; in all these cases^ and innumerable others,.
we experience what may be called the pleasures of the
understanding.  But has not the human understand-
ing also its pains?  I think so; we all know perfectly
well, that the period of death must  arrive:  and does
not this certain anticipation give pain to thousands?
Is not the fear of death painful ? I will admit that the
uncertainty of the moment, wisely and benevolently-
hidden  from us by  Providence., in some measure
blunts the painful anticipation of death ; but what are
the mental pangs of the convict, who is given to under-
stand that he must be executed to-morrow!  Both the
pleasures and pains of the understanding have relations
to the discovery of truth.   Suppose  a man be  bitten
by a serpent, of whose character he knows nothing; is
he not  alarmed ?  Suppose  that he  immediately dis-
covers the reptile to be harmless;  do not  the mental
pains of alarm cease: and does he not experience plea-
s-are from the consciousness of security from danger?
Here the pleasure of the understanding is derived from
a beneficial  discovery:  but suppose he ascertain that
the reptile by which he has been assailed is of a venom-
ous and fatal character, and that he clearly under-
stands his immediate destiny to be death, are not his
mental  pangs identified with the pains of the under-
standing ?  I have not space, in a work like this, to go
into a philosophical detail of the important truths con-
nected with this subject;  and regret to be compelled
to differ from the authority of the great Doctor Rush,
who alleges that the  pleasures of the understanding
have no antagonists in pain.   A knowledge of facts is
the aggregate amount  of the truths acquired by the; 
u
INTEMPERANCE.
operations of the understanding: where these acquisi-
tions of knowledge develope consequences beneficial
to human enjoyment and happiness, they are  always
productive of pleasure to the mind, through the medi-
um of the understanding: but where, by the operations
of the understanding, the mind is  brought into a full
view of dangerous and disastrous consequences, the
results  are always painful and unhappy.  This I be-
lieve to be a full and fair statement of  the case; and
were it not, I would like to know what influence in
the religious reformation of mankind Could possibly be
derived from faith in the belief of future rewards and
punishments ?  Ignorant of consequences, what to man
would be the happiness or misery of either prosperity
or misfortune ?  And how are either t6 be calculated
without  the operations of the understanding ? can a
man even calculate the results of  a plain question in
arithmetic, without  the  operations of this  mental
power?  It  is  alone  by the pervading  and  subtile
powers of the understanding, that we are enabled to
feel the  realities of either intellectual  pain or plea-
sure, happiness  or misery.   The memory of man acts
upon nothing but facts and events which are past and
gone; but the understanding operates also on the pre-
sent condition  and  circumstances of mankind, and
even extends its views-to futurity; and these  are the
reasons why the pleasures and pains of the understand-
ing  are  more  intense than those of  the  memory.
These are, also, the reasons why we are led astray by
the festivities of present dissipations  and intemper-
ance ; and these  are,  also, the true reasons, why wre
resort to the banquet and the flowing bowl, to drown
both past and  present sorrows connected with the
mind.   Thus we see, that both joys and sorrows are 
                  INTEMPERANCE.               95

 capable of producing habits of intemperance and dis-
 sipation.  Physician, can your medical drugs restrain
 those joys, or remove those sorrows which spring from
 the  mind itself, when all  the maxims,of moral wis-
 dom and philosophy have failed ?  No ; you must re-
 sort to the restraining powers, and the consolations of
 religion and morality.
   The  pleasures  and pains of the imagination com-
 mence  where those of the memory and the under-
 standing terminate.: and there is this specific differ-
 ence between them; the powers of the understanding
 and  memory operate on facts  and probabilities, while
 those of the  imagination riot in the wild excesses of
 fiction, romance,  and absolute improbabilities.   The
 range of the human imagination seems to be unlimit-
 ed ;  and what  is very extraordinary, and something
 difficult to be accounted for,  its vigour and  creative
 powers seem to be proportioned to the weakness and
 want of cultivation of the understanding.   All the re-
 cords which have descended to us from very ancient
 times, seem to favour the presumption, that the empire
 of imagination, fiction, and romance, in the  dark pe-
 riods of antiquity, gave a tone and character to the hu-
 man mind; and that the early records of  history only
 teem with romantic fictions which  defy belief, and
 with delineations of prodigies which never existed, be-
 cause the philosophic investigations of the understand-
ing had not yet corrected the errors of the imagination.
It was probably for these reasons, that Homer, in his
" Iliad," admits and  describes a plurality of gods:  and
that  Ossian's  fancy saw the ghosts of  departed heroes
who had been slain in battle, half viewless among the
clouds of night.  Had the progress and improvement
of Homer's understanding  enabled him to arrive at 
96
INTEMPERANCE.
the sublime conclusion which announces the existence
of one great first cause, he never could have delineated
in poetic numbers the  distinctive characters  of his
fictitious deities; and, had Ossian not been  ignorant
enough  to  believe in ghosts, his imagination never
could have deceived him in the belief, that those of
his  forefathers were witnessing from the clouds  the
sanguinary horrors of his battles!  The fact  seems to
be, as I  have said  before, that the empire of  imagina-
tion commences where the matter of  fact and philoso-
phic operations of the understanding and memory cease;
for I think it will  not be contested, even by men of
ordinary intelligence, that it is impossible to imagine
the existence of a  thing which we are convinced  has
no being; or to fancy a thing to be true, which we
know to be a falsehood.   Can any man imagine  that
sugar is  bitter, gall sweet, or that two and  two make
five ?  No: the truth is, that a knowledge of  facts and
realities  destroys all the  frost-works of  fancy and  fic-
tion, and demonstrates  clearly that philosophy and
science  have nearly extinguished the fire of poetic ge-
nius.  In other words, few men  can  be poets  in this
age  of philosophic improvement, who will not borrow
or steal  from the old writers, or who cannot  find  sub-
jects of poetic inspiration, on which little or nothing is
or can be certainly known.  Newton or Locke would
have cut as contemptible  a figure in poetry, as Homer
and Ossian would have exhibited in astronomy and
metaphysics.
  We all know that the fire  of the imagination is
weakened and destroyed  by old age and experience ;
and that those who always deal in fictions are always
the victims of folly.  The pleasures of imagination are
always  the most brilliant and powerful in the  youth- 
INTEMPERANCE.               97
ful mind; and  the reasons are obvious.   This is the
period when all impressions made on the mind, by dis-
closing  to us the opening  beauties of nature  and the
imposing splendours of creation, are entirely novel and
without alloy.  This is the period when  none of the
cares and anxieties of life overshadow and begloom
the fairy prospect of fancied  and endless  felicities to
come; and this, too, is the period when our youthful
friendships are untainted by a knowledge  of the base1
ness and selfishness of mankind; and our loves of the
supposed divinity of the female character are unalloy-
ed by those appalling discoveries of experience, wisdom,
and philosophy, which teach  us that every thing hu-
man is  imperfect, and  unworthy of our idolatrous de-
votions !  These  are the  reasons why many modern
philosophers have been of opinion, that the state of sa-
vage and uncultivated nature, as regards a more refined
condition of the human mind, is much more conducive
to human happiness than any other; for, says  these
men, " where ignorance is bliss, it is surely folly to be
wise."  If these delusive fascinations of the  imagination
could continue through life, uncorrected by the bitter
lessons of experience and wisdom;  or if man could be
so educated, as never to seek or experience happiness
but in the  realities of  life and nature, the wild  delu-
sions of fancy would  never lead  his judgment astray
in the pursuits of happiness; nor would  he ever be
discontented with the moderate enjoyments which the
realities of existence afford him.  But one of the most
difficult lessons in wisdom  and philosophy is to  be
able to acquire and preserve through life that  balance
of character which preserves to us the innocent delu-
sions of the fancy, without suffering them to interfere
with, and ultimately to destroy, our rational attach-
      I                   13 
98
INTEMPERANCE.
incuts to the colder realities of life.  It is the want of
this just equipoise between philosophic moderation
and strength of judgment, and  the acute sensibilities
allied to a cultivated imagination, that constitutes the
real vortex in which so many men of enlightened and
lofty genius  have sunk to rise no more.  Relying on
the pleasures of imagination for  happiness in early life;'
never dreaming that  they are in a world of sad re-
tdities, which will involve them in misfortunes, against
which nothing but the exercise of prudence and judg-
ment can guard them, and continuing  to  enjoy the
present  moment, without looking forward to the pro-
bable and untoward contingencies  of futurity;  they
are never aroused from their brilliant and illusory vi-
sions of fanciful and imaginary happiness, until  they
are overwhelmed with real miseries and misfortunes,
and pressed upon by those imperious calls of want and
necessity,  which cannot  be silenced  by visionary or
imaginary means.  Here commence those pains of the
imagination, those lacerations of sensibility, and those
horrible anticipations of real and unmitigated suffer-
ing, which no human language can describe, and which
are so often seen to goad  the man of genius and supe-
rior endowments to dissipation and intemperance, and
precipitate him to all the  desperations  attendant on
ruined fortunes, and an early grave!  This is the vortex
that has swallowed thousands of the greatest men that
ever lived;  this is the bottomless ocean that has en-
gulfed millions of the  brightest and most useful men
that ever had  existence : it is useless to speak of the
love of  liquor being the cause of intemperance, as ap**
plied to men of lofty and powerful energies of  mind
and it is worse than useless to attempt the reformation
of such men, without knowing and reaching the real 
INTEMPERANCE.
99
causes of their derelictions.   Nearly all that has been
written on  the  subject  of  intemperance has been
superficial and  nugatory, and confined to the mere
contemplation of its  effects.  Would you prescribe
remedies for the mere effects of a  disease, without
knowing and striking at the real causes ?   Would you
attempt to guard yourself against the pointed dagger
of an assassin, without paralyzing the arm that held it
to your bosom ?   I will admit that you may remove
the diseases and  habits of intemperance, where they
are merely connected with the corporeal  system and
physical sensations of men, and have nothing whatever
to do with the mind, by the?administration of medical
drugs, which will act on that corporeal system, and  by
the substitution of new bodily habits for old ones; but
beyond these points you cannot go by physical means:
when you advance on the confines of the mind and
the intellectual passions, you are in a new region, and
must adapt your means to the origin and nature of the
disease; you must employ the moral powers of dissua-
sive eloquence, the divine consolations of religion, held
out  by Scripture to erring and sinful  man, and its de-
nunciations against the conduct of the self-destroyer;
you must employ the matsims of philosophy, and  the
admonitory precepts of true wisdom; you must soothe
the victim of intemperate despair, with hopes  of a bet-
ter fate, instead  of irritating him by abusive and de-
grading denunciations on account of  his folly.
   But,  as  this is a most  important subject, I will
endeavour to elucidate it a little further.  When the
causes of disease are connected with the mind and  its
passions, mere physical  restraints  and even  punish-
ments will amount to nothing in attempting a cure.
There is a  class of mankind, I will admit, who, like 
100              INTEMPERANCE.
children whose moral susceptibilities  cannot be acted
upon, must be restrained from  excesses, and even  the
commission  of crimes, by ignominious corporeal  ter-
rors and punishments; this class of men always pos-
sesses more  of the physical or corporeal, than of  the
moral and mental character, and  must be acted on by
pillories, whipping-posts, and sometimes gibbets.  But
terrors and punishments which merely affect the body,
have no influence with those men whose minds and
passions are morbidly affected, or those who are under
strong moral impressions of  rectitude of  conduct.
The whole  range of  martyrs,  who have  suffered
unspeakable torments in  the  cause  of religion and
patriotism, demonstrates these facts.  Would you then
attempt to restrain from intemperance, by mere cor-
poreal and physical means, the man whose mind and
passions are affected?   Certainly not;  every man
whose character is decidedly intellectual, feels that his
native dignity is outraged and  degraded  by corporeal
and ignominious restraints or punishments, and will in
nine instances out of ten, destroy himself to escape
from his own sentiments of degradation.   While  the
genius of conquest, in the person of Napoleon, was
lowering by  successive victories all the  national ban-
ners of Europe, a French soldier of the line presented
himself to the emperor, and desired to be shot.   When
interrogated  as to his reasons, he  replied that he had
been sentenced to receive ignominious corporeal pun-
ishment for  some misdeed, rather than  to submit to
which, he preferred  death:  the impression made on
the mind of Napoleon was such, that ignominious
corporeal  punishments were immediately  abolished
throughout the French armies.
  It is almost needless to remark, on those passions of 
INTEMPERANCE.
101
the mind, called hope, love, ambition, &c.; that  they
are all productive of pleasures and pains, in proportion
as their influence is bounded by  moderation, or  cha-
racterised by excess.   The  pleasures of hope  have
been  finely celebrated  by Campbell; and  are  well
known to have a powerful influence  in  blunting the
miseries and misfortunes of mankind during life, and
even in illuminating their anticipations of a happy im-
mortality beyond  the grave!   But the  pleasures of
hope have their counterpoise of evils and miseries; and
when indulged in  to excess, or  founded on visionary
and  impossible  principles,  frequently terminate in
disappointment and despair.  Here wisdom, fortitude,
religion,  and philosophy are probably the only essen-
tial and  efficient  preventives  against these intem-
perate palliatives of disappointed  hope,  which  have
led thousands  to drown themselves, their  fortunes and
their miseries, in the  bowl.  The miseries of despair
and disappointed hope are seldom the  portion of those
whose educations have been moral and judicious, or
who have been early taught to distinguish the realities
of life from those  illusive and  visionary  expectations
of it, which never can be realized even by the greatest
prosperity.   The visionary gildings with which youth-
ful feeling  and animating anticipation  invest the
untried scenes of life, always dissolve  before the les-
sons  of wisdom and experience; and where these
privations arc  followed by positive misfortunes, from
which there exists  no hope of redemption, intemper-
ance almost invariably succeeds, as the only remedy
by which temporary alleviation can be obtained.  But
this conduct is founded in short-sighted and desperate
policy; because, to the mental pangs of misfortune
are always added the miseries of corporeal disease.
      I 2 
102
INTEMPERANCE.
   Love is  likewise an intellectual passion, and, like
 hope, is productive of pleasure and pain, happiness and
 misery.  I have before spoken of this passion, as con-
 nected with the enjoyments and happiness of man ; it
 now becomes my duty to take a  brief view  of the
 sombre colourings of the  picture, and  to  develope
 some of the causes with which its miseries are con-
 nected.  Love  is always founded  on perceptions of
 real or imaginary perfections. When this elevated and
 ennobling  sentiment is based on  the perception of
 qualities which really exist, it invariably leads to hap-
 piness, and is an unerring indication of superior wis-
 dom ; but when it is founded in errors of the imagina-
 tion, and in the false perception of merely visionary
 qualities  which have no existence,  it generally  even-
 tuates in  misery, and is a decided mark of overween-
 ing stupidity and folly.  The first  step to misery, in
 wedded  love, where  the  qualities of either of the
 parties are not sufficiently noble to sustain the passion.
 is the  discovery of blemishes of person, disposition,
 mind, or character, which w7ere not known previously
 to marriage.  This discovery produces a chill of the
 affections, wrhich leads to a more narrow and  scruti-
 nizing investigation of the causes of our having been
 deceived.   If they are found to have originated with
 ourselves, wre  invariably  undervalue  and detest our
 owrn judgment, which would  suffer us thus  to be
 deceived, and immediately  become dissatisfied with
 ourselves; and it requires no great exercise of wisdom
 to knowT, that those who are dissatisfied with them-
 selves are displeased with all those around them. On
 the contrary, if it is  found  on investigation that we
I have been deceived by the hypocrisy of the individual
 to whom we are tied by bonds which death alone can 
INTEMPERANCE.
103
dissolve, contempt and detestation are the inevitable
consequences; for it is no more possible for a man or
woman of moral discernment to love an unworthy ob-
ject, knowing it  to be such, than it is for a human
being to hate the presence of virtue combined  with
peerless beauty.   Here then commences that series of
domestic and conjugal  miseries, which defies and
baffles  the power of mere language to describe: and
the parties soon become estranged from, and perfectly
hateful to each  other.   Home  becomes a hell; the
tavern  and gaming tables are resorted to; to bad com-
pany habits of intemperance succeed, and the event is,
death by confirmed habits of intoxication, or  life im-
bittered by negligence, disease, poverty and want!   I
am the more particular in mentioning the effects  of
" love to hatred," and in tracing those effects  to  their
causes, not only because the picture, which is true to
life, may be instrumental in preventing deceptions and
hypocrisy in courtship,  but  because it may  have a
tendency to illustrate the eternal truth, that no miseries
can ever be drowned in the midnight bowl, unless the
chalice contain the poison of death itself!  I said that
love was always founded on the perception of real or
visionary perfections; with that founded on  amiable
and noble qualities, I have here nothing to do, because
it is always permanent, and always unshaken by mis-
fortunes.  This position requires no further proof than
can be found in  every country, and in  the sphere of
every  man's observations in  life.   Where, however,
the attachment is founded on illusory perceptions, it is
not only short-lived in itself,  but eternally liable to
destruction  by variations of fortune.   Some  persons,
indeed all individuals of the human species are formed
by nature for enjoying the felicities of attachment and 
104
INTEMPERANCE.
love.   With  these elemental}  principles, and with a
heart alive to the tenderest sensibilities, the devourer
of novels and romances, in which the human character
is invested with perfections that never  pertained to it,
is peculiarly liable to miseries and misfortunes in love.
I say  once for all, and wish it to be borne in mind by
the reader, that no inordinate  and excessive passion,
not even that of love itself, was ever the offspring of
correct perceptions of human nature, such as it really
is.  Where is the man or woman of reflection, who
does not know that human nature is not perfection;
and who  is not perfectly convinced, that it is a com-
pound of personal and  moral beauties and  imperfec-
tions.  Those who are in time made acquainted with
these  philosophic  truths,  and have  early learned to
know that man is a compound,  to say the best we can
of him, of virtue and vice, strength and  weakness,
wisdom and  folly, will never experience any of the
passions in their extremes. Their loves  and hatreds,
their  friendships  and enmities, and  indeed all  their
other passions, are true to nature, and therefore always
characterized by moderation.   Loves and hatreds are
only felt in the extreme,  because in the former case
we are blind  to imperfections which  really exist; and
because,  in the latter instances, we shut  our eyes
against many noble  traits of character, which would
mitigate our unqualified hatreds.   The  same may be
said of our friendships and enmities, and indeed of all
our other  passions:   even the sneaking  scoundrel
avarice, if he  did not overrate the object of his desires,
would abandon his swindling propensities, and relax
his gripe on the miseries and misfortunes of mankind.
It is the immoderate  overrating the objects of our pas-
sions, that produces all their  excesses; against which 
INTEMPERANCE.
105
no human being can be  guarded, unless through the
medium of wisdom and intelligence, wrhich alone can
stamp the  genuine value on every object  of human
desire or pursuit.   Few instances are  to be found on
record, where the miseries of disappointed love  have
been  experienced in the extreme, by persons whose
errors of imagination had been corrected by experience,
and the acquisitions of true wisdom ; and even where
all the agonies of  disappointed love have been felt in
their excesses, they produce  different effects upon the
different sexes. On women, they induce a disposition
for retirement and a solitary life, which  sometimes
ends in confirmed melancholy, sometimes in insanity,
and not unfrequently in a broken heart.   With man,
on the other hand, the excesses of unfortunate  love
produce  very different  effects; they urge him to mix
in crowded assemblies, in the hum of business, and in
the haunts of men;  they  dispose him to attempt a for-
getfulness of his miseries, by exploring new scenes of
life, in countries to which he is a stranger, by encoun-
tering the  dangers of the  field and  flood; and by
drowning the memory  of his  misfortunes  in the
oblivion of the bowl.
  Of the miseries of ambition,  and the  excesses to
which they lead, the space allotted will  not allow
much to be said.  Like love, the passion of ambition,
both  in moderation and  excess, depends for strength
on the value we set on subjects of ambitious desire.
To those whose wisdom teaches them the true value
of earthly objects, the passion of ambition  is  always
productive of enjoyments; but when an over-estimate
of the objects of  ambitious pursuit arises from false
though dazzling perceptions of those objects, the  pas-
sion always acquires an uncontrolled dominion in the
                       14 
106
INTEMPERANCE.
human breast, producing misery to the individual, and
frequently the  most dreadful desolations to society
and mankind.  When  ambition is confined to moral
bounds, in other words, where it is restricted to doing
good, it becomes a powerful auxiliary to religion and
morality, and to the peace and happiness of mankind.

        " But talents angel bright, if wanting worth,
         Are shining instruments in false ambition's hand,
         To finish faults illustrious, and give infamy renown.''''

Where  ambition is laudable, and restricted to benefi-
cent and moral objects, it serves to dignify and adorn •
the human character: and even where thus character-
ized,  it meets  with failures and disappointments, it
produces no serious and lasting miseries to its votaries.
The real passion of ambition is of a heaven-born cha-
racter ;  it is founded in a strong desire to he remem-
bered with gratitude and admiration by posterity and
future ages, and is the legitimate offspring of a vital
and deep-seated sentiment  of immortality !  We see
its indications in every department of life, and in every
age of the world.   The monumental inscriptions of
ancient times, the mummied catacombs, and the great
pyramids of  Egypt themselves bear witness of the
universal prevalence of this  all-absorbing sentiment of
immortality, and of the dreadful contemplations which
accompany the anticipations of being swept from hu-
man memory by the hand  of time I The  desire to
be remembered is as obvious in  the school-boy who
inscribes his name on a tree or a rock, as in  the  lofty
and headlong careers of Charlemagne, Alexander, and
Napoleon, who desolated nations and overturned em-
pires to give their achievements to posterity and future
ages.  When the passion  of ambition, of  whatever 
INTEMPERANCE.
107
grade, or to whatever objects directed, is disappointed
in its expectations, it invariably leads to dissatisfaction
with life and mankind, and frequently plunges its vo-
taries into the vortex of intemperance and debauchery.
These effects are not only confined to the ambition of
man  possessing  lofty and powerful energies of mind,
whose objects of ambition are correspondent in eleva-
tion, but they are discoverable in all the inferior orders
of society, and in all the subordinate ranks of intellect-
ual power: they are in fact, as observable in the Caesar
who \s disappointed in  the possession of an imperial
crown,  as in the  humble votary  of literature and
science, or the hook-fingered and swindling devotee
of avarice, with whom wealth is the idol of adoration !
Let any of these men be finally and permanently dis-
appointed in the first and great objects of their ambi-
tion, and if they are destitute of resolution, fortitude,
wisdom, and philosophical  energy of intellect,  they
invariably sink in  the whirlpool of intemperance, de-
bauchery, and sottishness.  Alexander the Great died
from the influence of a  fit of intemperance, probably
because he had  no more worlds to conquer; and it is
needless to advert to the thousands of instances, which
everywhere present themselves, of men of all ranks
and grades of life, who sink into  insignificance and
obscurity, from the effects of intemperance brought on
them by disappointed ambition.
   I have now,  I think, shown some of the  various
causes of intemperance,  and probably to the satisfac-
tion of  reflecting  men,  traced some  of them to the
physical and  mental constitutions of men : as far as it
is practicable to be done by observations of mere
effects.  In this  brief essay, by no means correspond-
ent with the  importance of the subject, I have  neither 
108
INTEMPERANCE.
followed nor profited by the hackneyed theories which
have heretofore been published ; I have endeavoured to
view human nature as it is, and to remark the deve-
lopments of the causes of intemperance, as they have
appeared to me in my medical pursuits;  and if I have
not been as successful as might  be desired  by medical
men, who are  the real friends of humanity, I may at
least have furnished some materials which may be
useful  to such fathers of the profession as Mitchell,
Physic, Hosack, and many others, who are engaged
in developing the mysticisms  of medical science, and
rendering them intelligible to mankind.
                  RELIGION.
  Thts principle or affection of the human mind, pro-
perly defined and  well understood, is a deeply devo-
tional sentiment of awe, veneration and love, for that
inscrutable Being who created the universe in his wis-
dom; supports it by his almighty power; and regulates
the machinery of nature, in beneficence and love to his
creatures.
  Considered merely in relation to his vital and ani-
mal functions, man seems to occupy the highest point
in the scale of animated nature; but notwithstanding
this distinguished elevation, with some grand and dis-
tinctive exceptions to the general  principles of exist-
ence, and those of a strong  and decided character, he
seems  in many respects to  be allied to the inferior
orders of creation.  Like the merely animal orders of
nature inferior to himself, he is animated by loves and
friendships, hatreds and enmities; and by all the other
passions  and propensities  incidental  to the merely 
RELIGION.
109
animal creation.  In common with the elephant, the
lion, the dog, and the fox, his heart seems to be the seat
of life or vitality, and his brain the  sensorium of intel-
lectual existence!  Like them  he  is furnished with a
stomach to digest his food, and a heart to propel the
vital fluid through the arterial and venal systems.  Like
the inferior orders  of creation, man is susceptible  of
the influence of heat and cold, and all the variations
of temperature incidental to the changes of the sea-
sons ; like them he can he deluged by rains, frozen  by
the snows of winter, and melted by the heats of  sum-
mer.  Like them he is subjected to  physical diseases,
which can  be mitigated or removed by the  same
means ; and like them he is animated by strong senti-
ments of self-preservation, and entertains an instinctive
and powerful dread of both pain and dissolution ! But
here the parallel between man  and the inferior orders
of  creation terminates;  and  he  begins to take  his
departure from their earth-born level, which they can
never emulate or even follow.
   Man is the only being in creation, who can raise  his
contemplations to the Deity, and experience a sublime
sentiment of  awe and veneration for the unknown
author of his existence.  The only^being in creation
capable of experiencing a strong solicitude for a know-
ledge of his own origin, or who can direct his views
and anticipations to a  future existence, beyond the
boundaries  of time!  He is the only being absolutely
known to himself, who can form a conception of space
which is an abstract idea of infinity;  of time, which
is an abstract conception of eternity; or of plastic and
creative power, which leads to an abstract but infinitely
inadequate conception of the omnipotence  of God !
Man seems to unite in his moral and intellectual com-
      K 
110
RELIGION.
position, the human extremes of strength and weakness,
wisdom and folly.   In infancy, or when not associated
with  his fellow-beings, he is a naked, defenceless, de-
pendent and timid animal; exposed to diseases of every
multiplied character ; to dangers beyond arithmetical
computation;  and to death in all its varied and gigan-
tic forms: yet, with all these incipient weaknesses, and
seeming imperfections of his nature, in the plenitude of
life and intellectual power, and when associated with his
fellow-beings in social compact, he has satisfied his na-
tural wrants; rendered himself independent of every
thing but his  Creator; driven from  his presence,
enslaved to his purposes,  or destroyed by the machinery
and  chemical  power of his warlike  inventions, all
animals hostile to  his life and his preservation; and
compelled the  earth, the  air, the waters, and the woods,
to yield him the sustenance and even the  luxuries of
life, and to furnish  him with the means of construct-
ing his habitation.   He  has done more.  By referring
his knowledge of particular facts, to the discovery of
abstract and general principles, he has measurably un-
folded the elements  of science; by which he measures
the earth, and discloses  the  laws which regulate the
solar system : ascertains  the distances and  relative po-
sitions of the heavenly bodies;  and determines the lo-
cation of his own  globe among them: discloses the
component parts of which the substratum of the earth
itself  is compounded, and by an  effort of microscopic
vision and profound sagacity, gives you  a  satisfactory
analysis of a  physical atom!  Nor is this all: from
obscure and imperfect original discoveries in nautical
science, he has converted the bark  canoes of the wan-
dering savage into vehicles of burden for international
commerce, and imposing engines of war; and  instead 
RELIGION.
Ill
of the petty barks of the ancients, by which they pro-
secuted an insignificant traffic  along  the  shores and
inlets of the Mediterranean, he  has constructed ships
of bulk and strength sufficient to master the winds of
heaven, and the waves  of the ocean:  to discover and
colonize new continents; and to make his way in secu-
rity through trackless, unknown, and almost shoreless
oceans, to countries so remote as not even to be found
in delineation  on the mariner's chart!   Nor do the
greatness of his discoveries, nor the sublime elevations
of his character, terminate here.  The progressive im-
provements of man in literature, from hieroglyphics,
which are the signs  of things,* to  the use of letters,
which are the signs or symbols of sounds, afford new
and astonishing demonstrations  of  his powers.   We
have proofs before us, if we  will advert for a moment
to the present state of mankind, of  all  the progressive
stages of improvement, through which he has passed
in arriving at his present state of moral and intellectual
civilization, and  scientific  and  literary  refinements;
nor need we recur  to the empire of fable, nor  the fic-
tions  of his early history, to arrive  at the truth.  A
collective view of the present inhabitants  of the globe,
will furnish ample demonstrations of the following
facts.   In a state of savage and illiterate nature, tradi-
tion, as among the Indians of our own forests, afforded
the only means of  communication  between the pre-
sent and future races of  mankind.   But, in proportion
as man began to progress in discoveries relating to the
arts and sciences, he became disgusted and dissatisfied
with the errors and misrepresentations of oral tradition,
and sought various expedients to  perpetuate v to his
posterity,  authentic testimonials of  his sagacity, and
durable monuments of his intellectual  powers.  Hie- 
112
religion.
 roglyphics and pyramids were  resorted to in some
 countries, and pillars and public edifices in others; but
 knowing all these to be liable to decay, and that their
 true meaning might be easily misunderstood or forgot-
 ten, he was not satisfied with a medium of intelligence
 whictt would revive and perpetuate his knowledge and
 discoveries to  future times, until literature arose to
 record in unfading characters the intelligence, the im-
 provements in science, and the fate of past generations.
 The discovery of, and the progressive  improvement
 in letters, have enabled man to trace his species through
 all anterior ages since the creation; nor would he now,
 were  it  not  for literature and the discovery of the art
 of printing, be enabled to profit at this advanced period
 of the world, by the records of history, and the divine
 inspirations of religion, virtue,  and  pure morality,
 which are breathed forth in love and  mercy to fallen
 man, by holy writ !  It is from this divine and in-
 spired wrork,  that he derives a knowledge  of all  the
 attributes of  his Creator; of the immortality of his
 own soul; and of all  the duties  he owes to God, his
 fellow-creatures, and himself.   The reveries of all the
 sages and philosophers of antiquity, with  the immortal
 Plato at their head, sink into cold insignificance, when
 compared with the divine consolations afforded to man,
 by that  pure and unsophisticated  religion, which is
 derived  from the word of God:  and while speaking
 of the pure  and undefiled religion of Jesus Christ, I
 will first show what it is  not; second, the abuse of its
 doctrines; third, what it really is ; and fourth, its bene-
 fits and consolations,  in health and ptrosperity, sickness
 and misfortune.
*  The virtues and the boasted-wisdom of man, puri-
 fied and improved by the highest efforts of human 
RELIGION.
113
reason, would  be nothing without  the  support  and
consolations of the doctrines  of the Scriptures.  The
magnificence, splendour, and sublimity  of the great
works of nature, from which  alone, without the divine
inspirations to be found in the word of God, he is ena-
bled to form but an inadequate and  finite conception
of the attributes of an Almighty Creator.  Thus cir-
cumstanced—thus surrounded by mysteries which he
cannot explain to himself—feeling a strong and deep-
seated  natural  sentiment  of immortality, and  yet
dreading the cold and silent horrors of the grave—the
word of God and faith in Christ alone can afford him
support and consolation in the hour of  death; solve
the otherwise inscrutable and  sublime mysteries of his
own existence;  and  reveal to him the dreadful enig-
mas of  eternity.  In fact, when man surveys, with an
attentive and philosophic eye,  the vast and complicated
machinery of the universe; when he discovers that all
this  complicated and boundless machinery is subject
to the irresistible influence of laws infinitely beyond
his conception;  when he essays to embody his own
conceptions of the attributes  of that Being who cre-
ated, and who rules and governs all; and, in fine, when
he makes the feeble  attempt,  unaided by divine reva-
lation, to identify his hopes of immortality and future
happiness  with  the unchangeable laws of created  na-
ture, so vast, so boundless, and so complicated as they
must be, he shrinks back upon his own insignificance,
and  involuntarily asks  himself, "Am I not a stranger
to the eternal laws of my own destiny ?—am  I not a
stranger to this God,  the supreme  Creator of the uni-
verse ?—am I not lost in the immensity of his works,
and the boundlessness of his power ?"
  Mere opinions, deduced from the boldest efforts of
      K 2                15 
114
RELIGION.
 the reasoning faculties of man, never yet produced that
 genuine religion which absorbs his affections, concen-
 trates his love  and gratitude  on  his  divine Creator,
 regulates his moral and intellectual energies for  the
 production of his present and future  happiness, and
 makes him satisfied with his own prospects of futurity.
 These are the reasons, in all  probability, why the an-
 cient  sages, who hoped for  and partially believed in
 immortality, were unable to satisfy themselves with
 rational  and conclusive proofs of the future existence
 of the human soul: these are also probably the rea-
 sons, and they are founded in the  wisdom and provi-
 dence of God himself, why the great truths of immor-
 tality were veiled, in all ages anterior to  the true gospel
 dispensation, from  the  boasted sagacity and  reasoning
 powers of the philosophers and sages of  antiquity: for,
 could  these men have arrived at any definite and cer-
 tain conclusions on the  future destinies of the  human
 race, without the moral purifications of true Christi-
 anity, the consequences wrould  have been dreadful to
 society and mankind, as can be easily demonstrated.
   Suppose a man were  enabled by  the  unaided efforts
 of reason to demonstrate conclusively to himself, that
 annihilation, or an absolute and entire negation of ex-
 istence, was his future  and irrevocable doom; what
 would be the immediate consequences of this appalling
and dreadful discovery ?  Would he  not feel that every
affection of his soul was dissolved, and  that existence
itself was valueless ? Would it not loosen every strong
tie he feels on life, and sicken him with that lapse of
time which must  so soon reduce  him to  nothing?
Where, under this gloomy  and horrid anticipation,
would  be his affections for his parents, his wife his
family, his country: what would become of  the  per- 
RELIGION.
115
formance Of his duties as a parent, a husband, a citizen,
and a patriot:  where would be the endearing sugges-
tions of his own self-love, and his insatiable desires of
present and future happiness, under the certain con-
viction that the elevated and noble energies of his soul
would explode and be lost forever, when his tenement
of clay would become a clod  of the valley ?
  But let it be supposed that the powers of reason,
unaided  by  the holy inspirations  of Scripture, were
capable of arriving  at the certain conviction of man's
future happiness in eternity; and that the decree of the
Almighty, which awarded  to  him so auspicious a des-
tiny, was absolutely irrevocable by his  own conduct:
and what would then be the  consequences ?   With so
brilliant a career of future happiness and celestial glory
in full view, would not all the poor enjoyments of this
life fade away, and even all the splendours of the visi-
ble creation  become to him. a blank ?  Would he take
upon himself the cares of a family, assume the labo-
rious  duties of providing for  a numerous offspring, or
feel an interest in the  common affairs of  mankind?
Would he  experience  any  of  those  affections and
friendships which, under the  present predicaments of
life, are of such vast importance to the  enjoyments of
man ?  Can the eye which is accustomed to gazing at
the sun  distinguish the darker and  more sombre co-
lourings of earthly objects ?   But with  unalloyed and
interminable happiness beyond the grave in full view,
what.in this life would be the feelings, emotions, and
conduct of a man subjected to' the pains of disease, the
evils attendant on poverty and want, and all the great
aggregate of miseries and misfortunes with which man
in the present state of things is destined  to agonize
through  life?   Would he feel disposed to encounter 
116                 RELIGION.
gratuitously, evils and sufferings from which he could
escape with impunity to happier regions ?
  And now, let us suppose that a man were enabled to
distinguish nothing in his future  destinies but a sub-
mission throughout  eternity  to  the  sufferings and
speechless  agonies  of the damned; that  nothing  he
could do  would alleviate so dreadful, disastrous, and
horrible a destiny: and what would be  the immediate
results? Where, to the eye of such a man, would then
be all the charms and fascinations of nature ? where all
the varied and imposing splendours of the visible crea-
tion ?  What delight could he possibly experience in
the performance of his moral duties, or the practice of
virtues, which must  terminate in a future condition
infinitely worse than annihilation itself ?  Would not
these dark and dreadful anticipations of a period which
must soon arrive be eternally present to his imagina-
tion, with all their  attendant horrors ? Would they not
haunt his waking dreams of future misery, and  disturb
his midnight  slumbers with spectral phantoms of the
sufferings of the damned, too frightful and tremendous
for  delineation!   But what,  under these awful and
afflicting expectations, from which there were  no dis-
tant  hopes of exemption, would be the character and
conduct of this  unfortunate  and  miserable victim ?
Would he not say to himself:—"What to me are all
the ties of parentage, of offspring, or of kindred; what
interest have I in the affairs of life, the peace and hap-
piness of society, or the moral conduct and regulations
of mankind ?  Before the setting of to-morrow's sun,
my eyes  may close forever  on the light of day, on all
the  objects which  once were  dear to my infancy and
youth, and on all the varied and sublime beauties
which characterize with magnificence and splendour 
RELIGION.
117
 the mystic wonders of created nature!  For me  no
 morning sun will ever  again arise; for me no vernal
 music of the groves will ever again awake; on my be-
 nighted soul, predestined to endless torments, no distant
 ray of feeble hope can ever dawn !"-------Sectarians,
 remorseless fanatics, purblind  bigots—you who deal,
 with unsparing hand and intolerant zeal, the ineffable
 and everlasting miseries of deep damnation  to your
 fellow-beings, merely for differing from you in opinion
 respecting modes of faith-and  divine worship, behold
 in this faithful picture the condition  to which your
 narrow and selfish doctrines would confine the great
 mass of mankind !   Approach, and behold a picture
 which might make you shudder for your blasphemous
 presumptions  in  judging between erring and feeble
 man and his Maker; and wresting the high prerogative
 of divine and  eternal justice from the hands of the
 Almighty!   If you can for a moment suspend the
 fiery and vindictive  delusions of your intolerance and
 presumption, I wish  you to contemplate, with a dispas-
 sionate and discriminating eye,  some farther results  to
 which- your infuriated and intolerant doctrines inevita-
 bly tend.  If you alone are right, and if all other reli-
 gious creeds are the  offspring of error, which must of
 necessity terminate in future misery; what allurements
 to religion and morality do you  hold out to those who,
 you say,  are predestined from all eternity to the inflic-
 tions of divine wrath; and to what a penury of benefi-
 cence and love do you reduce the mercy and affections
 of the Deity to man. Do you  suppose  that the doc-
 trines of  particular and  exclusive faith are within the
arbitrium or control of the voluntary powers of human
 intellect ? In other words, do you presume that a man
can believe what he wishes, without divine assistance 
118
RELIGION.
sought with purity of heart?  And that he can ever
be the voluntary devotee  of religious  errors, thereby
sinning against light and knowledge, and dooming him-
self to endless and indescribable torments ?  To speak
in plain terms, and without any courtly affectation of
language detrimental to the interests of truth, can you
suppose that  any rational being, since the creation of
man, ever yet voluntarily consigned  his  soul to ever-
lasting  misery,  by  the   entertainment  of religious
qnnions  which he knew to be  wrong ?  The truth is,
that the supposition implies, not only a contradiction
in language, but an absolute and positive contradiction
in the facts themselves.
  But let us suppose for a moment, that  your sect or
persuasion alone are right in their faith and religious
opinions, and that all others professing different modes
of faith and different opinions in religion are in the
entertainment of  errors which must inevitably end in
eternal punishments. Have you ever contemplated the
absurdity of  this intolerant and exclusive doctrine;
have you ever viewed it with an unprejudiced and dis-
passionate eye, and traced  its malignant and desolating
spirit on  thepast, on the present, and on future times ?
If you have not, I will mafte the laudable attempt to
burst  your narrow and intolerant prejudices asunder;
and to exhibit  those disgraceful and  dogmatical doc-
trines in all their  naked deformities.
  By the Mosaical account of  the creation, which we
are bound to believe authentic,  the world is now
nearly six thousand years old;  but of the antediluvian
races of men, and also of those wiio existed anterior to
the gospel dispensation, I will make none but the fol-
lowing simple and plain remark; that it would hardly
comport with the common principles of justice, to con- 
RELIGION.
119
sign all those numerous races of men to eternal perdi-
tion, for  not believing in doctrines which had never
been announced to them, and to which they  were
utter strangers!  Since the first announcement of the
gospel dispensation under our Saviour until the present
time, a period of nearly two thousand years has elapsed;
every ^//"minute of which long period, according to
the most authentic calculations which can  be made,
has witnessed the birth and death of ten human beings!
There are, as nearly as the  facts can  be ascertained,
about eleven hundred million human beings composing
the populations on the globe: now, if you will ascertain
the number of half minutes which have elapsed in two
thousand years, and multiply that number by ten, you
will have something  like the number of deaths which
have occurred since the coming of Christ.  Under this
strong, and new, and most important view of the sub-
ject ; and considering likewise, that the immense and
measurably unknown population of both Africa and
Asia have never embraced the Christian religion; that
the aboriginal  inhabitants of both North and South
America have ever been in the same  uncivilized and
unchristian  condition;  I wish you to inform me, ye
bigots—ye fanatics—je fiery and intolerant zealots, in
the cause of a God Supreme, and infinitely merciful to
feeble and erring man,  how many human beings, out
of the countless myriads who have sunk into the  tomb
in the long lapse of two thousand years, belonged to
those little sects who  doom all mankind to the horrors
of deep  and irrevocable damnation but  themselves!
But this is not all: according to the narrow and exclu-
sive principles of your religious doctrines, which  we
will bring nearer to ourselves by an  application of
them to  the present age, how many human beings, out 
120
RELIGION.
ojijekven hundred millions which are now in existence,
according to  the  purblind and intolerant dogmas of
any one of your exclusive professions of faith, will be
doomed never to reach the goal of infinite ,mercy, even
through the merits of that Saviour who  died  for the
salvation  of all mankind !  These are views of the
absurdity of some of your doctrines, and of the dreadful
consequences they would have in their applications to
mankind, too stubborn for the subterfuges of sophistry,
too authentic in  point of fact for  refutation, and too
plain for  either denial or evasion.   But, let us advance
a step farther; let us contemplate the appalling  spec-
tacle which  your  wild, speculative,  and  visionary
theories of religion, would  present to an assembled
universe  at the end of time!  Let us suppose at the
great day of accounts between man  and his  Maker,
when an  aggregation of all the various races of  men,
and  of all  the  countless myriads  who have  existed
between  the commencement and  the  termination of
time, would take place:  here all arithmetical computa-
tions fail, and the human imagination itself expires in
attempting to grasp at so vast, so unbounded  a  spec-
tacle !  Suppose also, that your paltry and  disputatious
conflicts here, and your narrow conceptions of Divine
justice, always inadequate and contradictory because
the offspring of ignorance, were to be made the irrevo-
cable standard of adjudication by which countless and
innumerable millions of the human race  were to be
consigned to endless misery, ruin, and despair!  Would
not so dreadful an exhibition  of the  consequences of
your bigotry  and intolerance, destroy your holy  zeal
and vindictive rage in the cause of religious and  into-
lerant  prejudices?  Would  not your  sensibilities as
men weep  tears of blood and forgiveness  over the 
RELIGION.
l&l
miseries of your fellow-men ?  Would you not wish
to revoke those prejudices against mankind  which
could populate the regions of the damned with myriads
of your fellow-beings;  disclose  to you  an abortive
though Divine scheme of redemption for  fallen man;
and torture your intellectual vision with the spectacle
of a  ruined creation and an almost solitary God!
  I  have now shown, and I think conclusively, that
the  efforts of human reason, unaided by  scriptural
divinity, are utterly incompetent  to disclosing to man-
kind the great truths connected with the immortality
of man; that without the moral purifications of true
Christianity  and  genuine religion, such disclosures
would have been fraught with dreadful consequences
to mankind, instanced in the cases of future certainty
as to annihilation, future happiness, and future misery.
I think I have done more; I think I  have shown, as
far as the moral  reasoning powers of man can  be  ap-
plied to incontrovertible  facts, that very many  of the
intolerant and sectarian abuses which  have crept into
the Christian religion, from the bigotry and misdirected
zeal of  many of its belligerant  and  inflammatory
champions,  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  Christian
charity,  truly Divine worship, and the principles of
eternal justice : in fine, I think I have  shown con-
clusively, w^at pure and genuine religion is not !
  As connected  and incorporated with dangerous and
intolerant opinions in religion,  the  abusive   conse-
quences which always flow from  such opinions, espe-
cially when  under the  influence of  the vindictive
passions  of men, require dispassionate consideration.
I have said in another part of this work, when speak-
ing of the moral  philosophy of the passions, that when
restrained within due bounds, and exercised only in
      L                 16 
 122                RELIGION.

 relation  to  their native and legitimate  objects,  they
 were essential, not only to  the  existence, but to the
 happiness of man.   I now  assert that the reverse of
 this proposition is equally true; in other words, that
 the passions, when indulged  in  to excess, and suffered
 to produce anarchy and wild misrule in the human
 bosom, are  fraught with innumerable  miseries and
 misfortunes to mankind, in every department of life.
  In sectarian doctrines, which relate to the entertain-
ment of opinions connected with  the temporal self-
interests  of mankind,  it is  to  be  expected  that  the
passions, in all their excesses, will always have consi-
derable influence.  The professors of all the sciences
which relate to the present  state of man are passion-
ately influenced tothe conversion of proselytes to their
respective systems, because  on the number  of their
converts  depend, not only their wealth and fame, but,
in numerous instances, the  very bread which them-
selves and  their  families require  for daily  support.
The same may be remarked, in relation to the leaders
of all political partisans, and to all  other  zealots  in
political  science.    In  these cases,  and  many others
 which might  be  enumerated, the stimulation of the
 passions, and  all  their  disorganizing  and  dangerous
 excesses, are proportioned to the  real or  imaginary
 self-interests of man, and to the acute and  energetic
 pressure  of his immediately real or imaginary wants.
 In all these cases,  we can  account on rational prin-
 ciples, or more properly speaking on logical ones, for
 the slander and defamation with which scientific men
 of all professions usually load each other; and for all
 the personal enmity, envy, and malignity, with which
 the  low-lived spirit of grovelling  ambition usually
 persecutes  a  dangerous and aspiring rival!   In all 
                    RELIGION.                 123

cas'*s where wTe can connect the excesses of the pas-
sions, and the  practice of intolerance  and injustice,
with the wants and immediate self-interests of men,
there seems to be some colourable mitigation for their
deviations from virtue, justice, and moderation : but in
cases where religion alone is concerned; where all the
temporal interests  and conflictions of  self-love are
entirely out of the question;  where the religious faith
and opinions of men are accounts only to be referred
to the lofty and unerring tribunal of God himself; th
gratuitous persecutions of men, and their sanguinary
zeal in  the  cause of an Almighty Power, who needs
not their assistance, can only be accounted for upon
principles of wanton depravity, native cruelty of tem-
per, and  innate  vindictiveness of souli   Does the
Almighty require the sacrifice of the peace of  society,
and of all the  affections of man for his  fellow-beings
in the  diffusion  of an immaculate  and  benevolent
religion, which expressly inculcates "peace on earth.
and good will towards men?"  If my faith  in the
rectitude and purity of my own doctrines of salvation
be perfect, will the persecution and destruction of the
religious doctrines of other  men  add  any  further
demonstrations of  truth  to  the support of my own
creed ?   You may as well tell me, ye bigots, and per-
secutors of mankind for the love of God, that the sun
requires a lamp for the diffusion of his meridian rays :
or that by  conflagrating  the habitation of a  fellow-
being, you will build or repair your own!  Why then
consign to everlasting  destruction, and that  too with-
out attempting their reformation, all those who may
chance  to differ from you in religious  faith  and
opinion ?  Are not  those who dissent  from you in re-
ligious  doctrines and  opinions, as rational as your-  • 
124                RELIGION.

selves?   Are they  less interested in knowing the
truths of genuine Christian Divinity, and in practising
on the precepts which tbey inculcate, than you  your-
selves are ?  Do you suppose that  any human  being
ever existed, who was  endowed with ordinary prin-
ciples of rationality, and common  sentiments of self-
love, who could voluntarily entertain errors of opinion
in religion, knowing  that the profession  of  such
opinions would eventually consign his immortal soul
to deep and irremediable misery ?  Why, then,  perse-
cute men for the entertainment of  opinions which are
misfortunes, and  not crimes ?  Why, in other words.
do you punish and persecute erring and feeble man
for involuntary errors of opinion, which, according to
your own creeds, will be punished in a  future life ?
Where  are the credentials from  which you derive
authority to sit in judgment  between man  and his
Maker  : and to assist  an omnipotent God, in the
execution of those laws which his own infinite wisdom,
at the  creation, imposed on the universe ? Under
this view of your conduct, which  I place in a strong
and correct light for your own contemplations, with
the hope that you may be induced to abandon your
abuses of the religion of the Saviour of mankind, and
to treat your fellow-men with  more lenity and  com-
passion ; I must confess  myself utterly at a loss which
to be most astonished at, your ignorance, presumption,
or fanaticism.   How, ye bigoted and fanatical zealots;
how do you reconcile your inquisitions, your burnings,
your persecutions, and  your intolerance  in  opinion,
with the mildly compassionate  and humane  example
of the Saviour of the world ; he who exclaimed amidst
-he protracted agonies of the cross, and while sweat-
ing drops of l^>od to wash out the crimsoned iniquities 
RELIGION.
125
of mankind; " Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they  do!"   You are mistaken  in attributing to
pure and holy zeal in the cause of religion, your perse-,
cutions of those who differ from you  in sectarian faith
and doctrines: your worldly-minded  pride of making
proselytes,—your  ambition  to become  conspicuous
among men, as the defenders of the true faith,—your
secret  aspirations  after  exaltations to high  clerical
offices—your love of worldly distinctions and temporal
power; and not unfrequently, your cupidity  and  ava-
rice, respecting good round  salaries for the discharge
of your official functions; these are the energetic and
inflammatory motives, which urge you to  your vindic-
tive persecutions of mankind for opinion's sake; these
are the real causes of your wTant of charity  to each
other, and to mankind in the aggregate.
   I think I have now shown, in a tolerably clear and
strong point of view, not only what religion is not; but
also many of  the  abuses of its doctrines; let  us now
endeavour to understand something respecting what it
really is.
   '• Feeble work  of my hand," says  the Almighty to
his creature man,  " I owe you nothing, but I give you
existence.   I  place you in the  midst of a  universe
which  bespeaks my wisdom and glory, and I surround
you with blessings  and  enjoyments,  winch ought to.
excite in your bosom pure and elevated sentiments of
love, admiration, and gratitude, to that inscrutable Be-
ing who made you for  the enjoyment of happiness,
and placed the objects of those enjoyments within your
reach.  Your love  can add nothing to my felicity, your
admiration to my power, nor your sentiments of grati-
tude to my glory: and I make you susceptible of these
exalted  and divine emotions,  that you  may render
      l2 
126.
RELIGION.
 yourself happy both here and hereafter.  The fidelity
 of your obedience to my laws, will be the test of your
 own happiness; and when you cease to • love me and
 ki( p my commandments,' your breach of my precepts
 will offend me, and render yourself unhappy."
   Such, according to our feeble and inadequate con-
 ceptions of a God of love and mercy, are the mild
 and benevolent sentiments entertained by him for his
 erring and dependent creature,  man—for he expressly
 announces in his holy word, " that he delights not in
 the death of'a sinner."  These  are some of the conso-
 lations of true religion, which when fully merited by
 man, by a  strict obedience to the words of Scripture,
 and a full and entire faith*in the merits of a blessed Re-
 deemer, nothing earthly can destroy..  I do not intend
 to  enter into a critical dissertation on  the subject of
 religion, further than its divine spirit is connected with
 the moral  condition of man, and his physical health
 and enjoyments.   We know perfectly well, from our
 own consciousness, that the mere pleasures and enjoy-
 ments of this world are insufficient to satisfy the moral
 desires  of  the human mind, when deeply impressed
 with an unerring sentiment of  immortality.  Give a
 man wealth and luxury  unbounded; load  him  with
 titles and worldly honours; even clothe him with what
 Doctor  Young calls " a mortal immortality"—and like
 Caesar, when crowned emperor and invested with the
 imperial purple, he  will exclaim—-and is  this all!"
 With respect to the enjoyments of this world, I mean
 those which are not connected with the future state of
 existence, and sentiments of pure and undefiled reli-
 gion, it is  a truth  that has been  recognised by the
 experience of all ages, that  their satiation always pro-
1 duces indifference, and not unfrequently disgust. This 
RELIGION.
127
circumstance alone ought to convince us, that the de-
sires of man and his capacities for enjoyment are not
limited to this earthly sphere; and that there must be
a future  and more exalted  state of being, where his
capacities for moral and intellectual enjoyment will
meet with objects suited to their elevation, and where
the boundless desires which he is conscious of in this
life, will  meet with scenes of enjoyment as unlimited
as those desires.  It was from this view of the subject
under consideration, and probably also from the strong
impression of the insufficiency of the enjoyments of
this  life,  that the  great Dr. Young exclaimed, in his
Night Thoughts, " man must be immortal, or Heaven
unjust!"   Do we not know perfectly well, that when
the physical calls of nature are satisfied, lassitude and
indifference  succeed?   Do  we  not also knowT, that
when all the pleasures and enjoyments of this world
are showered on us in profusion,  there still exist in
the human bosom, hopes and desires connected with
sentiments of immortality, and objects of a more ele-
vated and intellectual order of enjoyment than this
world  can afford.   The fact is, that the  desires, the
capacities, and the  hopes of man as to futurity, when
compared with  the utter insufficiency of the objects of
enjoyment actually under his control in this life, go
very far  to demonstrate satisfactorily the immortality
of man.  Do the affections of the brute for its offspring,
like  those of man for his relations and friends, survive
the flight of time, and contemplate a reunion of those
affections in another state of existence ?  The differ-
ence between the influence of reason and that of true
religion,  in relation to the future happiness and enjoy-
ments of man, may be satisfactorily explained in a few
words.   Reason teaches man merely to hope for im- 
128   ,
RELIGION.
mortal existence and happiness, whilst pure religion,
supported by faith in the Redeemer, and by the faith-
ful  practice  of his precepts, assures him of  both
future existence and future  happiness.  There is this
further difference between reason and religion, and I
think it a very palpable and plain one ; reason cannot
influence man's feeble hopes of immortality and future
happiness, with sufficient motives for the  practice of
piety and virtue, whilst religion urges him imperiously
to the performance of his duties to his God, to him-
self, and to his fellow-beings, by the certainty of future
rewards and punishments. These are the reasons why
pure and  genuine Christians, I do not mean bigots,
hypocrites, or intolerant fanatics, are better  citizens,
better husbands, and  better  parents, than most other
men ; and these are the reasons, also, wrhy they are the
happier class of  mankind.   Reason  may teach the
existence of a great First Cause, but it is utterly incom-
petent to disclosing his moral attributes of justice, love,
and mercy, or to  defining for  man his particular and
indispensable duties in every department of life.  The
precepts of religion are plain and easy of comprehen-
sion;  they can  be understood and practised  by all
ranks and grades of men.  Reason, on the other hand.
in attempting an  explanation of the attributes of God,
or the duties of man  to  that God or his fellow-crea-
tures, is eternally operating on imaginary and unknown
principles, and making hair-breadth distinctions, which
have no existence but in the sound of wrords without
meaning: the errors of reason are founded in the ig-
norance of man,  wiio knows nothing in reality of the
essential or elementary principles of  any one thin-'* in
heaven or on earth. The Scripture says, and any man
can  understand the denunciation, " Whosoever  shed- 
RELIGION.
129
deth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."
Now I would like to see the champion of reason who
can demonstrate satisfactorily that murder is a crime,
punishable with death.   But I will put  another, and
more general and comprisive case, which will be quite
sufficient.   Municipal law  is said  to  be founded on
reason, which we call the mother of justice. If reason
be an unerring sentinel, and if law be the perfection
of reason, as it is said to be by learned and profound
civilians, why have not six thousand  years of reason-
ing been sufficient to reduce law to unerring principles
of justice; and why, at this late and refined period
of reason, do we so seldom find two persons "of counsel
learned in the law,"  who  agree in  opinion respecting
its real principles ?   The fact is, that in  reasoning on
all subjects involving morals, all we can possibly arrive
at is a high degree of probability, which amounts to
little  more  than  ingenious  and plausible conjecture.
If the mere exercise of  reason be entirely sufficient to
disclose to man his  duties, to impel him to the per-
formance of those duties, and to satisfy him respecting
the all-important doctrines of futurity, why have the
advocates of mere reason so many doubts and difficul-
ties on all subjects ?  The enigma is easily solved; the
igmrrance of man respecting first principles, the doubts
he always entertains of the infallibility of reasoning
as a science, and  the consciousness of being eternally
liable to error in his rational deductions, involve him
in labyrinths of confusion and dismay, from which no
merely human powers of intellect or  genius  can pos-
sibly extricate him.  While in the  rise or day spring
of life; while enjoying uninterrupted health and pros-
perity ;  and while indulging in anticipations of a pro-
tracted and fortunate term of existence here, the lordly
                        17 
130
RELIGION.
and proud advocate of the all-sufficiency of reason may
indulge in theoretical speculations which he imagines
he firmly believes in.   But, let him  become unfortu-
nate in his  adventures after  earthly enjoyments, and
infirm in  his health : let his  prospects of exemption
from disease and misfortune darken around him ; and
in this situation  let him  approach the unknown and
mysterious confines of eternity.  Where then will be
his  visionary and  theoretical  speculations respecting
futurity ? where the fortitude which  ought to  support
him in his descent to the cold  and  silent mansions of
the dead ? and  where  the celestial  fire  of hope and
Christian consolation that alone can light him to eternal
happiness, relieve his gloomy apprehensions of annihi-
lation and shed even a splendour around the  horrors
of the grave ?
  Pure and vital religion, not that based  on  merely
bigoted and -sectarian prejudices, or  on  frivolous and
childish distinctions respecting rites and ceremonies, is
infinitely superior to reason, in securing to man all the
moral  enjoyments of this life, and  in assuring him of
those blessings which reason only hopes for in futurity.
By pure and vital  religion, I  do not mean hypocrisy,
which is the religion of knaves; fanaticism, which is
the religion of madmen ; fear, which is the religion of
cowardice; or superstition, which  is that of fools: I
mean that pure and elevated sentiment of divine love
and admiration for the  Deity, which leads us  to faith
in the great Redeemer of fallen and degraded man,
and to the practice of benevolence,  virtue, toleration,
and charity for  our fellow-beings.   This  divine and
ennobling sentiment, when experienced in all its purity,
banishes all the base, sordid, selfish,  and ignoble pas-
sions from the human  bosom, and elevates man, as it 
RELIGION.
131
were, to a communion with his Maker.   It cultivates
all  the  finer affections of man for his fellow-beings;
makes him a provident and tender parent; a chaste
and faithful husband; a kind and benevolent master,
and a useful, virtuous, and patriotic citizen:  it makes
him faithful in his  friendships, virtuous in his loves,
honest in his dealings, candid  in his communications
with mankind, moderate in his desires, unostentatious
in his charities, and tolerant in his opinions.   Fanatics,
bigots, zealots, hypocrites; ye who practise fraud, vio-
lence, hypocrisy, and all the deceptions and mummery
of priestcraft on the sons of men, and yet dare  to
call yourselves the disciples and followers of the im-
maculate Saviour of mankind, compare yourselves with
this portrait of a real Christian!   There is a class  of
religionists in every Christian country,, who are im-
pressed with the absurd opinion, that the profession  of
faith in particular sectarian creeds, and the practice of
a few frivolous rites and ceremonies, are quite  sufficient
to  entitle them to salvation.   The probability is, that
these people are deceiving themselves, or making the
profession of religion a mere mask for iniquitous de-
signs against the community; for, let their vicious pas-
sions or propensities be excited, and themselves thrown
off their guard, and you immediately discover the true
state of the case:  in fact, you soon discover them to
be  sensualists, swindlers, and hypocrites.  These peo-
ple ought always to  bear in mind, that those  alone are
genuine Christians,  who know the will of  God, and
practise its divine precepts: nor ought they ever to lose
sight of the important and eternal truth, that it is im-
possible to deceive  the Almighty.   Compared with
these  hypocritical and  unworthy  professors, whose
prayers are always  on the "house tops," and whose 
132                 RELIGION.

devotions are loud  and emphatical, that they may be
heard, the true Christian exhibits an essentially differ-
ent and greatly more elevated character.  He is modest,
retiring and unobti'usive in his devotions; it is not the
mere profession of  piety and religion that stimulates
him in the performance of his duties; it is the heaven-
born  consciousness  that  his devotional exercises  are
acceptable to his Maker, and that they will render him
serene amidst dangers and  difficulties,  animated and
cheerful under the infliction of disease and sickness,
and resigned to the will of his  Creator.  To such  a
man, disease, infirmities, and  misfortunes in this  life
are nothing; he is above  their influence:  they can
neither  ruffle his passions, nor disturb the deep and
settled serenity of his soul.  The death-bed of such a
man is not the death-bed of the sinner: even the pre-
sence of the king of terrors cannot  appal the resolu-
tions, or shake the fortitude  of the man whose reliance
is on the love and mercy of his God.   As a physician,
I some time since, in Virginia, attended at the couch of
a devout Christian, and a sincere believer in Christ;
and was impressed with sentiments which  can  never
be obliterated  from my memory by the lapse of time.
The patient was a  poor Methodist preacher; he had
been seriously and  dangerously indisposed nearly two
years: and  was evidently  awaiting  the summons to
■" that bourn from whence no traveller returns."  In-
stead of seeing terror and  dismay depictured  in his
countenance, which I had often witnessed in the cases
of  those who were not Christians, all was cheerful se-
renity, and mild resignation: no ghastly expression of
feattire  bespoke the terror of  death, no indications of
mental distress told of remorse for ill-spent life;  nor
did a single shade of gloomy anticipation pass over the 
RELIGION.
133
•eye that was so soon to close in death!   The last words
of the innocent sufferer were, and they <are deepjy im-
pressed on my memory :  •• My life has been devoted
to the service of my God, and the benefit of my fel-
low-beings : I await with perfect resignation to his will,
the call of my Master."
   Here was -an instance of the consolatory influence
of true religion,  winch ought to  prove conclusively
that it is connected with none of the gloomy and de-
pressing passions.   In truth, it has always been matter
of much  astonishment to  me, that  the consolations
which pure religion promises mankind in a f&ture state
of existence could ever have produced on the mind of
man any other impressions than those of cheerfulness,
fortitude, and resignation.  I never could conceive how
genuine religion  was connected with gloom, unless
perverted to the excitement of the gloomy passions, by
misconceptions of the attributes of God, with emo-
tions  of terror and depressing apprehensions of futu-
rity.  Has man not assurances of an exemption from
all the evils and calamities of this life, if he be a faith-
ful and true Christian, when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality?   Are not the doctrines  of true Chris-
tianity essentially connected with that peace of mind
which we denominate a good conscience; " and which
nothing earthly can give, or can destroy ?" The Chris-
tian religion was never intended by the Almighty as a
source of grief, mortification, and suffering: it is a pure
emanation of divine love  and mercy towards feeble,
erring, and fallen mankind; and was surely intended
by Divine wisdom as an unfailing source of joy, con-
solation, and happiness, both here and hereafter, to the
human  race!  I have  been more  particular on the
      M 
134
RELIGION.
subject of religion than at first view might seem ne-
cessary to the interests of medical science: but I have
been long convinced, that the sentiments we entertain
of a future life are not only essentially connected with
the moral condition of mankind, but with the health
and many of the diseases  of the physical system, of
which more will be said under the proper heads. 
                 REMARKS,

PRELIMINARY TO THE MEDICAL PORTION OF  THIS
                     WORK.
  I have now done with the passions most material
to be thought of in a work like this.  I think I have
spoken of them as they deserve; and as being the real
causes of very many and obstinate diseases; and I also
think, without any sort of vanity on the subject, that
I have  taken views of them which are not only newr,
but such as will be satisfactory to men who are pleased
with common sense, and  matter  of fact disclosures,
instead of visionary theories,and old doctrines that have
been worn threadbare by repetition.   Where I have
found the essences of  the passions beyond the reach of
investigation, I have freely confessed the truth; being
determined not to vail my ignorance of what is most
likely  hidden  from  us by divine wisdom, by long
sounding words which when  explained would make
men of common sense laugh at medical quackery, and
by technical language which means next to nothing.
I have spoken of the passions  as I have seen and  wit-
nessed their effects on the human system, and on the
peace and happiness of society generally; and particu-
larly as regards intemperance, or rather excess in fear,
joy, anger, jealousy, love, grief, religion, gluttony, and
drunkenness; I have ventured to go as far into  some
of the remote and constitutional causes of them as I
iw 
r36
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
 possibly could, without running into mere theories not
 supported by the experience of mankind.  In treating
 of them I have been limited much hj want of space;
 and have therefore, in some instances, been compelled
 to comprise as much information  as  possible in a few
 words:  and I must also observe here, that on intemper-
 ance, religion, love, jealousy, and anger, I have extended
 my remarks further than on the rest of the passions;
 because I consider them of vastly more importance to
 the health and happiness, and to the diseases and mise-
 ries of mankind, than all the  rest of the passions put
 together.   I have  classed intemperance  under the
 head of the passions, because all our desires and aver-
 sions become passions, when they become too strong
 to be controlled  and moderated by moral sense and
 reason;  and if even these were  not the facts, mere
 names are nothing  but blinds, frequently placed by the
 learned  between the reader and the realities of things,
 to conceal  the naked poverty  and barrenness of the
 sciences, as professed by literary men.  If our educa-
 tion consisted more in a knowledge of things,  and less
 in a knowledge of  mere words  than it does, and if the
 great mass of the people knew  how much pains were
 taken by scientific men, to throw dust in their eyes by
 the use of ridiculous and high-sounding terms, which
 mean very little if any thing; the learned professors of
science would soon lose  much  of their mock  dignity,
and mankind would soon be undeceived as to the little
difference  that really exists between themselves and
the very learned portion of the community.  I am the
more particular-on  this subject,  not because I  wish to-
lower the public opinion respecting the real value of
medical knowledge, but because the time has  arrived
 when the hypocrisy which has  attached itself to rdi- 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
137
gion, the pettifogging dissimulation which has crept
into the practice and science of law, and the quacke-
ries which  have so long disgraced the practice and
science of medicine, are about to be scattered to the
four winds  of heaven, by the progress of real know-
ledge, and the general diffusion of useful intelligence.
The great body of the people are beginning to find out,
as I remarked in substance in my dedication, that when
we take from the learned sciences all their technical
and bombastic  language they immediately  become
plain common sense, very easily to be understood by
all ranks of men.  I have also said in that same dedica-
tion, and I  now repeat it, that  the really  valuable
materials in  medicine, and those which are the most
powerful in  the  cure of diseases, are few and simple;
and very easily to be procured in all countries; and on
this subject I will  say something more whioh may
probably be  considered new.  I not only believe that
every country produces, or can be  made to produce
whatever is  necessary to the wants of its inhabitants ;
but also  whatever is  essential to  the cure of diseases
incidental to each eountry; it is by no means probable,
that an all-wise Creator would create man with wants
be  could  not  supply, and subject him to diseases for
which there were no remedies to be  foun<J in nature,
and in all the different countries and climates of which
he is an inhabitant.   If such were not  the facts, how
miserable would be the condition of the human species;
eternally harrassed by the calls of wants which could
not be satisfied, and afflicted with diseases for which
they could find neither  the means of alleviation nor
cure!   How  did the Indian nations of  this country
become so populous and powerful, unless from finding
the means of supplying their wants, and of mitigating.;
      m 2                 IS 
138          PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

and curing their diseases, on the soil, and in the coun-
tries  which gave them birth ?   The fact is, that this
country, like all other countries, produces spontaneously,
or can be made to produce by the genius and industry
of its inhabitants, all that is required by  the wants of
the people, and all that is essential in medical science;
and  the sooner we set  about finding out,  and fully
exploring the resources of our own country, the sooner
will  we be clear of the  abuses and countless imposi-
tions in the adulteration of medical drugs; and the
sooner  will we be exempted from all dependence on
other nations.  There are many drugs that come from
abroad, that are made good for nothing, by adulterations
or mixture before they reach us, or lose their  virtues
by long  standing  and exposure; and any professed
druggist, if he will  tell you the truth, will tell you the
same;  and these among  many others, are the reasons
why I mean to be very particular in showing  you, as
respects the plants and roots of this country, not only
how great are our resources, but how easily we can
evade roguery and imposition,  and obtain  pure and
unadulterated materials  in medicine, if we will be in-
dustrious  in  developing the  real  resources of  this
country.  The science of  botany, like many others I
could name, has dwindled into mere  mummery and
hard sounding: names of plants, &c.  I can find you,
indeed, you  can  easily find them yourselves, very
jnany individuals profoundly learned  in botany, wiio
can tell you all about the  genus and species of plants
and  herbs, and can call them individually by their long
Latin names, who can tell you nothing whatever about
their use to mankind, or whether they are poisonous
or otherwise;  and I want to know whether  such
information, or rather such want of information, is not 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
139
mere  learning without wisdom, and science without
knowledge.
  But why need I speak of the science  of botany
alone  as having sunk into frivolity and superficial non-
sense ; the same may be said of many of the other sci-
ences, which were in  their origin and early progress
useful to mankind.  Real knowledge consists in under-
standing both what is useful and what is injurious to
mankind; and true wisdom amounts to nothing more
than appropriating to  our use whatever is beneficial,
and avoiding whatever is injurious to our enjoyments
and happiness: this is the true distinction between com-
mon sense and nonsense; or if you will haye the same
idea in finer language,  between wisdom  and folly.
For the common and useful purposes of mankind, the
refined fripperies and hair-drawn theories of mere
seience are  of no use whatever; indeed they never
have had much other effect than to excite a stupid ad-
miration for men who pretended to  know more  than
the mass of  mankind: audit is this stupid admiration,
this willingness to be duped by the impudent preten-
sions of science and quackery combined, that has led
to impositions and barefaced frauds upon society, with-
out number.  Wherever artifice is used, it is either to
cover  defects, or to perpetuate impositions and frauds ;
and if you wish to know how much of this artifice is
in vogue in  the science and practice of medicine, ask
some physician of eminence to give you in plain com-
mon English,  the  meaning of those mysterious and
high-sounding names you see plastered on bottles, glass ,
jars, gallipots, and drawers in a drug  store, or doctor's
shop.   There you may see in large and imposing capi-
tals, Datura Stramonium, which  simply means Stink-
weed,  or  vulgarly Jamestowm  weed:  Tanacetum 
140
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
 Vulgare, which in English means Common Tansy:
 Chenopodium Anthelmenticum, good  heaven! what
 a  name for  Jerusalem  Oak:  Spigelia Marilandica,
 which means nothing more nor less than Pink Root:
 Allium Sativum, which means Gloves of Garlic : and
 who would ever suppose, unless he were previously ini-
 tiated into the sublime mysteries of the " Physicians'
 Materia Medica," that Cantharis Vittata was the Po-
 tato Fly: that Hedeoma Pulegioides, was merely the
 common plant Pennyroyal: that Phytolacca Decandra
 was  nothing but Poke weed :  that Panax Quinquefo-
 lium was nothing  but Ginseng: that Rubus Villosus
 meant in plain English, the Blackberry: that Eupa-
 torium Perfoliatum was  nothing but Bone-set:  that
 Polygala Seneka was  Snake Root:  that Laurus Ben-
 zoin  wra* no  more than  Spice-wood:  that  Asarium
 Ganadense was Wild Ginger: that Babtisea Tinctoria
 was  only another name for Wild Indigo:  that  Hy-
 drastic Canadensis was nothing but Yellow Root:  that
 Podophyllum Peltatum  was merely the May Apple,
 or common Jalap of the shops:  Sanguinaria Canaden-
 sis, was no more than the Puccoon or Blood Root, well
known to every old woman, in the state : that Corn us
Florida was nothing but Dogwood : that Gillenia Tri-
foliata was merely Indian Physic: that Draconitu Fa>
tidum was nothing but Skunk Cabbage : that Anthe-
mis Cotula was the Wild Camomile:  that Lobelia
Inflata was nothing but Indian Tobacco : that Comp-
tonia Asplenifolia was  only the Swreet Fern :-*-*-and so
on to the end of the chapter.  But, on consideration
of the importance of this information, I will add a few-
more instances of the  shameful impositions practised
on the mass of the people, by the quackeries connected
 with medical science.   They are as follows:—Oleum- 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
141-
Ricini, meaning Castor Oil:  Unguentum Picis Li-
quidae, meaning Tar Ointment: Oleum Terebinthinaey
meaning the Oil of Turpentine:  Zanthoxylum Clava
Herculis, meaning the common  Prickly Ash of our
eountry: Sal. Nitre, meaning Salt Petre :■ Tartarized
Antimony, meaning Emetic Tartar: Sulphate Magne-
sia, meaning nothing but Epsom Salts : Ruta Graves-
lens, meaning our common Garden Rue: Salvia Offi-
cinalis, the common Sage: Sambucus Nigra, common
Elder: Serpentaria Virginiana, Virginia Shake  Root r
Myrtis Pimento, common Pepper: Ulmus Americana,
meaning Red Elm: Aqua Calcis, meaning Lime Wa-
ter :  and Carbo Ligni, Charcoal of Wood !!  These, I
think, are fair specimens of the useless technical terms
and  phrases, with which the science of medicine has
been encumbered by a policy hostile  to the interests
of every community; in which the reader will easily
distinguish, if he will look one foot beyond his nose,
not only that big words and high sounding phrases are
not  superior wisdom, but  that three-fourths of  the
whole science of medicine, as now practised and  im-
posed upon the  common people^ amounts to  nothing
but  fudge and mummery.   In fact, it has always
seemed to me, whenever I have reflected seriously on
this subject,  that all these hard names of common and
daily objects of contemplation were  originally made
use of to astonish the people; and to aid what the world
calls learned men, in deceptions and fraud. The more
nearly we can place men on a level in point of know-
ledge, the happier we would become  in  society with
each other, and the less  danger there would be of ty-
ranny on the one hand^, and submission to the degrada-
tions of personal slavery on the other:  nor are these
all the benefits that would certainly arise from a more 
142
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
equal distribution of useful  information among  the
people.  We all know perfectly well, and if we do not
we ought to do so, that there  are two ways of acquir-
ing a greater name than common among men.   One
is  by putting on affected airs of superior wisdom, and
the concealment of weakness and ignorance, to wilich
all men are subject: and the other is, by exhibiting to
the world great andjiseful energies of mind and cha-
racter, of which nothing can be a more decisive proof
than success in our undertaking.  But this is not all;
the less we  know of the weakness and imperfections
of what the world calls great men, the more we are
disposed to overrate their merits and wisdom, and to
become their humble  followers, admirers, and slaves.
This is the  reason why I wish  to impress upon your
minds, the simple and important truth, that there is
not so great a difference between men as there appears
to be ; and that you are always  to find out in the cha-
racters of men, the difference between impudent pre-
sumption, which seeks to  blind you  to  defects, and
modest and unassuming merit,  which is above hypo-
crisy and deception.  On the other hand, I wish you to
remember, that the more we know of the  ignorance
and weaknesses of great men, the less we will be com-
pelled to think of their assumed superiority, and con-
sequently the less danger there will be of our becoming
their most humble followers, their tools of  dirty pur-
poses, and in fact their slaves.  The fact is, if we would
always strip the fine coat, the  ruffled shirt, the well-
blacked boots, and what would  be better than all, the
hypocrisy and presumption, from about those who'pre-
tend to lord it over us; and if we could always hit the
true medium of truth and justice, in forming our opi-
nions of each other, there would he much less fraud in 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
143
this world than there is: for you may rest assured, and
I desire you most particularly to fix it in  your me-
mory, that no man or set of men  ever  yet attempted
to cheat or  impose on  your  credulity, without first
forming a contemptuous opinion of your discernment;
in other words, all attempts to cheat and deceive you
are direct insults to your understandings.
  With these remarks, in which I have been as plain as
possible in point of language, in order that you might
the better understand my meaning, I will now go on
to describe to you, in as plain language as can be made
use of, all the diseases we  are most liable to in this
country, and all the best remedies for those which are
brought to us from other countries.  I intend also to
describe particularly, all the roots, and  plants, and  so
on, which we have about us in our gardens, barnyards,
fields, and woods, which are useful in the cure of dis-
eases.   These will be important considerations, be-
cause I am convinced wre have many things the most
common about us, that as medicines are  as good as any
in the world, and the knowledge of which by the peo-
ple themselves will  enable them to cure their own
diseases in many instances, and avoid many and great
expenses.  The language I will make use of, as I said
before, will be extremely plain, the object of the work
being, not so much to instruct the learned as the un-
learned ; nor will I regard in the slightest degree, any
of those petty critical remarks, which  may be made
on such language, provided I succeed in adopting lan-
guage which can be understood by those for whom
this work is intended.  And  here I cannot avoid re-
marking, that since this work of mine was commenced,
and measurably finished, I have received from New
York the first  number of  a periodical work on the 
144          PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

same plan that this is, to be written by some of the
greatest medical men in the  United States, some of
whom are Mitchell,  Hosack, Mott, M'Neven,  &c
These gentlemen, as well as myself, are convinced that
the time has come when all  the mysteries and  tech-
nical  language of  the  science of  medicine must be
made plain to the people of this country, and when the
old frauds and quackeries of  the  profession must be
laid down and discontinued in practice.  I am grati-
fied that men whose names have so much weight have
undertaken to make the science  of medicine plain;
because otherwise  I should have  stood  alone in the
great attempt, and  had to contend with  all the petty
critical remarks of all the petty professors of the sci-
ence, and all  those who wish to make a mystery of
what every man in the community is  fully able to
understand if well  explained.
  Before concluding these observations, it may not be
improper to  make some remarks, intended for the
more youthful portion of those into whose hands this
wrork may fall.  Some of the diseases I am compelled
to mention and explain, necessarily relate to a sex
whose weaknesses  and delicacies of constitution enti-
tle them to the highest respect and the most tender
consideration: nor can any youth  be guilty of a more
flagrant breach of humanity, nor more completely dis-
close a brutal and unfeeling disposition, than by mani-
festing a wish to turn  into unfeeling ridicule the dis-
eases and calamities of women : I  would at once pro-
nounce such a young man a  brute, a poltroon, and a
coward.  But I am confident there are few, if any
such, in this  country, because there are few or  none
who will not recollect that their venerable mothers
were of the female sex, and that  they have probably 
              PRELIMINARY REMARKS.          145

sisters, and other relatives of the same sex.  I wish the
younger portion of my readers also to recollect, and I
most  respectfully request them  to do  so, that when
perusing my book on the various diseases to which the
human body is liable, as to the uncertainty ojf life, and
the slender thread on which it hangs, I wish them to
remember howr unknown to them are the vicissitudes
of this world; how  easily they may be thrown into
strange lands, destitute, friendless,and afflicted : I wish
them to engrave on their minds that sacred rule of do-
ing all things  to others which they would wish others
should do unto them: that they would  always let the
tear of sympathy drop for their fellow-creatures in af-
fliction and distress, and always let their hearts melt at
the tale of human wo, for which God will bless them
in oil L"o •»"«"•'"
N
•
*.! 
GUIDE  TO  HEALTH.
                   ON SLEEP.

        " What better name may slumber's bed become ?
         Night's sepulchre, the universal home.
         When weakness, strength, vice, virtue, sunk supine,
         Alike in naked helplessness recline;
         Glad for a while to heave unconscious breath,
         And wake to wrestle with the dread of death."

  To exist as it were between life and  death ;  to rove
in imagination, unfettered by the cold  and  strong re-
alities of waking existence, through a boundless realm
of visions which seem real;  this is what we call sleep,
without knowing much of any thing about its causes.
The real cause of sleep has been a  matter of much
guessing and speculation with  medical men:  even
very learned philosophers have disagreed in opinion re-
specting the cause of sleep, and nearly all the little we
know on the subject is, that when the sable curtain of
night is drawn around  us, the mind and body, wrorn
out and exhausted by the fatigues of the day, sink into
soft repose.
  Napoleon, whose genius seemed capable of seizing
every subject of contemplation with a giant grasp, re-
marked, while distinguishing between sleep and death,
that sleep was the suspension of the voluntary powrers
of man: and that death was a suspension of those that
were involuntary.  This was probably the most cor-
rect distinction between sleep  and death  that  has
ever to my knowledge  been drawm by  any man; and
I will endeavour to explain as clearly as possible, what
I think he intended by it.  When  we lie down to
                                             146 
SLEEP.                  147
sleep, we voluntarily ^exclude  the  operation  of the
senses;  in other words, we see  nothing, hear nothing,
feel nothing, smell nothing, and taste n&thing, and en-
deavour to think of nothing; this is as far as we can go
in the matter, for no man can possibly tell when he falls
asleep, or in other words, when entire suspension of
the voluntary powers of the body and mind take place.
While in this situation,  however, we know that the
sleeper  breathes,  that his heart beats, that the  blood
circulates, that  the stomach digests its food, and that
perspiration takes place :  now, as the will of the sleep-
er has nothing  to do with these matters, they depend
upon the involuntary powers of  the human system, and
when these powers cease, death takes place. This is
as far as we can go as regards  sleep and death, for as
to dreams and their causes, all we can tell about them
simply is, that during sleep the  mind and  imagination
act with such brightness  and power, as to leave  strong-
impressions on the waking memory; I say the mind
and  imagination, because we not only distinguish ob-
jects as if they were present, but because we can and
sometimes actually do reason about them, and that too
very correctly.
   It is impossible for us to enjoy good health,  unless
blessed with sound and refreshing sleep: without sleep
the whole frame is thrown into disorder, and a  strong
disposition to disease; and the mind is much confused
and  weakened.   Without the due repose of sleep, the
appetite for food  is depraved and sometimes lost; the
health and strength  fail; and the spirits become dis-
tressed  and melancholy in the extreme.  The acrid
matter is throwm off' during sleep, insensible perspira-
tion is increased,  and the body increases in growth in
a greater degree  than when awake  and actively em- 
148
SLEEP.
ployed.  You are much taller in the morning-when
rising  from a refreshing sleep, than  during or after a
day of severe fatigue.   Sleep assists much in the cure
of diseases, and  may be considered, if sound  and re-
freshing, a favourable symptom of recovery in sickness.
It is a welcome visiter in fevers, because it diminishes
the rapid motion of the  blood, and consequently cools
and refreshes the system.   It is of infinite benefit  in
dysentery or flux,  because  it restrains the frequency
of the stools; also, in female diseases, in consumptions,
rheumatisms, pleurisies, and in flooding; in fact, the
cure of almost all diseases requires sound and  refresh-
ing sleep, and so well known was this fact to a physi-
cian ,of great eminence, that he seldom or never gave
his patients  operative  medicines,  before he had pro-
duced  sound sleep by the administration of an opiate.
The body receives  nourishment during sleep ; and this
is the reason why the  growth is greatly promoted by
sleep:  all men who are  inclined to obesity or fatness
sleep much.  All young plants grow in the night time;.
indeed all young  animals  grow  in  the night while
sleeping;  and this is the reason why  children  require
more sleep than grown persons.
  I have already told you in  my introduction, that man
is a creature of habit,  and  may therefore accustom
himself to almost  any  thing by practice.  Napoleon
had an alarm watch for the purpose of awakening him
at  any hour  he chose.   During a  campaign,  one of
his field officers entered his  tent at two o'clock in the
morning; having some important  business with him.
Contrary to his expectation, he found  the emperor up,
and dressed, and employed  in laying off the plan for
the battle of the next day, and addressed him thus:___
" You are up late, emperor."  « O no," said Napoleon, 
SLEEP.
149
•*' I have just risen ; my sleep is over."  After calling
for his coffee, his usual practice  immediately on rising,
he communicated to the officer  the method he had fol-
lowed to  ascertain  the time of sleep  required by his
constitution.   " I had," said he, " been accustomed to
awrake every  night, after sleeping five or six hours, and
to continue awake during the remainder of the night.
This  led me to believe that I remained longer in bed
than nature and my constitution required ;  and deter-
mined me, by this  alarm watch, to abridge my hours
of sleep ten minutes each night,  by rising ten minutes
earlier.    I soon discovered howr much sleep nature
required by the length of  time  I slept soundly, which
was only five hours.  I have since continued this prac-
tice, and  find my health good, and nature sufficiently
restored and refreshed by it.  When in actual service,
and my mind much employed, my usual time of sleep
is but four hours, from eleven to three inclusive, &c."
As in all other  cases, too much  or too  little  sleep pro-
duces injury  to health  and strength of body and viva-
city of mind and feelings.   The bed  in which we
sleep for comfort and health is very important: the use
of feather beds, particularly in the summer season, is
extremely unhealthy:  and how persons can lie snor-
ing, soaking, and sweating, in a large  feather bed, for
eight or nine  hours at a time, which is usual with many
of the wealthy people of our country, is to me perfectly
astonishing; and I wish them to understand  distinctly,
that by so doing the following consequences  inevitably
follow:  their  flesh  becomes soft, flabby,  pale, and
weak: the digestive organs of the stomach  become
relaxed, feeble,  and of  no account, as is proven by the
want of appetite; in fact, the  whole muscular and
nervous systems become so impaired and lost in tone 
150                  SLEEP.

and vigour, as to be incapable of performing the duties
assigned  to  them by nature.   A mattrass  made of
shucks, nicely cleaned and hackled, forms a delightful
bed for summer; and if you would enjoy sleep to the
extent which is essential to health and  strength, avoid
a feather bed as you would a plague, and sleep on mat-
trasses of some kind, or on a straw bed, or even pick
out the softest plank in the floor and stretch yourself
on it.   It is worthy of observation that most persons
who sleep  hard  are  more  healthy and  lively than
others: look at the Indians, who sleep  on deer and
bear skins: look at soldiers, who sleep on blankets; and
at wagoners, who always, on journeys, sleep on hard
mattrasses on  the  floors of  houses,  or on  the hard
ground in tents.   And  it is worthy of particular re-
mark, that a hard bed promotes digestion, and prevents
incubus or  night-mare, that  demon  of  indigestion,
which is a scourge of thousands.  All  asthmatic  per-
sons, or, in other words, those who have  the phthisic,
should sleep hard, and in refreshing and pure air ; fea-
ther beds in close rooms are murdering thousands of
these people by inches.  Many people are subject at
night  to palpitations of the  heart, shortness of breath.
which seems to threaten suffocation, great anxiety and
depression of spirits, uneasiness for which  they cannot
account, tremors, and so on, usually called nervous.
These people  ought always to sleep on hard beds and
in pure air:  and they ought  always, in warm weather,
to wash or sponge their bodies  with cold water, taking
care immediately after to wipe themselves dry with a
coarse towel, and then  to use the  flesh-brush;  this
course of proceeding  will, just before going to  bed,
produce sound and refreshing sleep.   Warm bathino-
of the feet, before going to bed, is of infinite service in 
SLEEP.                   151
causing sound sleep; the bath ought to have a little
salt in it, and to  be continued fifteen or twenty mi-
nutes ; after which the feet ought to be wiped dry, and
well brushed with a flesh-brush:  persoB6 subject to
cold feet, and those much advanced in age, will find
much benefit from the flesh-brush, and from wrapping
their feet in a well dried flannel before  going to bed.
When we lie down to sleep, every painful thought and
unpleasant circumstance should, if  possible,  be  ba-
nished from the mind;  and we  should always endea-
vour to turn our meditations into channels which will
leave tranquil and soothing impressions behind them
when we fall asleep. Dr. Franklin's rules for sleeping
well, and having pleasant dreams, are very plain : he
says,  " Eat moderately during the day, and avoid
heavy suppers; sleep on a hard bed with your feet to
the fire, especially in very cold weather: and, above all,
during the day take sufficient exercise.  If you awake
from  a sense of  uneasiness or accident, and  cannot
again compose yourself to sleep, get out of the bed  and
throw-  open the bed-clothes,  and expose your naked
body to the  action of the cold air: there is no  danger
of taking cold.  When the cold air becomes unpleasant,
return to bed ; your skin has  by this time discharged '
its perspirable matter, and you will soon fall asleep, and
your sleep will be sound and refreshing.   I have  fre-
quently tried this method with success, and find, after
exposing my body to the cold air, a quick  desire to
sleep.  I therefore  recommend  it as free  from  any
danger of taking cold.   Persons unaccustomed to  this
method should gradually accustom  themselves to a free
circulation of air.   The  higher and more airy the bed-
chamber, the better for health."  As man is the crea-
ture of habit, he may bring himself gradually to bear 
152
SLEEP.
almost any exposure; but great and sudden changes in
our habits should always be avoided.  Small close bed-
rooms, and particularly bed-curtains, should always be
avoided ; ana" for this reason : in close rooms and cur-
tained beds, you breathe  unchanged air, which has
become impure from previous breathing.  As boiling
water does not grow hotter by long boiling, if particles
that receive greater heat can escape, so living bodies do
not putrify and become corrupt, if the particles, as fast
as they become corrupted,  can be thrown off.
  Nature always expels much bad and corrupted mat-
ter by the pores of the skin and lungs: you may easily
prove this to yourself, if your nose is sufficiently sharp,
by catching a scent of the breath and sweat of many
persons.  In a1 free and pure air, the corrupted perspi-
rable matter from the skin is immediately carried off;
but in a close room or  bed, or in a dirty  bed  even in
pure air, these particles of  bad matter are not carried
off, and sickness  is nearly always  the  consequence.
Dirty rooms and beds cause a great deal of disease, and
persons cannot easily be too cleanly in their habits if
they wish to be healthy; but I will say more on this
subject  when  I  come  to  speak of baths.   In close
rooms or dirty beds we breathe the same bad and cor-
rupted air over and over again, so that at every mo-
ment it becomes  more injurious.   Confined  air,
when saturated or filled with perspirable, matter, must
remain with us, and produces many of our diseases.
Persons who are inclined to be fat, or  who are in
reality so, should sleep on hard beds; take a great deal
of exercise; never sleep more than five or six hours;
and use well  the  flesh-brush, particularly over  the
joints.   By these  means,  together with a proper
regimen, which means food and drink, the bulk of the 
SLEEP.
153
body  may be reduced, and the flesh made firm and
strong.
  Nothing undermines and destroys  the health and
constitution with so much rapidity, as want of sleep:
gamesters, courtezans, debauchees, and in fact all those
who lose much sleep, prove by their  pale and sallow
complexions,  the  want of "nature's  sweet restorer."
Many instances have  been known  in London and
other large cities, where the waiters  and servants in
gaming  houses, have  become  absolutely insane or
crazy for want of sleep.  A person, by long sitting up
and  losing .sleep, may  at length become unable to
sleep, from extreme irritability of the nervous system;
therefore persons of an irritable  habit should always
be cautious of such circumstances.   I have  known
many instances of apoplexy being produced by want
of sleep; persons should, therefore, when such cases
are apprehended, bathe their feet in warm water when
they lie  down, and  take a  dose  of cooling medicine,
such as Epsom salts; or, in case  of fever, lose  a little
blood, and take a slight opiate.   More, however, will
be said on the subject of sleep, and its diminution and
excesses, under the head of exercise.
                   exercise!
  If you would enjoy  health, take  exercise and be
temperate: and if you attend to these things properly,
you will have  but little use for either physicians or
medicines.  Temperance, exercise, and rest, are the
sure guarantees of sound health and vigour, if you have
naturally a good constitution, and almost the only sure
means of amending and preserving a weak and defi-*
                        20 
154
EXERCISE.
cient one.   Persons  who take proper  exercise, and
combine that exercise with temperance,  are seldom
sick; and those who fly to medicines on every trifling
cause of complaint, in nine cases in ten, might relieve
themselves by abstaining  from food for a  short time,
living on light diet, and  taking as much  exercise as
will  cause  perspiration, without  impairing  their
strength by excessive fatigue.  Exercise, for the pur-
pose of producing perspiration, and throwing off the
excrementitious or  bad matter from the  system, is
much better than any medical means; not only be-
cause it is the means which nature herself prescribes,
but  because,  unlike   medical drugs  generally,  it
strengthens, instead of weakening the  system.  We
are always to suppose, from the fact  of the horrible
fetor or stench, which arises from  the  bodies of those
on whom fevers have just been broken, that the reten-
tion of that bad matter in their systems  contrary to
nature, wras the real cause of their febrile  or feverish
disorders; and does it not follow, that by getting clear
of that matter by natural means, before it has time to
accumulate and produce malignant and  obstinate dis-
eases, is much better than to force the vital organs
into a destructive action for producing  the same effect?
In  other words,»do you  not know,  that  when you
force the stomach into laborious action, or indeed any
other vital organ of  the system, that you always
weaken and impair its energies, and  lay the founda-
tion of many  diseases to which  the system under other
circumstances would be  a stranger?   A  person of
common size, and in  good health,  will perspire  or
sweat, from three to four  pounds' weight  in twenty-
four hours,  if proper exercise be taken; and the fact is
that there is more in proportion of all the fetid matter 
EXERCISE.
155
of the system, discharged from the skin in perspiration
or sweat, than there is by the stool and the urine com-
bined : and can you not as easily see as I can tell you,
that unless  this bad matter is thrown  off from the
body by exercise and perspiration, that the fluids of
the body will become greatly corrupted, and  all its
vessels oppressed and morbidly irritated, and that dis-
ease must and  will follow ?  There is  no witchcraft
about the diseases to which we are all liable; they are
all matters of plain reasoning between the causes and
effects, to the full understanding  of every man., Are
we not witnesses daily and  hourly of  the  beneficial
effects of exercise, in the cure of diseases in which both
medicines and  medical  men have failed?  Half the
diseases of delicate women, and, in fact, nearly all the
diseases connected with hysterics and  hypochondria,
arise for want of due exercise in  the open, mild, and
pure air.  Instead of stewing in a close room, and in-
dulging  in  moody and gloomy  anticipations, and
instead of lying in a huge feather bed  until nine or ten
o'clock in the morning, dozing through morbid dreams
and vainly courting sleep, the woman of delicate nerves
and infirm health, and the gloomy hypochondriac,
who has probably  not sweated for months together,
ought to spring from the feathered couch at daylight;
view the opening and brilliant landscapes  of nature,
 just kindling into life  and beauty under the beams of
the rising sun, and breast the pure mountain breeze!
   I have just told you, that exercise will not only pre-
serve your health if you have a good  constitution, but
that will frequently give healthy action and strength
 to  a weak and  deficient one. Cicero is described  by
 Plutarch as being  at one period  of his life thin and
 weakly; so  much so indeed, from the debility of his 
 156                EXERCISE.

stomach, as to be able to eat but once a day, and that
a very small quantity.  In this debilitated and weakly
condition, he travelled  to Athens for the recovery of
his health; and so great were the effects of his exercise,
that, together with the gymnastic exercises of the place,
he became firm and  robusf, and his voice, which had
before been squeaking and harsh, was changed for me-
lodious, deep, and sonorous tones.  The  same  writer,
Plutarch, describes the great Roman warrior, Julius
Caesar, as being originally of very delicate health, pale
and soft skin, and of very feeble constitution by nature,
and subject to fits;  but that  by a military life, using
coarse diet and great exercise, he not only became in-
ured to the hardships and exposures of war, but healthy,
active, vigorous, and strong.  It is not worth while to
give any more instances of the  powerful  influence
which exercise has on the human system; if you wish
to know  more about it, look at the brawny arms and
strong chests of sailors, who are always pulling ropes,
and contending with the winds and storms Of the ocean:
look at the strong figure of the sturdy woodman, who
makes the forests bow to the sound of  the axe; and
indeed all those persons who are engaged in active and
laborious callings : and then, by comparing these peo-
ple with those who are always confined to their houses.
to books, and sitting postures, and trades which pre-
vent them from  moving  about, you will  be able very
easily to see  the effects of exercise much  better than I
can describe  and tell you of them.  I feel  confident
in saying, that by exercise on horseback for women.
and exercise  on foot  for  men, together with some at-
tention to food and  drink, this dreadful disease, called
dyspepsia or indigestion, which paralyzes both  body
and  mind, and makes existence itself a  burden, toge- 
                             By  various sports.




O'er  i-iUs, tkrcvugb v*llif's&by rivers' rjrinK.



Is  life "both sv^fc e : <■ ■>-,c.  X- p''oione:'d.. 
«
•»
i 
EXERCISE.                 157
     ther with the whole train of nervous diseases to Which
     we are subject, may be cured completely without the
     aid of medicine, by laying down  and following sys-
     tematic rules of exercise, rest, and diet.
       All  the  quack medicines for  cleansing the blood.
*     which you  perceive in the newspapers, are mere im-
     positions on the  public.  Such  medicines'have  their
     day, and then die off to make room for new catalogues,
     without any benefit except enriching the impostors
     who invent them.   The sure remedies for impure
     blood and consequent eruptions  of the skin, are those
     which  nature prescribes/and which simply are exercise.
     temperanm, and cleanjjjness of person; if you will mind
     these trfcJtyou ne#i care nothing about eosmettos^d
     lotions, -HJ^icji nonsense, which  always sooner or late*
jj-^oimmeiiseinwry.  We see daify and almost hourly, g
    pe%on£ whirwvWreen accustomed to exercise and la
              ir youth, changing their former modes of lifj
    fdBKpse of ease, refinement, wealth, and idleness, kef;
    ancl^mvery soon see also, that these persons immediate
    ly begin to sink into all  the diseases which arise from
    corrupted  habits  of body, merely for  want of their
    accustomed  exercise and active habits; diseases to
    which they would probably not have been liable, had
    they continued in their original habits of exercise and
    useful  industry.  We see them  immediately labour-
    ing^ undeu  morbid  eruptions  of the skin,  jaundice,
    nervous irritability, palsy, indigestion,  consumptions,
    anJ^htoen above knows what more diseases too te-
    diousnS name.  In all these cases, let me urge upon you
    the vast unspeakable importance of  exercise and regu-
    lar diet, by winch last I  mean never touching spirit-
    uous liquors of any kind.  Follow the French rules in
    these respects, and you will enjoy all that  sprightly
         0
 
    158                 EXERCISE.

    vigour of mind, and  buoyant elasticity of health and
    feelings for which that people are celebrated  in all
    parts of the world.  The French people, from  their
    habitually  taking  exercise, and  nearly always  being
    temperate in eating and  drinking, are  exempted in a
    great degree from those  diseases which  arise  from
    want of exercise, gormandizing on strong food, drink-
    ing spirituous liquors, and sleeping immoderately and
   in close chambers. In these  respects, nearly all the
   rest  of the world  ought to take lessons from them.
   We  all know very wTell, that  due exercise and  rest,
   combined with light and  temperate eating and drink-
   ing, always produce cheerfulness^and  serenity;  and
   ho-w^o they do so?   Why, simpLby  prerf^ting ob-
   structions in the  system;  and by  renrewi^  them
   -whenever they present themselves.  jLou Seldom findj
   a Frenchman gloomy, oppressed irr^nTs '■feelings, de-
 ■toondent: no; and for these good  reasons, h«
^omits to be active in his movements; to take
   and proper rest, and above all, he seldom eats nffnly,
   and immediately lies down to snore away ten or twelve
   hours, to the exclusion of exercise beneficial to his
   health.  We all know very well, that sluggardism or
   sedentary habits, and want of exercise in proportion to
   our strength, produces uneasy and bad sleep, costive-
   ness of the bowels,  a dry and feverish skin, and a thou-
   sand other  things  connected with obstructions; and
   we all know just as well, that exercise duly taken, fill
   always produce sound and  easy sleep, that iLhas a
   tendency to open the  bowels and  to keep therTOpen
   and regular, and to  remove obstruction^ of the skin, of
   the lungs, of the liver,  &c.  &c. to the end of the chap-
   ter :  and yet we will lie in bed, or sit in a close warm
   room, breathing an  atmosphere sufficient to,poison,us,
 
EXERCISE.
159
and  gorge our systems with medical drugs, enough to
destroy the whole tone and energies of the stomach and
bowels !  I say again, instead  of the medicines always
used to remove obstructions,  to make sweat  flow, to
make the blood circulate freely, and to excite all the
healthy sensations and excretions, take exercise in the
pure air, live temperately on light diet and drink, never
provoke sleep by any other means than natural ones,
and sleep no more than is necessary to renovate the sys-
tem.  Under such circumstances as these you will have
no use for mercurial purges, or any medicines save those
of a simple and harmless character.  Morning and even-
ing are the  proper hours for taking exercise: rise early
and walk from  one*to two miles; in the evening also
devote an hour to exercise in  the open air.  You may
also  use  weigjits of from  five to six pounds, which
when taken into the hands are to be thrown backward
and  forward so as to produce an action in  the chest;
this ^jercise is properly adapted  to persons of weak
breasts, and particularly to females.
  I have frequently seen persons so extremely weak in
the chest,  and what we call short-winded, as  to  be
unable to ascend the smallest hill without getting out
of breath, and who by the use of those weights a short
time, have become so much improved as to be enabled
to ascend the highest hills  without inconvenience or
oppression of the chest.  The great objects of exercise,
and it will always have those  effects when judiciously
taken, are to increase and regulate the secretions and
excretions, by the skin, the kidneys, &c. &c.; to give
power to the muscles, to impart tone and strength to
the nerves, and  where a person is fat and unwieldy in
size, to reduce  the superfluities of flesh and fat; to
reduce the  quantity of blood, and to make  it  thinner 
160
EXERCISE.
    and lighter.  The other benefits resulting  from exer-
    cise are, good appetite, good  and easy digestion, tran-
    quillity and serenity of mind and feelings, pleasant and
    refreshing sleep, astonishing  increase of strength and
    wind in  breathing, &c.  I have  seen  a boy on  the
    Mediterranean, his carriage  being filled with pas-
    sengers, run  by the side of his horses at considerable
    speed for ten and fifteen miles together, without being
    fatigued at the end of the journey, or being  the least
    oppressed for want of breath.  These  boys  subsisted
    on a few  bunches of grapes, and a small flask of wine,
    daily, both of which they carry suspended from their
    necks.  The cheerful disposition of these poor boys,
    and their great breath and  strength,  convinced me
    fully of the great benefits arising from  diet and exer-
    cise. The advantages of the  training system are not
    confined  to pedestrians or walkers, or  to  pugilists or
fc  boxers alone; or to horses which are trained for the
w  chase and the race  track:  they extend  to  man  in  all
 ^ conditions;  and were  training introduced  into  the
    United States, and made use of by physicians in many
    cases instead of medical  drugs, the beneficial conse-
    quences in the cure of  many diseases would be very
    great indeed.
          WARM OR TEPID BATH.
  It is impossible to find language to  express in ade-
quate terms the importance of this powerful preserver
and restorative of health;  this great and  almost  in-
describable luxury, the bath.
  Considering its importance  to  the  preservation  of
health, and the cure of very many of our most afflict- 
WARM  bath.
161
ing diseases; I am truly astonished that the warm  or
tepid bath should be so little used in our country.
  Warm baths are such as have a temperature  be-
tween seventy-six and ninety-eight degrees of the
thermometer; but  persons  having no thermometer
(indeed there is no need of one for regulating the tem-
perature of the water)  have only to consult their own
sensations in entering the bathing tub; because their
own temperament in contact with the water will im-
mediately advise them of the temperature  required:
the only inconvenience that  can ever be experienced
in using the warm bath, will be in being compelled to
leave its comforts.  The usual time of bathing is from
twenty minutes to half an hour; but with regard  to
time, it is not material: the feelings and sensations of
the bather will better determine this point  than I can
tell him.   The warm bath, contrary  to the general
opinion, does not heat the body; it has on the contrary i
an opposite effect, inasmuch  as it obviously abates the!
quickness of the pulse, and reduces the pulsations in
proportion to the time we remain in the warm water.
  When persons have  travelled a long journey, and
feel much fatigued, or  overheated by an exposure to
the sun, or their minds  are much disturbed, the bath
will be found an excellent remedy for invigorating the
whole system, and  at  the same  time  reducing the
irregular and quick action of the blood.  Indeed I feel
confident, that in thousands of instances, if the bath
were used invthe first symptoms of those irregular and
feverish feelings which prey upon the mind and body,
very many persons would escape sick-beds.   During
my practice in Virginia, I escaped the fever prevalent
in Botetourt county, called the lick fever,  in several
instances after having felt distinctly all the symptoms
     ,0 2                21 
162
WARM  BATH.
 of that disease, by  the speedy use of the warm bath
 and gentle purgatives of Epsom salts.   Had I not used
 the bath, I feel confident I could not have escaped this
 dreadful and malignant disease, being exposed  during
 its prevalence, in attendance on a great many patients.
 The warm bath is of very great utility  to  persons
 troubled with eruptions, or breakings out of the skin,
 such as itch, and indeed venereal sores.   In hypochon-
 driacal hysterics, and in insane cases ; and in  fact on
 persons labouring under madness, the beneficial effects
 of warm baths are always visible:  in scorbutic and old
 ulcers, or sores, when  attention  has been  paid to
 regimen, the utilities of the bath are equally great.  In
 palsy and all  nervous  diseases, I recommend  warm
 bathing as one of the most effectual remedies.   Doctor
 Charleton, of Bath in England, states, that out of nine
 hundred and ninety-six paralytics, most of whom had
^resisted the powers  of medicine, eight  hundred and
^ thirteen were benefited by the application of the warm
 bath at the hospital of that city.  In a great variety of
 chronic, or inveterate complaints, such as bilious dis-
 eases, derangements  of the liver, and  of the stomach
 and digestive functions, it is impossible to describe to
 you its useful effects; and I solicit you  with every
 sincerity of heart to use the  warm bath individually.
 and in your families, as one of the efficient preventive.**
 and cures of disease which is in every man's reach.  In
 using the bath with some system and regularity, you
 will ward off many hours' confinement  by ill  health;
 save the expense of many a doctor's bill, and prevent
 you from having a ruined constitution, and a stomach
 worn out by swallowing medicines: for  I do assert
 without fear of contradiction, that if the  warm bath
 were more  frequently used, with proper abstinence 
WARM  BATH.
163
from food on the approach of fever, and many other
diseases which  I shall enumerate under their proper
heads, in five cases in ten, medical assistance would not
be required.  In all cases of debility from  spasms; in
pain, in colic, in cramp, and in  anxiety and  restless-
ness, the bath will relieve and tranquillize  the system.
In hectic, or consumptive fever, I have  found  it of
great benefit from  the fact of its lessening the heat:
and most  particularly  beneficial when the liver was
connected with this dreadful disease.   In dyspepsia, or
indigestion, this terrible disease, which makes life itself
a burden, the bath is a valuable assistant and com-
forter in the cure.  All young persons who manifest a
disposition to stop at a premature point of growth—in
other words, to remain pigmies for life—should use the
bath; because it always  promotes the growth of the
body, increases  the proportions of the limbs, and  adds
much  to  the muscular powers.  On the subject of
barrenness I have reflected much, and as it seems to be
the anxious  wish of many of the wealthy to have off-
spring, the remark or seasonable  hint, that the bath is
admirably adapted  to  the want of increase of family,
may be quite sufficient, without descending to parti-
culars.
  The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Germans, as well
as the Persians, Turks, and  modern- Egyptians, enjoy
the comforts and benefits procured by bathing,  in a
degree of  which we can scarcely form an  idea.   The
French owe much of their cheerfulness and  vivacity
of disposition to the warm bath; and you could not
inflict  on  Frenchmen or French  females a greater
punishment than to deprive either  of  the warm bathy
which  they  always prize as a component part  of their
existence.   The soft, delicate, and beautiful skins, for 
IB4
WARM  BATH.
 which the French females are so much celebrated, are
 very much  owing to the tepid bathing, being far pre-
 ferable to all the cosmetics and other preparations sold
 for the purpose of whitening and beautifying the skin.
 The habits of persons are very different as to perspira-
 tion or sweating : some perspire very much, and others
 very little:  from some  no offensive effluvia arises in
 perspiring, whilst from bodies of others there arises a
 perfect fetor; and I must here say, that of all possible
 putrid smells, that arising from the perspiration of the
 human body is the  most dreadful; and to such persons
 as have a fetid perspiration, I do most certainly know,
 that the frequent use of the warm bath would  be of
 immense service.  It would not only prevent strangers
 becoming disgusted with their society, but be a great
 auxiliary in promoting their health, and removing that
 most unpleasant smell which salutes the nasal organs
 with a perfectly sepulchral stench!  This  uncleanli-
 ness, or want of cleanliness, exhibits itself as frequently
 in the drawing-rooms and festooned halls of the great
 and wealthy, as in the humble  cottages of the obscure
 and needy;  and sometimes produces disgusts which
 neither time nor circumstances can remove.  Let me,
 then, again,  and with every desire for your happiness,
 and every delicacy of sentiment I am master of, urge
 upon  you the simple  fact, that cleanliness is the very
 best of perfumes, and that all those which are imported
from the east are inferior to  the pleasant and native
smell of the  skin when perfumed by the use of soap
and water.  I ought here perhaps to close my remarks;
but I feel it a solemn duty I owe to  my fellow-beings
 to be candid, as I have pledged myself to be, and  tell
 them plainly what I am satisfied will be most for their
good.   I have  absolutely known many matches in 
                   WARM BATH.               165

wedlock, completely destroyed by the discovery of a
want of cleanliness; and  many married persons ren-
dered miserable and  highly obnoxious to each other,
by this lazy, indolent, and I will add this dirty trait of
character:  for it is well known to all keen observers
of mankind, that moral purity and cleanliness of per-
son, are nearly always found combined.
  Every family, rich and poor, ought to have a bathing
machine, improperly called a tub.  It is easy of con-
struction, and very simple, being in shape like a child's
cradle without rockers, about six feet in length, and of
width sufficient  easily to admit the body, with a hole
in the bottom, near the foot, to let the water pass off
after being used; it may be constructed of wood or tin,
and if of the latter, it ought to be painted to prevent
rust.  Where it  is made of  wood plank, the seams or
cracks ought to be filled with  boiling tar or pitch to
prevent leakage.  Rocks properly cleansed, previously
to being heated in the fire, afford very easy means of
heating the water to any temperature,  and will always
enable  the bather to take  the bath with very little
trouble.
  Most wealthy  persons imagine, when they have fur-
nished their mansions with  splendid mirrors, Turkey
carpets, sofas,  and  various  other decorations, which
soon tire after the novelty of seeing them ceases, that
all things are complete;  but, I say, that  unless they
have a small room appropriated to bathing, in which
the necessary apparatus can be found fitted up for use,
their houses want one of the most necessary append-
ages of comfort and health :  and that they ought to be
charged with the responsibility of many diseases which
afflict  their families, for want of this fountain of
health.  The construction of public  baths has, from 
166
WARM  BATH.
    the remotest ages, been considered an object of national
    attention ; and most sincerely and ardently do I desire,
    that public  baths  might be established  in every city
    and town in our country, as well for the health as  the
    comfort of the people.
      The warm or tepid bath should be used about twice
    or three  times a week  in summer; in winter once a
    week is sufficient.  It ought to be used in the morning,
    at noon, or when going to bed.
      Having now given a concise account of some of the
    benefits of this bath, I shall  next show, by a brief state-
    ment of  facts, the method of  bathing practised by the
    hardy Russians.  They have sweating or vapour baths,
    which are resorted to  by persons  of  all classes, rich
    and poor, free of expense, because these baths are sup-
    ported and kept up by the government.  Here mingle
    together the beggar, the artisan, the peasant, and  the
^   nobleman, to enjoy the luxuries of the  steam or sweat-
    ing bath, in  both  sickness  and health.  The method
    pursued to produce the vapour bath, is simply by throw-
    ing water on red  hot stones in a  close room, which
    raises the heat from 150 to 168 degrees, making, when
    at 168,  above a heat  capable of  melting  wax, and
    only  12 degrees below that for boiling spirit of wine.
    In this  tremendous and excessive  heat, which on  an
    American would produce suffocation, the Russian en-
    joys what to him is a comfortable luxury of the vapour
    bath, which shows clearly,  as I have before  observed,
    the  wonderful force of habit  among mankind.   In
    these bath-houses  are constructed  benches, on which
    they lie naked, and continue in a profuse sweat for the
    lapse of one  and  sometimes two  hours, occasionally
    washing or pouring over their  bodies warm or cold
    water.   During the sweating stage, the  body is well 
WARM  BATHS.               167
rubbed or gently whipped with leafy branches of the
birch tree, to promote perspiration by opening the
pores of the skin.  A Russian thinks nothing of rush-
ing from the bath room dissolved in sweat, and jump-
ing into the cold and chilling  waters of an adjacent
river: or, during the most piercing cold to which his
country is liable in winter, to roll himself in the snow;
and this without the slightest  injury.  On the con-
trary, he derives many advantages from  these sudden
changes and abrupt exposures;  because he always by
them hardens his constitution to all the severities of a
climate whose colds and snows  seem  to paralyze the
very face of nature.  Rheumatisms are seldom known
in Russia; which is  certainly owing  to the habit of
thus taking the vapour bath.  The great and sudden
transition  from heat to cold seems to us very danger-
ous and unnatural; but I have  no doubt the Russians
owe their longevity, their healthy and robust constitu-
tions, their exemption from certain mortal diseases, and
their  cheerful and vivacious  tempers, to these baths,
and  their generally  temperate mode of  living. A
learned writer has justly remarked, and not without
cause, that it is much to be lamented " this practice of
bathing should have fallen into such disuse among the
modern nations of Europe; and  that he most sincerely
wishes it might again be revived in our towns and vil-
lages."  When wTe look back and see the benefits that
the old physicians derived from this remedy of nature's
own invention, and the many cures formerly effected
by the use of the  bath, and that Rome for five hundred
years  together had few physicians but baths, we  can-
not avoid being astonished that they should ever have
fallen into disuse, from the prejudice  and  negligence
of mankind. 
168
COLD BATH.
                 COLD BATH.

  The cold bath is one of the most important medi-
cinal remedies presented from the friendly bosom of
nature.   The cold  bath means  cleansing or washing
the body with cold water, of a  temperature varying
from the thirty-third to the  fifty-sixth degree of Fah-
renheit's thermometer, or the  usual warmth of our
river water during  the summer months:  but the en-
trance of spring-branches into  the river should be
avoided by persons bathing, because it produces a sud-
den change of temperature from an agreeable warmth
to a cold and chilling sensation.
  Bathing in cold water during the warm season, is a
preventive against diseases, particularly fevers, by less-
ening the heat of the body;  it cleanses the skin from
its impure and acrid contents, thereby removing a pri-
mary source of disease:  the bath braces the  solids,
which were before relaxed by heat, restoring and tran-
quillizing the irritability of the  nervous system, and
greatly exhilarating and  cheering  the spirits with an
increase of strength and bodily power.  If the bath has
been  serviceable, you will quiokly feel, after leaving
the water and rubbing well with a coarse towel, the
most pleasant glow or increase of heat, with a delight-
ful serenity and cheerfulness; but if the bath  has been
injurious, you will feel the contrary effect to that which
1 have described: and you must of course discontinue
its use, and apply the tepid or warm bath  in its stead.
The effects produced by the cold bath when they prove
injurious to  the bather, are directly the  contrary to
those  which I have before described; such as  heavi-
ness and depression of spirits; respiration or breathing 
COLO RATH.
169
becomes impeded; livid or dark  appearance  of  the
skin ; nails purple; the lips change their florid appear-
ance to a pale or purple colour; and the countenance
assumes  a cadaverous or ghastly colour, accompanied
with  headach.   In such a case, the bather  should
immediately take plentifully of  warm toddy, made
of spirits of any kind; or if a cramp in the  stomach,
which sometimes takes place from the cold bath, thirty
or forty drops of laudanum for a  grown person, with
warm toddy, together with the application  of warm
salt to the stomach, will  give immediate relief.  Mo-
derate  exercise should always be taken after bathing,
so as to restore the equilibrium of the  circulation, and
produce  a reaction in the vessels  and muscles. The
morning is the best time  for bathing, or twTo hours be-
fore sunset, if in a river, as the water has then, from the
rays of a summer sun, acquired an agreeable  warmth.
When the sun has disappeared, or evening begins to
throw  her mists over  the water, it is imprudent to
bathe, owing to the dampness of the atmosphere, which
is apt to  produce a chill, followed by fever.
  The rules for bathing are, to enter  the bath on an
empty stomach; or, in other words, some time after
eating: wet the head first, and if the bathing-place is
free from impediments, dive in head foremost, so as to
make the impression uniform;  for you will  feel the
shock less by boldly entering it, than by reflecting and
acting slowly and timidly, by which you might pro-
duce dangerous consequences by propelling the blood
from the  extremities to the head, inducing apoplexy.
  The time  of remaining in the  bath should alwTays
be short, and must be determined  by the constitution
and the feelings of the persons themselves, as healthy
persons may continue in the  bath longer than those
     P                   *2 
170
COLD BATH.
who are weakly and in bad health.  It  is improper
and unsafe to remain in the cold water longer than a
quarter of an hour at most, during  the hottest day in
summer, as the principal object in cold bathing is the
influence and effect produced by the first impression
made on the  system : and should the cold bath be ad-
visable in spring or autumn, which is sometimes the
case, one or two minutes  at most will be sufficient;
when the bath is necessary at these seasons, it Will be
advisable to use the shower bath, as hereafter described.
  On the use of the cold bath  considerable judgment
is required, as many serious and  lingering complaints
have been produced by the injudicious use of this
remedy, and many diseases brought to a fatal termina-
tion by its improper application.  I shall, therefore,
describe as plainly as possible the different effects pro-
duced in the different constitutions, and the diseases for
which it is beneficial.
  On aged and thin persons it acts more powerfully
than on corpulent and fat persons;  therefore a fat and
young person can remain double the time in the bath
to one that is old or of delicate constitution.   The re-
mark which I have  before made should be attended to
by  persons of stout or corpulent habits: particularly
those of short necks should  always wet the head and
enter the bath courageously, so as to prevent the deter-
mination of blood to the head: persons of sanguine
temperament should be particular as to these instruc-
tions.
  Persons whose lungs are affected, or those labouring
under breast complaints, should by all means avoid cold
bathing; because by using it they always advance the
disease and cut short the thread of life.  In oppres-
sions of the breast, or difficulty of breathing, short or 
                   COLD BATH.                171

dry coughs, &c, the bathing in cold water is highly
detrimental and improper; obstructions also in wo-
men, or stoppage of the menses or courses; also per-
sons of a scorbutic habit, or those afflicted with old
sores or ulcers, or vitiated state of the system, gout or
rheumatism, pregnant  women;  in  hemorrhages or
discharges of blood from the lungs, in all kinds of in-
flammation internal and external, the cold bath is dan-
gerous, and frequently confirms  disease which ulti-
mately results in dissolution or death.   Its benefits are
always found in a debilitated state of the system, when
unconnected with the diseases I have mentioned;  par-
ticularly those whose systems  have been relaxed  by
sedentary habits, requiring tonic or strengthening re-
medies.   I have frequently in one or two dangerous
cases used the cold bath with females in an advanced
stage of life, when nature was about to leave them, or.
in other words, when  the heavy flooding from the
 womb was about to take place.
   The application of cold water, and frequently ice,
 has been resorted to in profuse  discharges of blood
 from  the womb, with  considerable  advantage,  cold
 water being a powerful astringent.   When  infirm or
 aged persons take the cold  bath, they ought to  take
 moderate exercise before using it, so as to increase or
 produce the action of the vascular system, for by this
 moderate heat  you produce reaction  under the shock,
 which might not  otherwise take place.  Understand
 me, I mean  gentle exercise, not such as  to produce
 sweating, although it is perfectly safe to enter the cold
 bath after a moderate wralk or ride.  It would be highly
 dangerous to go into the water when sweating, or la-
 bouring under fatigue; because your body, from fatigue,
 is losing heat rapidly by sweat;  but it would by this 
172
COLD BATH.
lose suddenly  what remains  of heat; and, therefore,
you counteract the benefits which would otherwise
result from a judicious use of this invaluable remedy
if properly applied; therefore neither previous entire
rest, nor  exercise to overheat can possibly be  proper.
But go between these points moderately and you will
receive all the advantages the cold  bath of  this de-
scription is capable of bestowing on the human species.
  The cold bath is sometimes used as a shower bath
with great success; it means the falling of the water
from a height of seven or eight feet, in a shower simi-
lar to rain.  The construction of this bath is very sim-
ple : fix a box that will hold water, or a large tub will
answer;  bore  the bottom full of  holes with  a large
gimlet, let the box or tub be placed above your head,
the distance  above-mentioned, and let the water be
throwm in, you being stripped of your clothing, or from
delicacy  to exposure of 'your person, have a box made
with a trap-door underneath, so that by  pulling the
string the trap-door will fall by a hinge,  and permit
the water to fall on your body.  In the northern cities
the shower bath is constructed in this way, so that the
water is  always ready in the box, while you are pre-
paring by stripping yourself, when by  pulling  the
string, you will  receive  the bath on your body.  The
shower bath produces the best effects when used early
in the morning, after which you should take a mode-
rate walk, or exercise on horseback.  By making the
water salt (that  is, with  common salt, well mixed) it
will be  doubly beneficial, answering the fine effects
produced by  sea bathing.   In such a case the salt
should be boiled the night before with water, to give
it the strength and qualities of sea water.  After leav-
ing the bath, rub well with a coarse towel.   The  ad- 
COLD BATH.
173
vantages of this method  are  greatly superior  to  the
other methods of bathing, where the effects required
to be produced are powerful:  for although the bathing
in a river covers the surface of the body more uniform-
ly, yet this circumstance by no means detracts from
the excellence of  the former, because those interme-
diate parts which  the water has not  touched, receive
an  electric and  sympathetic  impression, in  a  degree
similar to those brought  into actual  contact, and  as
every drop of water from the  shower bath operates as
a partial  cold bath, its vivifying shock to robust indi-
viduals is more extensive, and  better adapted than any
other method of bathing.  I  will now describe why
this bath is better than the  common method of bath-
ing, together with its safety and advantages.   In  the
first place, the sudden falling of the water may be used
as often  as you like ; prolonged or shortened at plea-
sure, according  to your  feelings,  your constitution,
your disease, or your gratification.  Second:  your head
and breast are much secured, and as it descends to your
hands and  feet, the circulation is not impeded, breath-
ing is less difficult, and a determination of blood to the
head and breast is prevented.  Third: when the water
falls in this way by single drops, gliding in succession
over the body, it produces the most thrilling and  de-
lightful  sensations, stimulating the wiiole system.   It
being always easily obtained  and near  at hand, gives
it additional advantages.  Lastly: the degree of pres-
sure from the weight of water is prevented, nor is the
bath dangerous; the  fluids  and circulation never be-
ing interrupted by it.  Besides, it is free from injuries
to which bathing in rivers and creeks exposes us.  In
closing my directions and  advantages from the shower-
bath, I recommend the salt bath particularly, as one
      P2 
174
COLD BATH.
of the finest remedies in tits, in deafness, and for rick-
ety children, or those afflicted with a disease called St.
Vitus' dance, a nervous affection.   The great benefits
resulting from the judicious use of the shower bath
have been fully felt and acknowledged in the city of
New York, by the first and ablest physicians of that
eity of improvements and great discoveries in medi-
cal science.
               SULPHUR BATH.

  I have repeatedly mentioned in the course of the
preceding pages, that this bath was a most invaluable
remedy in which this head is referred to : I shall now,
therefore, endeavour to give as minute and  plain a de-
scription of it as possible, and in as  common and plain
language as I can find.
  The fumes of sulphur were employed as a bath, and
a remedy against  many diseases, as early as the time
of the celebrated Hippocrates.   After falling into dis-
use for a very long period, this bath has of late become
a matter  of general interest, especially since the expe-
riments made  by Dr. Gales in  1812;  and since his
publications on the efficacy of sulphurous fumigations
in the cure of many obstinate  diseases.   Dr. Gales
made his first trials of this remedy by placing  a small
basin of sulphur and nitre under the bed-clothing of
the patient, who was stripped naked, and exposed to
the fumes of the  contents of the basin: at the same
time that these fumes were confined to the body by
the bed-clothes, and prevented  from*  reaching  the
mouth and  nostrils of the  patient, by wrapping his,
i 
SULPHUR BATH.              175
neck and  shoulders very closely with the clothing of
the bed.   The method was found, on fair experiments,
to be imperfect and unsatisfactory; and he afterwards
adopted in place  of it, what  he  very  properly called
his fumigatory box, which I shall now describe :
   This box is merely a wooden case, sometimes re-
sembling a pulpit, in which the patient can sit upright
in a chair, with his head above the top of the box, and
his shoulders immediately below it. Underneath this
box, and  connected with  it,  are the parts which are
necessary for producing the fumigations to be applied
to the naked body.  The lowest story is the ash-pit:
the middle one contains the fire, and the uppermost
one is the hearth for the sulphur.   The floor of the box
itself is immediately above the hearth for the sulphur,
and is bored or perforated full of holes in order that
the fumes of the sulphur, when heated by the fire be-
low, may ascend through  the bottom o( the box, and
completely surround,  touch, and envelope the naked
body of the patient.  The top of  the box is so con-
structed, that the  hole or  opening in the middle of it
closely embraces the neck, and effectually prevents the
fumes of the sulphur in the box  from  reaching the
mouth, nose, and eyes of  the patient.  This  descrip-
tion, reader, is the whole secret of the sulphur bath, so
much talked of, so little known, and so rarely used in
the United States.  When the seat of the disease to be
removed is on the face or any part of the head, the va-
pour, or fumes of the sulphur from the box, may be
applied to the part affected by means of a flexible pipe;
by which I mean one that can be moved in different
directions, like  the leader of a fire engine,  reaching
from the box to any part of the face or head.  This
sulphur bath must be taken from fifteen minutes to 
176
SULPHUR BATH.
an hour, according to the state of the patient, and the
stubbornness  of the disease  to be  removed.   Imme-
diately after taking it, the patient ought to retire to
bed for an hour or two.
  I have mentioned in another page of this book, that
wiien the remedies there noticed for rheumatism have
failed, recourse must always be had to sulphurous fu-
migation, which I have  now accurately and  plainly
described to you.  The  truth is, it is an active and
powerful remedy in very many diseases besides rheu-
matism.  It is an excellent remedy in  psoriasis palma-
ria, which is a very obstinate species of tetter, confined
to the palm of the hand; also in psoriasis scrotalis, in
which the skin of  the scrotum, or  bag containing the
testicles, is afflicted with heat, itching, tension, or tight-
ness, and appears of a red colour.   In  cases where the
skin of the scrotum or bag is thus affected, the above
symptoms are succeeded by a hard, thickened, brittle
texture of the skin, and by painful chaps, cracks, and
excoriations, or scalings off of the skin, not easily to
be healed by any other means than sulphuric fumiga-
tions.  This remedy is also valuable  in what physi-
cians call psoriasis inveterata: which is  known by
universal scalings of the skin of the whole body, which
becomes harsh, dry, and  much thickened.   This dis-
ease commences with a few irregular, though distinct
patches on the extremities; these patches next appear
on different parts of the body; and, lastly, they become
what is called confluent, and spread  over  the whole
surface of the body.  The skin is then red, deeply fur-
rowed, and so stiff or rigid, as to impede the movements
of the joints; and so quick is  the formation or exfolia-
tion of the scales  from the body, that the bed is fre-
quently found covered with them. 
SULPHUR BATH.
177
  I have now occupied more space under this head
than I at first intended; but considering the vast im-
portance of the sulphur  bath, and its most valuable
qualities in  cases where the  human system  has been
charged with mercury, which requires removal, I think
the space well and profitably occupied.  For a  further
description  of this bath, see pages 145 and 550, third
volume of  the Medical Recorder: the limits of my
book  preventing  my giving a minute  detail  of this
valuable remedy.
                     FOOD.

  Food means any thing which, when taken into the
stomach, goes to the  support and nourishment of the
human body; and we all know perfectly well, that all
other animals as well as man,  require food to give
them support, health, and strength. All animals below
man, seem to be confined to particular kinds of food to
support them; and this  appears to be the reason why
naturally  wild  animals are  confined  to  particular
climates, unless  under the care of man: and the simple
truth, that man makes use of so many different kinds
of food, shows  that his  Maker  intended him to live
everywhere, and to have dominion over all the beasts
of the field, the fowls of the air, &c, as the Scripture
expressly says.  But I will endeavour to explain this
matter a little further, so as to be more easily under-
stood.   Fish cannot live out of the water, birds cannot
live  out of the  air;  nor can any mere land animal,
such  as the elephant, the lion, the horse, or the cow,
live in either the air or the water: and further still, on
                        23 
178
FOOD.
this same subject, we see  very plainly,  that a sheep
cannot eat meat, nor a wrolf or lion eat grass.  In fact,
you may look at all the animals in nature, and you
will see, as I said before, that all below man are con-
fined to the particular countries  and places where they
can find food and sl.elter from their enemies ; and that
to man alone is given the whole surface of the  globe-
because he  can live everywhere on it, and easily find
subsistence or food to  support  him.  He can eat fish
from the waters, he can eat birds from the  air, he can
eat the animals of the land, the herbs, and vegetables,
and roots, and grains, of the field and woods.
  I shall now endeavour to explain  as plainly as pos-
sible, (because every person is interested  in knowing
it,)  what  physicians call the '-process of  digestion,"
which means, in other words, the changes which our
food goes through when taken into the stomach.  First,
the food being masticated or chewed, and  mixed in the
mouth with the spittle, called the saliva, and air, is next
received into the stomach, w here it is exposed to the
action of a kind of liquid called  by  physicians gastric
fluid, which is a powerful solvent of animal and vege-
table matters.  After remaining in the stomach a short
time, it becomes a soft gluey  mass, having  undergone
a change or decomposition in  the stomach, which may
be termed fermentation.  From the stomach it passes
into the intestines, where it is subjected to  the power
or action of the bile:  here it undergoes still further
changes, by forming a white  milky fluid, called  by
medical men chyle.  This  milky  fluid is  sucked  up
by numerous little vessels called medically absorbent
lacteals.   These little vessels are in the intestinal canal,
and all the food as it passes is subject to the influence
 >f the mouths of these little vessels, which suck up 
FOOD.
179
this milky fluid called chyle.  These little vessels have
many communications; so many that it is impossible
to trace them, being formed with  such delicacy of
structure, and so very small: after many communica-
tions with each other, they at last end in one common
trunk, from which the chyle is conveyed into the blood
near the heart.   It is here mixed with the blood, and
becomes subject to the power of the  heart and arteries,
or, in other words, large blood-vessels.  It is  then cir-
culated through the lungs: here many changes  take
place by breathing the air or  common atmosphere.
After this it joins with the great circulating mass, and
becomes  blood itself:  this being the  great fountain
from which the body is formed  and  strengthened.
  Food, then, we see very plainly, is intended to sup-
port nature, promote the growih, and to give strength.
and to renew the waste of the system.  The  structure
of man's body, his inclinations, his  instincts, and the
gastric fluid, intended to digest both animal and vege-
table food, show that the Creator has intended man to
receive his food from the animal and  vegetable  king-
doms.  But of vegetable and animal  food, animal is the
most nourishing.   It is putrescent and stimulating, and
highly injurious to live on any length of time, without
a due proportion of vegetables; for it overheats and
stimulates so much, as at length to exhaust and weaken
the whole system, which, in the first instance, it gave
vigour and support to.   Persons who have  lived for
any length of time on meats, become oppressed, heavy,
and lazy; the tone of their systems is impaired, the
breathing is hurried on the least exertion, the digestion
is destroyed, the breath smells bad, the gums swell, the
limbs lose their action and become  swelled,  and soon
break out in sores, (this disease  is called scurvy,) and 
180
FOOD.
 sailors are  much subject to it on a long voyage  when
 deprived of vegetables.
   A German received a premium of twenty thousand
 pounds sterling for introducing sour krout or pickled
 cabbage into the British navy.  This vegetable  is an
 antidote or preventive  against  this dreadful disease
 called scurvy, which for a length of time  destroyed
 thousands of seamen on long voyages, w'ho were com-
 pelled to subsist on salt provisions.  All acids are con-
 sidered good in scurvy.  A diet of vegetables entirely
 is not sufficient to raise the human system to all the
 strength and vigour to which it  is susceptible: and
 when used alone without any meat, produces flatulence
 and  acidity of the stomach,  muscular and nervous
 debility, and a long train of hysterical and hypochon-
 driacal  disorders.   This shows  the importance of a
 proportion of each being intended for man.  We find
 some eastern nations, who  live entirely on vegetables,
 seldom robust, but very active.  This accounts in part
 for the cheerful disposition of the French, whose vege-
 table and animal food are generally mixed, and boiled
 to the softest consistency.   A mixed diet of vegetable
 and animal food is therefore best suited to the nature of
 man.   The  proportion  of  these  must  be regulated
 according to the manner in which they agree.   Persons
 who are fat, plethoric, or sanguine, should use but little
 animal food: those, on the other hand, who are weak
and nervous, may  use more  animal food.  In all in-
 flammatory  and acute diseases,  where inflammatory
action  exists, meat is hurtful. Meats, which I  shall
hereafter describe, are more beneficial than vegetables
for persons  who are subject to indigestion; particularly
 wild meats, such as venison, or  birds whose flesh is
white: the partridge, quail, pheasant, wild turkey, &c.: 
FOOD.
181
the flesh of these is of a  most agreeable  and delicate
flavour: little heating, and, when young, very nourish-
ing and easily digested.   In fact, all wild animals are
more easily digested than tame ones, with the excep-
tion of water fowls, and such as live on  fish, as  their
flesh  is  oily,  strong flavoured, heavy, and difficult to
digest, &c.   By  the  abuses of cookery,  by which I
mean the uses  of high seasoning  and  sauces, the
simplest food may be rendered heavy and indigestible.
The frog is not used in this country, but looked  upon
with disgust; and to name it as an article of food would
almost turn the stomachs of many.  In France, on the
contrary, it is considered  as one of the greatest delica-
cies,  and  frequently  sells at a guinea a dish.  The
hinder legs alone are made use of in France, and  other
countries  where  it is made an article of food.  The
flesh has a white and delicate appearance, and  there
are men in France wiio obtain a livelihood by catching
them.  I have frequently seen them engaged in this
employment, which is very simple : they bait  a  hook
with  a piece of red flannel or silk, at which the  frogs
will bite like fish, and are thus as easily caught.   I
have  merely mentioned  this, not  by way of  recom-
mending them as a diet, but  to show the variety of
tastes and habits of different countries.  The flesh of
the soft-shell  turtle, which is caught in our  own
waters, is tender and nourishing, and more to be con-
sidered as one of  the delicacies of the west than any
thing else they have; and if properly dressed affords a
most  excellent dish, and one very easy of digestion.
The flesh of all  young animals is the best and  most
easily digested : mutton or lamb, next to  the flesh of
the kid, is superior to any known.   Veal is delicate,
and better than  beef as to digestion ; but neither can 
182
FOOD.
be good for  persons of weak digestion.  I have men-
tioned venison  as being very  easy on the stomach;
indeed it  is so very easy of digestion, that  I  think
dyspepsia  itself might  be  cured by it, when accom-
panied by the exercise of  hunting the animal which
affords it.  Pork is a food which is too much  used by
persons of delicate and feeble constitutions.  There  is
more pork meat used in the west than in any part of
the United States; and it is to this voracious habit of
gormandizing pork at every meal we are to attribute
the many serious forms of congestive fever which pre-
vail there, to say nothing about scrofula, palsy, apoplexy,
indigestion, and so on.  Pork is a food  highly  nutri-
tious, but, from the fat with which it abounds, by no
means easily digested.   It  is in fact the strongest of all
animal food, producing to weak and delicate stomachs
acidity and  unpleasant belching  or eructations;  and
therefore should be cautiously used by persons labour-
ing under dyspeptic symptoms or indigestion, and those
whose bowels are weak.  Pork can be alone  adapted
to men who labour hard, because it requires  activity
and great exercise to digest it.  Bacon is a coarse heavy
food, and also difficult of digestion: and like pork, only
fitting food for persons who have to labour hard.  Ham
is also a heavy and strong food, and should be carefully
avoided by all persons of weak stomachs, even when it
is cured in the very best manner.  The young  pig  is
more wholesome, and affords  a much more  delicate
and light food than the old animal.  The rabbit  and
squirrel afford  an excellent dish, easily digested,  and
admirably suited to the stomachs of those who are
delicate and yet require animal food.  But the fact is,
all persons  who  have an  impure state  of  the  blood,
those who have sores, or wounds, or breakings out on 
    0
                       FOOD.                   183

 the skin, should by all means refrain from the use of
 all animal food, and particularly from pork.  Fish, as a
 diet, is difficult of digestion; it is of all animal sub-
 stances the most putrescible, and ought not to be
 allowed to weak patients, or  persons recovering from
 acute diseases; and the reason why dyspeptic persons
 should avoid it is, that the fat of fish is harder to digest
 than the fat of any other animal, and quickly becomes
 rancid. It frequently disagrees  with many constitu-
 tions,  producing  flatulence  or  wind,  sickness   and
 weight at the stomach, and sometimes vomiting:  and
 I have frequently known it to produce  a general dis-
 order of the whole system,  accompanied with short
 but regular paroxysms of fever, and sometimes a break-
 ing out on the body resembling the nettle rash.  It is
 a very common saying, in allusion to the use of spirits,
 after eating  plentifully of fish, that it requires some-
 thing to swim in;  this shows  that it is a dangerous diet
 to more than  sickly, delicate, and dyspeptic persons.
 Fish which  abound in oil, called  the red-blooded  fish,
 are more  stimulating and nutritive than any  other;
 but much heavier, and more apt  to disagree  with the
 stomachs of weakly persons: the fact is, that dyspeptic
 persons ought to avoid fish altogether, and under any
 possible forms  of cookery.  Diet depends very much
 upon the manner in which it is cooked.  The most
simple food may be converted into poison, by the pam-
pering  and  studied artifices  of  epicures and  cooks.
This is the reason why the French cookery is superior
to  that  of the  English,  or even to our owm.   The
French use  all  the innocent  herbs and plants of  the
garden, while the English and Americans season their
food with  highly stimulating  spices, calculated  to  de-
stroy the coats of the stomach.  During my residence 
184
FOOD.
in France. I recollect but two cases of dyspepsia or in-
digestion.   This is certainly owing to the manner in
which the French live.  The qualities and quantities
of our food, with the manner of cooking  it, should be
strictly attended to; and by so doing we would escape
some of the most dreadful diseases incidental to human
life.   The more simply we cook  and dress our  food,
the less of it the stomach requires  to be  satisfied;  for
by stimulating the stomach with  seasonings  we pro-
duce an artificial appetite, and rouse it to the requisi-
tion of more food  than the system requires; and  by
overloading  and oppressing  its powers,  weaken and
finally destroy them.   To enjoy good health, we ought
always to leave the table  with some appetite: nor
ought we ever to partake of  any  dish, however  pala-
table, which we know by experience to disagree  with
us.  The more plain the food wre use, the more easily
will it be digested, and the less we will desire.  The
various  dishes  given at parties,   consisting  of  pies,
puddings, tarts, ice-creams, floating-islands, sometimes
called, and very properly,  trifles,  &c. &c, are just so
many poisons calculated to destroy the stomach, and
entail upon the dyspeptic a life of misery and disease.
I  have witnessed  in my  practice, especially among
females, that the disease called dyspepsia or indigestion
prevails very much.  I would, therefore, particularly
urge upon them, as they value their health and  lives,
to avoid all this farrago of fashionable desserts: for by
so doing, and living temperately and  abstemiously,
they  will establish firm  constitutions, which will be
entailed on their offspring, extend to themselves  the
inestimable  blessing of health, and enable them to
reach the winter of good old age. 
FEVER, ETC.                185
    FEVER; AND GENERAL REMARKS.

  It is almost impossible to describe fever correctly,
because it shows itself in so many various  ways and
forms.   To judge of its presence, we are to notice par-
ticularly the following appearances and  indications:
the state of the pulse, the skin, the colour of the face,
the change of feature, the eyes, the tongue, the breath-
ing, the appetite, the state of the stomach and bowels.
There  is generally great thirst and pain in  the head;
soreness all over the body, as if beat with  a stick, or as
if a person were fatigued after a hard day's work j a
desire  to sleep constantly, and sometimes a great in-
crease  of strength accompanying fever.  By these
symptoms you are to judge of this disease.
   The most  distinguished medical men have differed
in  opinion as to the cause of fever: and to  this day, I
must honestly confess, that physicians are  much in the
dark as to this subject.   Doctor Browm. a distinguished
physician of Europe, thought it  arose from a want of
stimulant in the blood-vessels, or an excess of it.  Doc-
tor Rush, our distinguished countryman, thought there
was in fever but one disease; morbid or convulsive ac-
 tion in the blood-vessels.  Doctor Chapman, Professor
 in the University of Philadelphia, thinks that most dis-
 eases originate from the stomach.  My experience in
 medicine convinces me that this eminent practitioner
 of medicine is correct.  The first impression is made
 on the stomach by medicine, which  acts instantly by
 sympathy.   It is the general reservoir which receives
 those  medical remedies by which the disease is to be
 subdued;  consequently  there is great sympathy bt
 tween the stomach and the whole system; and nanv
       Q 2                  24 
186                FEVER, ETC.
cases suppose 1 to be liver dise-iscs, on a minute exami-
nation, you will find to originate in the stomach.  It is
impossible  to  describe the close  connexion between
the liver and  the stomach.   On  this subject particu-
larly, pay attention to  the stomach first, and you will
discover the primary cause of the disease; I will there-
fore describe plainly and faithfully the  symptoms of
such fevers as are common  amongst us, so that with a
little care and common judgment, the reader will be
enabled to discover  by the  symptoms, the causes  of
such fevers  as prevail among us: nor do I consider
that those fine and hair-drawn opinions of fever, given
by physicians generally, are of any benefit to mankind
but, on the contrary, serve to bewilder and lead astray.
The great  secret of medicine  is  to discover the first
cause of disease, and in the  next place to apply the  re-
medies properly;  and to do these things as they ought
to be done, let your judgment be exercised with clear-
ness, caution and  firmness: and to give you  firmness,
be conscious that  you are endeavouring to act for the
best;  as there is not so much difficulty in medicine as
many imagine, if you will but attend to the causes of
the diseases, and  watch the effects of the remedies.
The fact is, that  a  man of good  common sense and
judgment, who will take his station at the bedside of
the patient—be minute in his inquiries as to the habits
of that  patient—know when and how he was taken
sick—ascertain all the apparently small  particulars as
to the pains first complained of; and without what is
called a learned college  education, you will, in nine
cases out of ten succeed, when mere theorists who pre-
cribe for the names of. diseases, without understanding
them, will absolutely fail.   On conversing with a sick
person, ask the following questions, if the situation of 
FEVER, ETC.
187
the patient enables him or her to answer; and after
waiting the  subsiding of any strong excitement your
presence may create.  How were you taken ?   When
were you taken ?  Where did you feel the first pains ?
What were your feelings for several  days previously
to being taken ?  Is your mind disturbed in any way ?
What are your  general habits ?  Are you temperate in
eating and drinking ? What have you eaten for several
days before being taken sick ?  How and when have
you been exposed?  Do you recollect how you  felt
when you were taken sick ?  What has been your ge-
neral  health h  Or, if the patient be a female,  Have
you been regular in  your monthly periods ?  Is there
any suppression of urine ? This is a  delicate matter
with females ;  because  from delicacy of feeling they
frequently conceal it.  How is the state of your bow-
els ?  These are important matters, and require candid
statements from the sick.  By thus minutely inquir-
ing into  the state of  the system, you strike at the root
of the disease,  and get on the right  track; for thou-
sands have been killed by physicians, for want of this
accurate knowledge,  or mistaking the disease.   There
are many other circumstances which should be known;
and which your good judgment will not fail to  point
out to you: and 1 need not add, that the necessary
information should be obtained from some experienced
person of the family, if the patient should be in a de-
lirium, or too young, or too sensitively delicate to give
it.  From what I have before  observed, that  fever
shows itself  in  so many various  forms, you will see at
once the necessity of knowing the true causes, if pos-
sible, which  assisted in producing the disease.  Let
me, therefore, implore  you not to be alarmed in ad-
ministering  medicines in fevers, or, in fact, any other 
188
FEVER, ETC.
diseases where good and sound judgment is required;
you need not fear if you will but pay good attention,
and have confidence in yourself: I allude to such dis-
eases as  are common  among  us, because there  are
cases which require.a very excellent physician ; and
under such circumstances, the heads of families need
not be  told the absolute necessity of having such a one.
To give an evidence of the insufficiency of mere theo-
ries, with which boys  come from colleges, I will take
the liberty of stating an occurrence of early life, which
transpired with myself, in the practice of medicine.
In the state of Virginia, my first patient was an old gen-
tleman of distinction, Colonel Willis. His unbounded
confidence in  me, when taken sick, induced him to
employ me in  preference to his old physicians. The
colonel was a man of full plethoric habit, and had been
taken with violent bilious fever.  I bled him copiously;
puked  and purged him with small doses of  emetic
tartar, to determine to the surface, or, in other words,
to produce a moisture on the skin, and thereby lessen
the fever.  But all my remedies were unsuccessful;
for the truth was, I did not know his constitution or
habit; and to describe to you my feelings on this occa-
sion would be impossible: and here vanished  all  my
theories, for want of a little sound judgment and prac-
tical knowledge.   To the information given me, how-
ever, by a faithful  servant who had attended on him
more than thirty years, I was indebted for his recovery.
He stated that while he was  in Philadelphia with his
master, he had a similar attack, and was attended by
Pr. Rush: that the doctor had given him warm  brandy
toddy; for, said he, " my master always loved  a little
brandy, and most generally enjoyed himself."  I took
this .seasonable hint from honest Bob, whose informa- 
FEVER, ETC.               189
tion had destroyed all my college theories, and taught
me to scrutinize the constitution and habits:  for in
little more than fifteen minutes after I had given him
some warm toddy, he broke out into a fine sweat, and
soon  entirely recovered.   I afterwards related  the
anecdote to the colonel himself, who, after laughing
heartily at the joke, assured me that Bob wras certainly
right.  I shall close these general remarks on fever, by
giving you  the  key to medicine, or  the art of  distin-
guishing the true state of the system, without which
it would be impossible to administer medicine with
certainty of success.
                  THE PULSE.
  This is indeed  the key of medicine; for without
authentic and minute information on the subject of the
pulse, it is impossible for you to proceed to administer
medicine to  the sick with  any certainty of success.
But I shall describe it to you plainly, and in words of
such common use, that any person of common sense
can understand this great secret of medicine in the  art
of judging diseases.
  The meaning of the pulse is the beating or throb-
bing of an artery; there being no pulse whatever in
the veins.  The meaning of an artery is a large blood-
vessel, branching out into smaller ones, which carry
the blood from the heart to the ends of the body; in
other words, to the points of the fingers and toes, where
they join with the veins, which bring the blood back
again to the heart: as I said before, the arteries throb
or beat, and the veins do not.  By pressing your mid-
dle finger hard  on the  vein, you  will feel  the artery 
190
PULSE.
beat under it distinctly.  Every time the heart beats, it
throws a column of blood into the arteries; then again
the heart contracts or draws up, and a fresh portion of
blood is forced on into the arteries.   Reflect for a
moment on this wonderful machine, the heart; it goes
with greater regularity than any watch, and at the rate
of about four thousand  one hundred and fifty strokes
every hour.  The swelling and contracting of  the  ar-
tery, then,  constitutes what I mean by the pulse ; and
therefore you may find  the  pulse in any part of the
body where the artery runs near enough to the surface;
for instance at the wrist, the temple,  bend of the arm,
under the lower end of the thigh, under the lower jaw,
and on the top of the instep of the foot.  In different
persons, although in perfect health, you will find the
pulse differ very much:  the usual standard of health,
however, is from seventy-five to eighty strokes in a
minute.  In children it  is much quicker; and in old
persons it  is  more slowr and  weak.   Owing  to  the
decreasing energies of the heart as you advance in age,
it becomes less  and less capable of propelling the blood
through the arteries, which occasions the medical term
debility,  meaning  weakness.   By  running,  riding,
walking, jumping, eating, drinking,  speaking, joy, an-
ger, &c, you increase the pulse: and in like manner
you diminish the pulse by fear, grief, depression  of
spirits, want of food, frequent stools, flux, or any thing
else that tends to weaken the system.  In feeling the
pulse, you  must make allowance for all these things;
and alwrays wait until all momentary emotions of the
mind and passions have subsided and passed off.
   1st. A full, tense, and strong pulse (terms used  by
physicians) is, when you find that the artery resists  the
pressure of your  fingers; feels full, and swells boldly 
PULSE.
191
under their pressure.   If, added to  these, the beating
be rapid and quick, the pulse is called full and strong:
if slow, it is called weak and fluttering, and an irregu-
lar pulse.
  2d. A hard and  corded  pulse is that in which the
artery feels like a string drawn tight; and when you
press it with your  fingers, it gives considerable resist-
ance.
  3d. The soft and intermitting pulses give their own
meaning by name, and  are very easily  distinguished
from each other; as  in cases of great weakness, lan-
guor of circulation, or on the approach of death.
   4th.  When the stomach and bowels are oppressed,
it  frequently  produces an intermitting pulse, which
sometimes • also  arises  from an agitation  of the mind.
A vibrating pulse, acting  under the fingers  like  a
thread, as if the artery were smaller, with quick pulsa-
tions, but very weak and irregular, may  be considered
as proving a highly dangerous state of the system: you
will know this  pulse  by its being accompanied with
heavy  and deep sighs, difficulty of breathing, and  a
dead and heavy languor of the eye-  By being atten-
tive to  the instructions given above, no man can be at
a loss to distinguish the different states of the pulse, by
which different  diseases are indicated, as well as their
different stages.
              AGUE  AND FEVER.
  This disease generally makes its visits in the fall
season of the year; and  those who live on the rivers
or low lands are  more than others subject  to its ra-
vages.   There are three stages of this disease, which 
192
AGUE AND FEVER.
are in substance the same thing, differing only in the
intermission or length of time in which they make
their attacks.
  The first is that which comes on every twenty-four
hours: this is called by doctors quotidian.
  The second is that which  comes on  every forty
hours: this is called tertian.
  The third comes on every forty-eight hours, and is
called by physicians quartan.
  I have merely mentioned  these stages in order that
I might  describe the  disease more plainly, for the re-
medies and the  treatment for  the cure are the same;
and the only difference between them simply is, as to
their severity and time of coming on.   If very severe,
the remedies should be the most  active:  on the con-
trary, if  mild and  gentle, remedies less active  and
powerful will answer.
  I have said above, that there are three stages of this
complaint,  the  cold, the hot, and the sweating.
In the first there is much yawning and  stretching, the
feet and  hands become cold,  the skin looks shrivelled,
you seem to lose the use of your limbs by weakness,
your pulse  is small and frequent, you dislike to move,
and finally take a chill  succeeded  by a' cold shake.
This shake continues about ten or fifteen  minutes, ac-
cording to  the severity of the attack.   In the second
stage, as the chill and shaking go off, a pain in the head
and back comes on, succeeded by flushings of heat.
•You now begin  to burn with heat and  thirst, and de-
sire that the covering be removed that you may feel the
cool air.  Your  face is red, your skin dry, your pulse
becomes regular, hard, and  full.   In severe  attacks,
where the blood determines to the head, I have fre-
quently known  delirium  for a time.  In  the  com- 
                 AGUE AND FEVER.             193

 mencement of the third and last stage, the intense heat
 begins to subside, moisture begins to  break out on the
 forehead, gradually extending itself  over the whole
 body, the fever abates, thirst diminishes, breathing be-
 comes free and  full, desire to make water, which de-
 posits a sediment in the urinal or pot:  you then feel
 considerably relieved  as the  sweat increases, which
 soon restores you to your usual feelings and sensations,
 except  great  weakness  and extreme prostration of
 strength.

                    REMEDIES.
   In  the cold stage, take warm teas of any kind, pro-
 vided they are weak, such as sage, balm, hyssop, ground
 ivy, &c. &c: make hot applications to  the feet; and
 if you will apply a bandage, wound  round  the right
 foot and leg, from  the toes to the groin, and another
 bandage wound  round the opposite or left hand and
 arm, from  the fingers  to the shoulder, drawing both
 pretty tight, so as to compress the muscles without im-
 peding the  circulation  of the blood, the shake will be
 much shortened by it; but you must not omit to loosen
 these bandages gradually, as the shake is going off. In
 many instances the Ague and Fever  can  be entirely
 cured, by taking immediately from fifty to sixty drops
 of laudanum, with a few drops of peppermint, in warm
 tea of any of the kinds  mentioned above, on feeling the
 commencement of the chill;  and as soon as the hot stage
approaches, continuing to drink the warm tea  plenti-
fully, with  a little acid of any kind in it.   If,  during
this hot stage, the fever runs very high, with consider-
able pain in the head, the loss of some  blood would be
proper.  The  object being, however,  to bring on as
early as possible  the sweating stage, put into a pint of
       R               25 
194            AGUE AND FEVER.

the tea or warm water, from four to five grains of tar-
tar emetic, and give two or three spoonsful occasionally,
so as to produce slight sickness of the stomach, which
will promote and aid the sweating stage.   My practice
in this disease is, on its first appearance to give a puke
of tartar emetic; for dose refer to the  table.  After
cleansing the stomach, I give an active dose of calomel
and jalap; and if that is not sufficient, I follow it with
some mild purge, such as salts, castor oil, or senna  and
manna.   Supposing, then, that the stomach and bowels
are freed from their impure contents; the skin moist,
and the body kept moderately open by gentle purga-
tives : it will then be proper to give the dogwood bark,
the ivild cherry tree bark, and poplar tree bark; I allude
to the large swamp poplar.  These three kinds of bark
are to be boiled in water, until their juices are extract-
ed, and  the water then given  cold to the patient, and
in such quantities as the stomach will bear.  This  dis-
ease is sometimes succeeded by a low, lingering, and
constant fever; this must always be removed before the
extract of the different kinds  of bark just mentioned
is given; nor ought it ever be given in any paroxysm
of fever, however slight; because in  such cases  it in-
variably does material injury.  From causes depending
on the constitution at the time of taking this disease, it
is sometimes extremely difficult to cure; and  persons
who have had it for more than twelve months, have
placed  themselves under my care.  In these cases,
when the various remedies above noticed have failed,
I  have used, with great success, the cold salt  bath, as
directed under the head of  cold bathing.  When a
bathing machine cannot be had, a strong brine poured
over the naked body in the morning, when  rising, is
the best expedient that can  be used; always taking 
AGUE AND FEVER.
195
care to wipe the body perfectly dry with a coarse
towel; after which it might be well to return to bed
again for an hour, before taking the morning meal, im-
mediately before which, any  common bitter, such as
tansy in  spirits, may be taken.   When the disease is
of long continuance, elixir vitriol is a good remedy, and
may be given in doses of eight or ten drops, in a wine
or stem glass of cold water, during the days on which
the cold bath is used.  I do not think it necessary to
take the barks, as before described, when an ague-cake
or hardness, termed  by physicians an enlargement of
the spleen, has taken place; in such a case use a tight
broad bandage round the belly, with a padding of wool
or cotton immediately over the hard cake in  the side,
and take care two or three times a day to rub the place
well with a coarse woollen cloth  or flesh-brush.  This
is called friction by physicians, and friction will be the
more properly kept up by the wearing flannel  next the
skin.
  It will he proper here to  state, that in some cases
where the dogwood  bark, the wild cherry tree bark,
and the swramp-poplar bark, prepared as I have men-
tioned, disagree with the stomach, which is sometimes
the case from long sickness, the tea  or decoction may
be rubbed on the skin of children or delicate persons,
and will produce an excellent effect.   Another method
of operating by the  skin, with children  and delicate
women, is as follows: have a jacket made to fit the
body, line it with the kinds of barks mentioned, which
can easily be done, and cause it to be worn next the
body.   Both these  modes of operating by the,skin,
have been known to  produce  fine tonic or strengthen-
ing effects, in cases of obstinacy and long standing.
  I shall now conclude these remarks-, hy giving the 
196
AGUE AND FEVER.
method of treating this disease by the Spaniards in the
island of Cuba.  I there witnessed its unbounded suc-
cess;  and in  no instance in which the  remedy was
fairly tried did I  ever  know  it to fail of success.
Make a good sized cup of strong coffee, sweeten it well,
and mix with it an  equal quantity of lime  or  lemon
juice.  This  juice may be had at any of the  stores,
doctor's shops, &c.; the dose to be taken just before the
shake  is  expected  to come on, and must  be  drank
warm, and on an empty stomach.  This simple and
always practicable preparation may be relied on as a
most valuable  remedy.   But  the  Spaniards  of the
island of Cuba are not  the only persons acquainted
with this powerful and efficient remedy.  It is noticed
in Doctor Pouqueville's travels in the Mo re a, as fol-
lows :—-1 have often seen intermitting fevers subdued
entirely,  by a mixture of strong coffee and  lemon  or
lime juice, which is a successful remedy all over this
country.   The proportions are three-quarters of an
ounce of coffee, ground fine, with two ounces of lemon
 juice, and three  of water, the mixture to be drank
warm and fasting."  I quote from memory, but with
a perfect assurance of being right.
   It may be well, before quitting  the subject of ague
and fever, to  mention  for the information  of my
readers, the late practice  of physicians, which is  as
follows:—-as  soon as the chill has somewhat subsided,
take  a good  dose of calomel; see the table.   Next,
when the fever goes off, and you commence sweating,
take  two grains of  quinine,  which is the extract  of
Peruvian bark.  This quinine or extract of bark, must
be mixed with  a tea-spoonful of Epsom or other salts,
and taken in water as you would take common salts.
Take  this dose every two hours,  until you take five 
AGUE AND FEVER.
197
doses; but you must omit to put in the salts, so soon
as the bowels have been freely moved; because a con-
tinued looseness of the bowels would carry off the bark
before it could operate on the system.  Should the
fever not go off in six hours, take a dose of castor oil to
carry .off the calomel;  and then as soon as the fever
has left you, take the  quinine or  extract of bark, as
before directed.
               BILIOUS FEVER.
  Bilious fever is nothing more  nor less than the
ague and fever just before described, under something
of a different modification or character: that  is to
say, in ague and fever there is at certain times an entire
intermission or stoppage of the disease: wrhereas, in
bilious fever, there is nothing more than an abatement
or lowering of the fever for a time.   The analogy or
likeness between them is so strong, that in  both cases
the patient is taken with a chill; and the little differ-
ence that does exist between them in the outset, con-
sists in the simple circumstance, that the pulse  in
bilious fever is more tense and full.  If, however, the
attack of bilious fever be severe, the skin becomes very
hot after the chill, and sometimes of a yellowish hue;
there is likewise great pain in the head; the tongue
changes from white to brown; as the fever increases
the eyes acquire a fiery colour and expression, and the
whites have a yellow tinge; the light becomes painful
to the patient, and he requires the room to be darken-
ed ; his bowels are very costive, and his urine highly
coloured;  by these symptoms, any  man of common
sense may be enabled to distinguish bilious fever. 
i9h
BILIOUS FEVER.
                   REMEDIES.
  tl  is formidable and dangerous disease may in most
instances be easily subdued,if you will divest yourself of
irresolution and timidity in  the commencement of the
attack.  I make this remark, because I have witnessed
man} instances in which timidity and over-caution in
the treatment of this disease have proved fatal to  the
sufferer.   You are to  depend on the lancet; and in
the next and most important instance, on purging well
with large doses of calomel and jalap.
  On the  first appearance of this disease, give a good
puke of tartar emetic, so as  to cleanse well the sto-
mach ; taking care to make its operations fully effective,
by giving warm camomile tea.  When the fever comes
on, bleed freely,  and  regulate the  quantity of blood
drawn by the symptoms and the severity of the attack :
then  give or administer,  if to an adult or grown per-
son, twenty  grains of calomel  and twenty of jalap;
and if that is not sufficient, repeat the dose with thirty
grains of  calomel, and work it off, if necessary, with
castor oil, salts, or senna and  manna: for dose see
table of medicines.  By these active purgatives, given
in time, you will in nine cases out of ten give relief
in a few hours;  nor keep your  patient lingering per-
haps for weeks, and at length lose  him.   The admi-
nistration of  small doses of calomel, say of eight or ten
grains, has been  productive of all the injury that has
disgraced the profession respecting the use of calomel,
for several years  past.  A large dose always carries it-
self off; whilst a small one remains in the system, and
frequently does much mischief, if neglected to be car-
ried off by castor oil, or some laxative medicine; there-
fore let me  urge you, as you value the recovery and 
BILIOUS FEVER.              199
life of your patient, to give active and powerful purga-
tives of calomel.  The only danger in this disease arises
from giving tonic or strengthening medicines before
the stomach and bowels are completely cleansed by an
evacuation of their contents.   If the fever should still
continue,  notwithstanding  the administration of the
foregoing  medicines, my plan is to follow Dr. Rush's
famous prescription  of ten grains of calomel -and ten
of jalap; the frequency of which prescription with the
doctor, procured him among his students the ludicrous
nickname of " Old Ten-in-*ten."   But  the fact is that
this dose, after the stomach and  bowels have been
thoroughly cleansed, acts well upon the skin, and as a
purge, and drives the sweat from  every pore, thereby
lessening and finally breaking the fever.
   During this  fever, generally speaking, the skin is
obstinately dry;  and i,t therefore  becomes important
that a  determination should take place to the surface;
in other words, that a moisture  or sweat  should take
place  on  the skin,  for the purpose of breaking the
fever: therefore the nitrous powders should be given.
The directions for making  them are, to sixty grains of
saltpetre, add sixteen grains of calomel, and one grain
of  emetic tartar.  Mix them wrell together by pound-
ing them very fine; divide them next  into eight pow-
ders, and  give one of them' in a little honey or syrup,
every  two or three hours.  Emetic tartar, made weak
with water and given at intervals, will produce the same
effect; antimonial wine and sweet spirits of nitre, equal
quantities mixedf, and a tea-spoonful given occasionally,
or  every hour, will have the same effect; for antimo-
nial wine is nothing more than emetic tartar mixed
with wine, and sweet spirits of nitre is made from salt-
petre.  Ipecacuanha, in doses of one or two grains, re- 
200
BILIOUS FEVER.
peated every two or three hours, is also a good remedy
to produce sweating.  In this disease you will some-
times have  an  obstinate, severe, and tedious case; in
which you will  find that the most active purgatives will
not answer your wishes and expectations.  Here the
warm bath combined, will be found excellent in relax-
ing the system and taking off the strictures of the ves-
sels : and when you make use of the bath, be particu-
lar  in  making  it of a temperature pleasant to the pa-
tient.  Always  follow the bath with injections or  glys-
ters, made of warm soap-suds; or molasses and water,
pleasantly warm but not hot, to which may be added
a little vinegar; these injections will cool the bowels,
and  remove from  the  larger intestines  any offensive
matter.
  When the fever is on,  the sponging or wetting the
body with cold vinegar  and .water will  reduce the
heat of the body, and be  a great source of comfort to
the sick person.  If there is a pain in the head, cold
applications of vinegar and  water will be of much be-
nefit in relieving the violence  of the pain.   On the
decline  of this  fever, night sweats sometimes occur;
in these cases use elixir vitriol, and gentle exercise in
the open air.  In bilious fevers, a want of sleep and
watchfulness often occur:  the warm bath and a pil-
low of hops, and the room  kept dark and all things
quiet, will no doubt procure the desired tranquillity;
and  if no inflammatory action  or  considerable  fever
exists, a dose of laudanum may be administered.   The
misfortune in the country is, that many persons  who
come to sit up with the sick, talk so incessantly  as to
prevent the sick person from having the  repose neces-
sary for promoting a  speedy recovery: and it may be
important here to remark, that whenever laudanum or 
BILIOUS FEVER.
201
opium is given, the person  must  be kept. undisturbed
and  perfectly quiet.   When the  stomach is irritable,
warm mint leaves stewed in spirits and applied to the
pit of the  stomach will be  proper; and then, if the
irritability  should  continue, the application of a cata-
plasm of mustard or a large blister, will infallibly re-
lieve the irritation, and quiet the stomach.
   I have now taken a comprehensive view of this dis-
ease, and given  plainly and simply the remedies, and
shall close with the following  remarks.   If the calo-
mel taken in this fever salivates, you should not be
alarmed or uneasy, but consider it a source from which
you have  derived safety to your patient;  for when
bilious fever is  dangerous, the sooner  salivation takes
place  after the  stomach and bowels have  been tho-
roughly cleansed, the safer for the patient.   It is  to
produce this effect that physicians give small doses of
calomel every two hours, say from one to two grains in
any kind of syrup; for  when, salivation is  produced,
you may consider the danger of the patient at an end,
the rest depending altogether on care and good nursing.
After good purging, without salivation, I have found
good  nursing and kind attention the best  and most
salutary medicine.  Cooling drinks, slightly acidulated,
will be proper; and when the fever is subdued, cold
camomile  tea may be given as a drink, or a bitter made
with dog-wood  bark, poplar bark, and Virginia snake-
root may be given as a cold tea, in small quantities as
the stomach will  bear.
26 
202              NERVOUS FEVER.
              NERVOUS FEVER.
  This fever carries in its title or name its true cha-
racter ; because it affects the whole nervous system,
and produces a tremulous motion of the body  and
limbs: the system seems  to  be sinking; there  is a
clammy, cold, and unnatural perspiration or sweat on
the skin, and the pulse is extremely weak.  Next, the
sweat subsides, and the skin becomes dry and hot to
the touch; and  at the same time, the arteries of the
temple and neck throb and beat with  considerable
action.  The sleep is very much disturbed and unre-
freshing;  the countenance sinks or seems to change
from its natural expression of feature to a ghastly ap-
pearance; the tongue becomes dry,  and frequently
trembles when put out, and, with the teeth and gums,
soon becomes covered with a dark buff-coloured scurf;
the spirits flag, and the mind broods  over the most
melancholy feelings, without knowing  the cause; the
sight of food is very unpleasant and sometimes disgust-
ing, the stomachy being generally much debilitated and
weak; the difficulty of breathing becomes very con-
siderable, and sometimes the hands are glowing with
heat, whilst the forehead is covered with sweat.   The
symptoms considered very dangerous are, a constant
inclination to throw off the cover;  a changing of the
voice from its usual tone; great vigilance or watchful-
ness ;  picking at the bed-clothing; inability to hold or
retain  the urine ; involuntary  discharges from  the
bowels; hiccupping; a muttering,  as  if speaking to
one's self: a wild  and fixed look, as if the eyes were
riveted on some particular;objeet; if these latter symp-
toms occur, there  is little to expect  but that the case
will terminate fatally. 
                 NERVOUS FEVER.             203

  This fever originates from putrid animal and vege-
table  matter mixing with the air and atmosphere we
breathe, such  for instance as the  decaying vegetable
and animal matter arising from stagnant mill-ponds or
any other ponds; or from filth and dirt, and want  of
personal cleanliness; or from any thing else that tends
to weaken the, system materially.  This disease also
arises from Bilious Fever, mentioned before;  which,
when of long standing, sometimes changes into nervous
fever: and I have known it to remain in the system ten
days before it broke out violently,  having come on so
slowly and gradually as to produce no alarm.

                   REMEDIES.
                                »
  The  lancet, or, in other words, bleeding, in this
disease is certain death: no inducement whatever could
prevail on me to bleed in  nervous or  typhus fever.
Bleeding has been recommended by some physicians,
when inflammatory symptoms appeared in the first
stage of the disease;  but I positively  assert that it is
wrong, and denounce such a doctrine a% dangerous to
the last degree; the fact is, that in  nineteen cases  out
of twenty, bleeding in this disease will result in death.
There are two important  considerations to be noticed
in this fever: the first is, when it originates in itself
at the first  cause; and the second is, when it turns or
•sinks from  bilious  fever, to a nervous or typhus.   In
    first case, give a puke of tartar emetic, or of ipe-
  ^uanha—see table for dose—which mix with water
  ntil it is dissolved, say in six or eight table-spoonsful.
Next give a table-spoonful  every  ten minutes, until
copious vomiting is produced, encouraging the  puking
after it has  commenced, by drinking freely of warm
camomile tea, or warm water; the  object being to 
204
NERVOUS FEVER.
 cleanse the stomach.  Then attend to the bowels with
 laxative medicines, such as rhubarb, cream-tartar, Ep-
 som salts, &c, so as to free or throw off the contents
 of the bowels, which, when in a costive state, increase
 irritation and fever. You must, however, by no means
, produce heavy purging; it is dangerous; and your own
 good sense will show you that it is a disease of debility
 and weakness.  The object is merely to keep the bow-
 els gently open, say by one or two stools a day, which
 will be quite sufficient.  I always give glysters made
 of thin gruel of corn meal, strained with a tea-spoonful
 of hog's lard in them : they are to be given milk-warm
 from a bladder or pipe, and carefully thrown up into
 the bowels—look  under the head "Glyster,"  and
 those who do not understand the matter will find it
 explained.
   In the second place, when this disease sinks from
 bilious fever  to a nervous or typhus  fever, you
 will find the last part of the symptoms to  agree with
 the sinking state of the system, and requiring moderate
 tonics, or stimulating and  strengthening  medicines.
 The danger of this fever is in proportion to the weak-
 ness which attends it; and, therefore, you will easily
 see the importance of early supporting the system by
 stimulants, such as good wine, warm toddy, &c.  This
 distinction of the sinking state of the system, must be
 obvious, and sufficiently plain to be observed by every
 person of common sense.   But I will still explain fur-
 ther, in order that no mistake can possibly be made, in
 the course to be pursued; and shall state accordingly
 the following directions.   Stimulants, in other words,
 common spirituous liquors,  such  as whiskey, rum.
 brandy, &c, must  be made palatable to the patient,
 which must be given regularly, and varied as to quan- 
nervous fever.
205
tity, according to what the case may seem to require.
If they increase the pulse considerably, so as to occasion
restlessness, a dry tongue, attended with thirst, a flushed
face, in other words, increased fever, they are improper,
and you must discontinue their use.  On the contrary,
if they produce refreshing sleep, a pulse slowrer, softer,
and more regular,  and the patient feels sensible of re-
lief, you  are to  continue the use of stimulants suffi-
ciently to support and strengthen your patient, adding
at the same time generous diet, and a pill of opium at
night to procure rest—see table for dose.   Blisters ap-
plied to the extremities, or cataplasms made of mustard
and strong vinegar, will be highly necessary in a sink-
ing state  of the system.
  If the head is affected with delirium, keep cloths
constantly  applied to it, wret in the  coldest water and
vinegar, changing them as they become warm: and if
the delirium should still continue, a blister applied to
the head, after shaving off the hair, will be necessary.
If purging takes place in this disease, which it some-
times does, it must be stopped by laudanum or opium,
given in small but frequent doses, increasing or dimi-
nishing them as  necessity  may require: for,  if the
purging  should continue  in this complaint, which is
weakness or debility, your own good sense must teach
you. that it would speedily terminate in death from
increased debility or weakness.  The late remedy used
by physicians, which  is called  quinine, or extract of
Peruvian bark, is a good  remedy, from the fact of its
taking up less room in the stomach  than  the bark in
substance.  This quinine or extract must be made into
pills with some kind of syrup; and must contain from
one grain to one and a half of the extract, and given
three or four times a day, as the system may be able
      s 
206              NERVOUS FEVER.
to bear the doses.  The extract is a powerful tonic or
stimulant, and may sometimes be difficult to be  ob-
tained :  in this event the black snake-root, commonly
called Virginia snake-root, should be used; its virtues
are not merely considerable, but highly valuable in this
disease, combined with dog-wrood bark, or even with-
out it; and I recommend it in preference to  any re-
medy.  The form of administering it is in decoction,
or as a tincture, that is, mixed with spirits of some
kind.  This root is perfectly harmless, except when
high  inflammatory action exists; that is to say, consi-
derable fever.   In the^ secondary stage of fever, where
the skin has been obstinately dry, I have used this little
root with unbounded success, not only in this particular
disease, but in all fevers: and also where the symptoms
indicated  rapid  prostration and  death.  Encouraged
by my success in its use, I earnestly recommend that
it be adopted in fevers generally, and more particularly
in those I have described.
   The salt bath, made as directed under the head of
bathing, similffr to sea water, is as valuable a  remedy
as can possibly  be  used, in that state of the system
when the heat  of the body requires lessening: or if
you would prefer  it, you may sponge the body well
with cold water and vinegar.   These  remedies by
bathing or sponging the body, you will recollect  are
only  to be used when there are no chilly or cold  sen-
sations; for if there are such, they would probably
prove fatal: and you are also  to remember, that they
are to be used with as little fatigue as possible to  the
patient.   This disease is frequently  marked with  ex-
treme weakness of the stomach, called by physicians
debility;  in this case common yeast will be highly
 beneficial, administered every three  or four hours, 
                 NERVOUS FEVER.             207

;ay two table-spoonsful:  and if the stools are very  of-*
ensive, you may add a tea-spoonful of common char-
coal to the yeast.  By this the offensive state of the
bowels will soon be corrected;  and to  insure the per-
fect knowledge of the reader  on this subject, I will
remark, that if the yeast and charcoal produce good
effects, the pulse will rise and become slower and fuller,
and- the burning heat of the skin will subside.  Under
these circumstances, the  remedy should be continued.
I shall now finish my remarks on nervous fever, which
have been extended to a greater length than wras at
first intended,  in consequence of the recollection that
it is a very common malady in our country.  Doctor
Currie, and many other  eminent practitioners of me-
dicine, have given the best testimonials and favourable
results, in the  first stage  of this fever, from the use of
the cold bath,  or, in other words, from throwing cold
water over the body, wiping dry, and returning to bed
immediately.  From the experience of so many dis-
tinguished men, I yield to their judgment; but, from
my own  experience, I should prefer the  salt bath, as
before mentioned, or sponging the body with vinegar
and water made  milk-warm; this, however, is never
resorted to, until  the stomach and bowels have been
freed of their contents: or, medically speaking, (which
means the same thing,)  until the whole alimentary
canal has been evacuated.
              SCARLET FEVER.
  This complaint is now raging  violently  through
Virginia; and within a short time has made its appear-
ance throughout the western states,  with  considerable 
208
SCARLET FEVER.
severity in its  symptoms,  and requiring active  and
prompt treatment: otherwise it generally proves fatal.
I have no doubt, by early attention to those symptoms
and remedies which follow, you will at once cut short
and easily control this contagion, (for it certainly is a
contagious disease,) similar to the measles, distinguished
or known from them by the  spots making their ap-
pearance  on  the  second day of the fever;  when, in
measles, they usually  make their  appearance on the
fourth day.  The spots in scarlet fever being of a light
flaming red, while those of measles are of a dark fed
colour. From this plain and different appearance, you
can certainly distinguish at once the difference in the
diseases; thereby enabling  you to  take at  once such
prompt steps as to arrest this disorder; which, if suf-
fered  to proceed, generally,  and I may almost  add
always, ends fatally.

                   SYMPTOMS.
  Cold and sudden chills  stealing gradually over the
whole body, with flushes of  heat,  great thirst, head-
ache,  the  skin  is covered with large red  or scarlet
patches, which after a short  time  unite or come to-
gether ; then in a few days  they disappear or go off in
a kind of scurf, like  bran, and the  throat becomes
quite  hoarse or sore.
                   REMEDIES.
  As  you value the life of your patient,  depend on
emetics or pukes of  ipecacuanha; which  are to be
given  on the first appearance of the disease, to  be  fol-
lowed by a dose of salts, or eight grains of calomel, and
eight of rhubarb; and half of this dose for children.  If
the pulse is full and strong, and the head aches, it will 
SCARLET FEVER.
209'
be proper to draw blood, and dash cold water over the
body very freely and frequently.  (Do not be alarmefl
at this last remedy, for it will be the certain one in this
complaint to relieve  your patient, for I have often
used it  with great success.)   There is no disease in
which the advantages of cold  wTater  have been more
successful than in scarlet fever; but to receive the full
benefit of it, it must be often used and that freely; that
is, as often as the heat seems  to require the use fcf it.
which perhaps may be the case eight or nine times in
twenty-four hours.
  A fine remedy in this disorder is the saline mixture,
made as follows: salt of tartar  one drachm,  wrater
seven ounces, essence of peppermint five drops. When
the salt  of tartar is dissolved, add very gradually lemon
juice, or vinegar, until the effervescence ceases.  This
mixture to be taken every hour: and to children, such
quantities of  it as you can conveniently  get  them to
take.  It is a cooling mixture, produces gentle moisture
on the skin, and keeps down inflammation, &c. When
there is a sore throat, use any innocent gargle, such as
sa°:e and honey,  with a little alum or borax in it, so as
to wash or cleanse the throat frequently;  and apply a
mustard poultice to the  throat.
  In scarlet fever in the latter stage, it will be prudent
for you  to guard against putrescency, which symptoms
I will plainly describe to you, so that you may know
them: having fully the marks of typhus fever, difficulty
in swallowing, breathing hurriedj breath hot, skin dry
and burning to the touch,  a quick, weak, and irregular
pulse, scarlet patches break out about the lips; and the
inside of the mouth and throat are of a fiery red colour.
About the third day, blotches of a dark red colour
make their appearance about the face and neck, which
      s2               27 
210
SCARLET FEVER.
soon extend over the wh< i:  hody. If you will examine
the throat, you will fL.d a number of specks, between
an ash and a dark brow   colour, particularly on the
palate, &c.;  a brown fur covers the tongue, the lips
are covered with little pintles containing acrid matter,
which burst and  produce  ulceration wherever they
touch.  If  the case is a  bad  one,  the  inside of the
mouth and throat become black, and are covered with
running sores, called  ulcers. When these symptoms
take place, it is a well marked case of putrid fever, and
contagious.   Be therefore careful, but not afraid.  We
cannot die in a better cause than in discharging a duty
which we owe to God and our fellow7-creature: the
last  and most solemn  injunction of our blessed Re-
deemer, was, " Love one another," and  the beautiful
inculcation of Divine revelation, 'Do unto all man-
kind as you  would they should do unto you."
  For the  treatment  of these last symptoms, read
under the head, Remedies for Putrid Sore Throat.
                    CHOLIC.
  In this disease the belly is considerably swelled, and
seems to be  bound round tightly with a cord;  and
there is also  a  disagreeable feeling about the navel,
belching of wind, costiveness, and frequently the most
excruciating misery.  I have had many cases in which
a cold clammy sweat has  been produced on the fore-
head by the intense sufferings of the person afflicted.
This complaint comes on  without fever, but if it con-
tinues it will  produce fever, and perhaps inflammation,
unless soon relieved.  It arises from wind, termed by
physicians flatulence; from  indigestible  food that has 
CH0LIC.
211
been taken  into the stomach, from acrid bile, from
hardened foeces, which means the  stool, by suddenly
stopping the perspiration, or sweat, or from getting the
feet wet, or from exposure, or from worms, and, lastly,
from the application of poisons to the stomach, of a
metallic nature:  by  which I mean  metals  under
various forms and preparations.

                   REMEDIES.
  If the colic is produced from wind, which you will
know from belching, or from a rumbling noise in  the
bowrels, or from the ease you experience by a discharge
of wind, a tumbler of warm whisky toddy, made with
warm water, sugar and spirit, to which may be added
peppermint, or strong mint tea, or tea made of ginger,
calamus, or dog-wood blossoms, give relief.  The ap-
plication of wrarm salt to the belly will give ease  im-
mediately, or until more powerful remedies can be
given.   If the stomach is much distressed, an applica-
tion of garden mint made warm  by stewing it,  and
applying it to the pit of the stomach, is excellent.  You
will then immediately, if necessary to the relief of the
person  afflicted, give a simple  glyster, made after the
following directions: a quart  of thin gruel, made of
corn meal and strained; to  this  add a table-spoonful
of hoo-'s lard, and another of common salt, which must
be thrown up about milk-warm into the bowels.   For
further directions- as to glystering, look under that head
for instructions, as to the apparatus to be made use of.
If the pain still continue, and the person be corpulent
or  fat,  bleed and give  the warm bath immediately.
If you  have no bathing vessel, or tub large enough to
put the body in, apply cloths dipped in hot water and
 wrung out,  as warm to the belly as they can be borne. 
212
CHOLIC.
If the above remedies fail- give a tea-spoonful of castor
oil, and in it put fifteen  or twenty grains of calomel;
and if  there is yet no relief, give one grain of opium
and ten grains of calomel, and continue the glysters.
But, if the pain does not yet abate, laudanum must be
given in large doses, both by the mouth and by mixing
it in the glyster.   The doses of laudanum must, be in-
creased gradually until relief is obtained ; and I have
given as much as a table-spoonful before I could effect
my purpose.  If the misery be excruciating, to a grown
person I begin with fifty or sixty drops in  mint tea;
and when relief is obtained,  I give a  good dose of
castor oil, and glyster to  open the bowels :  this prac-
tice has been generally  successful.  The practice of
the Baltimore Institution, as directed by Doctor Pater-
son when  professor there, was in desperate cases to
give a simple glyster as before mentioned, omitting the
salt and lard ; reducing the  quantity to half a pint of
gruel, and  putting into  it fifteen or twenty grains of
emetic tartar, and injecting it into the bowels.  This
remedy I tried in Virginia, in  two or three desperate
cases of cholic,  with perfect  success: but it  should
never be used, unless the situation and violence of  the
case demand its administration: it  is  an  active and
powerful  remedy, and may be relied on in  urgent
cases.  Persons who are subject to this dangerous com-
plaint  should be very cautious as to their diet or food,
abstaining from every thing that disagrees with them;
and above  all, they ought to avoid costiveness, or, in
other words, they ought  to  go to stool every day at  a
certain time, and solicit nature to perform her duty,
for by so doing, a habit of evacuation will be at length
produced, which will overcome the most obstinate cos-
tiveness : and to  produce a stool, a piece of hard soap. 
CHOLIC                  213
about half the length of the finger, may be introduced
up the passage.  In all obstinate cases, which seem not
to yield to common remedies, examine the passage of
the fundament with the finger, so that if there be any
hard lumps of excrement, they may be removed; for
while they remain, all your purges and  glysters will
be useless.
  A spirituous infusion of the berries or of the bark of
the prickly ash is  made use of in Virginia in violent
cholic, and is a good remedy.  This tree is a native of
Jamaica and other  tropical countries, as well as of the
United States, and grows to the height of sixteen feet,
and is about twelve inches in diameter.  It somewhat
resembles the common ash, and  the bark is covered
with sharp prickles.  The fresh juice expressed  from
the root affords certain relief in cholic,  and what is
called dry  belly-ache.  The important  fact was dis-
covered in the West Indies, by watching a female slave
who collected the root in the woods, and gave two
spoonsful of the juice to a negro suffering under that
cholic called  the  dry belly-ache, at intervals  of two
hours.  It occasioned profound and composed sleep for
twelve hours, when all sense of pain and suffering had
vanished; and the cure was completed  by giving an
infusion of the expressed root in water by way of diet
drink.
   CHOLERA MORBUS, OR PUKING AND
                .   PURGING.
  This disease  is  generally  produced by the  food
becoming rancid or acid on the stomach; and if from
an over quantity of bile, the purging and puking will 
214
CHOLERA  MORRUS.
 show it, by the  discharges being intermixed with a
 dark bilious matter.  This disease  is also  produced
 from breathing damp air; or from being exposed to
 inclement weather ; or from getting the feet wet: but
 mostly from eating such food as disagrees with the
 stomach and^bowels.  The mind has a powerful influ-
 ence in this complaint; and I have frequently observed
' in my practice, that the disease was produced in many
 cases of females  in  delicate health by the passions of
 the mind, as well as by sudden stoppages of the men-
 strual discharge.  The disease generally commences
 with sickness of the stomach,  painful  griping, suc-
 ceeded by heat and thirst, quickness and shortness of
 breathing, with a quick and fluttering pulse.  When
 the case is dangerous, the extremities become'cold; the
 perspiration or sweat is  clammy and cold ; there is
 also cramp, and great changes and irregularities of the
 pulse, which, when accompanied with hiccuping, are
 strong evidences of the approach of death.

                    'REMEDIES.
   Apply to  the stomach  and belly  cloths steeped  in
 warm water, or in spirits in which camphor has been
 dissolved; or you may apply a warm poultice, made
 of garden mint stewed ; or a poultice made of mustard
 and strong  vinegar will  be found  of  great service,
 applied to the  stomach: or a blister of cantharides  or
 Spanish flies : and in extremely dangerous cases, where
 it is not practicable to draw a blister in the usual way,
 do not hesitate to scald the part with boiling  water, at
 the same time applying hot rocks or bricks to the feet.
 Give hot whisky toddy, or that  made of any other kind
 )f spirit;  let it be  strongly mixed with peppermint,
 ir ginger, or calamus; and  let chicken water or thin 
CHOLERA  MORBUS.
2io
gruel be freely taken by the patient.   Give glysters
made by pouring boiling water on the inner bark of
slippery elm, or those made of flax-seed tea, either of
which must be thrown up into the bowels milk-warm.
See under the  head of glystering, for  the manner of
administering this operation.  The first object in this
dangerous complaint  is,  to  cleanse the stomach and
bowels of any offensive matter; after wrhich the giving
of thirty-five or forty  drops of laudanum in mint tea
will be proper:  and if these should not arrest the pro-
gress of the disease, make a glyster of a table-spoonful
of starch and a  half pint of warm water, in which put
a tea-spoonful of laudanum, and throw it up the bowels
as directed under the head " Glyster."   If this does not
give relief in  fifteen or twenty minutes, repeat it again.
and again.
  If the person who is attacked is of a  full habit, that
is, fat, stout, and vigorous, the loss of some blood hy
the arm and the warm bath will be necessary.  If the
attack  be moderate, a good dose of calomel will gene-
rally put a stop to it; for this will evacuate the bowels,
operate as a stimulus, and remove the diseased action.
  Very frequently this disease appears as a symptom
of fever; and then of  course  you are to treat it as you
would  any other kind of fever.  In all  cases,  after
using laudanum to  relieve your patient, particularly
when you have used it to an extent, it is proper and
necessary to give after relief  a good dose of castor oil.
Persons who  are subject to this sudden and dangerous
disease should be cautious as to what kind of food they
indulge in ; and should be very particular in avoiding
the causes which produce it; because, by imprudence,
the disease may return with  double violence and dan-
ger. 
216
CHOLERA MORBUS.
   The  rapidity  with  which  cholera morbus  pro-
 ceeds requires the remedies to be promptly applied;
 for the disease is, generally speaking, highly dangerous,
 and soon terminates  the life of the sufferer, unless re-
 lief is speedily obtained.  A few hours  suffering, in
 severe  cases, weakens the patient surprisingly;  and,
 therefore, you will easily see the great importance  of
 nourishment of a light, stimulating, and strengthening
 kind being given.  Besides attention to nourishing diet,
 wine with  any kind of bitter ought to be given,  or
 cold camomile tea three or four times a day, the  dose
 a wine  or stem  glass full,  or elixir vitriol, ten drops
 three times a day, in the tea made of black snake-root,
 or'Virginia snake-root: besides all winch, flannel ought
 to be put next to the skin of the patient.   But, in  con-
 cluding my remarks on the treatment of this complaint
I must urge the particular necessity of the warm bath
and glysters, as almost certain means of relief, if  pro-
perly and timely administered.
            EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
  This pestilence has swept from life one hundred and
forty millions of the human race, according to the most
authentic reports of interments, since August, 1817.
  Sharers of the same nature, warmed with the same
hopes, and as fondljr attached to life as ourselves, all
have been prematurely swept into eternity in quick
succession, overwhelming the heart with sorrow for
some affectionate parent, some tender companion, or
some dear and near friend ; and how many thousands,
no doubt unprepared  for so  sudden a change from
life to the presence  of the Supreme Judge of the uni 
               epidemic cholera.            217

verse !  It is;impossible to commence writing on this
awful and important subject, without reflecting on the
rapid extinction of human life, and  the  excruciating
miseries so  many human ,beings  must have suffered,
without shuddering at the  great amount of human
misery  inflicted by this complaint;  nor can we but
be sensible of the insufficiency of human efforts against
the decrees  of an overruling  Providence.  Now are
we not warned by this sad and  affecting seene, in lan-
guage not to be mistaken ?  " Be ye also ready !"
  This  destroying angel, whom the  Eternal  has em-
ployed  to sacrifice  so great a portion of the human
family,  has,  since August, 1817, been advancing over
the whole field of Europe; nor have  oceans, moun-
tains, climates, or distance, preserved us  from its ra-
vages.   Mysterious and uncertain in its course, having
no regulated or physical agents by which its  location
could be  certainly determined, save that of its selec-
tion of  the  victims, the uncleanly and intemperate.
Nothing, in  my opinion, can change  the  condition of
the atmosphere, which is essentially connected with
this complaint.  In other w7ords, the disease is in the
atmosphere; and, although no preventive can be taken
against this complaint, yet much may be done towards
staying  its progress, and towards alleviating the force
qf the attack.   The two best preventives for  cholera
from experience are temperance and great cleanliness;
for experience throughout this disease proves clearly and
without any doubt, that cholera spreads itself with the
most deadly effects  amongst those who are negligent
of personal  cleanliness, and dissipated in their habits.
But notwithstanding the cholera in a great measure
was supposed at first to limit its ravages principally to
this unfortunate part of the community, and  such as
     T                 28 
218
epidemic cholera.
were greatly exposed, yet time and  daily experience
prove that many thousands of our most  respectable
citizens have died, who were certainly of the opposite
character to those I have mentioned.  Yet the fact is,
that all who are within the atmosphere of cholera are
liable more or less to suffer from this complaint;  but
what are  the real and  physical causes that produce
cholera  is as yet very uncertain, even to those medical
men who  have had great experience in it. All that
can be  said is, that it is in the atmosphere; nor can
any  thing  change the condition  of the atmosphere
which is so essentially connected with this disorder.
The persons most  liable to  this  affection, says  the
French  Royal Academy of Medicine, in their  report,
are those  physically and  morally debilitated; those
weakened by excesses, of whatever kind they may be;
gluttons, drunkards, and gamesters, and women of im-
prudent habits, and  all  persons suffering  under  the
pernicious effects of uncleanliness.  To this testimony
may be added that of all the physicians and others who
have watched  this complaint, and  the progress of the
disease in India, England, France, Canada, and our
own country.  In all these countries the intemperate,
the vicious, and the lewd, when attacked, have univer-
sally fallen victims; and are the first to fall prostrate
before the cholera, and most difficult to cure ; and, as
an able physician expressed himself, generally beyond
the reach of medicine.   The unhappy inmates  of the
houses of ill-fame and those of immoral uncleanliness
in Paris, have been universally the first to be conveyed
to the cholera hospitals.
  I shall now proceed to  give you a full and perfect
account of the cholera: its commencement and  march
throughout Europe and the United States, the physical 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
219
agents, &c, connected with the disease, its locations,
and the causes by which it was more or less increased
or diminished in virulence: and if it is not in some
degree attenuated in its dreadful effects, either  by the
power of the climate, or by that of the social organiza-
tion of the people; and whether the cholera is pesti-
lential or not, (by which I mean catching,) or how far
the assistance of medicine or art may go to counteract
the agents  of  this epidemic, together with a general
and comprehensive treatment of the disorder, with the
conflicting  opinions of the  most distinguished physi-
cians, and their treatment of cholera, and  such useful
information as is derived from the most able writers
on the subject, with such plain directions and in such
language as may be adapted  to the capacity  of  the
people.
  The cholera commenced in  India, at  Jessore, in
August, 1817, of which disorder ten thousand persons
died in the first two months.  In Mymensing, a dis-
trict watered by the Bourrampooter, the cholera pre-
vailed in two successive years; the deaths here were
ten thousand seven hundred and fourteen persons.  In
1817, the complaint was mostly confined to the lower
classes; but in  1818 the  disease became general, and
no rank was spared, and a tenth of the inhabitants fell.
A precise document is preserved at the city of  Dacca,
a district between and  near  the  confluence  of  the
Ganges and Bourrampooter.  In sixteen months from
August, 1817, to January, 1819, of six thousand three
hundred  and  fifty-four sick with the disease, three
thousand seven hundred  and fifty-seven perished;
more  than one-half.  In the town of Sylhat, in three
thousand three hundred and sixteen houses, containing
eighteen  thousand eight hundred  and ninety-six in- 
22<r
EPIDEMIC
CHOLERA.
   habitants, there were ten thousand individuals attacked"
   in five months; of whom died one thousand one hun-
   dred and ninety-six, or about equal to one in nine.   In
   the district of Nuddea, traversed by that branch of the
   Ganges called Hoogly, of a population of one million
   three hundred thousand, the cholera destroyed sixteen
   thousand five hundred ;  there were  attacked twenty-
   five  thousand,  of  whom  two-thirds died.   Of  four
   thousand seven hundred and eighty who received me-
   dical assistance, only one thousand and sixty-six died,
   or less than  one-fourth.  (Here is an  evidence of the
   advantages of medicine.)   At  Nultore, between the
   Ganges and Bourrampooter, the malady was much less
   severe: the  deaths not exceeding one in a hundred, in
   consequence of being better acquainted with the treat-
   ment of this malady.  In the country places, however,
   the fourth of the sick died, and in the same  district,
   only  a short distance from Bargulpore, the  cholera
   destroyed fifteen thousand five hundred and seventy-
   one in ninety days.  Not one in a hundred in this dis-
   trict that were attacked, escaped death.  This may be,
   and is, no doubt, the cause of the  great mortality, the
   country being low, marshy, and filled with stagnant
   pools.   In  Benzares, fifteen thousand people died;
*   Calcutta has been visited severely  four times since
   1817.  From Bengal I have not been  able to procure
   complete documents, or from  the  city of Calcutta,
   which is the seat of  government of British India.   It
   appears, however, from the best evidence procured on
   the first eruption, that in  1817, in three months and
   a  half  previous  to  the 31st December, thirty-five
   thousand seven hundred and thirty-six inhabitants of
   the city and suburbs were attacked by the cholera;
   of these two thousand three  hundred  died, or one in 
               EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            221

fifteen; but from  the  severe manner of attack, the
distance, the great aversion of  the Hindoos against
European medicine, and  the  superstitious desire  to
await the termination  of the malady, they generally
resorted to some sacred place, or near  an idol, and
there waited until death terminated their dreadful
sufferings.   Thousands upon  thousands have thus
perished without seeking assistance, and  consequently
their deaths not recorded.  At Calcutta, the proportion
of men to women was as four to one.   Of three fami-
lies, great  or small, there  was  always one or two of
them who experienced a loss of  from one to two, or
three individuals, and  in  some cases five or six.  In
the English army in India, where the cholera was op-
posed by all the powers of medical science, the mor-
tality, though still considerable, was less dreadful. The
division of the centre lost two hundred and thirty
Europeans, out of a  corps of  three thousand five
hundred ; and five hundred and thirty-four natives, out
of about eight thousand.  The deaths varied according
to time, and wrere sometimes one  in eight, and some-
times one in three and a half.   In the division of
Hansi, there were only two hundred and  sixty cases of
cholera; the  loss was  from one to five  or six of the
sick.  In the division  of the left, of eight thousand
men, one hundred were attacked; and forty-nine died,
or more than one-third.  In  fine, in the division of
Nagpore, of four thousand men,  thirteen Europeans
and two hundred and eleven individuals of the country,
were attacked with the cholera.   Six of the former
died; and amongst the natives  the loss was about one
in seven.   Considering the eruption of 1817 and 1818
separately  from those  which  followed,  the English
physicians of Bengal have asserted, that the mortality,
      T 2 
 2-JJ            EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.

 f!;«High immense, was nevertheless exaggerated or in-
 c■•■   d by fear; and that thousands have been destroyed
 b;  the alarm of terror of this disorder is certain, from
 ai i :  ntic information from all medical sources.  Fear
 is one of the exciting causes of this disease.  We have
 estimated, say the English physicians, the ravages as
 proportional to the extent and density of the respective
 populations it struck.   The loss was more considerable
 at the commencement and middle, than towards the
 end of the eruption.  When it was opposed by medical
 assistance, the deaths among the troops rarely amounted
 to the third of the sick, and was bounded frequently
 by the fifth.  When the sick were abandoned to them-
 selves, the half of those attacked generally perished,
 and sometimes  even  two-thirds.   In the island of
 Bombay, inhabited by nearly  two hundred thousand
 people,  it is fully established,  that in seven  months
 there were fifteen  thousand nine hundred and forty-
 five cases of cholera.  Thus the twelfth  part of the
 population was infected; of whom two thousand four
 hundred and thirty-two perished, or one  in six.   In
 the Madras army  in  five years there were fifteen
 thousand eight hundred cases, of winch three thousand
 seven hundred and thirty perished.   Of the native
 military, of seventy-one thousand men, there perished
 fifteen thousand eight hundred  and thirty, or one in
 four.   The entire loss  among the native troops was
 nearly a fourth.  The population of the British posses-
 sions of India, amount to forty millions, without com-
 prising recently conquered country.  The enumeration
 may be considered correct; therefore yielding in Hin-
 dostan an annual mortality, produced by the cholera,
of two and a half millions of people.  If we reduce the
preceding estimate one-half, allowing for intermittances 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
223
of the malady, the ravages of the scourge over the five
regions of India  during  the  last fourteen years, will
form a loss of eighteen  millions of persons.   What
must then have been the extent of its murderous effects,"
whej^ we comprise its destructive course over so many
other regions  of  insular and  continental Asia, from
which it is impossible to  draw correct information ?
  During the prevalence of  the cholera  in  Russia in
1830, the progress of infection among the inhabitants,
and the proportion of deaths to the sick, have differed
according to time and place.   The southern regions
were those where the malady spread the  most widely
and with the greatest rapidity ;  those towns where the
disease entered at the end  of autumn suffered  but
slightly.   In the  province  of Caucasus in Russia, al-
most everywhere  the half of those infected  with this
complaint perished, whilst the mortality amongst  the
nomadic tribes of the great steeps  east and north-east
from the  Caspian, amounted to only a fifth  of those
attacked.  The longest period  in which  the  disorder
prevailed  was one hundred and fourteen days; and
the shortest twenty days:  the former beginning in
summer, and the  latter in autumn.  The province of
Caucasus  had  the greatest  number of deaths; out of
sixteen thousand attacked, ten thousand perished. The
official lists which I have been able to collect on the
prevalence of cholera in  Russia, being  united in one
summary, yield the following, which is far below the
reality.
  From the middle of June to the 15th of November,
1830, the public documents establish the fact, that
there were in Russia fifty-four thousand three hundred
and sixty-seven persons attacked with the cholera, of
whom thirty-one  thousand  two hundred  and fifty-six 
224           EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.

sunk under its violence.   If I divide  the aggregate
numbers of the sick, and of the dead, by 1071, f find
thai during a period equivalent to the three years, fifty-
one individuals were attacked every twenty-four hours,
by this disorder; and that out of these, thirty, or three-
fifths died.  The numbers given by the official reports
are certainly below the truth, since on  one hand  a
great number of cases have  escaped notice, and, on the
other, a large number  have, from different motives,
been concealed.   I, therefore, (from documents on
which you may rely as  correct,) estimate without ex-
aggeration, that during the prevalence  of  the cholera
in Russia in 1830, the infected amounted to one hun-
dred thousand, and  the  deaths to sixty thousand per-
sons.  At the same time the complaint had not then
extended over more than one-half of  the Russian em-
pire.
  The consuls of France, by their reports, have  lat-
terly enabled me to collect, from  their official docu-
ments, some few details of the cholera  in  Western
Asia, and even in  Arabia.   The iman or sovereign
informed  them that ten thousand of his subjects had
fallen by this disorder, and that in consequence of  the
people having exhausted their means of  burying the
dead, provision wTas  made from the imperial treasury ;
hundreds of dead bodies being frequently exposed for
weeks for want of the means of burial,  and owing to
the fear of the contagious nature of the disease, thou-
sands and  thousands have died in the most wretched
state, who have been permitted from fear and ignorance
to linger out  the most excruciating torture, without a
single friend to soothe or wipe from their brow7 the
cold and clammy sweat of death.   It would be totally
unnecessary for me to trace minutely, in  a work of this 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
225
kind, the various ravages  in towns, districts, &c, com-
mitted by this dreadful scourge.  I have, however, so
far as I deemed necessary, communicated to you the
principal  and first  locations  of the disease, together
with such official reports  as I deemed interesting as to
the principal places of mortality in Europe.
   It may be necessary here for me to state, before  I
proceed further on this important subject, the atmo-
spheric and  other phenomena, anterior to and contem-
poraneous with the disease in the sections of country
mentioned.   The  physicians and surgeons of India,
who have strictly noticed and reported faithfully such
appearances, describe frequent and great  deviations
from the usual order of the seasons, before and during
the existence of cholera;  and they speak of unusually
violent thunder storms, violent squalls, and storms of
wind and rain.  Earthquakes were also felt in various
parts of Hindostan.  At the time when the grand army
under the Marquis of Hastings suffered so dreadfully
from the disease, the thermometer ranged from ninety
to one hundred; the heat was moist and suffocating,
and  the atmosphere a  dead  calm.  At the time this
complaint raged in Calcutta, the disease was attributed
to the extreme heat and drought of the season, followed
by heavy rains, and the use of unwholesome food.  In
the island of Java, the weather was very dry and hot
at the time the choleFa broke out in the month of April.
  When this complaint broke out in Bombay, the falls
of rain were unusually great  in August; and at Ma-
dras  the weather was much  the same.  It has  been
universally observed by those  acquainted with this dis-
ease, that  it has  generally been  accompanied by a
cloudy, overcast state of the sky, sudden showers, com- 
226
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
posed of large drops of rain, resembling  those of a
thunderstorm, and a thick, heavy state of the air, giving
it a whitish appearance; and whenever the weather
cleared up, the disease gradually disappeared. Through-
out India similar notices were made of the connexion
between the disturbed state of the weather and  the
appearance of the disease.  In all instances southerly
and easterly winds seemed to give vigour and force to
the cholera.  Its greatest ravages have been during the
heats of sumnier, subsiding most generally at the be-
ginning of winter.  During the prevalence of the dis-
ease, the atmosphere is in a rarefied state;  and exhibits
a great tendency to  part with its moisture,  forming
thick clouds, heavy rains, or haziness, and to become
agitated  by storms.  The same influence of season on
the appearance of cholera  in  Persia and Turkey is
thought to be as evident as in India, for it raged with
great virulence for three years at various  places from
the shores of the Persian gulf to the Mediterranean,
in one direction, and to the borders  of Russia in  Eu-
rope in the other, it  prevailed only in summer.  The
weather before  the  appearance  of  this complaint in
Mekka (in 1831) was remarkable  for the  excessive
heat; the thermometer being steadily as high as  102
Fahrenheit, and afterwards heavy rains, with the wind
from south to south-east.
   Before the cholera  appeared  in  Suez, a  very hot
south wind prevailed.  At Cairo, on the  approach of
the disease, the wind was from the north-east, and the
heat during the day was very oppressive, with cold
nights.   At Nishmi Novogored in Russia, there sud-
denly succeeded to a warm and dry state of the atmo-
sphere, in the montk of August, 1830, a continuance 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
227
of cold and wet.   At this time the cholera began—
prevailing winds south-east.
  The cholera appeared at Riga at the commencement
of uncommonly hot and sultry weather.
  In Poland the cholera increased as the weather in
March  and April became  cooler and  more  damp.
With warmth and dryness  of the air the complaint
rapidly abated.   When, however, in August and Sep-
tember the days became very hot, and  the nights cold,
it again raged to an alarming extent.   The prevalence
of the disease at Moscow is stated to have been in pro-
portion  to  the humidity or  dampness of  the  atmo-
sphere.   At Vienna the cholera broke out on the 13th
of September, after a hurricane and much  cold rain.
At Dantzic, so irregular and unfavourable to  health
had been the weather of the spring, that  pestilential
diseases were expected from the irregularity  of the
season.  The prevalent  winds, in most  places in which
the cholera committed  its ravages, have been easterly,
from north-east  to south-east.  Such  winds the late
Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, if you recollect, informed
us, almost invariably preceded and accompanied some
of the  worst pestilences, and various  fevers, such as
plagues, yellow fever, and violent bilious and intermit-
tent fevers.
  Among the phenomena worthy of record connected
with the history of cholera, is the sickness and mortal-
ity of animals antecedent to and at the time of  the
ravages  of  the disease, in many  parts of  the  world
where it prevailed.   On the  most  careful examination
of all the reports  on cholera by the most  able physi-
cians, it is conclusive that the complaint is not  trans-
missible  either by persons or goods, and fifteen years'
experience proves that the disease  arises in the atmo- 
228
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
 sphere, and that all attempts to keep off this complaint
 by restrictive measures have utterly failed- More than
 five hundred instances I could  here give you, of the
 cholera having  suddenly appeared  in  a district, or
 country, in which not the least  communication or  in-
 tercourse had taken place with those affected  with it.
 And we learn from the most scientific physicians, and
 those  too who have made the most attentive and dili-
 gent research, that the cholera  is not contagious,  but
 arises  from predisposing  causes within  the  range  of
 atmospheric influence; and  how many facts have we
 before us by different writers on  the East India cholera,
 that in the very centre of extensive districts ravaged by
 the cholera, there are certain narrow strips or patches
 of country, in winch there existed no natural obstacles
 to the  extension of the disease, but into which it never
 penetrated, although all around  was one scene of deso-
 lation.  This  part of the subject cannot be placed in a
 clearer light  than by simply observing that the in-
 stances of immunity from the disease where unlimited
 intercourse  has been allowed', are in ten-fold greater
 number than  where restrictions had been imposed and
 non-intercourse had  been enforced.  On the contrary,
it is believed  that these  quarantines or cordons  (in
 other wrords, guards to prevent persons who come from
 a quarter in which the disorder  is known to exist) do
 not even give  an opportunity of escape.  Their ten-
 dency .and effect are  the other way.  As another proof
 of this disease not being contagious, except in  filthy,
 close, and ill-ventilated places, by which I mean filthy
 rooms and other dirty places, that the smell is sufficient
 to occasion  sickness at any time—I say, as another
 proof the full and constant intercourse of physicians,
nurses, attendants, and friends, almost constantly with 
EPIDEMIC
CHOLERA.
229
(he sick of cholera, and the number of the former who
have been attacked with the disease.   If cholera were
thus catching, a large majority of the persons desig-
nated ought  to have had the complaint, whereas, in
truth,  a  large  majority  of  them  entirely  escaped.
Those wrho wrere  attacked were not in a greater pro-
portion than wrould have  suffered from  any prevalent
disease whatever.   At Moscow,  five  hundred  and
eighty-seven  patients affected with cholera, and eight
hundred and  sixty labouring under other diseases, were
admitted into the hospital of Ordinka.   This hospital
consists of a  single building, three stories high, com-
municating by stairs placed within the  boards.  The
same  attendants  had charge of all the  patients: the
different articles of furniture were distributed without
distinction  to the patients, and all their clothes were
washed together  by  the same persons.   Of the eight
hundred and  sixty patients above alluded to. not a sin-
gle one became  affected with cholera;  and of one
hundred and twenty-three hospital attendants, two only
were  affected, a  man and a woman, both of whom
were disposed to  the disease from very  irregular con-
duct; and frequent admonitions had been given them
of their danger, but  to no effect, w7hen they suddenly
died.  Hundreds,  nay thousands of instances, might be
adduced of entire immunity or escape, after constant
intercourse with  the  sick, both in India, Europe, and
the United States. The women who washed the clothes
of the patients in the hospitals were entirely exempt*
from the disease.  All the attendants who helped the
patients in  and out of the baths, rubbed their bodies,
dressed blisters, &c, all escaped the complaint.   This
with few exceptions has been the case in all the cholera
hospitals with which  I have corresponded.  The phy-
      U                 29 
230
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
sician general to the town  hospital of Dantzic, says
that there were five waiters  always near the patients.
eight men were employed in rubbing and bathing, nine
medical men visited  the patients, of whom  one was
always in  the room in the daytime, and two wratching
every night—no one of these twenty-two persons fell
ill.  '; I have visited," says Dr. White, " the Gateshead
hospital, during the time I  had the honour of being
physician  to that institution, under all  circumstances
of physical depression,  I have  breathed the atmo-
sphere of  its apartments for hours together; yet I, the
attendants, nurses,  all equally exposed, have  equally
escaped.  Not a single individual in the profession has
sustained,  to my knowiedge, an attack since the disor-
der has prevailed."   It  is not reasonable to suppose
that physicians and nurses should be entirely free from
attacks of cholera.  We ought, on the contrary, to be
surprised  at the proportion being so small, when we
consider how the extreme fatigue and loss of rest which
they undergo, must peculiarly predispose them to the
disease. Very different, however, would be the result,
if physicians, friends, and attendants were obliged to
render their services in the close and confined quarters
of a city or towTn, and in the damp, filthy, and ill-ven-
tilated houses of those who are in the  great number
victims to the disease.  Hence it becomes the duty of
all  governments, and  the corporations of cities and
public authorities, to make timely and suitable provi-
sion for the reception of the poor, and placing them in
the earliest stage of the disease in comfortable hospi-
tals, and  also of cleansing filthy places,  and houses,
cellars, privies, &c.
  From a full and impartial review of all the reports
on the subject of cholera, with the rise and progress of 
               EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.           231

the disease, it proves to be an  epideiiifc, depending
upon some peculiar morbid change in the constitution
of the  atmosphere, which, to speak the truth, and in
plain language, is  unknown to all medical men.  And
all that can be said  on this subject  is, that it is owing
to some unknown peculiarity of the atmosphere, some-
thing similar to that which gives rise to the ordinary
fever and other complaints of  the summer and au-
tumnal months.  That its severity or mitigation greatly
depends upon the predisposing causes at the time of
the location of the disease, there can be  certainly  no
doubt:  for  instance, such  as intemperance of every
species, exposure to the dews of night, sudden changes
in the  heat  and dryness of the atmosphere, excessive
fatigue, and the system labouring under general  debi-
lity, a  want of cleanliness, food  of a bad. quality, &c.
All  articles which irritate  the  stomach and bowels
prove exciting causes of the complaint.   Any sudden
or considerable debility of the nervous system is to be
greatly dreaded, as of itself laying the body open to an
attack of cholera.   On this account,  anxiety, fear, and
the depressing passions in general, should not be allow-
ed to harass the mind.   Hundreds, I may almost say
thousands, have been destroyed by  fear alone. In your
manner  of  living  be  regular,  and  do  not suddenly
change your habits, but maintain regular  hours of
sleep, regularity of meals,  and  the accustomed  daily
exercise, strictly  avoiding exposure  to the  sun, great
fatigue, night air or dews, getting wet, carefully avoid-
ing situations in  which the  air is foul, stagnant, and
loaded with moisture, and  every  thing  which  has a
tendency  to reduce the energies of the  system either
by over-excitement or  direct debility, and  to impede
the functions of the skin, or to induce disturbance of 
202            EPIDEMIC CHOLESA.
the digestive canal.  To avoid cholera, preserve habits
of strict temperance, no excess of any kind, no experi-
ments to be made with medicine, by which I  mean
the preventives of the disease advertised by quacks and
impostors in  every city.  Remember one  important
rule; strict cleanliness of person, clothes, and habitation.
Keep your feet warm and dry, wear warm clothing,
so as to guard against sudden changes of weather and
particularly from sudden, damp, cold moisture.  Avoid
late hours, crowded assemblies, long continued mental
exertion, sleep not in damp beds, or in low, damp, ill-
ventilated apartments, and shun, as you wish to avoid
the cholera at the time it is raging, all swampy or
marshy districts.  As many have been for years in the
habit of taking spirituous liquors, I should advise such
persons to drink on, sparingly, in  proper moderation;
for we are truly  creatures of habit, and  I have always
believed that any sudden change, either-in diet, drink,
or clothing, is highly injurious, particularly  at a time
when cholera is  prevailing in that section of country
in which you reside; and under any circumstances oui
habits become second nature, and if necessary, which
is often the case, it is prudent  to  gradually desist, or
change them.  As I have before told you, no medicine
ought to be taken  as a preventive in cholera, for  all
medicines of ttys nature are amongst the most effectual
means of inducing  an attack of the disease.  During
the prevalence of the late epidemic at  Montreal, the;
authorities  very  judiciously  forbade  apothecaries
making up and  vending without  permission, the me-
dicines and quack nostrurns eagerly sought after, >\ itli
the hope of preventing or  arresting  the  complaint.
Time and attention to the early symptoms of this dis-
ease are of great importance.   But urgent as may be 
Epidemic cholera.            &33
the demand for assistance, it ought never to be given
from fear or as a preventive, (which has no doubt been
often the case,) for hundreds  have died from fear, as
reported by many distinguished observers of this ma-
lady.   Suffer me to remind you of one important pre-
ventive in this epidemic: at  all times  and  under all
circumstances, to place a reliance upon Almighty God.
That man must  adhere with  inviolable constancy  to
whatever is good or great in life, wiio is animated with
the hope of divine approbation, and w7ho relies with
assured confidence on the friendship,  protection, and
assistance  of  the great Ruler  of all things;  No diffi-
culties, no  dangers, no  sickness can terrify him who
has on his side the Sovereign Disposer of all events.
  After all my diligent research and' attention, I  find
the preventive against cholera may be summed up in a
few words: pure air, good  substantial living, temper-
ance and regularity of life in  all things, strict cleanli-
ness, and a tranquil mind.

             SYMPTOMS OF  CHOLERA.
  I shall commence by giving you what is termed the
premonitory symptoms of cholera, by  which is meant
symptoms of the first or forming stage of the disease,
and on your paying strict attention to these symptoms,
will greatly depend the favourable Hsue of the case;
and if you do not, in nine cases in twelve the  person
will die.
  The person  attacked  with cholera complains of
Weakness,  as if he had  undergone  fatigue; he feels
frequently for a few7 moments, uneasiness in the region
of the stomach, but not  so  severe as* to create alarm.
Frequent evacuations or stools from the bowels, being
obliged to go to stool from two to a dozen times a day,
       u 2                30 
234
EPIDEMIC cholera.
and not much griped in passing them.  The counte-
nance or features look  unusually sharp, sometimes a
little sick at the stomach, but this last  symptom is not
very common.   This early evidence of the  approach
of the  cholera is no*t often attended to, and seldom
noticed but by those experienced in the complaint.
The symptoms I have just mentioned  may continue,
varying, sometimes better and then worse from one to
ten days, before the second stage of the disorder com-
mences.  The  stools at  the first are generally of a dark
brown or blackish colour.  As the looseness continues,
they gradually  become  less and less of a natural ap-
pearance, until  they  look  like  dirty  water.  Some
headach, cramp  of the fingers, toes  and belly, and
almost always a swimming of the head, and a ringing
of the ears, accompany these symptoms.   Very fre-
quently the bowels, for  two or three days, are costive
or bound, and then looseness will again come on, and
in a few hours  collapse supervenes,  and in general
sickness at the stomach and vomiting or puking.  Now
remember,  that on an early attention to this  looseness
of the bowels will greatly depend the cure, by timely
application  of such means as I shall advise; or if it is
convenient, and you fear to trust your own judgment,
make on the first appearance of these symptoms early
application  to a "jphysician.  Dr. Kirk, a distinguished
medical gentleman, says it was found, from regular
records of upwards of four thousand patients, that this
looseness of the bowels prevailed in every case.
   Symptoms of Marked Cholera.   Having atten-
tively perused all the numerous accounts which have
been published of the various symptoms by which the
epidemic cholera is accompanied,  I have thought it
only necessary  to give  you all the general  and  well: 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
235
 marked symptoms of the complaint, without noticing
 every trifling deviation from the ordinary course of the
 disease.  All you wish to be informed of is, when you
 are about to take it, and lastly when it has certainly
 attacked.  I  have therefore  selected for you  the  de-
 scription of the Madras Report, founded on extensive
 experience in the country in which I enumerated to
 you its awful ravages.
  This  complaint generally takes place in the night or
 towards morning.  You are  taken sick at the stomach
 and vomit or puke ; the bowels are at once evacuated,
 that is, in other words, you  go to  stool, and you seem
 to discharge or empty all their solid contents, and feel,
 after  you have  done,  great exhaustion, sinking and
 emptiness; after a short time you feel faintness, your
 skin becomes cold, and very  often giddiness or swim-
 ming in the head, and ringing in the ears ; the power
 of moving your limbs seems impossible; twitchings of
 the muscles of the fingers and toes are felt, and these
 affections  gradually extend  along  the limbs  to the
 trunk of the  body.  The pulse from the first is small,
 weak, quick, and  after a certain interval, but particu-
 larly on the  commencement of spasms or of severe
 puking, it sinks suddenly, so as to be quickly lost in all
 the external  parts.  The skin, which  from the com-
 mencement of the disease is below the  natural heat?
becomes colder and colder; it is seldom dry; generally
covered with  a profuse  cold sweat, or with a clammy
moisture.  In Europeans the skin often assumes a livid
hue; the whole surface becomes collapsed;, the lips
become blue; the nails present a similar appearance,
and the  skin of the feet and hands becomes much cor-
rugated and  exhibits a sodden appearance; in this
state the skin is insensible, even to the action of the
4 
£36
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
strongest medicines, such as warm spirits, or spirits in
which camphor has been dissolved, or, in fact, even the
action of the most powerful stimulants; yet the patient
generally complains of oppressive heat on the surface,
and wishes to throw  off the bed-clothes.   The eyes
sink in their orbits, and are surrounded  with a livid or
dark  circle:  the eye  becomes heavy, and frequently
the whites of the eyes suffused with blood, or, in other
words,* blood-shot.  The features of the face  look sharp
and dead, and indeed the wrhole countenance  assumes
a cadaverous  aspect, and its appearance so uncommon
that it is easily observed  by all to be strangely and
peculiarly unnatural.   There is almost always Urgent
thirst, and a desire for cold drink, although the mouth
be not usually parched. The tongue is moist, whitish.
and cold; a distressing sense of pain, and  a  burning
heat at the epigastrium or pit of the stomaCh, are very
common in this disease.  Very little water is passed,
or bile, or saliva, or spittle secreted; the voice becomes
quite feeble and hollow, having an  unnatural sound £
the breathing is oppressed and generally sloW, and the
breath of the patient is quite Cold or deficient in heat:
   While these symptoms are going on, the stomach
and bow7els are very much affected  in  different ways.
After the first vomiting and stool, however severe these
symptoms may be, the matter passed by stool is always
of a watery nature:  and in  some cases it is  entirely
destitute of colour.  The stools resemble muddy, water
in some, and  in others it is of a yellowish or greenish
colour.   A very common appearance is that which is
called in the East Indies '• congee stools," resembling
water in which rice had  been washed, or having the
appearance of numerous little slimy flakes,  floating in
the colourless Water. The discharge from the stomach' 
                EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            237

 oy puking, and those from the bowels by stool, do not
 appear to differ much, except that the former, or  that
 which is puked up, has mixed with it portions of food
 which may have been eaten and not digested.  Neither
 the vomiting nor  purging are symptoms of long con-
 tinuance ; they are either stopped by medicine, or the
 body becomes unable from weakness to puke or purge
 any longer;  and they, together with the spasms, sud-
 denly disappear a  considerable time before death.   If
 blood be drawn, it  looks of a dark or  black colour,
 ropy, and flows slowly and with  difficulty.   Toward
 the close of the scene, great restlessness comes on,  and
 constant anxiety and distress; and  death takes place
 often  in  ten  or twelve hours, and generally within
 seventeen or twenty hours from the commencement of
 the attack.  During all this mortal struggle and com-
 motion in the body, the mind remains  clear, and its
 functions undisturbed, almost to  the last moment of
 existence. The patient, though sunk and overwhelmed,
 and almost lifeless, dislikes to  speak, and is greatly
 distressed if the least disturbed; still, however, retain-
 ing  the  power  of thinking, and of expressing  his
 thoughts, as long as his organs are  obedient to his will;
 such symptoms are the most common of the epidemic.
 cholera, where its tendency to death is not checked by
 medicine.  Cholera,  however, like other diseases, has '
 presented considerable variety in its symptoms; thus,
 it  may on one occasion be distinguished throughout
 by the absence of vomiting, and by the prevalence of
purging; on another, by the  excess of vomiting; and,
though  more rarely,  by the absence  of  purging.
 Spasms may be generally present  in one  instance; in
another, it may  not  be observed.  Of all, the most
difficult is, that which is marked by a very slight com- 
238
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
 motion in the system; in which there is no vomiting,
 hardly any purging, perhaps  one or two loose stools,
 no perceptible spasm, no pain of any kind, a marble
 coldness, with arrest or stoppage of circulation which
 comes on from the beginning,  and the patient dies
 without a struggle.
   Vomiting or puking, as I have before told  you, if
 entirely absent, or if it has taken place for a time, it
 soon  stops, from the stomach being paralyzed, or, in
 other words, as if it were really dead or without any
 feeling or sensibility.   Purging is a more constant
 symptom than vomiting in this disease, and in all cases
 of cholera, or most generally, it is, as I have before
 said, the first symptom in the disorder.  Purging has
 been very rarely absent altogether;  and when it  is
 absent is quite a bad symptom, for it denotes or shows
 plainly that the attack is very dangerous.  There  is
 seldom much  griping or tenesmus, which means a
 great and constant desire to go to stool, without doing
 much, and sometimes these desires are so sudden as to
 be irresistible.  Both puking and purging with spasm
 often occur at the same time, and the pulse stops for a
 time at the wrists ; as if these symptoms originated at
 the instant, from  one  common  cause.  In advanced
f stages of the disease, purging generally ceases, but in
 many cases a. discharge of watery fluid takes place on
 every change of posture.   The matters evacuated after
 the first emptying of the bowels have been occasionally
 observed to be  greenish or of a yellowish  appearance,
 turbid,  of a frothy appearance,  like yeast, and quite
 frequently bloody; but by far the most common ap-
 pearance  is that of pure serum,  (which means the
 appearance of whey,) so  thin and colourless as not to
 leave a stain on the patient's linen.  The next in order 
               EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            239

of frequency is the congee-like fluid;  (I have before
explained to you what the congee stools meant;) the
mucus is at all times so thoroughly mixed, however,
with the serum, as to give the whole the appearance of
milk.  The quantity of the clear watery fluid which
is sometimes discharged is very great, and were these
discharges to continue  constantly, it would afford a
perfect knowledge of the cause of the debility or weak-
ness, thirst, thickness of the blood, and other symptoms;
but it is reduced to a  positive certainty, that the most
fatal and rapid cases are, by no means, those winch are
distinguished by excessive discharges.  Death, on the
contrary, has ensued  in innumerable  instances after
one or two watery stools, without the development of
any  other symptom affecting the natural functions.
Collapse has even come on  before any evacuation by
6tool had taken place.
  The peculiarly calm  and undisturbed state of the
mind in this disorder has been  the subject of great
surprise; instances are  known of persons being able
to walk, and to perform  many of their usual avocations
in business, even after the circulation has been so much
arrested, that the pulse has not been discerned at the
wrist; the cases I allude to are those chiefly in which
it  has begun by an  insidious  watery purging; and
many lives have been lost in consequence of the pa- '
tients, under these false  appearances, not having taken
early alarm, and applied for medical aid.   In other
cases again, the animal functions appear to have been
early impaired, and the prostration of strength to have
preceded most of the  symptoms.  The voice in gene-
ral sounds very weak, partaking of the debility prevail-
ing in the other functions; it is commonly noticed as
Jjeing remarkably  feeble,  often  almost unable to  be 
240           EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.

heard.  Deafness  has also been remarked in some in-
stances to have been completely established.  Coma
does occasionally  occur, especially towards the termi-
nation of the case, when it is  fatal; but delirium has
seldom been observed in this complaint.
  Spasm has been  held as one of the most essential
features or certain  accompaniments of the epidemic
cholera, and owing to wThich circumstance it has re-
ceived this  specified name.; so far, however, as relates
to the muscles of voluntary motion, (and it is that de-
scription of spasm  only to which I now  refer,) no
symptom is more  frequently wanting.  Spasms of the
muscles chiefly accompany those cases in which there
is a sensible  and violent commotion of  the  system;
hence they are more frequently found in cases where
Europeans  are the subjects of  the  disease, than when
it attacks the natives of India,  and in robust  patients
more  frequently than in the w7eakly.   In the low or
more  dangerous form of cholera, whether in  the Eu-
ropean or Indian, spasm is generally wranting, or is
present  in  a very slight  degree.  The  muscles most
commonly affected  are those of the toes and feet, and
of the calves of the leg; next to these the correspond-
ing muscles of the superior extremities; then those of
thighs and  arms; and, lastly, those of the trunk, pro-
ducing the most  distressing feelings to the afflicted
person.
  It is  deserving of remark, says  Doctor Graigie  in
his  account of the disease, that  in several instances the
first indications of cholera were the twitching of the
fingers and toes;  and a great  many persons who re-
sisted all the other  symptoms  of the disease were at-
tacked by  this twitching.   Of all the symptoms of
cholera  none are  so universally present, nor indeed se 
               EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.           241

important and  fatal, as the immediate sinking of the
circulation-   It must nevertheless be admitted, that
where instant remedial medicines have been success-
fully practised,  this symptom may not have developed
itself, and that  there are even cases where an excited
vascular action has been observed to accompany the
first perturbation of the system in cholera.  Some intel-
ligent  medical gentlemen  have entertained doubts
whether such cases belong indeed to this disease;  it is,
however, to be remembered, that these are precisely
the cases which yield  most certainly  and  readily to
appropriate remedies, and it consequently follows that
the physician can seldom have an  opportunity of ob-
serving whether or not this form of cholera will pass
into a more  aggravated stage-   Cases, however, have
occurred in which such degeneration has taken place,
and it has been  followed by death.  The symptoms of
excitement have likewise principally occurred among
soldiers, in whom an effect upon the circulation may
have been produced  by the  quantity of ardent spirits
they are in the habit of drinking daily.  The period
at which a marked diminution of vascular action takes
place,  is somewhat  various.   The  pulse sometimes
keeps up tolerably well for  some hours, though very
rarely; it more generally becomes small  and accele-
rated at an early stage, and on the accession of spasms
or vomiting, suddenly ceases to be  distinguishable in
the extremities.  The length of time  during which a
patient will sometimes live  in a pulseless state is ex-
traordinary.
  That remarkable shrinking  of the  features of the
face, which has acquired the  emphatic term of the
"true  cholera  countenance," appears in  every case,
unless quickly stopped in the forming stage  by medi-
      X                 31 
242
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
cine.  This expression of countenance, which conveys
so truly that of death itself, cannot be mistaken; and by
an attentive observer it will be perceived  that a simi-
lar shrinking takes place throughout the limbs, and all
the projecting parts of the body.   No  symptoms of
cholera are so uniform  in their appearance and pro-
gress as those connected with the blood and its circu-
lation.  It is fully established, that the blood of patients
attacked with cholera is of an unnaturally dark colour,
and of a very thick consistence.  In a great majority
of the reports of the physicians of India, it  is stated
unequivocally, or without doubt, that after a certain
quantity of dark and thick blood has been drawn, it is
common for its colour to change much  lighter.  When
this was the case, it was considered favourable as to the
termination of the disease.  In India, when medical
aid was early administered, and the constitution of the
patient otherwise healthy, the recovery from an attack
of the cholera was generally very quick, owing to the
peculiar constitutions of these  people, in whom  there
is ordinarily very little tendency to inflammation or
fever.  But in Europeans, in whom there is much
greater tendency to inflammation or fever, and  a de-
termination to some  of  the  internal organs; conse-
quently, the recovery from the disease by them is not
so sudden  or perfect.   When  cholera, however, is of
long continuance, and when the congestions appear to
have been  thoroughly established, few Europeans or
Americans,  who outlive the  attack,  are  restored to
health without considerable difficulty.
  I have now described to you as fully and as minutely
as the space allotted to me in this work would permit;
giving you the general symptoms of cholera, as it pre-
sented itself in the different districts of India.! and they 
               EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.      .      243

-agree in every respect with those observed in the dis-
ease during its prevalence in Russia, Poland, North of
Europe, the Canadas, &c.  This is  proved by the his-
tory of the disease, by the most able and distinguished
physicians throughout Europe and India;  particularly
the able report made by Dr. Keir,  of Moscow, to the
British Government, and in the accounts transmitted
from Montreal and Quebec. And all the reports made
on  this fatal disease agree as  to the  principal  symp-
toms ;  that in the generality of cases, there were the
same excessive or constant evacuations by puking and
purging; a watery, turbid fluid; the same collapse of
the skin;  coldness  of  the surface;  sinking  of the
pulse; failure of the strength; lividity of the face, or
purple cast; shrinking of the  features;  spasms of the
muscles, &c.; all of which symptoms usually take place
more or less, with some few variations, owing  to the
peculiarity of  the constitution, or the state of the sys-
tem at the  time of taking the disease.  For cholera, in
its severity and duration, by which I mean the  length
of time it exists, depends much upon the local or  pre-
disposing causes.  Therefore, if any decided difference
has been observed between the character of cholera,
as it prevailed in India, and  after  its extension  into
Europe, the Canadas, and the United States, it consists
merely in the gradual amelioration  of the complaint;
by which I mean, that it sometimes gradually loses it
severity; owing, as I have before told you, to the pecu-
liarity of the climate, the predisposing causes, inviting,
more or less, the disease, wherever the disorder,  which
is in the air, may locate or settle itself. And this is the
reason why the cholera rages more violently  at one '
place than  it does at another; because the predisposing
causes are greater. 
244            EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.

  Therefore, let  temperance  and  cleanliness in  all
things be the watchword;  for experience has taught
the people of the U'nited States, that by due caution,
and early attention to the proper remedies, which are
simple and  easily understood, this  pestilence may be,
and has been perfectly within the control of medicine;
and that this disease is the same as the European cho-
lera, is fully established by the evidence of various
physicians of eminence, who have witnessed the cholera
both in India and Europe;  and, as I have before stated
to you, its virulence or mitigation entirely depends
upon local causes, or  the constitution, and the predis-
position to an attack  of the complaint.

                  treatment:
  The cholera has not been found to be less under the
control  of  proper treatment than  any other disease
equally rapid in its course. When remedies of a proper
kind have been administered in the early stage of the
complaint, and judiciously managed, a favourable ter-
mination has, in the majority of cases, been the result.
The difficulty is, to induce patients, or those attacked
with this disorder, to apply sufficiently early for medi-
cal assistance.  With the loss of a very few hours, the
chances of recovery  are greatly diminished.  " If the
disease," says Dr. Annesley, whose experience  in the
treatment of epidemic cholera, during its prevalence in
India, was considerable, " be taken at its commence-
ment, or within an hour after the disorder attacks you,
it is.as manageable as any other acute disease; but the
rapidity with which it runs through its course requires
the most active exertions before it can be checked, and
the  loss of an hour may cause the loss of life."
   The remedies  most successfully used in  India, and 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA*.
245
throughout Europe generally, will be noticed.   The
variety of different  means used, and  the peculiar opi-
nions of different medical writers, many of which have
proved unsuccessful, I do  not think it necessary to
mention in a book of this kind.  My object in writing
so fully on this subject, has been to give you a perfect
and general knowiedge of the complaint, as to its vio-
lence and progress in India, and the principal remedies
which prove to be the most successful in the cure of
cholera, selecting from the experience of the most dis-
tinguished physicians such remedies as may be  relied
on in this epidemic; after which, I subjoin the opinion
and advice by  letter of the distinguished medical gen
tlemen of our own country, simplified  in plain lan-
guage, adapted to the people; closing this important
subject with my remarks and advice to my country-*
men.
*  The remedy,  the good effect of which, in the treat-
ment of choleray appears to have been  most generally
acknowledged, and  the early employment of which is
most insisted upon,  is blood-letting.
  Bleeding from the arm in the 'first  stage, when the
pulse is full, and the temperature not reduced, is often
sufficient to put short the disease.  Thepatient always
feels  immediate relief, particularly w7here the head
has been affected*   The bleeding should he performed
in a horizontal position; or, in other words-, the patient
should lie on the bed while bleeding him.   After the
bleeding, he must remain quiet in bed for some time.
Doctor Drysen, who has had  great experience in this
complaint, directs to increase the flow of blood from
the arm. by frictions or rubbing to the surface of the
body, with flannel cloths wrung out of  hot water, or
by bleeding while the patient is in the warm bath. To •■,
      x 2 
246
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
see how to prepare and use the warm bath, read under
that head.
  According to Mr. Bell, " in no case in which it has
been possible to persevere in  blood-letting, until the
blood flows freely from the veins, and its colour is re-
covered, and the oppressed chest is relieved, will the
patient  die  from  that attack of the  disease."   He
directs that when the blood has once begun to flow, it
ought to be allowed to bleed  until these changes are
observed.  It is the opinion of Doctor Kenedy that in
ninety-nine instances out of a hundred,  where patients
are said to have died, in " despite of blood-letting, it
will  be found  on  examination,  either that no blood
flowed from the incision or opening made by the lan-
cet, or that it came away in drops, or in a small broken
stream, rarely exceeding a few ounces in quantity. On
the contrary," he adds, " where blood was freely ob-
tained  to  the extent of twenty  or thirty ounces, and
where the depletion was followed by proper auxiliaries,
or other assisting remedies, the patients have usually
recovered."
   The testimony of the German, Russian, and Polish
physicians, has  all been given  in favour of the benefi-
cial effects of blood-letting, when early resorted  to in
cholera.
   The absence of the pulse is no reason why you should
not use the lancet, unless it be accompanied by other
symptoms of great  debility, and the  system has  been
exhausted by previous evacuations or purging, and the
surface is  covered with a cold, clammy sweat.  Even
under such circumstances, many attest the advantages
of *blood-letting, especially when  preceded  by  sina-
pisms, or in other words stimulating plasters of mustard
to the belly, feet,  ankles, &c.; the application of dry 
               EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.            247

heat and frictions to the surface, by which is meant
bags of hot sand, bags of hot mush, bags of hot  oats,
bottles of hot water rolled in blankets, &c, (this is dry
heat,) frictions or rubbing, as before explained, and dif-
fusible  stimulants internally: either spirits of harts-
horn, brandy, wine, and  liquors of all kinds, given in-
wardly, so as to excite or rouse the circulation of the
blood.
  In some cases of cholera, says  that able and expe-
rienced physician, Dr. Lefevre, the pulse ceases to beat
very early, but upon opening a vein the blood flow's
slowly  at first, gradually the current becomes fuller
and Stronger, the pulse beats very sensibly,  and the
heart, thus relieved, is enabled to continue  its  circula-
tion.  The only  cases in which  bleeding would ap-
pear of doubtful  propriety, during the  first stage, are
those occurring in old, debilitated, or Weak persons, and
in constitutions completely broken down by intem-
perance.
  When blood cannot be drawn from the arm, and the
spasms continue, when severe pains and burning  heat
are felt at the epigastrium, when  the skin is cold, and
deluged with a cold clammy sweat, and when there is
oppression at  the  chest  and  difficulty of breathing,
excessive  pain  and confusion of the head, with great
intolerance or dislike of light, no pulse, or a very indis-
tinct one, and a cadaverous or offensive smell from the
body, cupping is advised over the  region of the belly,
with frictions of  turpentine  externally  or outwardly 5
and calomel given internally.  In the  advanced  state
of the disease an opportunity is sometimes afforded for
the drawing of blood.  This, according to Dr. Annesley,
is marked by a struggle or effort of the circulation to
Overcome some resisting power, and is  a most auspi- 
24$
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA*
cious or favourable symptom, which should never be
overlooked.   As soon  as it occurs, bleeding, directed
with great judgment, should be resorted to.
  The patient, after bleeding, should be  warmly co-
vered with  bed-clothes, and allowed to  remain  per-
fectly still for a short period.
  Sinapisms  and rubefacients, or,  in  plain  English,
mustard poultices, mixed with strong vinegar, and ap-
plied to the  calves of the legs, inside the ankles, soles
of the feet, &c, to act as a stimulant; (employed in low
states of fevers, and other diseases;)  the object of
which is to  rouse the circulation of the blood, and to
supersede the use of blisters, which are in this disorder
too  slow.  Rubefacients mean that substance which,
W'hen applied to the body or skin a certain time, makes
a redness without blistering.  Sinapisms  and rubefa-
cients are among the most efficacious or best means
adapted to the cure of cholera.  "It may be said of
them that they are indispensable, and there is hardly
any stage of the disease in which they may not be em-
ployed with advantage j so long as the disease endures*
so long will their use. be proper, and they should be
repeated continually."   The pain in the  bowels, and
even the sickness, are often instantaneously relieved by
the application of a large mustard poultice mixed with
vinegar jand applied over the region of the belly, and
much pain is saved the patient if it be applied early.
In  violent cases of the disease the  application of  the
mustard poultice mixed with strong vinegar as before
directed, and applied to the ankles, wrists, calves of the
lees, inside of the arms and thighs, and along the spine,
is recommended in the strongest terms in  various
treatises by  the best informed physicians of India and
Europe, on the cholera; and from the beneficial effects 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
249
 Which we have seen result from the practice through-
 out this complaint, it should never be neglected; it
 would be as well probably to defer the sinapisms or
 poultices until the full effects of dry frictions have been
 tested.  When the skin has been excoriated or inflamed
 by the  use of sinapisms, anodyne fomentations, (or in
 other words laudanum or opium,) steam, applied to the
 body, or even pulverized  opium  sprinkled  over  the
 tender surface, will be often useful in relieving pain
 and sickness at the stomach.
   Dry frictions are recommended as remedies of great
 importance and  efficacy in all cases of cholera.   By
 dry friction is meant rubbing well the whole  body
 with your hands; hence, it can only be recommended
 in those cases where there  are plenty of attendants to'
 wait upon the sick.  Dry frictions are best adapted to,
 and have been found most beneficial in the early period
 of the attack.  " The object of friction is twofold.  1st,
 To restore the circulation in the part, and the heat that
 is dependent upon it.  2d,  To introduce remedies into
 the system by absorption."   The first may be effected
 by mere rubbing with the hand, or a warm flannel, or
 the flesh-brush; and if persisted in, will often restore
 the  circulation to the extremities, which  were pre-
 viously cold and senseless;  but it requires great perse-
 verance and long continuance; for it  is necessary to
 keep up the circulation after it is restored;  and, as I
 have before told you, requires considerable  assistance
 or attendants to wait upon the sick.   Various liniments
 have been proposed to assist the effects of friction; but
 they may be superseded by steady  rubbing with the
 hand, which should  be sprinkled occasionally with a
little powdered  starch, or a little  camphorated oil.
Where proper and effectual rubbing cannot be main**
                        32 
250
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
tained-, stimulating liniments should be employed; be-
cause little rubbing will suffice, and the effect will be
more permanent.   The liniment composed of cam-
phorated spirit and ammonia, (meaning hartshorn,)
will answer every purpose.  When the spasms are
severe, the spirits of turpentine are  best for rubbing
with.  Rubbing the body with spirits  is improper, as
their rapid evaporation will have a tendency to increase
the coldness of the surface.
  Medicines may be introduced into  the circulation
by frictions, and thus certain indications fulfilled, when
the stomach is in too irritable a condition to retain
the proper remedies.  Especially may  local  pain and
spasms be alleviated by frictions with opium, hyoscia-
mus, and other  narcotics, in the form of liniments or
ointments.
  Dry Heat.   This remedy is strongly recommended
by many of the practitioners who have witnessed  the
cholera in the north of Europe.   Mr. Kennedy, a dis-
tinguished physician, recommends it in the first stage
of the disease, after bleeding, the warm bath, and  the
other remedies which are immediately demanded.  He
remarks: " As soon as the cramps are subdued, or have
received  a decided check,  the patient should be re-
moved from the bath with all possible expedition, and
placed between dry heated blankets.   Dry  warmth
should be further afforded by surrounding his body and
limbs with bags of heated sand."  Here dry  heat, be
it remembered, is the remedy, and not the sand which
contains it.  On this principle, bottles of hot water,
rolled in  flannel, have  been employed; and  also  hot
ashes, bran, oat meal, hot mush, &c.  To prevent loss
of time, however. alwrays take the first or most con-
venient of the aboye articles that may come to hand, 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
251
so as to produce any heat as early as possible.   You
will recollect the warn! bath is always  preferable in
the first stage  of the  disease, from its  great power;
" caution is necessary," says Mr. Kennedy, " to prevent
its being too long continued."
  The following are the directions of Dr. Harnett, one
of the British Medical Commission, at Dantzic, for the
use of  the warm bath.  " It has  been found necessary
to guard against the indiscriminate use of  the hot water
and vapour baths, or steam, (generally used by a pipe
under the bed clothes.)  In hot weather, after perspi-
ration  has  broken out, and, above all, in the clammy
stage of the disease; and after marked venous conges-
tion has taken place, when it seems to increase the latter,
which  is particularly observable in the brain and heart.
The bath should be used either in the critical moment
in the beginning of the disease, or, at farthest, instantly
after, if admissible even then.  To  obviate the deter-
mination of blood to the head, cold  applications ought
to be occasionally applied  to it, while the patient is in
the bath.
  The patient should be most gently and  otherwise
judiciously placed in the bath, with respect to the gra-
dually  inclined position of his body, and due support
of the  head, neck and shoulders; and the immersion
or subjection should be merely long enough for the
positive communication of  heat and its  effects, when
he ought to be as gently and judiciously taken out, well
wrapped up in hot blankets, promptly laid in a  bed,
and gently rubbed  with warm,  dry, coarse thread
towels all over, and wiped dry as fast as  the clammy
sweat  oozes out.  There  is much handy and careful
personal management  requisite in this essential  part
of the treatment. 
252
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
   Calomel.—This medicine has been greatly used
 in cholera, by a majority of English surgeons in India,
 and it is spoken highly of by such  of  them as have
 witnessed  the disease in  the north of Europe.  In
 many instances the use of this powerful medicine has
 been carried or given to an enormous extent: doses of
 a scruple to half a drachm being considered the small-
 est dose adapted to  the disease ; others, however, have
 condemned the use of the remedy to this great extent,
 and recommend it to be given  in smaller doses fre-
 quently repeated, and in general combined with opium.
 The evidence which  is advanced in favour of  the be-
 neficial effects of calomel, under both modes of admi-
 nistration, might  at first view appear perfectly conclu-
 sive ; but in making up  an opinion on this subject, it
 is necessary to recollect  that in almost all  the  cases
 which are adduced w7here  the practice is supposed to
 have been  eminently successful, other important re-
 medies have at the same time been employed, espe-
 cially bleeding, frictions, and stimulating applications to
 the surface, and very commonly the warm bath.   Upon
 the early and  judicious employment  of  the last-men-
 tioned medicines, nearly all the writers agree that the
.cure of the disease mainly depends; by many they are
 of themselves  supposed fully sufficient,  and that the
 various internal remedies that have been resorted to
 are either useless or  absolutely pernicious.  Among
the physicians of Russia, Poland, and  Germany, there
are but few who recommend the  use of calomel at all,
and the majority denounce, in very decided terms, its
employment in the  early stages of cholera, or to the
extent to which it was carried  by the practitioners of
India.  In Warsaw, the result of experience showed,
according to Dr. Hille, that whether in large doses, or 
               EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            253

in smaller  ones frequently repeated, the calomel did
more harm than  good; and hence  its use was either
entirely abandoned, or it was given in a single dose of
a few grains combined with opium.  Dr. Gibbs, writ-
ing from St. Petersburg!!, says expressly, that scruple
and  half scruple doses of calomel would not do there;
Dr. Lefevre very properly remarks, that small  doses
combined with opium can be  of no  use in the first
stage..  In slight cases, he adds, where  the quantity of
opium is sufficient to allay the spasmodic action, wiiile
time is allowed for the calomel to act gradually, the
combination however may be of service; but it must
share the same fate as all  the vaunted nostrums which,
when  administered  indiscriminately,  lose  even the
merit to  which they are really entitled.
  In Dunaburg no calomel was administered, and of
seven hundred and forty-five  cases, many  of which
were in the last stages of the disease, when first seen
by the physician, only seventy-five terminated fatally.
  Opium.—No remedy has been proposed in the treat-
ment of cholera, which has so great a mass of testimo-
ny in its favour as opium.  Nearly all the physicians,
whatever may be their opinions as to the  nature of
the disease, have  administered it.  By some it  is re-
commended in the largest possible  doses; by others,
however, when given in smaller doses,  it is considered
much more efficacious, and less liable to produce in-
jurious consequences.  Mr. Orton, an  eminent practi-
tioner, considers it " probable that a single dose of opium
given alone at the very commencement of the disease,
would be found in a great majority of instances to put
an  effectual check to its progress."  The Polish, and
a few of the German physicians  object, however, to
the administering of opium in cholera.
       Y 
 0

 254            EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.

   Internal  Stimulants.—The application of ether,
 brandy, ammonia, (hartshorn,) and other stimulants,
 I find  to be very generally recommended, especially
 in the advanced state of the disease.  They are direct-
 ed to be used  or continued until  reaction is fairly es-
 tablished, after which they are to be  gradually relin-
 quished.  In the early stage of the disease, there is less
 evidence of their good effects than during that period
 in which the clammy sweat, icy coldness of the surface,
 scarcely perceptible pulse, and sunken countenance,
 indicate a state of collapse, which, if not speedily re-
 moved, the loss of the patient is inevitable.   Many
 persons have employed the most  powerful stimulants
 even from the commencement of  the attack, and with
 no sparing hand.  This practice  is highly improper,
 and certainly by experience known to end in fatal con-
 sequences.   Stimulants require at all  times  much
 judgment  and great caution in  their employment,
 or they will most assuredly produce far more  harm
 than good; and should be given  under no other cir-
 cumstances than those I have described, and even then
 it is questionable whether they do not produce  more
 evil than benefit.
   Purgatives.—Though considered by many physi-
 eians as indispensable remedies in the treatment of
 cholera, they do not appear, with the exception of calo-
 mel, to have been very generally employed until after
 the more pressing and violent  symptoms of the disease
 have been subdued.   At this particular juncture it  is
very generally admitted that they have been productive
oi the best effects.   They are proper so long as the
bowels do not  perform their functions regularly, and
the stools  have an unusual appearance; nor is there
any danger of reproducing the  disease  by their con- 
EPIDEMIC cholera.

  tinuance. so long as we take these marks for our guide.
  It  is much more likely to return  from neglecting to
  administer them; purging by calomel is necessary, for
  you will find  the quantity of unhealthy matter which
  is often evacuated by stool, remains  for a long time
  after the  complaint has been subdued.  Such is the
  experience of Doctor Lefevre, in regard to the use of
  purgatives.  He says, they are found indispensable, by
  producing copious discharges of vitiated bile.   " A
  full dose  of calomel," remarks  the doctor,  "is often
  useful in the beginning of the convalescence, as it acts
  upon all the secretions. But the simple purging, which
  is so requisite after  this disorder, is best  effected by
  small and repeated doses of castor oil."  The virtues
  of this last medicine have indeed  been extolled  in a
 very positive manner by the physicians  both of India
 and Europe.   " The success  under its  use was very
 considerable, and  there seems," says Mr. Scott,  " to be
 sufficient evidence to warrant a more extensive trial."
 It is admitted by all that purgatives  which produce
 frequent watery stools, with griping, are improper in
 this disease; are very prejudicial, and ought and must
 not be given.
   Enemata, wrhich means glysters.   When the sto-
 mach is so irritable that it will not retain any thing, or
 constant puking, by which the exhibition of remedies
 by the mouth  cannot be given,  glysters (called ene-
 mas) will be proper, not only in the first attack of the
 complaint, but  in the latter stages of the  disease also ;
 especially in such cases as have  been  attended  with
 much  spasm, and  the  bowels continue sore for a long
 time, and every motion on the  stool  is productive  of
pain.   In this case, an enema or glyster of half a pint
of flaxseed  tea, and ten drops of laudanum, produces 
256            epidemic cholera.
 immediate relief; administered  in  this manner, the
 opium is less liable to produce injurious consequences
than when given by the mouth.   Injections, or glys-
 ters, in plain English, given of hot water above blood
 heat, have been highly spoken of  in eases of great col-
 lapse,  or sinking and  general coldness  of the skin.
 After drawing up the water with  a syringe, (or squirt,)
 and letting  this warm  water  remain up a while, the
 water  may be withdrawn  by the syringe, and a fresh
 supply of warm water  introduced.   Mr. Fife  speaks
 favourably of injections Of mustard: they have, he
 says, promptly brought on a discharge of urine, after it
 had been entirely suppressed.
  Muriate of Soda.—(Nothing in English but our
 common salt.)—This has been spoken of by a few of
 the continental physicians as a  powerful  remedy in
 cholera, and is  recommended by the  eminent Mr.
 Searl as an emetic in the commencement of the case.
 I cannot say that the evidence in  its favour  is very
 strong.  It is true, we are told by Dr. Barry, that at
 St.  Petersburgh, two German physicians declared in
 his  presence, at the medical council, " that during the
 preceding eleven days, they had treated at the custom-
 house hospital, thirty cholera patients, of whom they
 lost none.  They gave two table-spoonsful of common
 salt in six ounces of hot water at  once, and one spoon-
 ful  of the same cold every  hour afterwards."  But let
it be recollected, that these gentlemen, as well as the
others  who have recommended  this remedy,  always
premised bleeding, (that is, first bled, and then used the
salt and warm water,) upon the importance and good
effects of which in cholera,  there is but little difference
of opinion.  It is thus that many  remedies in this and
other diseases acquire a fictitious reputation from being 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
257
conjoined  or mixed with  others  of acknowledged
power; when, had they been omitted, the case would,
in all probability, have proceeded as rapidly, or perhaps
even more so, to a favourable termination.
   Drinks. A strange diversity of opinion exists among
the writers upon cholera, as to the proper drinks to be
allowed the patient.  By some, dilutents of every kind
were entirely prohibited, in consequence of a supposi-
tion that  they increased  the  vomiting.   The  great
desire of the patient is for cold water; he appears to
labour under the  most distressing  thirst, the calls of
which,  it  must be  evident, cannot  be  disregarded,
without materially increasing his suffering, and, even-
tually, the disease under which he suffers. Mr. Scott,
in common with nearly all the best practitioners, ad-
mits the propriety of allowing some  bland dilutent, but
maintains that it should be given of  tepid warmth. He
conceives  that cold drinks are always dangerous, and
generally fatal.  This was the  opinion very generally
of the surgeons of India.  Mr. Annesley,  however,
gave cold water, with a slight  impregnation of nitric
acid; in other words, made pleasantly sour. This was
the general drink at the hospital under his care, and
was found to relieve the most distressing  symptom of
the disease,  the  burning  sensation at the stomach.
From the experience of the European physicians, it
would appear very fully settled, that  cold drinks are
not more prejudicial than warm, and when desired by
the patient should  be freely given.
  According to Lefevre, iced lemonade has often been
taken with  advantage.   The diluted nitric acid, he
states, may be added with great  benefit to the common
drink.   Fifty drops of the diluted acid, added to a pint
of water, sweetened to the taste, is a  grateful beverage
      Y 2                 33 
258
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
Dr. Drysen, of Riga, says that when the thirst is great,
warm, or even hot drinks are the best, and are often
retained and even desired by the patient.   He  directs
infusions of various mild aromatic herbs, or when these
are unpleasant to the patien^ of common tea.  But
when the patient desires earnestly cold drinks,  they
may be given in slight portions at a time, without fear
of any bad consequences.   Fresh milk,  moderately
cool, he states, has  been found  very  beneficial; and
when the diarrhoea is considerable, a decoction  of rice
or barley, or thin tapiocay&c, may be given, and when
there is entire absence of pain or tenderness of  the ab-
domen or belly, a little port wine may be added.  A
eup of strong  coffee he has  found very readily to stop
the vomiting or puking in this disease  ;. he advises the
patient, in case of the  drinks being rejected  by the
stomach, to be allowed to swallow small portions of ice
somewhat  rounded into the shape of a pill by being
rolled between the fingers; a practice  also  recom-
mended by Brussais.
   The strongest testimony in  favour  of  warm water
is that given  by Dr. Strum, a surgeon in the Polish
army, writing  from  the  encampment near Karmi-
enka: " The treatment which we now pursue is proba-
bly already known to you, as Dr. Helbig has  been
ordered to publish an account of it by the government.
It consists in nothing else than giving to the patient as
much warm (nearly hot) water, as he is able to drink,
in the quantity of a glassful every fifteen or thirty mi-
nutes.  By the time he has  taken fourteen glasses the
cure is complete with the exception of a slight diar-
rhoea, which it is not proper  suddenly to suspend. The
effects of this plan of treatment are so quick and effec-
tual, that in  two hours, or often sooner, the patient is 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
259
well; particularly when it is commenced sufficiently
early.
  Treatment  of the secondary stage of Cho-
lera.   After the  more violent symptoms of the dis-
ease have been removed, that is, after the vomiting and
purging have been suspended, the regular action of the
heart established, and the  circulation v and heat of the
surface  permanently restored, the  attention  of the
physician must be directed to guard against or remedy
local congestions, to prevent inordinate reaction, and to
produce a healthy  action of the bowels.   Congestion is
most liable to take place after the first stage or that of
collapse is over, in the liver and lungs, and sometimes
in the head  also.   For this,  moderate blood-letting,
local or  general according  to circumstances, is the
most certain remedy.  When febrile symptoms  with
determination to the brain present themselves, topical
bleeding (such as cupping, &c.) near the temples will
be found to relieve it.  The judicious employment of
blisters, and of cold applications to the head, will also
be of advantage.  When the healthy condition of the
bowels has not been produced by  the remedies admi-
nistered in the  first stage, moderate doses of calomel,
followed by castor oil, or rather mild purgatives, will
be necessary.  As  soon as the discharges have become
healthy or well tinged with bile: that is, that you have
fully roused the liver into  action, the patient  may be
considered  out  of  danger, and the purgatives discon-
tinued ; but not until then.  Tenderness or fixed  pain
in the region  of the stomach, or any part of the abdo-
men or belly, call for the immediate application of
leeches or cupping.                   >»
  I have now fully, and as minutely as I conceived it
necessary in a work of this kind, given you the various 
260            EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.

remedies which have been  proposed, and strongly re-
commended, in the treatment of cholera by different
writers, together with the practice  of the most dis-
tinguished physicians in India and Europe.  You will
after reading attentively this subject see plainly that no
decided, or positive, or certain method is laid down for
the treatment of this dreadful scourge of the human
race.   In plain language,  it.has commenced  in the
United States, and the physicians of this country have
been compelled to establish a practice founded on their
own experience, and  to adopt or use such remedies
according to the symptoms, or the effect of the disease,
at the time of its location, upon the habits, constitutions,
&c, and the effects of climate, together with such pre-
disposing causes as may exist at the time this disorder
is prevalent.
  I have subjoined for your satisfaction and informa-
tion, several letters of the most enlightened and dis-
tinguished physicians of our country, and,, when it
becomes necessary, reduced their technical or medical
terms into plain  language,  so that you  might easily
understand them.   Their valuable  information, and
the distinguished standing  of their authors, deserve
the confidence and gratitude of the American people.
  Permit  me, in cases of emergency, to recommend to
your particular attention the letters of Drs., Drake and
Pattison.
          LETTER OF DR. DRAKE.
  Prevented entirely by indisposition from laying
before the readers of the Chronicle, last week, an ac-
count of the progress of the epidemic;  and not yet
capable  of much effort of the pen, I shall scarcely 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
261
fulfil my engagement to furnish them with a history
of the disease.   Twrenty-seven days have now elapsed
since the onset of the pestilence, during which period
the whole number of  deaths, as far as it has been
ascertained, is three hundred and fifty-one.  Dividing
the period into three  equal parts of nine days each, the
first would average about two daily, the second seven-
teen, and the third twenty-one.  The greatest number
of deaths was from noon on the nineteenth to noon on
the twentieth, and amounted to forty-two, or one out
of every six hundred  inhabitants actually in the city at
the time.  Since that  day the mortality has slowly
diminished, and at present there is a general impression
that the epidemic is declining.
  No age, sex, complexion, or condition has been ex-
empted from the impress of the poison, but its mortal
effects have been  very  different in different classes of
the community.  Among  the coloured it has gone on
to develope a fatal disease, far oftener in proportion than
among the whites; while among the latter the labouring
classes have much more frequently fallen victims than
those who lived in ease and affluence. Many drunkards
have been its victims, but the majority of this class have
as yet  escaped.   More  men have  sunk than women,
but the names of the  victims show that a great number
of mothers in the lower and  middle  ranks of society
have died.   The  great secret, I apprehend, of those
diversities, and  of the comparative exemption of the
reading and affluent classes,  is simply  their  earlier
knowledge and fuller  appreciation of  the  signs and
means of arresting the disease in its forming stage.
Whenever, either in white or black, rich or poor, male
or female, old or young,  it has been suffered to establish
itself in violent  vomitings  coldness, cramps, and pros 
262           EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.

tration. it has proved fatal, or been cured in so small a
number that they constituted exceptions to the rule.
Could every man, wroman, and child, in the city, have
been taught what were the first symptoms, convinced
of the necessity of attending to them, and furnished with
the means of adopting the requisite treatment, I do not
hesitate to say, the mortality would  have been far less
than has taken place.  For the  information of distant
readers where this disease may unhappily break out, I
shall briefly state the simple course which  in my own
practice, and that of a great number of my medical
friends, has proved effectual for this  purpose.  On the
very first occurrence of any complaint in the stomach
or bowels, the patient must instantly go to bed in a
warm room, and continue there until all disease has left
him.   This is the greatest point in the treatment, and
if neglected, nothing else will be of any  avail.  His
bed-covering should be warm and close, and he should
be enjoined  to lie still.  In  this situation, two objects
are  to be kept steadily in viewT: first, to excite the skin
into perspiration: and, secondly, to excite the liver into
a copious secretion of bile, which being  brought about
and properly maintained, the patient is insured.   To
accomplish these ends, he must be made  to drink freely
of a weak tea of balm, sage, thoroughwort, sassafras, or
snake-root.   At the same time, he must take a powder
of ten grains of calomel and one of opium, which may
be repeated two or three times, with or without the
opium, according to the judgment of the  physician.  In
most cases, bags of mush or bitter herbs may be laid
over the  abdomen, and are much preferable to sina-
pisms,  except  where the vomiting is severe.  If the
patient should be of a full habit or  have fever, blood-
letting would be required.  In twelve or twenty-four 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
263
hours after the commencement of this course, it will
often be necessary to administer a little rhubarb, castor
oil, or senna.  Such are the small and  simple means
by which this great pestilence may be arrested, if at-
tacked in its forming stage.   Should they, as too often
happens, be omitted until spasms and prostration of the
vital powers come on, they are still the most  valuable,
but will oftener fail than succeed.   They who can be
made practically sensible of these facts, will be saved.
They who cannot, are liable to perish,

                    RELAPSE.
   All who have had cholera, in  any degree, are pecu-
liarly liable to relapses, and many of our citizens have
already perished in this way.  The causes of these re-
lapses are chiefly two.  First, rising too soon from bed,
and going into the open air, by which the perspiration
is checked.  In no other disease is this so dangerous.
I speak  according to the  experience of  other  places,
and my own observations in this.   Secondly, indul-
gence in diet. Those who are recovering from cholera,
whether slight or violent, will relapse and die, if they
indulge in hearty meals of  solid food.   All  they eat
should be liquid and mild, such as gruel, soup, mush
and milk, rice, chocolate, and other articles of  a light
kind. Every thing beyond this bill of fare is pernicious.
I hope  my fellow-citizens will  scrupulously observe
what I stated; and I beg of all editors to  co-operate in
disseminating a knowledge  of these most important
cautions.

         NEGLECT OF THE FIRST STAGE.
   It is lamentable to see how many continue  to fall
victims to the epidemic from neglecting the first stage. 
264
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
I repeat the opinion, and would reiterate it with every
possible solemnity, that few7 or none w7ould die of the
epidemic if the first stages were attended to.   When-
ever I have been able to get the history of a fatal case,
I have found the patient had  one, two, three, or more
days' indisposition, chiefly of the stomach and bowels,
before the spasms and coldness came on.  Now, in that
forming stage, the malady is  easily arrested: when it
is neglected, the patient generally dies.
  Could every one who becomes indisposed be induced
to take instantly to his bed, and  send for a physician,
the epidemic would be forthwith deprived of all its
horrors.  The Roman maxim, " resist the beginning,"
is not more applicable to any other evil which afflicts
mankind than to epidemic cholera.

      CHOLERA AND  THE STEAM DOCTORS.
  I am told that a great many persons  affected with
cholera apply to the steam doctors.  Many of these
are no doubt cured; but others must be lost, who under
a different method might have  been saved.  I have
often said to my friends, that some parts of the Thomp-
sonian practice  would be well adapted to cholera,
especially in its advanced stages; but it is a fatal error
to suppose that  this  method  is proper in all cases.  I
hope the steam  doctors, many of whom I believe are
benevolent men, will  candidly  consider what I am
about  to say.  A weak infusion  of lobelia, with con-
finement to bed and external heat, is extremely proper
in the forming stages of the disease; but many cases
at the same  time require blood-letting,  and all  that
require this latter remedy would be injured by the use
of " No. 6," and other powerful stimulants. The liver.
moreover, is torpid and does not secrete bile;  it is 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            265
necessary, therefore, to administer calomel liberally in
the early stages of the disease.   Opium likewise is a
valuable remedy in this stage, and contributes greatly
to palliate the sufferings of patients.
   Thus it is, indiscriminate omission of blood-letting,
calomel, and opium, cause many to die who might have
been saved.
   One grain of opium to ten of .calomel form a proper
dose which may be given once, twice, or three times,
and will seldom fail to  excite  a  flow  of  bile, after
which the patient is generally safe.  In the stage of
collapse, " No. 6," and every other stimulating article
in the Thompsonian plan, may be admitted; though
treated in this manner or  any other the patient will
generally die.
   In concluding, I must again solemnly and affection-
ately warn the community that no reliance  is to be
placed on any plan  of treatment that is not entered
upon at the very beginning  of the disease, and that
taking to bed  in a  warm  room at the onset of  the
complaint and continuing in  that situation for several
days is indispensable to safety.
                      DANIEL DRAKE, M. D.
    Cincinnati, Friday, October 26, 1832.
        LETTER OF DR. PATTISON.
  We  have been compelled  to give only an abridg-
ment of the letter of this distinguished individual to
his friend Dr. Carmichael, of Fredericksburg, Va.  Dr.
Pattison is Professor of Anatomy in  the city of Balti-
more ;  is one of the most distinguished medical men
now living;  as a surgeon,  there is  not his superior.
     Z                   34 
266
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.
Having long toiled in the steep and rugged road of
science, he has reached  the summit, and now stands
unrivalled in his profession.   As a philanthropist, his
generous heart is ever ready to soothe  and to relieve
the afflictions of mankind.  Dr. Pattison. substantially.
says :—
  When the epidemic exists in any particular district,
the state of the bowels must be attended to with the
utmost solicitude, and the most trifling irregularity at
once remedied.  I have before been at  some pains to
press  on your attention the fact, that in almost every
instance, the malignant form of the disease is preceded
by diarrhoea: and I would now state, that in this stage
the complaint may with certainty be remedied.  The
diarrhoea indicates mere functional  derangement; re-
move this, and restore the healthy secretions of the
Jiver, stomach, and the other viscera which minister to
the functions of digestion  and assimilation, and you
pave your patient.   The treatment  is  very simple.
Immediately on ascertaining the existence of the diar-
rhoea, direct your patient to take one of the following
powders:
    Powdered Rhubarb              80 grains,
    Calomel,                        20 grains,
    Salts of Opium,                    1 grain,
    And divide into  four equal powders.
  Should there be much pain and  oppression in  the
epigastrium ; and more especially, should the pain be
 ncreased by pressure, apply  from  fifteen to twenty
cups over this part, and if the patient be of a plethoric
 iabit, take blood from the general system.  Six hours
fifter the powder has been taken, give from six drachms
zo an ounce of castor oil.  The dejections will be found
unnatural in their appearance, and should they con- 
EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            267
 tinue so, let the powder be repeated twelve hours aftei-
 the operation of  the first one has ceased, and follow it.
 up, as in the former case, with a dose of oil.  Continue
 this  treatment until the excretions  become  natural.
 Let the patient keep his bed, and take the lightest and
 most digestible food, and in the course of a few days
 his  health  will  be perfectly re-established.  I  have
 never yet, in the whole course of my experience, had
 an opportunity of treating  a patient during the pre-
 monitory stage,  in which I have  not  succeeded in
 arresting the progress of the disease.  This is a most
 consolatory truth, and one which cannot be too exten-
 sively proclaimed.  It disarms the pestilence in a great
 measure of its terrors, and it should have the effect of
 calming the minds of the timid, and inspiring them
 with confidence.   Fear is, of all the exciting causes,
 the most powerful; the publication of these facts prove
 there is no ground for it.  By attention to  diet, and
 immediately applying for medical aid, should the pre-
 monitory symptoms arise, every individual may feel
 himself secure from danger.
   Should your patient not  have applied to you for
 advice,  until the first stage is verging on the  second,
 the most energetic system of treatment will he required
 to afford him any chance of recovery.
   So soon as the dejections lose their feculent  cha-
racter, and assume the appearance of rice water, then
the disease may be said to be entering on its second
and most alarming stage.  The effect on the system,
when these dejections commence, is immediate.  The
strength is prostrated; the countenance becomes con-
tracted and ghastly; the spasms become more frequent
and more severe, and, in general, the distressing sensa-
tion in the epigastrium is increased.  If the case is now 
 268            EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.

 left  to itself, collapse very speedily takes place; and
 indeed very often in  spite of the  best directed treat-
 ment, this comes  on.  It wrould require  me  to fill a
 ream of  paper, were  I to attempt to speak of all the
 plans of  treatment which have been recommended; I
 shall refrain from  doing  so, and shall confine  my re-
 marks to the indications which guide my own practice,
 and  the  measures I  pursue  in carrying them  into
 effect.  Before I do  so,  I beg leave to  remind you,
 that I put in no claim to originality, either in my views
 as to the nature of the  disease, or as to the mode of
 treating  it.
   My mode of treating cholera asphyxia is, in fact, the
 one  which  has been so  successfully adopted  by  the
 British physicians in India.
   Believing, as I have already stated, that the disease
 depends  on functional derangement of certain viscera,
 particularly those which  fulfil the operations of diges-
 tion  and  assimilation; in  every stage of the disease, my
 indication is, to restore the healthful performance of
 those functions.  Now, of all the medicines which can
 be employed for this purpose, calomel is decidedly the
 most powerful, and to it I look as the sheet-anchor of
 hope.  Let all your remedial measures, therefore, be so
 directed  as to promote the operation of mercury on the
 system.   If your patient complains of much pain  in
 the epigastrium, let cupping-glasses be applier1; and if
 the pulse will bear it,  bleed from the general system.
 In the  employment  of  general blood-letting,  consi-
 derable judgment is required,  and in determining the
 quantity, the pulse must be our guide.  Even  should
 the pulsation at the wrist be scarcely perceptible, still.
if  other  symptoms should indicate the  propriety  of
bleeding, be not deterred from employing it; you will 
               EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            269

frequently find, that as the blood flows the pulse be-
comes more and  more distinct.   If so,  continue the
bleeding until the pulse begins to feel it.   The instant
it sinks, apply the finger to the wound in the vein, and
prevent the flow of another drop.  General blood-
letting is calculated either to do much good or  to be
attended with much danger.  I will therefore be ex-
cused in repeating that it should not  be prescribed
without the most deliberate consideration of the cir-
cumstances of each particular case.  Emetics may in
most cases be employed with much advantage. When-
ever there is much feeling of oppression  and sense of
weight in the region of the stomach, they may be pre-
scribed with safety.   Dr. James Johnson, the  dis-
tinguished  editor of the Medico-chirurgical Review, a
gentleman whom I consider  as one of the very first
physicians of the present age, and whose learning of
the science of his profession  is only equalled by the
acuteness and accuracy of his judgment, has strongly
recommended emetics of mustard and water, in cho-
lera, with the view of moving the congestion which he
believes exists in the viscera.
  I prefer the salt and water emetic to any other which
has been recommended.  Its  operation  is immediate.
and so soon as  it has produced free  vomiting, its
nauseating effect goes off.  You will frequently be
much struck with the matter  dejected  by  vomiting:
substances which may have been  taken  into  the sto-
mach  days before, will occasionally be thrown up un-
changed : a sufficient evidence of the impaired condi-
tion of the digestive functions.   Should you,  Wikn
called to  a case, be of  opinion  that vomiting  may be
required, yon will, of course, employ it  immediately.
as, until its operation is over, you need not commence
      z 2 
270
EPDDEMIC CHOLERA.
 the calomel.  So soon as the vomiting from the emetic
 has ceased, begin with this most important remedy,
I  Some practitioners recommend the calomel to be
| used in large doses.  From my experience, I would
1 prefer giving it in small  quantities, repeating the dose
 frequently; of course, the quantity and the frequency
 of giving it must be regulated by the circumstances of
 each particular case.   One of the  following pills I
 would  begin with, by giving every half-hour.   The
 pills ought to be freshly prepared.   If they have been
 made for some days, they have  become hard,  and
 remain  some time in the stomach before  they are
 dissolved, and every moment is of value in treating this
 disease.
   Take of calomel,                      12 grains.
   Powder of cayenne or red pepper,      12 grains.
   Salts of opium,                        2 grains,
   Mix the mass thoroughly with a little  gum arabic.
 and divide it into ten equal pills.
   It will be observed that each of  these pills contains
 the fifth of a grain of the sulphate of morphia.   This
 I consider  a most valuable  remedy in  quieting the
 stomach and relieving  the  spasms.  But  it is one
 which must be employed with judgment.  The indica-
 tions for its employment are the vomiting and spasms:
 and so soon as it relieves these symptoms it  should be
 discontinued.  It is probable, after three or four of the
 pills have been taken, they  will disappear; or at all
 events become  much mitigated.  Should this be the
 case, pills containing merely calomel should be substi-
 tuted for those with the  morphia.   You had better
v direct your patient to take the calomel pills every half-
i hour, until about thirty grains have  been taken; after
'this quantity has been swallowed, diminish the dose 
               EPIDEMIC CHOLERA.            271

and let him take only three grains every half hour.
The medicine may be continued in this quantity, and
taken at these  intervals, until from a scruple to half a
drachm more of calomel is taken, after which you had
better allow the patient a short respite.  Should the
calomel not of itself produce feculent dejections, after
it has remained in the system for some time, it will be
useful to give  a powder  containing twelve  grains of
calomel and one scruple of rhubarb, and the  operation
of this may be promoted by giving some  hours after-
wards a dose of castor oil.  The great object I  would
recommend to you to have in view is to introduce into
the stomach a considerable  quantity of  calomel  in
divided doses, and then to endeavour to obtain feculent
dejections.   When the  rice-coloured  dejections are
changed into  feculent ones, the danger is in a great
measure at an end, but persevere in the use of calomel
until  the healthy secretions are fully re-established.
When the stools become natural, and when the secre-
tion of urine,  which had been  completely stopped, is
restored, your patient is cured.   All that is further re-
cm ired is rest in bed for some days, and care to avoid
taking any but the lightest and most digestible articles
of food.
                RHEUMATISM.
  This painful and excruciating disease, in which the
poor sufferer drags out a miserable and wretched exist-
ence, is quite frequent throughout our whole country;
and  I  shall  communicate respecting this disease, in
which I have had so much experience, such remedies a
will, if properly managed, succeed in entirely removing 
272
RHEUMATISM.
it from the system, unless anchylosis of the joint ha*
been formed ;  for in such a case nothing can possibly
be done with it.   Anchylosis means a stiff joint.  this
state of the system is  exhibited generally under the
form of Chronic Rheumatism, of ten or fifteen years
standing.   In every case where the patient can, in the
slightest manner, move the joint, I have no  hesitation
in saying the cure can be made, if attentively and
properly managed, according to the various methods
of treatment laid down, which are as follows;  Em-
bracing the general mode of  treatment as used by
physicians, and the method I have invariably followed
with unbounded success in the south and west, hun-
dreds are now  living in those states who  can attest or
prove that they have been entirely cured of this dis-
ease  by me, of many years standing, after they had
become entirely helpless, and unable to walk or move
without assistance.  There are  two diseases, or rather
two different stages of this disease; one of w7hich  is
called inflammatory, and the other chronic; the  first
is accompanied with fever, and the last is nearly or
quite without fever, and of long standing.
  Rheumatism is brought on by exposure to the  cold
and wet;  by sleeping  in damp places: by remaining
too long on the damp ground ; by sleeping in a current
of air at night, immediately under an open window :
by exposure to the night dews ; by taking off a warm
dress and  putting on a thin one; by being  greatly
heated, and becoming suddenly cool, thereby checking
the perspiration or sweat.
  There is a disease called by physicians  rheumatic
mercurialis, which  means rheumatism  produced by
the improper use of mercury; that is, by permitting
the mercury to remain in the system, without  giving 
RHEUMATISM.
273
the proper remedy to  carry it  off, wilich is  flour of
sulphur.   This flour of sulphur is nothing more than
brimstone purified, and pounded or  ground very fine
like flour; it is the true  and certain antidote against
mercury; as you will find explained under the head
of Sulphurous Fumigation; or a sweat produced by
the use of sulphur.
  First.—Inflammatory Rheumatism is to be relieved
in the first stage by bleeding; as you will perceive by
the fulness of the pulse, and by the person afflicted
being of a robust and full habit of body; here it will
be necessary to  bleed freely from a large orifice.  If
the heat is great, you must proportion the loss of blood
according to the violence of the symptoms; and you
must  repeat  the bleeding  on the second  day, if you
find it necessary from the violence or continuation of
the inflammatory symptoms, which  can easily be dis-
tinguished 'by the pulse, the  feelings of the  sufferer,
and, lastly, by suffering the blood to cool.  If the blood,
when cool, has on its surface a buffy  coat of a yellow-
ish hue, it denotes a highly inflammatory state of the
system ; but in bleeding you must take care not to go
so far as to produce debility;  and, therefore, after the
first bleeding, which must be regulated entirely by the
violence of the attack, it will be proper to give an active
purge of calomel and jalap,  twenty grains  of  each,
mixed well together, and afterwards with any kind of
syrup.  This should be carried off by gruel, or warm
balm, sage, or dittany tea, if possible, to produce gentle
sweat or moisture on the skin. If then the disease does
not begin to yield, give another purge of ten grains of
calomel and  ten of jalap,  mixed well, and given as
before directed.   This will procure purging  and a co-
pious perspiration or sweat. You will find now, that
                        35 
274
RHEUMATISM.
by moderate purging, so as not to debilitate or weaken
the patient, the complaint will begin to subside, or per-
haps entirely.   These mild purges  must be of Epsom
salts, glauber salts, senna and manna, or castor oil.  If
your patient at any time gets weak from purging, give
warm  toddy made  of any kind of spirits: or if you
wish effectually to check the  purging, give  twenty or
thirty drops of laudanum or a pill of opium: see table
for dose. This will arrest or put a stop to the purging;
and if  there is any griping, put the laudanum when
you give it in some strong mint tea.  When the joints
are very painful, and  the skin red, swelled, and in-
flamed, cup over the parts affected, (see under the head
of Cupping for the operation,) which is very simple and
easily  performed.   Cupping  freely will be a useful
remedy.  The inflamed or swollen parts should be
kept wet with  cloths dipped  in vinegar made milk-
warm : and at night a poultice made of rye flour, mixed
with vinegar and warm water, will give much relief.
If the  inflammatory symptoms are considerably  re-
moved, a pill  of opium or a  dose of laudanum  (see
table for doses) will procure the rest or sleep so much
desired in this  afflicting complaint.   The parts which
are painful should be  well rubbed with a liniment
made of two table-spoonsful of laudanum ;  two of spi-
rits of hartshorn ; mixed over a slow fire in four table-
spoonsful of butter without any salt in  it:  this, being
put into a bottle and corked tight, must be used three
times a day, at  the rate of a tea-spoonful each time, and
the parts kept  well covered with flannel.  These  re-
medies should  be used  separately or together, as they
may afford the afflicted person relief.  The diet should
be very light and cooling;  this being a matter of great
importance.  By strict attention to this, you will be 
RHEUMATISM.
275
enabled to get quickly relieved, and save the taking a
vast  deal of medicine.  In fact, while inflammation
prevails, the less the patient takes of nourishment the
better; and solid or animal food are both to be avoided.
No spirits, wines, or stimulating drinks whatever are
permitted in this state of the system : and even when
the afflicted person is getting better he must take only
such nourishments as are necessary to support the sys-
tem and recruit its  powers; for by imprudence in diet
a relapse may take place of a dangerous and languish-
ing nature.
  Second.—Chronic rheumatism, as distinguished from
that  called inflammatory rheumatism, has little or no
fever.   Chronic means, when the  fever or inflamma-
tory  action has nearly,  or, indeed, entirely subsided.
It is  sometimes brought on as  a  mere consequence of
inflammatory rheumatism, and sometimes it proceeds
from cold and exposure, or from the system being pre-
disposed to it by some old disease;  for it frequently
steals on so  gradually that the patient bears with it
until the pain  seats itself in some particular joint or
part, giving the most excruciating pain.   When fairly
seated by length of time, it usually prevents the  suf-
ferer from using his limbs, and from the misery attend-
ing it throughout,  large lumps or swellings are pro-
duced by it: these are the symptoms by which you
will  know chronic rheumatism.
  This  slow, obstinate,  and painful disease must be
treated as follows: first, the bowels are to be kept open
by the simple  laxative  of sulphur.   A  tea-spoonful
must be given of  a morning, mixed with honey, on
an empty stomach, and one at night, if necessary to
keep the bowels open.   One or two purges a day will
be sufficient: avoid the damp ground, and also getting 
276
RHEUMATISM.
wet while taking sulphur; because it opens all the pores
of the system, and under these circumstances becomes
dangerous.   This medicine is truly valuable in this dis-
ease, and too much can hardly be said in its favour;
nor is  there any  danger in it, if you will  but keep
from the wet and damp.  You may  occasionally vary
the treatment, by giving Epsom salts in  the room of
sulphur, but it must be in moderate doses.   The next
object in curing this complaint is, to keep up a gentle
moisture on the skin, in other words, a gentle  sweat-
ing ; and for this  purpose I shall give you a remedy
which is very simple; and  which in itself  has cured
hundreds, both of rheumatism and  pains  generally.
Take one ounce of gum guiacum and two drachms of
saltpetre, put these  two articles, after pounding them
together, into a quart of old whisky, and give a table-
spoonful in a little cold water, three  times during the
day.   This dose is for a grown person.  If the stomach
be wreak, lessen the dose in proportion, and so on for a
delicate  or weakly person.  It acts as a  powerful
stimulant, produces gentle  sweatings, &c.  By con-
tinuing in the use of this simple remedy, in which there
is no danger. I have effected cures in cases of long
standing, several of which were considered hopeless.
 ,, The principle to be pursued in removing this com-
plaint is very simple:  it is either by moderate  or  by
large sw7eats.  Take  a blanket, or any  thing  which
will prevent the steam from passing off, and  put hoops
into  it, in the same  manner that you would  into a
partridge net, so as to  keep the  blanket, or whatever
else you use, on the stretch.   Let the bottom hoop be
large enough to cover the tub, or whatever  other ves-
sel you use : let the next hoop be something smaller
the next one smaller still, and so  on up to the top one, 
                   RHEUMATISM.               277

which must be large enough to admit the head to be
put through.   This machine, or whatever  else you
may please to call it, must be long enough to cover the
body without touching it, except at the neck, where it
must fit so close as to prevent any steam from escaping,
which might affect the nose, face, or any portion of the
head.  In this situation, the patient being enclosed in
the case naked: let him sit or stand, with hot rocks
placed under him;  on which, so as to confine the steam
to the body, let the following extract be gradually and
very slowly poured.  Four or five days before you
wish to give this bath, take a quart of whisky and put
into it half an ounce of saltpetre, one ounce of seneca
snake-root, well bruised, and hajf an ounce of sulphur
in a quart bottle.   This liquor must  be  poured very
slowly, or rather dropped  through an aperture in the
blanket on the rocks; by which a powerful sweat will
be produced, which must be continued  for a quarter
of an  hour if the patient be not too w7eak to bear it so
long.   When  the  patient is in this bath, if any faint-
ness or  sickness takes place, the bath  is to be  stopped,
the patient wiped  dry, and immediately put  to  bed:
and if much debility or weakness seems to exist, you
must stimulate with warm toddy, made of any kind of
spirits, with warm water and sugar.   In  my practice
in Virginia, for five years I used this steam bath with
unbounded success; and in some cases which I con-
sidered absolutely hopeless, cures were produced.  By
the effects of the vapour or steam bath, as just described,
I was induced  to try its effects in two"cases of inflam-
matory rheumatism, in which  one of the patients was
unable to move without assistance for six months pre-   «-»
vious; all the usual remedies in that stage of the dis-
ease having been  tried without  any benefit.  John
      2 A 
278
RHEUMATISM
Sypold, a man of about thirty-five years of age, of ;■
full habit, a resident of Montgomery county, Virginia.
was hauled to me in a wagon nine miles, labouring un-
der inflammatory rheumatism. His situation was truly
miserable, from the most severe and excruciating pain*-
I determined, with his consent, and after explaining to
him  my doubts as to the final issue of his case, to try
the following experiment.   I bled him  freely from
both arms; and his situation was such as to require
five persons to assist me in getting him into a wooden
case I  had constructed for the purpose. His pain was
so severe as scarcely to admit of his being turned over;
but as  soon as the steam was put in operation on him.
he became  tranquil^and in ten minutes  a profusi
sw7eat  broke out on  him, which produced great relief.
He had continued in the bath fifteen minutes,  when
I proposed to have him removed:  but the pleasantness
of his sensations induced him to desire me to let him
remain:  he  said that those wrere the only moments in
which  he had experienced a  relief from  pain in six
months.  After continuing in the bath half an  hour,
he descended without assistance, covered with sweat:
his body was then rubbed well with coarse towrels, and
his joints also with the liniment I have before described.
made  of hartshorn, laudanum, and  butter without
salt.  I gave Mr. Sypold the bath three times, making
each time shorter; in two wreeks  he was  entirely re-
lieved  from  pain, and in  three months he walked  to
Lynchburgh with his w7agon, a distance of sixty miles.
and returned without experiencing the least  return of
his disease.  Hundreds have  since been relieved by
me in Tennessee of this disease, by this remedy of th<
bath, as just described; and in chronic cases by the
simple  use of gum guaiacum, as already mentioned.   1 
RHEUMATISM.
279
 shall now proceed to give  the common remedies, as
 used by physicians in this  complaint, many of which
 are valuable, and afford speedy and salutary relief.
   In all local  affections, distinguished by stiffness, and
 want of power to move the joints without considem-
 ble pain, rub  the  part well with the liniment before
 mentioned; or with opodeldoc, or whisky, in which
 red pepper ob mustard has been infused or soaked; and
 with these or either of them, rub the joints or places
 affected with a brush, continuing the rubbing for some
 time, the longer the better;  'and use inwardly the gum
 guaiacum as  before directed.   The pokeberry bounce,
 made by putting  the ripe  berries into whisky, and
 using a wine-glassful of it  every day,  is  of service.
 The seneca snake-root is also valuable in this disease:
 by boiling an ounce  of it in a quart  of water, over a
 slow fire or on coals; stewing it down to a pint or less,
 and  taking a table-spoonful of it occasionally through
 the day: you may increase the  dose as the stomach
 will bear it.   Fat light-wood, steeped in spirits, and
 taken in  small quantities,  is also  serviceable.   Tea
 made of sarsaparilla, and drank freely, is a good remedy;
 or take  a large handful of rattlesnake-root and bruise
 it  well, put it into a quart of spirits and let it steep by
the fire  for several  days; and of this take a wine-glass-
ful every morning.
  In the stage which I have  lately described, which
is  chronic rheumatism,  the  patient is frequently, by
having had the disease a long time, reduced to great
weakness: if so, he Should use some bitters to strength-
en the  system; such as dog-wood  bark, wild cherry
tree bark, and poplar bark, in equal quantities in whis-
ky, or spirit of any kind—old if possible; or if spirits
disagrees, make a  tea, and give a wine-glassful three 
280
RHEUMATISM.
times a day;  or cold camomile tea same quantity; or
take eight or ten drops of elixir vitriol, in a wine or
stem glass of cold water, three times a day.  In this
state of the system, horseradish and mustard will be
proper to use with your food.   Your diet should be as
usual; no change is necessary in chronic rheumatism.
Exercise is important, if the patient can possibly have
it; and flannel should be worn next to the skin.  The
warm  salt bath, as  described under sea or salt  bath,
will  be of great  utility in this state of the disease; or
you may use it by pouring over the body three times a
day, strong salt and water, made milk-warm.  If the
above remedies should not relieve, after a proper and
patient trial of them-recourse  must  be had to the
French remedy,  called Sulphurous Fumigation.  For
instructions look  under that head.
        INDIGESTION, OR DYSPEPSIA.

   This common and most afflicting disease so much
 disturbs and deranges our moral  and physical nature,
 that it is difficult to determine which suffers most from
 its attacks, the mind or the body.  From the variety
 of shapes wilich this complaint assumes, it is very dif-
 ficult  to describe it in  a plain r.nd  comprehensive
 manner; in fact, it is so frequently associated in close
 connexion  with  other diseases to which it bears a
 strong resemblance, particularly those of the liver and
 bowels, that in many cases it deceives the most  ex-
 perienced and intelligent physicians.  This complaint,
    ♦he gout, may be said to be no respecter of persons:
  e *".     :nce to the beggar, you  can see misery in-
fromthepi^   *.  . . °f.  ' Jc              .J .
„. . j   j*-,  ,<- n  ^nmmation of persons or ranks, by
flicted. without o*».              r              '  •> 
                    DYSPEPSIA.                 281

this  demon of human  suffering, indigestion;  under
whose influence the body is tortured for years, and the
mind continually wrecked  like a troubled sea with the
most unhappy and melancholy feelings.
  This disease originates in a great  variety of causes;
among w7hich it is often found associated with a dis-
eased state of the liver.  Persons who have used spirits
of any kind to excess, or stimulants of any description,
such as spices or highly seasoned food, and those  also
who have used tobacco to great excess, by which the
coats and functions of the stomach have been impaired
and debilitated, are liable  to  indigestion.  A costive
habit, acquired by permitting the bowels to remain too
long without evacuation, will bring on this formidable
malady; and persons who are long confined to  any
stationary or sedentary business, without taking the
necessary exercise, are generally submitted to this dis-
ease called indigestion.  When the complaint is firmly
seated in the stomach, it is marked by eructations or
belchings of wind; gnawing and disagreeable sensations
at the pit of the  stomach ; risings of sour and bitter
acid into the  throat, occasioned by the food not being
properly digested ; great irregularity of appetite, which
is sometimes  voracious and at other times greatly defi-
cient : and a  sinking and oppressive debility or  weak-
ness of the stomach.  In addition to these symptoms
of indigestion, on gratifying tfie appetite at any time.
the stomach in a short time afterwards becomes op-
pressed  with  sensations of weight  and fulness; the
head becomes confused; the sleep very much disturbed;
the bowels very irregular and costive; the urine high-
coloured; and the poor victim commences taking me-
dicines for relief, and brooding in dejected silence over
thousands of  unhappy  retrospections of past  life, and
      2 A 2              36 
282
d\spepsia.
countless  melancholy  anticipations of the future, in
which death, in all its attendant and imaginary horrors,
stands conspicuous and appalling.  Nor are  these the
only miserable indication^ of indigestion; I have known
many  persons whose  tempers and dispositions have
been materially affected by indigestion; so  much so.
indeed, that they were incapable  of describing their
own sensations; and; who,, when  ridiculed by their
(riendsjin merely pleasant raillery^ as hypochondriacs,.
have wished their sufferings were ended by a close of
their existence!
  If the liver is  connected  with this disease called
indigestion, a dead and heavy pain will be felt  in the
right side: the water deposited in the urinal or pot,
will have, on cooling and, settling, a brick-dugt coloured
sediment,  which, if permitted to remain any length of
time, will adhere in rings of a reddish hue to the inner
sides of the urinal,; a pain will be felt in the top of the
shoulder and back of the neck; the feet and hands will
frequently get  asleep, from  want of  regular  and
energetic circulation; the complexion will become of
a yellowish hue or tinge; great and general uneasiness
of the whole system  will be felt; and;sometimes, when
the liver  is greatly  diseased, occasional puking  will
come on,  in which  last case, a diseased state  of the
liver being evident,  I must  refer the  reader  to  that,
head.
                     REMEDIES.^

   In the removal or  cure of this disease, great reliance
is always to be placed in the  systematic regulation of
your diet, as to the times of taking food, the quantity
of that food, and the qualities  to be taken •,• and any
person labouring under indigestion will soon discover 
DVsPEPSIA.
28$
that regularity and temperance, in fact abstemiousness
in eating and drinking, will be productive of as many
benefits to the sufferer, as want of system and intem-
perance will be of serious injuries and dangerous con-
sequences.  I am decidedly of opinion, with regard to
dyspepsia, that by Withdrawing the causes of irritation.
from the stomach, and applying such remedies as will
have  the  effect of lessening the  irritability of the
general system, (unless  the  patient  be entirely too
much exhausted,) nature will effect a cure without the
aid of that farrago of medicines generally swallowed in
this complaint: and  I wish  it,, here  to be distinctly
understood, that unless those who  are tortured with
indigestion  absolutely relinquish all  excesses of the
table  and  the  bottle, no cure can be hoped for  or
expected.
  Doctor  James  Johnson, of" the  Royal College of
Physicians, has correctly an«$  elegantly described the
remedies for indigestion, in nearly the following lan-
guage : There is a great error committed almost every
day in this disease, which is. by flying  to medicines at
once,  whenever the functions of the stomach and liver
appear  to  be disordered, and the food  imperfectly
digested.  Instead of taking purgative medicines day
after day, we should  lessen and simplify the food, in
order to prevent the formation of such things in the
body as will assist to produce and increase the disease;
but in attempting to induce a patient to adopt this rule,
I am aw7are that great prejudices are to be overcome.
The patient feels himself getting weaker and thinner;
and he flies immediately to nourishing food, and tonics
and strengthening medicines  for  a cure; but he will
generally be disappointed in the end by this plan. From
four ounces of gruel every six hours, under  any state 
J
 284                 DYSPEPSIA.

 of indigestion, he will derive more nutriment and real
 strength, than from half a pound of animal food, and a
 pint of the best wine.  Whenever he feels any addi-
 tional uneasiness or discomfort, in mind or body, after
 eating, the patient has erred in the quantity or quality
 of his food, however restricted  the  one or select the
 other.  If the food and drink irritate the nerves of the
 stomach, they must  be reduced and simplified down
 even to the gruel diet above alluded to.  I have known
 the dyspeptic patients gain flesh and strength, on  half
 a pint of good gruel, taken three times in twenty-four
 hours, and gradually bring the stomach step by step up
 to the point  of digesting  plain animal food.   On  a
 biscuit and a glass of water, I have known persons who
 were afflicted with this disease  to dine for months in
 succession; and on this small portion of food, to obtain
 a degree of strength, and a serenity of mind, beyond
 their most sanguine hopes.   You will perceive, that in
 all the different forms of indigestion, diet is the first
 thing, and the principal cure in  this disease; and rely
 upon it, for I assert it from sad experience in my own
'person, that it  is absolutely vain  to expect a cure,
 unless you have courage and perseverance to reap the
 fruits of such a system as I have laid  down  to you in
 diet, and not to change it, how7ever strongly you may
 be tempted by the luxuries of the table and the seduc-
 tions of convivial society; and when you have escaped
 the miseries  of this  worst of human afflictions,  you
 mu£t be extremely careful how you deviate from the
 right diet which has  restored you to health; for no dis-
 ease  is so liable to relapse  as indigestion.  An unre-
 strained indulgence in a variety of dishes,*br in vegetables
 and fruit, or a debauch in drinking, will be certain of
 making the poor dyspeptic patient pay dearly, in  suf- 
DYSPEPSIA.
285
fering and wretchedness of feelings, for his straying
from the  correct path  of temperance and propriety.
The least  over-exertion of the stomach, caused by its
being overloaded or too highly stimulated, will be
certain to  cause you to  be on the stool of repentance
for some time afterwards.  As soon as you have the
least reason for supposing that you are labouring under
indigestion, commence  first with an active purgative
consisting of ten grains of calomel, ten of rhubarb in
fine powder, and ten of aloes likewise finely powdered.
These three articles are to be mixed well together, and
made into pills, with honey or syrup. After this purga-
tive medicine, which is intended to clear the stomach
and bowels of all their unhealthy and injurious con-
tents, which always when present keep up a constant
irritation in the stomach and intestines, no more very
active purges are to be  given, because the frequent and
almost constant; emnloyment of active purges  always
do more harm than good, by uuIiGcessari!y ^Y-vakeninff
the system: one satisfactory evacuation bv stool in the
course of  the day is quite sufficient; and by more than
this the stomach and bowels are teased, thereby pro-
ducing debility, the real parent of morbid irritation.
When this disease of body is avoided, and the stomach
and bowels at the same time kept sufficiently easy and
clear, and the temperate abstemiousness I have advised
strictly followed, the poor  sufferer under indigestion
may confidently expect an extinguishment of the flames
of this torture.
  A little rhubarb root chewed at night, or the follow-
ing simple pill will be of service.  Take of rhubarb in
powder half  a  drachm,  of Castile soap one drachm,
and of ipecacuanha in powder half a drachm; mix
 ihem well together in honey or any syrup, to which 
286
DYSPEPSIA.
add a Utile  powdered  ginger to make  the mixture
pleasant to the stomach,- make it into thirty pills, one
of which you must take  every morning, noon, and at
night; this will give a tone to the stomach and bowels,
but as an alterative ; and keep them gently open; this
is an innocent and most useful pill, and will afford great
relief, with proper exercise and diet.  A»tea-spoonful
or a table-spoonful of common charcoal, pounded very
fine, and taken three times a day in a tumbler of cold
water, is an excellent remedy in this complaint.  This
article is made in a proper manner, by taking a lump
of common  charcoal made of any kind of wood, and
burning it over agaiivjn an  iron ladle or skillet, to a
red heat; than suffering it to cool;  and pounding it as
before directed.  This coal powder ought to be imme-
diately put into a bottle and corked tightly, in order to
exclude the action of the air on it;  and whenever any
of it is used as before mentioned, the cork ought im-
mediately to be returned to the bottle.  The quantity
of the charcoal used must be regulated so as to produce
moderate operation by stool.   I have known hundreds
relieved by this simple and innocent remedy, when the
diet has been properly attended  to, after  many other
remedies had been tried in vain.  Physicians call this
pounded charcoal, carbo  ligni, in  their learned pre-
scriptions; winch I have often found very powerful in
relieving diseases of the  liver, when  other remedies
had totally failed.  Epsom salts and magnesia, in equal
quantities, ground fine in a mortar,  and given in doses
of a tea-spoonful in a glass of cold water, every morn-
ing on an empty stomach, is also a fine remedy in dys-
pepsia and indigestion ; and, if necessary at any time
to have the bowels gently opened, will always be found
beneficial and effective.
• 
DYSPEPSIA.                287
   When the stomach and bowels have been kept free
 from  irritation for any  length of time, by the  mild
 treatment I have laid down; When the tongue becomes
 clean  ; when the sleep becomes more refreshing; and
 when the mind becomes tranquil, the spirits something
 animated, and the head clear, fresh  beef made into a
 weak  soup, may be ventured on, with a little well-
 boiled chicken; by this diet you may gradually try the
 powers of the stomach, and know by your feelings how
 much they will bear without injury.   If it produce
 uneasy feelings, such as before described, to either the
 mind or body, or to both, within the  day or night of
 this trial of animal food, it shou^cl be lessened in quan-
 tity.  If that will not do, you must entirely relinquish
 it, and resume the old diet of gruel.  When animal
 food can be taken without producing any pain and #
 uneasiness, you may gradually increase it according to
 your feelings.  Begin with one  ounce of animal food,
 and  gradually increase the  quantity, but with great
 caution.   After a while you  may venture on simple
 food, so  that by degrees your stomach may acquire
 some strength and firmness, which it will now do be-
 yond your most sanguine expectations; but you must
 always remember, to eat just such a quantity as  will
 produce  no  uneasiness or languor after eating;  no
 unhappy feelings of body or mind  during  digestion.
 It is quite unnecessary for me to enumerate all the
 kinds of food which it will be improper for you to eat;
 I have  already explained to you; th|t the most simple
food  is the best.  Milk and rye mush is an excellent
dish  in this complaint; and I have known many per-
sons  who, by using it six months together, without
any animal food, have been entirely and  permanently
cured.  No hot bread is to be used at all; stale  bread 
288
DYSPEPSIA.
 and biscuit, the older the better, but without any but-
 ter, are very good in this complaint.  How often have
 I been asked by my dyspeptic patients this question:
 Is it impossible to cure indigestion without resorting
 to low and very abstemious diet ?  I have always said
 it is impossible; and I now repeat it for the ten  thou-
 sandth time: and those who think otherwise, will find.
 if  they act up to their opinions, that  after spending
 their  money,  and  making apothecary shops of their
 bodies, that all  the medical remedies in  the wTorld,
 without very temperate and abstemious living, are not
 worth one cent!  Always have patience: there must
 be time for every thing, ,and particularly for the cure
 of indigestion.  Reflect on the length of time, and the
 great  variety of causes which produce this disease, and
 you will soon see that it cannot be cured in a few hours,
 or in a few days.  The stomach, like a weary traveller
 wTorn  down by fatigue, requires rest, tranquillity, and
 cooling diet, to allay the feverish state of the system,
 produced by high and long-continued excitement, and
 perhaps by terrible excesses!
  Cold water is the  only proper drink;  and to persons
 wiio have been accustomed to the use of spirituous
 liquors, some gentle bitter may be taken, but in very
 small  quantities.  But in  respect to drink, I am per-
 fectly convinced that water alone is the best drink for
persons afflicted with this disease of the stomach. After
a complete change has taken place in the system, by a
low7, regular, and very abstemious diet for some months,
the patient will find, if it will agree with his stomach,
which his feelings will soon tell him, immense  benefit
from  taking a mixture compounded of equal quanti-
ties of the root of the poplar, the bark of the wild-cher-
ry tree, and  the bark from the root of  the  dog-wood, 
DYSPEPSIA.                 2S9
with a small portion of black snake-root, male  into
bitters with old wiiisky or very old rum.  This bit-
ters must stand four or five days before being taken ;
and then given  in small doses^ diluted with water,
three times in each  day: but if it occasions any un-
pleasantness of feeling or sensation in the stomach or
head, it must  be immediately discontinued.  Tonics,
or strengthening medicines, are never to  be given in
the fever stages of indigestion, or  while the slightest
irritation exists, or the consequence will  probably be
an inflammation, which will  terminate fatally.
  The warm tepid bath shduld be frequently used in
this complaint, taking particular care to rub over the
stomach well with a brush in the  bath, and a coarse
towel immediately on leaving it.   For bathing, and
the manner of preparing the warm or tepid bath,  look
under the head warm bath.  Injections or glysters of
simple milk and water, luke-warm, or of warm water
with  a table-spoonful of hog's lard mixed with it,
thrown  up into  the  bowels  occasionally, will  be of
much service in this disease: because they will re-
move any  irritable matter which may remain in the
lower intestines,  thereby lessening one of  the greatest
enemies you have to contend with, which is morbid
irritability. For gtysters, look under that head.  Glys-
ters, constantly used with the warm bath,  will obviate
or do away the  necessity of  taking medicines by the
stomach, and very much expedite  the cure of the af-
flicted sufferer.   In this disease, the acid or sour belch-
ings may be corrected or removed, by the simple use
of magnesia or chalk: a tea-spoonful of either of which
articles may be taken in a wine or stem-glass of  cold
water.  The charcoal prepared as I have before men-
tioned, is also well adapted t? removing this unplea-
      2 B                3- 
290
DYSPEPSIA.
sant and irritable state of the stomach arising from acid.
I have now given a faithful, plain, and full description
of this tedious  and most afflicting malady, called  dys-
pepsia or indigestion;  together with an account of the
most approved remedies for its removal.
                CONSUMPTION.

  Consumption spreads its ravages in the haunts of
gayety, fashion, and folly;  but in the more humble
walks of life, where the busy hum  of laborious in-
dustry is heard, it is seldom known.  In the last stage
of this dismal waste of life, although there are many
means of alleviating, in some degree, its miseries, there
is neither remedy nor cure; and yet so flattering is con-
sumption,  even when very far  advanced, that the un-
fortunate victim frequently anticipates  a speedy reco-
very, and is preparing for some distant journey for the
renovation of health, when  in a few days, perhaps a
few hours, his  wearied feet must pass the  peaceful
threshold of the tomb, and his body sink to rest. Thou-
sands are  yearly falling in the springtime of life by
the untimely stroke of this most fatal of diseases; and
although medical men have for ages  been endeavour-
ing to put a stop to  its ravages, I assert it without fear
of contradiction, that in  the last stage of consumption,
there is no remedy within the whole  circle of medical
science that will cure the disease;  but I have no doubt
the period will arrive, wiien this formidable enemy of
the  human species will  be subdued by some common
and simple plant, belonging to  the vegetable kingdom,
which is  at this period totally unknown; for I  have
always been impressed with a  decided belief, that our 
CONSUMPTION.
291
wis3  and beneficient Creator has placed within the
reach of his feeble  creature man, herbs and plants for
the cure of all diseases but old age, could we but obtain
a knowledge of their real uses and intrinsic virtues.  I
wish  to be distinctly understood, with respect to what
I have said  of this disease, that I mean consumption
alone; entirely unconnected with any other complaint.
The cure of consumption should always be attempted
in its forming state, before it produces active symptoms
of cough, or matter from  the lungs, or inflammatory
or hectic fever.  I have often seen this fatal complaint
cured by  attention  to it, in the first symptoms;  but
how often are they permitted  to steal gradually on,
creating no alarm or uneasiness, mistaking it for a sim-
ple cold, until it makes considerable progress, and the
complaint becomes  permanently seated in the system !
Consumption can easily be distinguished from any other
disease by the following symptoms: the patient com-
plains of  weakness on  the least  bodily exertion, the
breathing is hurried, oppressed on ascending any steep
place, the pulse small, and quicker than natural, a feel-
ing of tightness, as if a cord was drawn across the chest;
slight, short, dry cough, becoming more troublesome
at night;  a spitting of white frothy spittle, termed by
physicians mucus.  As this disease advances, the spit-
ting  becomes more copious and  frequent, and some-
times streaked with blood, of a tough, opaque, or dark
substance, solid and of  a yellow or green colour, hav-
ing an unpleasant  or fetid smell when thrown on
burning coals, or if  this  matter is put into pure water,
it sinks to the bottom of  the vessel; by this simple test,
you can easily distinguish it from mucus, which has no
smell, and separates into small flakes, and floats upon 
292
CONSUMPTION.
the surface of the water, thereby enabling you to judge
as to the progress or formation of this complaint.
  Consumption  is considerably  advanced when the
following symptoms occur: a pain in the chest, and in
the side, which is increased  by exerting the voice by
long or  loud talking; pulse  is quick and hard, gene-
rally from one hundred to  one  hundred and  fifteen
strokes  in a minute; the urine or water is highly co-
loured, and deposits in the urinal or pot a muddy sedi-
ment ; the palms of the hands,  and the soles  of the
feet have a dryness and burning sensation; the cheek,
and frequently both cheeks, have a flush or  reddish
hue, exhibiting itself about  the  middle of the day.
This flush lasts for one or two hours, when a remission
takes place until the evening, when the feverish symp-
toms again return, accompanied  frequently by a shi-
vering or  cold sensation, continuing until after mid-
night, then terminating in  a profuse  perspiration or
sweat, occasioning great prostration  or weakness.  In
the last stage of  consumption, the whole countenance
assumes a ghastly cadaverous look, the white part of
the eyes hayea pearly and unnatural appearance, while
the eye itself beams with sparkling  animation  and
lustre; the cheek bones are prominent; the mouth and
throat resemble or look like that of a child having the
thrush ; the legs swell, the nails are of  a livid  or pur-
ple colour; frequent purging, ending in profuse sweat-
ing, cough hollow, difficulty of respiration or breathing,
and the patient has a restless and disturbed  slumber;
during sleep a curious noise  is made from the throat,
like suffocation, occasioned by the collection of matter
or pus  in the throat and mouth;  wiien these  last
symptom make their appearance, the period  is fast 
                  CONSUMPTION.               293

approaching when the unhappy sufferer will lay his
weary and aching head in the calm and peaceful man-
sions of the dead.   The alarming increase of consump-
tion in the  United States, affords an ample field for
medical research; the bills of mortality taken in the
various cities show the immense number who die in
the flowTer of life by this merciless disease.  In three
years the number of deaths in the British metropolis
is  stated to  be fifty-two thousand, two hundred and
thirty-seven; and among these were, under the general
head of consumptions, seventeen thousand five hundred
and fifty-nine; making the number of deaths annually
in London, by consumption, three thousand.
   The rapid progress made in our country by this fatal
complaint, is sufficient to serve as a warning to  ev^ry
parent and head of a  family, in order  to  avoid those
causes which, sooner or later, end in this unmanageable
disease.  The causes which produce consumption are,
exposure to cold and damp air, using tobacco to excess,
either by smoking, chewing, or by using it in snuff to
clean the teeth, acting as a powerful stimulant, thereby
producing irritation;  the  use of spirituous liquors to
excess ; obstructions and inflammations of the lungs ;
the suppression of natural discharges, particularly the
menstrual discharge or courses; scrofula, diseases  of
the liver and stomach, and, unfortunately,  receiving a
hereditary disposition or  taint  to this disease from
father or mother.  The narrow chest and high shoul-
ders,  weakness of the voice,  wiiiteness of the  teeth,
fairness of complexion, and  light hair, have all been
observed to accompany a  predisposition to consump-
tion.   Much reliance, however, cannot be placed upon
these signs, except where a number of them concur in
the same person.  While the empire of fashion bears 
294               CONSUMPTION.

so arbitrary a sway, and the followers of pleasure are
bound by the fascination of example, and  the conta-
gious influence of that spirit, which insinuates itself into
the bosom of each and every one of its votaries, so. long
will the sage precepts of wisdom be unheeded, till the
emaciated form, the glassy eye, and hectic blush, speak
in language too strong for utterance, that the disease
is established, and the yawning grave stands read}7 to
receive its devoted victim.  I hardly know an object
of more tender  concern to the anxious parent, or the
medical adviser, than a young and beautiful female in
the pride and spring of youth, and  strength of intellect,
borne down by the invasion of a malady, which has
so often selected for its sacrifices the most amiable and
interesting beings of God's  creation.   And when,
moreover, all this can be traced to one  single act of
imprudence, one offering on the altar of fashion, who
can forbear to utter a sigh, when they behold a lovely
woman laced to such a  degree  as to impede  respira-
tion or breathing?   As well might the hardy Russian
or Laplander, amongst his snows, pretend to brave the
severities of his icy climate in the flowing robes of tro-
pical indolence, as a female to indulge in the Grecian
costume or dress under the influence of such a change-
as we experience during the winter and spring months.
This predisposing  debility for consumption runs in
families, and may be traced from generation  to genera-
tion ; moving on the leaden pinions of unshaken time,
without a remedy to arrest its course.

                   REMEDIES.
  The cure for this formidable  complaint is to be
attempted by a removal to a warm climate at an early
stage of the disease, and to attend  to the preservation 
                  CONSUMPTION.               295

of an equal temperature in the atmosphere which the
patient breathes; a sudden or frequent alternation of
heat and cold is fatal to an  irritable consumptive sys-
tem.  If possible, consumptive patients should remove
to a warm climate the moment a predisposition is dis-
covered ; a change to a warm or temperate atmosphere
during the winter  months, may be the means of re-
moving the predisposing cause to this complaint;  it is,
however, to be regretted, that this change is often de-
layed until  a  late  period  of the  disease, when the
strength is so  much exhausted  that sufferers cannot
take sufficient exercise to assist the climate in restoring
health ; it is then too late, and the unfortunate victim
of this complaint had better remain at home, for by
leaving it he is deprived of the attention and society
of his friends, and exposed to much unnecessary fatigue
and anxiety of mind,  If the disease is so far^advanced
as to prevent the patient from going out of doors in
the winter months, his chamber or room should be
kept warm at an even temperature by a stove; the un-
pleasant smell  which frequently arises from a stove in
a close room may be removed by burning tar upon it;
this fumigation or vapour, constantly inhaled or breath-
ed, is considered by physicians a valuable remedy in
consumption ; the usual method of inhaling the vapour
or steam, is by putting a small quantity of tar into a
coffee-pot or earthen vessel, which is to be heated, and
the fumes inhaled from the stem of the vessel.  This
simple but valuable remedy allays the violence of the
cough, and produces a free and  copious discharge of
mucus or matter; inhaling of the vapour arising from
warm water  with a  little vinegar added to it, several
times during the course of the day, will assist in pro-
moting  the  discharge and tranquillizing the cough. 
296
CONSUMPTION.
These  valuable but simple  remedies  should not be
omitted in this complaint.
  Bleak winds, night air, and exposure of every kind
must be strictly avoided; the body should be well de-
fended by wearing flannel  next the skin, also the feet
properly secured from dampness; frictions,  or, in
other words, rubbing the whole  body with a brush or
coarse  towel, from fifteen to twenty  minutes  in  the
morning, and at night, will be of great service  in this
disease; the friction to be continued twice  a day as long
as the  complaint lasts.   As nothing tends more to ag-
gravate the  symptoms of a  consumption, at an early
stage of it, than a desponding mind, brooding over real
or imaginary calamities, every thing should be done to
cheer the spirits, such as cheerful  society, music,  &c.
Be careful to regulate the  bowels, if possible, by diet,
and by friction, (as before described.) but if recourse
must be had to medicine, let it alwrays  be  mild, and in
no larger doses than are necessary to discharge or move
the bowels; for this purpose glysters of simple milk and
water thrown up the  bowels, or warm water with a
tea-spoonful of hog's lard, will be proper: for glyster-
ing and the method of administering them look under
that head.  Rhubarb root chewed in small quantities
at night will produce a motion:  Epsom salts and mag-
nesia mixed and ground fine in  a mortar, dose a tea-
spoonful in half a pint of cold water, or a table-spoon-
ful of common charcoal pounded very  fine in the same
quantity of water: for the method of making and pre-
serving this  innocent  but  valuable  medicine, read
Indigestion.    The consumptive patient should daily
take as much exercise as  his strength will admit of,
except when the weather  is unfavourable.  The best
 •xercise will be riding on horseback,  but if this pro- 
                   CONSUMPTION.               297

 duce fatigue, substitute the use of some kind of car-
 riage; or a swing, so constructed as to admit a chair in
 it, for the patient to recline or rest when fatigued.  In
 my practice I have used a large basket of a sufficient
 size to admit a small bed to be placed in it; the patient
 can lay at full length, and receive the advantages to be
 derived from  the swing, without  experiencing any
 fatigue.  This basket is about six feet in length and
 two feet in width, having six handles by which it is
 suspended to  the ceiling with ropes, or in  any con-
 venient place, free from damp or moist atmosphere.
 In whatever way exercise is taken, the greatest care
 must be observed to guard against cold in any manner
 whatever, for this important reason: tubercles or ulcers
 of the lungs are formed in winteFin cold climates, and
 their  progress  to suppuration kept back in the summer,
 and this is the cause why I urge  your  removal to a
 warm climate at an  early period of this disease, for
 when tubercles or ulcers become permanently  seated
 in the lungs, the case may be considered incurable;
 but palliative remedies may be given with proper diet,
 and change of climate, so as to prolong the life of the
 unfortunate victim of the disease.  I shall explain for
 the satisfaction of my  reader what is meant by the
 lungs, and their structure.  In anatomy it denotes the
 viscera or lobes in the cavity of the  breast by which
 we  breathe; they are connected with the neck, and
situated on the right and left  side of the heart;  being
furnished with innumerable cells, which are formed by
the descent of the wjind-pipe into  the lungs; those
bronchial tubes communicate with each other; and the
whole appears  not unlike  a honey-comb.  The  most
important use of the lungs is that of respiration or
breathing, by  which  the  circulation of the blood is
                       3S 
298
CONSUMPTION.
supposed to be effected; the evacuation of the faeces or
excrement, and urine, greatly depends on the constant
action of the lungs, but likewise the sense of smelling
is enjoyed by inhaling the air; and it is chiefly by the
organic structure of these vessels, that  mankind are
enabled to speak; lastly, they perform  the office  of
excretion, and expel those useless matters which, if
retained in the system, would be productive of fatal
consequences.   The treatment of consumptive persons
must be regulated according to the manner in which
the disease shows itself; an energetic course of practice
by the physician in the first stage or symptoms of this
disease may be  the  means  of  saving the life of his
patient, or in other words preventing  confirmed con-
sumption.   If there is a pain in  the side, or breast,
accompanied by cough with  fever, the patient  should
be bled immediately; the quantity of blood taken must
be regulated by the constitution, strength, and habits
of the  person.  Bleeding should be continued every
third day, if the inflammatory symptoms continue  to
exist, regulating the quantity of blood  by the strength
and feverish state of the patient.   I  have generally
found in my practice, that after bleeding moderately
the symptoms considerably abated, the fever diminished,
less pain in the breast or side, cough relieved, and the
respiration or breathing much improved.  After the in-
flammatory action is subdued, apply a blister over the
breast and side, if necessary from pain;  this blister is
to be kept discharging or running, and should it heal,
put on another; the object being to  continue a drain
or running as much as possible, similar to a seton  or
rowel: as you value the life of your patient, enforce a
rigid and low  diet, of  the  most simple nature, for
hundreds die from imprudence in this  respect,  who 
CONSUMPTION.
299
might be relieved if they could but have courage and
firmness to live on gruel and milk and avoid altogether
animal or stimulating food.   I have had an opportunity
of testing the effects of low diet in consumption, and I
feel fully satisfied that it is highly essential in the cure
of this disease.  In the early stage of this alarming
complaint give an emetic or  puke of ipecacuanha, (see
table for dose;) and repeat this emetic once or twice a
week as the obstruction or case  may require; this is to
be continued through the disease, and much  benefit
will result from it, for I rely very much on emetics in
my practice in consumption.  For the purpose of mo-
derating the irritation of the system and allaying cough
and fever, give small doses of tartar emetic of half a
grain dissolved in a small quantity of flaxseed'tea, balm
or sage tea, slippery elm tea, marshmallow tea, any of
which may  be used;  the tartar emetic  must be gra-
dually increased, and given at intervals until the irrita-
tion subsides; if the tartar emetic affects  the stomach
or bowels, add a few drops of laudanum to each dose.
By a little caution the emetic tartar may be gradually
increased with much benefit to  the  patient  by lessen-
ing the fever, allaying the cough, and producing ex-
pectoration, or, in other words,  a free discharge from
the breast; as an active and valuable expectorant, much
benefit will be derived from  the Indian turnip.  This
valuable plant is very common  in the western states,
grows in meadows and swamps, six or  eight inches
high, purple leaves three in number, roundish berries,
of a light scarlet colour; the root of this plant boiled
in milk is a valuable  remedy;  or take of the  peeled
root one pound, and three pounds of loaf-sugar, pound
them well together in a mortar so  as to make a fine
powder, and take a tea-spoonful twice or thrice a day, 
300               CONSUMPTION.
as the case may require; gum arabic, or peach tree
gum, will  answer,  held in  the  mouth, to allay the
cough.  Cooling medicines through the  whole course
of the complaint will be proper, particularly nitre, equal
quantities of Epsom salts and magnesia mixed, pounded
fine in a mortar, doses of a tea-spoonful to be given in
half a pint of cold water will cool the system and keep
the bowels in a laxative state; the dose to be increased
if necessary to act on  the bowels.   In the advanced
stage of this disease  the  patient is usually much
weakened by night sweats; this should be checked by
administering the following pills:  copperas, called by
physicians  sulphate of  iron, one grain, rhubarb one
grain, gum myrrh  two grains, oil of cloves one drop;
these pills should be repeated three or four times a day;
and ten or fifteen drops of sulphuric acid, or the same
quantity of elixir vitriol, taken every two or three hours
in a cup of flaxseed tea, when the febrile symptoms are
severe.   Pills  composed of sulphate of  copper,  one
grain,  ipecacuanha  one grain, made into a pill,  and
repeated every three hours, is a valuable remedy; in-
fusion of wild-cherry tree bark, made with cold water,
tar water, and cold camomile tea, are all good strength-
ening remedies in this stage  of the complaint.
  A purging attends this disease which is very exhaust-
ing, ending in profuse sweating, as before mentioned,
for as soon as the  one is stopped the other too fre-
quently comes on, producing thereby an extreme de-
gree of weakness.   When this takes place, use opium
united with a small quantity of ipecacuanha or sugar
of lead, if the disease is severe: see table for dose.  An
infusion of galls, or tormentil root, with cinnamon and
gum arabic, will check the purging.  About this stage
of the disease the mouth and throat are filled  with 
CONSUMPTION.
301
sores, similar to the thrush; here astringent gargles or
sage tea, a little borax and honey, to wash the mouth
and  throat,  will be proper, aided by tonic and. astrin-
gent medicines, are the only hope of giving relief in
this last stage of consumption.  My practice is, to give
opium to a considerable extent; increasing or decreas-
ing it, as the situation of the case may require.   By
this  valuable  medicine we have it  in our pow7er to
protract  the period of life, and to lessen the distress of
the patient.  The inexpressible delight produced by
opium, when  the poor  sufferer is  prostrated,  can
scarcely be described.  It always soothes the irritations
of the cough- and mitigates all those symptoms which
cannot be removed.  The influence it exercises  over
the  mind and  imagination of the patient no human
language can describe.  In some constitutions, opium
disagrees with  the patient, and produces restless  and
irritable feelings.  When this is the case, recourse
must be had to other sedatives, or soothing remedies ;
for instance, to garden lettuce;  which  is fully equal to
opium in producing a mitigation of pain, and in allay-
ing  inordinate action.  For the manner of preparing
this valuable remedy, which-every one "is in possession
of, see the head Garden Lettuce.
   Iceland moss has, also, for some time past, in Europe
been resorted to as a valuable palliative in consump-
tion ;  and  more recently in  the United States, it has
acquired considerable reputation in this disease.   But
like all other boasted remedies, the powers of this herb
have been most probably overrated.  It, however, not
unfrequently proves  highly beneficial, by strengthen-
ing the patient, diminishing the hectic symptoms, and
allaying the cough.   It has another  important advan-
tage.  It strengthens the digestive powers  without
       2 C 
 302             '  CONSUMPTION.

 producing a constipation or costiveness of the bowel?
 This medicine is quite  innocent: the Laplanders use
 it in various ways, and among others as food.  When
 employed as  an article  of diet, they bruise this moss,
 and steep it  in several  successive waters : by which
 means they  extract its bitter qualities, and  it then
 affords them a highly grateful food, of  a soft and glu-
 tinous consistency, similar to jelly; but the method
 of preparing it for consumptive persons is  as follows.
 First wash it well in clean cold water: then boil one
 ounce of the  moss, with a quart of water, over a slow
 fire:  and while stewing, add of liquorice root,  cut  up
 very fine, two drachms,  or about as much- as the size
 of the middle finger.  A tea-cupful of this medicine
 must be drank four times a  day.   Or, if the taste of
 this  preparation is  too  disagreeable, you may boil a
 quarter of an ounce of the moss in a pint of milk for
 ten minutes, and take the  milk for breakfast and sup-
 per ; always taking care that the quantity  be not dis-
 agreeable to the patient's stomach.  For a description
 of this moss, and where  it may be had, see Iceland
 Moss.
  Lichen or lungw7ort, which grows on the bark of the
 white oak tree, and which looks like a shell or  skin, is
 said to possess the same medical qualities as the Iceland
 moss.   It is  called lungwort (I had almost forgotten
 to remark) because of its strong resemblance in shape
 to the human lung.  A tea made of a  handful of the
 lungwort to a  quart of boiling water, and used as a
 common drink, is not only a good palliative in con-
sumption, but when made into a syrup with honey, is
 very beneficial in hooping-cough.
  Doctor Hereford, of Virginia, a gentleman of distin-
 guished reputation as  a physician, has  made some 
CONSUMPTION.
JO J
interesting communications in the newspapers, rciauve'
to a plant called liverwort, which he presumed to  he
effectual in the cure of consumption.  For a descrip-
tion of this plant, and the method of preparing it, look
under the head Liverwort.
  The doctor is certainly entitled to be considered the
first who made use of  it in the cure of consumption ;
and his communications on the subject will entitle him
to the thanks of posterity; if for no other reason than
that it has been found an excellent palliative remedy in
this dreadful disease.  So high at one period w7as the
excitement of the public feeling respecting the virtues
of this little plant as a  certain cure for consumption.
and so  great was the demand for it, that it was fre-
quently sold  in the  western  states for the enormous
price  of five dollars an ounce.   After some time it
sunk greatly in price, it  being discovered to be very
plentiful in the mountains of Tennessee.   Like all
other boasted remedies, which have been called specific
cures in consumption, the liverwort is only considered
a good palliative; a mere alleviator of the miseries of
the disease.
          DISEASES OF THE LIVER.
  The liver is much more frequently the  seat of dis-
ease, than is generally supposed, even  by many physi-
cians of reputation and experience.  The functions it
is designed to perform, and on the regular execution
of which  depends not only the general health of the
body, but the powers of the stomach, bowels, brain,
and whole nervous system, shows its vast and vital im-
portance to human health. When the liver is seriously 
304              LIVER DISEASES.
diseased, it, in fact, not only deranges the vital func-
tions of the body, but exercises a powerful  influence
over the mind and its operations, which  cannot easily
be described.  It has so close a connexion with other
diseases; and manifests itself by so  great a variety of
symptoms of a most doubtful character;  that it mis-
leads, I am wrell persuaded, more physicians even of
great eminence, than any other vital organ.   The inti-
mate connexion which exists between the liver and the
brain,  and  the great dominion which I  am persuaded
it exercises over  the passions of mankind,  convince
me, and has long since done so, that  many unfortunate
beings have committed acts of deep  and  criminal atro-
city, or become what fools term hypochondriacs, from
the simple fact of a diseased state of the liver.  I am
well aware, that the  remark just made  in allusion to
the crimes of mankind, will by many be considered
new and daring:  to these men I answer, that my busi-
ness is with truth, regardless of consequences.  But to
proceed with my subject: I have long been convinced,
and it may be added from experience, that  more than
one half of the complaints which occur in this country,
are to be considered as having their seat in a diseased
state of the liver. I will enumerate  some  of them.
Indigestion, stoppage of the menses, disordered state of
the bowels, affections of the head,  lowness of spirits,
irritable and vindictive feelings and passions,  from tri-
fling and inadequate causes, of  which we  afterwards
feel ashamed; and last, though  not least,  more than
three-fourths of the diseases enumerated under the head
consumption have their seat in a diseased liver.  I will
ask you, reader of the particular description for whom
I write, is not this a most frightful catalogue  ?  But I
will  add one more of these general indications of a 
                 LIVER DISEASES.           %  $805

 diseased liver, before I speak of the symptoms of those
 particular diseases to which I at first intended to direct
 my attention.  Under the head " Intemperance," page
 78,1 have spoken on that subject, in general anjj. phi-
 losophic terms:  but I neglected to mention under that
 particular head, that a diseasedifliVer is frequently the
 cause of intemperance, and sometimes the effect of  it;
 and I will now remark, that in either case, when in-
 disease has arrived at a great height and strength, itis,
 next to impossible  to reform the drunkard, without
 absolutely operating on him for a  disease of the liver,
 by medical remedies which will actually  affect his
 physical system.  I will also remark here, that man^
 of those men who are called confirmed drunkards, are
 only men labouring under a disease of the liver, whose
 influence  they cannot possibly  resist  by any*-moral
 power they  possess, without the  means  I have just
 mentioned, or medical aid, and this may be the reason
 why Doctor Rush once alleged, that drunkenness was
 a disease.
  How often do we see men, wiio  in the moments  of
 ■sobriety, confess to their friends and families-their im-
 proper courses, with  a full  determination to .refrain.
 and no doubt with every sincerity of heart, wrho, after
 refraining from liquor a certain time, become restless,
 fretful, or irritable, and depressed in spirits; now, I do
 know, that in hundreds of instances, the love of liquor
 is not the cause of their becoming  again intemperate.
 You  will  hear  those men  attempt  to describe ilv.'
wretchedness of  their feelings when they abstain from
liquor:  they cannot do it  Now, reader, must not this
 be a disease.with which the mere love of liquor has
nothing to do?                           </      ■ ,■■
  There are  two strongly marked forms-of dis:aml 
306
LIVER DISEASES.
 liver, requiring entirely different courses of treatment
 to effect a cure: one is called acute and the other
 chronic.  The first is knowm by inflammatory symp-
 toms or fever, accompanied with slight chill, and very
 much resembles an attack of pleurisy, being character-
 ized by pain in the right side, which rises to the point
 of the  shoulder.   On pressing below the ribs on the
 right side, you will feel the pain more severe.  There
 is sometimes a sharp, and sometimes a dull heavy pain
 about the collar-bone; you have painful and uneasy
 sensations on lying on the left side, difficult respiration
 or breathing, dry and hacking cough, sometimes a vo-
 miting or puking of bilious matter, your bowels are
 costive, your urine or water  of a deep saffron colour.
 and the quantity made quite small; great thirst, tongue
 dry and covered with a white fur, hard and frequent
 pulse, from  ninety to one hundred in a  minute, and
 sometimes intermitting; skin hot and dry; and after
 several  days continuance' of the disease,  the skin and
 whites of the eyes put on a yellow colour.  On a close
 examination of the blood drawn from the arm, you
 will find its appearance somewhat singular.  Before it
 begins to coagulate or congeal, and while the red part
 is settling to the bottom, and before the buffy or yellow
 coat  is  fully formed, it looks of a dull green colour;
 but immediately after the full formation of the upper
 coat, it changes from a dull greenish hue to a yellow.
  In warm climates, the liver is more apt to be affected
 with  inflammation than  any other  part of the body;
this is owing to an increased secretion of bile from the
stimulus of heat and several other causes. The liver
is the largest and most ponderous or heavy of  the ab-
 dominal viscera or entrails.   In adults, by which I
mean grown persons, it weighs  about three pounds ,• 
LIVER  DISEASES.
307
 and serves to purify the blood, by secreting or taking
 from it  the  bile.  Its  situation  is immediately under
 and connected with the diaphragm, generally called
 the midriff;  this is a muscle which divides the thorax
 or chest, from the abdomen or belly.   When inflam-
 mation of this organ takes place in hot climates, it is a
 highly dangerous disease;  which, when spoken of by
 physicians, is called hepatitis.   When physicians only
 mean general disease of the liver, they call it, in equal-
 ly general terms, hepatic  derangement.   This disease
 of the liver sometimes terminates in the formation of
 matter in an abscess, which has  to be  discharged, of
 which more notice will be taken in the  proper place.
  Chronic: a term applied to diseaseswilich are of
 long continuance, and most generally without fever.
 It is the opposite disease to the acute.   When this stage
 exists,  the complexion and countenance put  on, or
 rather assume a morbid or unhealthy appearance.  You
 will experience  frequently a>giddiness  or swimming
 of the  head; a general weakness, and dislike  to mo-
 tion or exercise; frequent headach; indigestion; fla-
 tulency, or belching of wind from the stomach, with
 acid taste in  the throat and mouth;  pains in the sto-
 mach : your skin and eyes will be of a yellow colour,
similar to jaundice; your urine will be high coloured,
depositing a red  brick--dust coloured sediment in the
urinal or pot, and frequently your water  will be mixed
with a ropy mucus, and when left some  time  in the
vessel, wilf form a pink streak round its  inside; and
your stools will  be the colour  of  clay.  By attending
to these evacuations, their colour will be almost a cer-
tain  characteristic  or mark of this disease: observe,
howrever, that when you chew rhubarb root, it will al-
ways give your stools this light yellow colour; you will 
308
LIVER DISEASES.
experience a dull heavy pain in the region of the liver
extending to the point of the shoulder, and a great loss of
appetite; your whole system will be oppressed with an
universal sense of fulness; on examination by pressure,
there will be felt an enlargement  and hardness of the
liver; and in some cases there will be experienced great
oppression of  respiration or breathing.   I must remark
that the symptoms which I have here described, as in-
dicative of the chronic stage of this disease, will  always
depend very much on the length of time the  disease
has been making its ravages on the system, for it may
be  compared to the midnight assassin, who steals on
your hours of rest and security with noiseless foot, and
deals you the  deadly blow!  The  truth is, that chronic
affection of the liver is  a far more common form  of
disease in the United States than the acute.  A disease
of the liver, of the acute form, is produced  by all causes
which excite inflammation or fever.  The chronic form
of this complaint is generally produced in the United
States, by the excessive and imprudent use of spirit-
uous liquors.   A residence of any continuance in hot
countries, even in wTarm climates, where a free and
unrestrained  course of  living  is  indulged,  is  almost
certain to produce the disease ;  intermittent fevers of
long continuance are also apt  to produce  a chronic
stage  of the liver; but  I  am  compelled to say, if I
must  speak with candour, that I believe more than
two-thirds  of the whole number  of liver complaints
in the United States may be traced to intemperance.

                •■   REMEDIES.
  For an  acute inflammation of the liver, you  are to
depend principally on the prompt,  and immediate use
of the lancet,  by bleedinsr the patient freely, according 
                 LIVER DISEASES.              309

to his age, his strength, and  the  violence of his pains.
After the bleeding, give an active purge of calomel and
jalap: see table for dose.  • If this does not diminish the
pain, bleed again and give an active dose of calomel at
night,  and a  dose of  Epsom salts in  the  morning.
After the first copious bleeding, I have generally, by
giving an active dose of calomel and jalap, succeeded
in lessening the violence of the complaint; but if it
still continued severe, I pursued moderate and frequent
bleeding, with doses of calomel at night, and Epsom
salts in the morning, and decreased the bleeding gra-
dually until I stopped  it.  Apply, also, a large blister
over the liver, which will assist in mitigating and
lessening the  pain in  the side.  Also, cup freely and
daily over  the liver;  it  will  be of great benefit by
drawing off the blood from the interior.  For cupping,
look under that head.  Small doses of emetic tartar  in
this stage of the disease, given occasionally in balm  or
sage tea, from one to two grains, will determine to the
surface, or in other words, produce moisture of the
skin, and thereby relieve the feverish symptoms.  In
this  stage of the complaint particularly,  and indeed
through the whole course of the disease, the warm bath
will be found one of the finest remedies.  Indeed, too
much reliance cannot well be placed on warm bathing,
accompanied by friction :  by which  I  mean, rubbing
the body well  with a brush, immediately after leaving
the bath: the truth is,  that this friction ought, by no
means, to be omitted by  the patient; I can from ex-
perience  vouch for its beneficial effects.
  After following the course of practice which I have
here laid down, and the disease still continuing obsti-
nate, which it frequently does when it has been of long
standing, you  must  depend on  mercury.   When  I 
310
LIVER  DISEASES.
         speak of this medicine, do not be alarmed or frightened
         at its name; for, with  the  rules which I lay down,
         (read under the head jlercury.) it will  be as easy to
         manage this medicine as a dose of Epsom salts; and
         the various injuries which  result from this valuable
         medicine  (for without,  it, it would be  impossible to
         practise medicine with any kind of success.) arise from
         its abuse :  in fact, the injuries sustained by its use are
         owing to a want of care, and administering it on every
         trifling occasion, when medicines not so active *^ould
         answer a much better purpose.
           There are various preparations of mercury; but at
         the head of this article for removing this disease, stands
         calomel : and thousands of  empirics or quacks of the
         United States, who publish in every news-journal some
         long-named remedy to cure diseases without the use of
         mercury, are the very fellow7s who use it most in some
         disguised form:  and indeed it  becomes in this  way
         truly dangerous ; for the patient, regardless of weather
         or exposure, having no  knowledge of  what he is con-
         stantly using, destroys instead of  benefits his  health:
         or. in removing one disease, lays the foundation of an-
^        other still worse in its consequences.   This medicine
         is the only sure and positive remedy that can be relied
         oil for the removal of the diseases of  the liver, when
         permanently seated in that organ : and  so powerful and
         necessary is it for the correction of its disorders, that it
         is called by  a distinguished  physician, the key of the
         liver.  In administering this medicine, there are various
         ways of introducing it into the system, which must be
         done according to the stage of the disease,  and the
         symptoms of the chronic form.   If violent,  active
         mercurial preparations must be constantly and steadily
         given.   If the symptoms are gradual and not danger- 
LIVER DISEASES.
311
ous, the medicine must be in proportion to the state of
the disease, and of a milder form of mercurial prepara-
tions.   By reading under  the head  of Mercury, you
will there see the different forms in winch this mineral
is prepared, and that it may be given to act promptly
or mildly on the system.  My course of practice in
this disease has been to employ the use of  calomel
from an early stage of the disease, after having purged
the bowels well frequently by  its use alone  or com-
bined with jalap.  I generally  administered in small
doses, say from one to two grains every  three hours,
until salivation took place : or to act with more mild-
ness, about the size of a nutmeg of mercurial ointment
{oil of baze) was rubbed over the region of the liver
every night until salivation was produced.  I make use
of the  words "oil of baze," because  they  form the
name by which the country people usually ask for the
article in the shops.  When this takes place, you will
know it by the following circumstances:  you will spit
freely: the salivary glands will become enlarged, and
the throat sore, the gums tender, and the. breath have
an offensive and peculiar odour, &c.
   In rubbing the ointment over the region of the liver,
if any pain or uneasiness is produced by it, which is
sometimes the case, you must rub it on the inside of the
thighs.  In some constitutions, calomel disagrees with *
the patient; I have had  such cases frequently.  When
this is the case, and your patient's situation requires it,
recourse must be had to a milder preparation of mer-
cury :  the blue pill.  For the  method of making this
pill look under the head of Mercury.   The usual me-
thod of administering this mild and gentle preparation
is by giving a pill twice or three times  a day, morn-
 ing, noon, and night.  If the symptoms are less urgent, 
312
LIVER  DISEASES.
twice a day will suffice: and if very mild and gradual,
a pill at bed-time will be  sufficient.  Pursue this
course steadily  until the gums are  affected, or a cop-
perish taste is experienced in the mouth : this must be
kept up gently  until  the disease is subdued, or some
visible effect is produced upon the  system.  After the
effect is produced, stop the use of  mercury, and give
time to see the advantage you may  have derived from
your  course of practice.   The blue pill,  although  a
mild preparation, is not without its inconveniences. It
sometimes  occasions griping pain  in  the  bowels, by
which it will at times run off, without producing the
effect intended, which is an approach to, or salivation
itself, so as to induce  a change or  alterative effect on
the liver. If this be the result, a small portion of opium
or laudanum will check this griping, and  prevent the
pill from passing off without  producing the effect in-
tended  and desired.   Where there are uneasy and
unpleasant  sensations produced  by these  medicines,
particularly when dyspepsia or indigestion is connected
with a diseased liver, which is very frequently the case
in the United States, there is a considerable degree of
morbid or  diseased  sensibility in the stomach and
bowels, which can generally be removed by joining
some innocent and gentle  anodyne with  them; but
where this  morbid  sensibility  does  not  exist, the
anodyne ought to be  omitted.  When this slow and
gradual mercurial taste can be kept up in  the mouth
for some time, without actually producing a great flow
of spittle, or salivation, great benefit will be felt by the
patient: and I have always  found, on an actual saliva-
tion being produced,  the symptoms entirely removed,
and a cheerfulness and change of feeling  so different,
as  at once  to  inspire that confidence  of returning 
•
                 LIVER DISEASES.             313

health, which can alone be communicated by the pru-
dent and careful use of this valuable specific.  Persons
who are prejudiced against  the use of mercury,  and
there are many who entertain an unfavourable opinion
of its use, whether from having observed  its injurious
effects  from bad treatment,  or  from  the terrible  and
unfounded tales which are daily circulated  respecting
it, I can say, have never witnessed its innocently bene-
ficial effects  in diseases  of the liver, in  as many  in-
stances  as I  have.  The fact is, that I  have known
those very persons travel one hundred miles to obtain
relief " without the aid of mercury," from some  pub-
lished quack medicine, who always met .mercury under
some disguised  form.
  But, without those whose prejudices are not to be
removed respecting the  use of mercury, I shall give
such remedies as are highly recommended in this com-
plaint,  by some of the  most distinguished  physicians of
Europe and the United States.   The  late experiments
made with the medicine I am  about to  recommend,
have proved  by their  influence in  the practice, equal
to mercury;  in fact, they prefer its use in the first in-
stance : for, say they, u if it does not succeed, which is
not apt to be the case, it leaves the system in a much
better situation for the use of the last and certain re-
medy—mercury."
  This medicine is nitric acid; and  may be obtained
at any  doctor's  shop, or wherever medicines are  sold,
at a very trifling sum.  This article, in its pure state, is
perfectly colourless, and transparent as pure water.  I
have frequently received it from the northern cities of
a slight straw colour;  but this  is not so good as that
which  is perfectly pure and transparent, and is, in fact,
nothing more nor less than aqua fortis.   It is made
     2D                  40 
314
LIVER  DISEASES.
of sulphuric  acid, which is merely oil of vitriol, and
nitrate of potass, which is  no more than  simple salt-
petre.   Nitric acid, in its  pure state, should be cau-
tiously handled,  or  it will  destroy your clothes, and
stain your hands of a yellow colour which cannot be
washed off.   It is used by the country people general-
ly to colour the stocks of their rifles.  I suppose this
caution will be sufficient.  It becomes quite harmless
after being diluted or mixed with water.  The method
of using the  nitric acid, or aqua fortis, is as follows :
a quart bottle of water may be made agreeably sour,
that is, to suit the taste of the patient, and sweetened
with sugar so a§ to make it  a pleasant drink.  Take as
much  of this drink  from your  bottle  during the
twrenty-four hours as your  stomach will bear without
inconvenience.   Sixty drops of this nitric acid will be
sufficient for a quart of water.  This  medicine, like
mercury, must be gradually continued, until some visi-
ble effect is produced on the system.  This will be felt
by an affection of the mouth  and  glands, and excite
spitting,  similar to mercurial preparations.   In all
constitutions  of a scorbutic or scurvy habit, or  those
labouring under great weakness, the nitric acid  will
be a better remedy than mercury;  because it acts as a
tonic or strengthening medicine, at the same time that
it tends to correct the scorbutic affection.
  In several  cases in which I have had opportunities
of trying the nitric acid in the form I have mentioned,
it has always  had beneficial effects,  with the exception
of the  single case of a lady of delicate and irritable
stomach: she was compelled to discontinue its use,
from the acidity it produced on her stomach.   This I
endeavoured  to remedy by gentle emetics or pukes,
intended to cleanse the stomach of its impurities ; and 
LIVER  DISEASES.
315
by afterwards giving magnesia and charcoal, and such
other articles, for the purpose of neutralizing or destroy-
ing the acid. All, however, did not succeed, and I was
compelled to desist.  From this practice, and general
experience, I apprehend no other difficulty with regard
to the beneficial effects of the nitric acid in chronic
affections of the liver, than the simple fact of the patient
being unable to take it a sufficient time to produce the
effect desired.   In such cases as  the above, therefore,
much benefit will be experienced from the use of the
nitro-muriatic bath.
  This valuable and grateful  remedy  is  by far  too
much neglected in the United States.  The reason of
this neglect I apprehend to be, because its  application
is considered to be attended with  some  trouble.  I
recollect a circumstance in point.   I directed one of
my patients to  bathe his feet every night on going to
bed in  this bath: "What, doctor," said  he, "every
night ?"—"Or every other night," said I.  He exclaimed,
" How much trouble!"  This is  the reason, I have no   -
doubt, why this simple but valuable preparation is so
much neglected.  But to those who, like myself, have
witnessed the surprising cures produced by its use, the
trouble will be considered a matter of no consequence.
I shall, for the satisfaction of my reader,  relate a case.
   Mrs. Stoner, wife of John Stoner, of Botetourt coun-
ty, Virginia, was in the last stage of this disease ;  and
had been attended by several distinguished physicians,
who treated her case for consumption.  At the time
her husband called on me to visit her, his object was
merely to procure the administration of some palliative
remedies, to soothe her cough, and relieve her obstruct-
ed respiration or breathing, which had nearly suffocated
 her several  times:  he entertained  neither hope  nor 
316
LIVER  DISEASES.
belief that any medical assistance could, by any possi-
bility, permanently relieve her.  In truth, from what
I had heard of her case, I candidly stated to Mr. Sto-
ner. that my visits would only be  a useless  expense;
and advised  such remedies as were calculated to allay
irritation.  Two or three days afterward, Mr. Stoner
made a second application, and to gratify an affection-
ate and tender husband, and a numerous and highly
respectable connexion, I consented to visit her.   On
my arrival I found her situation, as I at first supposed,
to be critical in the extreme;  in  fact, in the last stage
of consumption; hollow cough; breathing very  dif-
ficult and obstructed; constant  expectoration, or  dis-
charge  of matter,  occasionally streaked with blood;
regular paroxysms of fever, accompanied with flush-
ings at midday, and towards evening terminating in
profuse sweats;  diarrhoea or dysentery; in  fact,  her
case was such an exact resemblance of the  last stage
of consumption, that the  most experienced and skilful
physician would have been deceived.  I remained all
night;  and very attentively examined this (as I at first
supposed) hopeless case.   About midnight --he request-
ed some  nourishment, which wTas immediately  pre-
pared, and of  the lightest kind.  She had hardly swal-
lowed it, before it was rejected or thrown up:  and for
the first time  I observed  the extreme irritability of her
stomach.  On inquiry, she stated  that from her first
attack the slightest  food would  oppress her  stomach
with a sense of burning and fulness, and become sour,
accompanied with the most unpleasant sensations, until
what she had eaten was rejected and thrown up.  I
now questioned her minutely as to all the symptoms
from the commencement of the disease; and her an-
swers fully convinced  me, that  the liver was the pri- 
LIVER DISEASES.
317
mary seat of the disease.  Fully impressed with this
opinion, although debilitated in the extreme, and re-
duced to a  mere skeleton, and  so weak  as almost to
faint on the slightest exertion, I determined, even in
this last  and almost hopeless stage, to try the nitro-
muriatic bath.   Fearful that the bath in the usual way
would be productive of fatal consequences immediate-
ly on  its application, I hesitated some hours; but with
the consent of herself and her family, having candidly
stated  to all parties my serious doubts as to  the suc-
cess  of the  remedy in this  stage of her case, I pro-
ceeded to the use of the bath in its mildest form, by
suffering her hand  alone to  remain in it  for fifteen or
twenty minutes.  In five  minutes after her hand was
in the bath, she complained of great uneasiness in the
region of the liver, which  gradually subsided  after
withdrawing her hand.   This  night she rested  well.
The following morning expectoration was greatly in-
creased.  This day I placed both her hands in the bath:
there  was immediately great oppression ; her nervous
system became  much agitated; and her extremities
were  becoming  very cold.  I immediately removed
her hands from the  bath; and she fainted.  There was
now much increase of  pulse; and great oppression of
breathing, almost  amounting to suffocation.  On  a
sudden, as if by a convulsive effort, she threw up about
a pint of yellow bile, similar in  colour to the yolk of
eggs.   The oppression from  this time  ceased;  her
breathing  became  slow,  easy, and regular; and  by  a
continuance of this bath, gradually persevered in, and
moderately increased to sponging the whole body  with
it, and lastly, to using it as afoot bath, she improved
daily:  and in eight weeks I had the satisfaction of see-
ing her attending to her domestic concerns, in tolera-
      2 i) 2 
318             LIVER DISEASES.

ble health, which gradually  improved until she was
entirely restored.  The strength of the bath I  used,
was about equal to weak vinegar and water.  For the
period of about six weeks, during which I was engaged
in performing this cure, the relative of this lady, the
Rev. Mr. Crumpecker, pastor of the Dunkard society,
an individual whose character as a Christian, a philan-
throphist, and a man of. integrity, would do honour to
any age  or country; together  with his friend  John
Stoner, sen., were absent on a visit  to the state of Ma-
ryland.   On their return they were astonished to find
Mrs. Stoner, of wiiom  they had taken leave for eter-
nity, in the vigour of comparative health and strength,
and attending to all her domestic affairs.   I mention
the names of these  gentlemen  particularly, because
when they peruse my  report of Mrs. Stoner's case as
treated by me with the' nitro-muriatic bath, they will
confirm the fact of her entire recovery from the use
of this bath.  It may be necessary to state, that  Mrs.
Stoner's diet consisted  of milk  and water; and mush
and milk; and nothing stimulating; being  entirely
restrained from animal food.
   The nitro-muriatic bath is  firmed by mixing equal
parts  of  the  nitric  acid and  muriatic acid together.
You must pay strict attention to the following direc-
tions, or your carelessness will produce unpleasant con-
sequences.   When  these two acids come in contact.
that is to say, when they are poured together, without
having been  previously mixed with water separately,
a gas, or volume of what appears to be  smoke, will
immediately fill the whole house.  This gas  has a very
disagreeable smell, and  is dangerous to the lungs.   The
proper manner of mixing them is, first, to  fill a  glass
bottle about half full of cold water: next, you must 
LIVER  DISEASES.
319
put in one of the acids,*and shake  it up with the wa-
ter ;  then you must put in the other acid, and imme-
diately  cork the bottle tightly, occasionally shaking
the acids together.  This will prevent the unpleasant
smell I have mentioned, and retain the virtues of these
medicines, if you keep your bottle well corked: the
fact is that none other than glass bottles, with stoppers
of the same  material, can keep these acids in.
  Having stated to you  how this nitric acid is made,
it is necessary also to communicate the  method prac-
tised  in  procuring  the muriatic acid.  It  is distilled
from  nothing more than common salt, by means of
sulphuric acid, or, in  other  words, oil of vitriol.  It
ought always to be kept with wax  over the cork, so as
to prevent  the fumes  from  escaping; they are very
unpleasant, and  in  large  volumes suffocating.    But
when either of  these acids are mixed with water, as I
have before directed, and the other  then added, they
lose all  unpleasant effects, and  become  nothing more
than  strong acid, like vinegar and water.  You  will
easily perceive by these directions, that you may make
the nitro-muriatic bath weaker or  stronger, as  you
may think proper.  The  bath  is very easily made at
any time; for by mixing  some  acid from  the  bottle
before mentioned,  with water pleasantly warm, to
about the strength of vinegar and water, you have the
bath.  Bathe the feet  and legs in this bath, from ten
minutes to half an hour, according to the strength of
the patient, immediately before going to bed.  If the
patient be very weak, bathing one hand a few7 mioutes
will be sufficient; if a little stronger, the wiiole body
may be sponged with  the acid; and if still stronger,
the feet and legs to the knees may be bathed, accord-
ing to the  circumstances and  times just mentioned. 
320              LIVER DISEASES.
A narrow wooden bucket or box, sufficient to admit
the feet and legs, and to permit the bath to reach the
knees, would be advisable: it would be a saving of the
acid, the requisite strength  of which can always  be
tested by tasting  it.   You may preserve the bath or
acid in an earthen crock, or in any glass vessel, and by
warming it again, continue to use it when required.
  It is impossible to  specify the  time that this  bath
should be used ; this  must depend on the strength of
the patient.   The object is, to bring the system mode-
rately and  gradually  under its influence; which is
easily done, because it may  be made  so innocent,  by
applying it very weak, as to be borne in the most deli-
cate state of the patient.   I have witnessed persons be-
ing immersed in it up to the  chin  for half an hour;
while others w7ho were very weak and nervous, were
strongly affected by the immersion of one of the hands.
The great advantage of this  bath is,  that you  may re-
gulate its strength to any point necessary.  I have  no
doubt it would be highly beneficial in indigestion, and
in all  depraved states of the biliary secretion, producing
melancholy  and despondency  of  mind, or  in  other
words, hypochondriasis.  The nitro-muriatic bath will
be found also a valuable  remedy to  females.  This
bath, or the nitric acid taken  by the  stomach, ought
always to b*e very much diluted with wrater; and  if
any very considerable  effects are produced, the use  of
it ought to be stopped  for a week or two, and gradually
resumed again;  whenever  it  produces  very uneasy
sensations, you must be guided by your  feelings; nor
are you  ever  to take  any animal  food, or use any sti-
mulants of any kind, w hile using this bath, or the nitric
acid in any wray.   If  the bathing or sponging of the
body should not keep  the bowels open, or in a laxative 
LIVER  DISEASES.             321
state, you  must  take some simple medicine, such as
Epsom salts, senna and  manna, or aloes, or any thing
else that will keep the bowels gently open.
  In addition to  what I have said, it may be remarked
in conclusion, that equal quantities of Epsom salts and
magnesia, ground very fine together in a mortar, and a
sufficient quantity taken  to keep the  bowels gently
open, always act beneficially in diseases of the liver:
the common dose is from one to two tea-Spoonsful, in
half a pint of cold water. Or you may mix equal quan-
tities of jalap and cream tartar, ground fine in a mortar,
and give doses of a tea-spoonful.   This last is a drastic
purgative, and acts  powerfully on the  liver.  I  have
never used it in my practice, always preferring, as a
mild  purgative,  the  salts and  magnesia.  The  low-
ground  sarsaparilla, found in almost every part of the
United  States, is also a  very good remedy in diseases
of the liver; it ought to be taken plentifully, cold, in
decoction or tea. I must not omit to remark, and that
emphatically and strongly, that the use of the warm
bath, as described under that head, will he almost in-
dispensable in the cure of all diseases of the liver, and
in all stages of those diseases.
  I cannot  relinquish  the subject of diseases of the
liver, without  mentioning in terms of almost unquali-
fied  approbation, my candid opinions of the waters of
the Harrodsburgh and Greenville Springs, situated in
the county of Mercer and State of Kentucky.  These
waters are known to act powerfully and beneficially on
the liver;  nor  do I believe there have been  many
instances, if an absolute consumption, or an induration
of the liver had  not taken place, in which those waters
have not been efficient in removing diseases of the liver.
Their almost  certain efficacy is so well  known, that
                        41 
322             LIVER DISEASES.

they are  frequented by  thousands of invalids during
the summer months,  from every part of the United
States.  And I w7ould  advise allpersons labouring un-
der complaints of the liver, or under dyspepsia or indi-
gestion, and who have become hopeless of the influence
of medical prescriptions, never to omit, if it be possi-
ble for them to  travel to those springs, to  give those
waters a  fair trial.   They are situated in a beautiful
and healthful country, and  the  accommodations are
always such as to insure the comfort and convenience
of all invalids who approach them.
            DYSENTERY OR  FLUX.
   This  disease  is always attended with tenesmus, or
 a constant desire to go to stool, without being able to
 pass any thing from  the bowels, excepting a bloody
 kind of mucus, which resembles that generally scraped
 from the entrails  of  a hog.  These desires to go to
 stool are usually accompanied with severe griping, and
 also with some fever.  After a few days continuance
 of this complaint, your discharges by stool will consist
 of pure  blood, and matter mixed; and from  severe
 straining to evacuate, parts of your bowels will fre-
 quently protrude or come out, which soon becomes a
 source of great suffering,   Dysentery  or flux gene-
 rally takes place about autumn ; when the whole body
 has become irritable  by  a continuance of warm or
rather hot weather, and has been suddenly exposed to
cold or damp; it is also produced  by eating unripe or
green fruit of any kind ; by sudden suppressings or
stoppages of the  perspiration or sweat; by the eating
of some  putrid  or  decayed food; and sometimes it 
DYSENTERY.
323
 arises from some peculiar cause existing  in  the atmo-
 sphere : when this is the case, whole neighbourhoods,
 and extensive tracts of country, are affected by it fa-
 tally.

                     REMEDIES.
   If your patient  is  vigorous,  hale,  and  generally
 healthy, and  there is considerable fever, the loss of
 some  blood in  the first stage of the disease will be
 proper.  But if, on the contrary,  the patient be a
 weakly and delicate person, the loss of any blood would
 be highly improper and dangerous.  First, cleanse the
 stomach by an  emetic or puke of ipecacuanha; then
 give a purge of  calomel; (see table for dose.)  Next,
 if the disease does not abate, you must repeat the purg-
 ing daily with castor oil: this is the best medicine you
 can possibly use in this complaint.   As the stools are
 generally very offensive, you can  easily correct them
 by giving a tea-spoonful of prepared chalk, in a little
 cold water, three times a day ; this  prepared chalk is
 nothing  but  common  chalk  freed of  its impurities.
 Give glysters  frequently through the day made of slip-
 pery elm ; which is to be thrown up the bowels cold.
 In case of violent pain, bathe the stomach with lauda-
 num, and spirits in which camphor has been dissolved;
 and apply cloths wrung out of hot water to the belly;
 or blister over the stomach.  If the belly is hard, and
 sore on being touched, grease it well  with any kind of
 oil or lard: here the  frequent use of the warm bath
 will be of immense service.  When the disease is very
 obstinate, administer a glyster morning and night, of a
 mucilage of cherry tree gum, or peach tree gum, dis-
solved in water until it will be ropy and glutinous, in
which drop from fifty to sixty  drops of laudanum, for 
324               DYSENTERY.
  grown persons;  and so on in proportion to different
  ages.  Throw this glyster up the bowels cold ; (for the
  method of doing which, see under the head Glyster.)
  The warm bath and  castor oil in this disease  may
  safely be depended on.   If the desire of going to  stool
1 is very frequent and painful, introduce up the backside
  or fundament (I must speak in plain terms) a pill of
  opium of from three to four grains.  It must be put up
  with much care and tenderness; because in this com-
  plaint the parts  are always very sore; its remaining
  there will greatly allay  the irritation of the lower gut,
  and produce much relief and immediate comfort:  the
  proportions of opium in  the pill, must be varied accord-
  ing to  the age of the patient.   The common black-
  berry syrup ought  to be prepared and kept in every
  family in this country,  and used freely  in  this com-
  plaint.  I frequently apply a remedy in this  disease,
  which I claim as the discoverer; and which very often
  succeeds, when all others have failed: it is flaxseed oil,
  to be given in the quantity of a table-spoonful twice a
  day to a grown person,  and reducing the dose accord-
  ing to the age of the patient.   It may be necessary to
  remark, that small doses of ipecacuanha combined with
  opium, say three grains  of ipecacuanha to half a grain
  of  opium,  formed into  a pill,  and given  twice a  day,
  after purging well with  castor oil, will be an excellent
  remedy to check this complaint, by producing a mois-
  ture  on the  skin, and  allaying the irritation of  the
  bowrels.  The drinks should be of the mildest kind,
  such as slippery elm tea; flaxseed tea; water melon
  seed tea ;  and diet of the lightest kind, such as jellies.
  chicken soup, lamb soup, &c. &c. 
DIARRHOZA.
326
  LAX, OR CONSTANT LOOSENESS  OF THE
                    BOWELS:
           {Called by physicians Diarrhoea.)
   This disease is unattended with any fever, and not
 contagious or catching as is the disease  immediately
 before mentioned.  It generally prevails among persons
 of weakly constitutions; persons advanced in years;
 and those who have lived intemperately.  Many are
 naturally or constitutionally of this habit of body; and
 others are subject to its attacks on the slightest cold or
 exposure which at all affects their bowels.  The ap-
 pearance of the stools in this disease are very different
 at times: sometimes of a thick consistence ;  sometimes
 thin;  at  times of a slimy nature, and then  again of a
 whitish  colour—changing to  green, yellow, dark or
 brown, depending  very much on the food, and the
 manner in which it agrees or  disagrees with the  sto-
 mach  and bowels; sometimes, and that not unfre-
 quently, it is produced by worms,

                    REMEDIES.
   First: give an emetic or puke in the morning; and
 at night, for a grown person, give a large dose of castor
 oil, with thirty-five drops of laudanum in it: but
 always lessen this dose in proportion to the age of your
 patient.  Next: a stool is to be produced daily, by the
 use of  the  castor oil.   When the griping  attends the
complaint, warm garden mint stewed, and placed over
the stomach and belly, will give relief.  When the dis-
ease has been brought on by cold, or sudden  stoppages
ot the perspiration or sweat, use the warm  bath, and
take some snake-root tea, so as to produce a determina- 
326
DIARRHCEA.
tion  to the surface, or gentle moisture  on the skin.
This troublesome complaint frequently  continues on
many persons through life: such persons should be par-
ticular as to what they eat, and avoid every thing that
disagrees with their stomach and bowels; always taking
care to defend their feet against the damp ground, and
wearing flannel next to their skin.  Friction, or rubbing
the whole body every day with a brush, particularly
over the region of the stomach, liver, and bowels, will
be of much service.   Old French  brandy,  taken  in
moderation, and well diluted with water, is not only a
good remedy in this complaint when constitutional, but
frequently a preventive against attacks.  When wrorms
are presumed to have any influence  in producing this
disease, which may be suspected from a fetid or offen-
sive breath, the complaint is to be treated for worms:
see winch head.   When the complaint arises from
weakness, opium  will be found highly  important  in
restraining its excesses, and removing the  debility. By
using the glysters of slippery elm, or those  made of
common starch and warm water; for directions  how
to use w7hich, look under the head Glyslering.  Much
benefit will result by cooling the  bowels, and allaying
the irritation which always exists in  this  disease.
   INFLAMMATION  OF THE STOMACH.
  This complaint can easily be distinguished from any
other by its distinctive and peculiar symptoms: it is,
therefore, impossible to mistake it for any other disease.
if the least attention is paid  to the indications of its
presence.  There is always violent pain in the stomach.
together with a sensation of heat or burning in it: there 
        INFLAMMATION OF  THE  STOMACH.     32.

is, also, a great increase of pain in  the stomach, when
any thin £ is swallowed; and an immediate rejection and
puking of it up.  Also, a sinking and loss of strength ;
great thirst and uneasiness; a continued moving of the
body from side to side of the bed; and as the disease
advances, frequent hiccoughs, accompanied with cold-
ness of the hands and  feet.  When these  last symp-
toms occur, hiccoughs  and  cold extremities, they are
extremely unfavourable, and will  probably  terminate
fatally.   Inflammation of the stomach is produced by
corrosive poisons taken into  the stomaeh, or drinking
extremely of cold water, when the body is overheated;
by receiving violent blows, or wounds in the region of
the  stomach;  by the gout; by strong emetics;  and,
lastly, by large quantities of  iced liquor taken into the
stomach.

                   REMEDIES.

   This being a very dangerous disease, and the life of
the patient depending on the bold and free use of the
lancet, you are not to be deterred  from its use by any
apparent feebleness of the pulse.   The proper practice
is, to bleed freely every few  hours, until the inflamma-
tion is subdued.  As soon  as  you have subdued the
inflammatory  symptoms, by  frequent bleeding, the
patient is to be put into the warm bath, where he is to
remain as long as possible.  You are then to have a
large blister prepared, which  must  be  put over the
region of the stomach, the moment the patient has left
the bath: or, if there is no blister at hand, apply a large
cataplasm or poultice of mustard  and strong vinegar.
Keep open the bowels, with  glysters made of common
starch, or slippery elm, or flaxseed oil, or thin gruel, or
chicken  water boiled  strong.  These  glysters  will 
328     INFLAMMATION OF THE  STOMACH.

assist to nourish the patient, especially as he will be
unable to take  the  slightest nourishment on the sto-
mach.   When  the  inflammation is reduced, and the
stomach will bear it, a pill of opium (see table for dose)
will be serviceable.   The diet should be of the lightest
kind; such as jelly, slippery  elm tea, rice  and light
soups—a very little at a time, and administered with
extreme caution, with small doses of laudanum.  Small
quantities of the best sweet oil, about a tea-spoonful at
a time, given during the continuance of this complaint,
will very much assist in allaying the inflammation.
When this disease terminates fatally, it invariably ends
in mortification; and this will nearly always be the
case, unless the lancet is used freely in the first instance.
A sudden change from great misery to perfect ease is
conclusive evidence of mortification.
    INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS.
  This complaint is extremely dangerous, and requires
immediate and very active measures to arrest its course.
The symptoms are very distressing, and are always ac-
companied with sharp pains in the bowels, and parti-
cularly about the navel.   The belly seems tight and
hard, and so tender that the least pressure with the
fingers gives great pain; you will know it from cholic
by pressing the belly ;  in cholic, the pressure gives re-
lief; but in inflammation of the intestines, the belly is
LO sore that the least bearing on it gives  immediate and
excruciating misery.  Great weakness attends this dis-
ease ; the pulse is small, quick, and hard ; the urine or
water is highly coloured, and passed off with difficulty;
and the bowels are very costive.   Inflammation of the 
         INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS.     329

intestines is produced by very nearly the same causes
as those which are productive of inflammation of the
stomach; and is attended with  very nearly as much
danger as that disease.  It arises from a severe cholic ;
from hard,  undigested food  remaining in the bowels,
from drinking  cold water when the body is over-
heated ; by blows and wounds in and about the region
of the bowels;  by  long and  severe dysentery; by
worms; and, lastly, by hernia or rupture.

                    REMEDIES.
  The remedies are much the same as those for inflam-
mation of the stomach:  the object being to arrest the
disease  instantly, and before  mortification can  take
place, which always, when it occurs, terminates the
matter  fatally.   The only hope of relief is from the
immediate'and free use of  the lancet; for without its
instrumentality you may abandon every hope of saving
your patient. Therefore, take blood immediately from
the arm, letting the stream be large, so as to draw the
blood off suddenly.  You  must repeat the bleeding
frequently; as the urgency and critical situation of the
patient may appear to demand it: cup  the belly and
apply a large glyster, to be made of slippery elm or
flaxseed; the elm is the best for glystering, and the
warm bath.  Look  under  the  different heads for in-
formation.   The only medicine that ought  to be given
in this disease, is the best sweet oil, in doses of a table-
spoonful each, and that frequently. I have no authority
for it: but I should  in my own practice, if attending
a case of this kind, mix a tea-spoonful of the finest
charcoal, prepared as directed under the head of  Indi-
gestion, with each dose of sweet oil: and I  should also
mix charcoal with the  glysters of slippery elm.  A
      2 E 2              A2 
330     INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS.

distinguished physician recommends glysters of cold
lead water in this complaint, to lessen the high action?
and subdue the inflammation.  I would suppose, al-
though I never tried it in this disease, that his remedy-
is valuable; it is made by mixing, very weak, the sugar
of lead and cold water, and throwing it up the bowels
with a glyster-pipe.   Look under the  head of Glys-
tering.
  After  the  violence of the disease is subdued, you
must throw up the bowels, as a glyster, fifty or sixty
drops  of laudanum in any simple mucilage, such  as
flaxseed tea or slippery elm.  This  glyster will allay
the irritation, and may be given twice a day; early in
the morning,  and late at night; diminishing the quan-
tity of laudanum according to the age of the patient.
The diet should be of the  lightest  kind, and always
cautiously given, to patients recovering froin this dan-
gerous disease :  this caution is the  more necessary, be-
cause the disease may and frequently does return from
very slight causes; especially where persons have been
afflicted with it several times before.  In truth, and to
speak plainly, it is only by proper diet, and that of the
most simple  kind, with great  care  in preventing ex-
posure, that such persons can remain secure.  Flannel
should be worn next the skin, and the warm bath fre-
quently used, for the purpose of preventing the recur-
rence of this very dangerous and often unmanageable
complaint.
     INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN.
  This disease has destroyed some of the most distin-
guished men in  Europe and America, among whom 
INFLAMMATION OF  THE BRAIN.
331
may be named the celebrated Lord Byron, Gen. Na-
thaniel Greene of the Revolution, and the late Doctor
Dorsey, of Pennsylvania. It arises from intense study;
from exposure to the heat of the sun;  and from every
other cause which produces an over-fulness of blood on
the brain. The symptoms are, a very high fever; great
pain in the head ; the eyes look red and fiery; there is
also great watchfulness;  the patient is unable to bear
the smallest light; there is also, generally, a heavy dull
sleep, with frequent  startings as if in alarm ; the me-
mory fails, and in the first stage of the disease the pa-
tient dislikes to talk;  but, as the complaint advances,
the eyes assume a great brightness:  the patient  be-
comes furious and  talks wildly, and generally on  sub-
 jects which have  left deep  impressions on  his mind
when in health.  The tongue becomes dry, and of a
dark colour; the pulse small, quick, and hard ; and the
poor sufferer is frequently seen to put his hand or
hands to his head.
  The Brain.—This organ is larger in man than in
any other known animal.  Its general weight is from
two pounds five and a half ounces, to three pounds
three and three quarter ounces.   I have weighed seve-
ral  at four pounds.  The brain of the late Lord Byron,
(without its membranes) weighed six pounds.

                    REMEDIES.
  Bleed as largely  in  quantity as the strength of your
patient will possibly admit: let the blood be taken as
suddenly as practicable from the arm, by a large orifice
or opening, so as to permit it to flow in a copious and
bold stream. If the patient, by bleeding from the arm
freely, becomes weak, and the disease is not  subdued,
shave the head, and cup freely all over it: for the me- 
332       INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN.

thod of cupping,  look  under that head.   Apply over
the whole head immediately the coldest  applications
that can be found, such as wet towels constantly wrung
out of the coldest spring water, or ice, if it can be had;
these cold applications are to be constantly renewed.
until the disease is subdued.  Give, also, active purges,
and  that very frequently, consisting of twenty grains
of calomel and twenty of jalap.  If the symptoms are
very violent, give a glyster,  made of thin gruel, with
thirteen grains of tartar emetic well mixed in it: this
glyster must be given  once  every day, as long as  the
disease continues severe.  Your patient's head should
be placed on high pillowing, and his body kept in bed,
in as upright a posture as possible, so as to lessen as far
as practicable the determination or flowing of the blood
to the head.  After the violence of the disease is re-
moved by bleeding and purging, &c, apply constantly
poultices made of pounded mustard seed and vinegar
to the feet  and  ankles;  or blister them with can-
tharides or Spanish flies, prepared in the usual manner.
The feet and legs should, also, frequently be bathed in
the  usual way with warm water: this will divert or
draw off the  determination of blood from the head.
The diet and drinks should be of the lightest, simplest,
and  most cooling kinds.   The room ought to be kept
dark, and perfectly cool; nor ought the least noise to
be permitted to disturb the quiet of the patient. When
reason begins to return, and the  fever to subside, be
extremelv careful to attend to these instructions:  be-
cause  the slightest cause will bring on  the  disease a
second time, with more violence than in the first in-
stance, which will in all probability terminate fatally. 
          INFLAMMATION OF  THE  SPLEEN.      333

    INFLAMMATION OF THE SPLEEN.
   When there is an inflammation  of the spleen, con-
siderable  pain is  felt in the  left side, where the spleen
is situated.  By pressing the fingers on the left side, a
throbbing  sensation is easily discovered, and  a pain is
felt by the patient, extending from the side to the left
shoulder, and not unfrequently through the belly. The
most  remarkable symptoms which attend this disease,
and those which may be relied on, are puking of blood,
great weakness, watchfulness, and  not unfrequently,
the mind is much confused.   This complaint, like all
other inflammatory diseases, is attended with.consi-
derable fever.  It is brought  on by long continued
fevers, and by affections of the liver; and persons who
have  suffered  much from long  attacks of fever and
ague  are liable to what they term ague-cakes, which
are diseases of the spleen, and  which are apt to termi-
nate,  without the application  of proper remedies, in
inflammation of the spleen.   Where there is no in-
flammation, and the side is swelled, the disease is call-
ed chronic.
                   REMEDIES.
   Purge well and frequently with calomel and jalap:
(see table  for dose.)  Also, cup  over the spleen, (for
the method of cupping, look  under that head:) and
always, if the  disease is  of the chronic form, blister
over the spleen in the usual manner. The nitric acid
will also be found a valuable remedy; (read affections
of the Liver, page 303, where you will find the acid
treated on  at large.)   A broad belt worn over the
spleen, with folds  of cloth to  press on it, will be a good
remedy:  as will, also, rubbing the side daily with equal
quantities of spirits of hartshorn and sweet oil 
334      INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.

    INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.
  In this disease, there is always  great pain in the
small of the  back, similar to that felt in  cholic, but
seated  much  nearer the back-bone and loins.  There
is also, in this complaint, a deadness and numbness of
feeling in the upper part of the thigh; considerable
sickness at the stomach ; a great desire to make water
frequently, which is done with much  difficulty, and
in small  quantities at  a time.  The urine  or water is
of a deep red colour, showing that there is great inter-
nal  fever; the slightest motion gives pain ; and, even
in sitting upright in bed, the patient is extremely rest-
less, always receiving  more ease by lying on the af-
fected part.  Sometimes one of the testicles is retracted
or drawn up, so that you can scarcely feel it.  The
complaint is brought on by great exertions in lifting;
by violent and sudden sprains; by  exposure  to cold
when over-heated; by lying on the damp ground; and
by too frequent intercourse with women.  Sometimes
the disease is produced by hard substances, calculus,
stone or gravel formed in  the  kidneys: and I have
knowrn two or three instances of its having been pro-
duced  in young .persons by that horrible practice call-
ed by physicians Onanism.

                   REMEDIES.
  Like all other inflammations, that of the kidneys re-
quires  the free use of the lancet; always repeating the
bleeding from the arm, as the urgency and severity of
the symptoms may seem to require.  Cup freely over
the small of the back; (for cupping read  under that
head.)  Apply flannel cloths, wrung out of hot water,
to the  small of the back; md give glysters of warm 
         INFLAMMATION OF TnE KIDNEYS.      335

milk and water,  in  equal  portions,  which  must be
throwrn up the bowels three or four times a day.  All
the drinks should be made wrarm, in which  must be
dissolved some kind of gum, such as that of the peach
tree, or any other kind of  gum that will produce  a
mucilage.  Flaxseed tea will answrer a good purpose,
as will also tea made of slippery-elm bark; in both of
which  you may put a little spirits of nitre. The bowels
are to be kept open by castor oil, and by moderate glys-
tering.  The wTarm bath must be frequently  used, and
applied for a considerable time at. once, over the whole
body;  during which, the  patient in the bath must
have his body well rubbed  with a soft brush or wool-
len cloth: this bath  must be repeated every day, and
twice a day if necessary.   The warm bath is  a most
valuable remedy, in this complaint,  and must not be
neglected.  After the violence of the disease has been
subdued by the use of  the lancet and warm bath, &c.
as before noticed, to give ease  and quiet slumbers to
the patient, administer a pill of opium, or thirty-five
drops  of laudanum; for the different doses of which,
proportioned to the  different ages, see table  for doses.
Or  a glyster at this time,  made of flaxseed  tea, with
forty or fifty drops of laudanum mixed with  it, will
give great  relief, by allaying both pain and irritation.
A decoction or tea made  of dried peach tree leaves,
made  by boiling  a handful of the leaves in a quart of
water, until it decreases to three half pints, to be drank
occasionally through the day: this is an excellent re-
medy, and has  been known to succeed in this com-
plaint, when the sufferings Jhave been unusually severe.
In some cases inflammation of the kidneys cannot be
removed, until  abscesses or ulcers are  formed: this
state of the case  will alwrays be  knowTn by the pain 
336      INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.

becoming less severe; by great weight being felt in
the small of the back; by chills, succeeded by flushes
of heat, and when by suffering the urine or water to
settle in the urinal or pot, you can discover a mucous
matter on the bottom.
  When this is the situation of the patient, the  uva
ursi will be found a useful  medicine: for description
of which, and its  medicinal qualities, read under the
head of uva ursi, sometimes called  the upland cranber-
ry, and  sometimes the bearberry.   The usual  dose is,
two or three times a day, half a pint of the decoction,
or tea made  of a handful of  the leaves to a pint of wa-
ter ;  or a tea-spoonful  of the  pounded leaves, *hree
times a day, taken in any kind  of syrup.
   INFLAMMATION  OF  THE BLADDER.
  Immediately above the privates, in this complaint,
there is a very considerable pain; which is much in-
creased by pressing on the part with the fingers. There
is also a constant desire to make water, which is done
with  much  difficulty, and  in very small quantities.
There is a constant desire to go to stool, and always
some fever;  also great restlessness, w7here the disease
is produced by stone or gravel; or by stricture or con-
traction of the urethra, or canal which leads from the
bladder;  or by this passage being stopped up; or from
the lodgment of hardened  lumps  in the lower  gut,
caused by costiveness or  constipation of the bowels.
In the last case, I  have frequently known an instru-
ment introduced, if the fingers  could not remove the
solid  and hard excrement, called  by physicians the
foeces. This disease is also sometimes  produced bv 
         INFLAMMATION OF THE  BLADDER.     337

 injuries received, such as severe blows, kicks, falls..&c;
 by taking tincture of cantharides or Spanish flies; and
 by that false and foolish delicacy, which leads some per-
 sons to hold their urine a considerable length of time.
 I recollect a case which terminated fatally by this false
 modesty.  A young  lady of respectability was intro-
 duced to a merchant who was travelling from Phila-
 delphia to New York, and placed under his protection
 to perform the same journey.   The  post-coach runs
 the  distance, from  ninety  to  one hundred miles, in
 about eleven hours; this distance*she travelled in ex-
 cruciating torment from retaining her urine, and died
 from the effects of it on the second day after her arrival
 in New York.   She was in the bloom of youth, health,
 and beauty;  and I mention the case emphatically as a
 warning to others, who from false delicacy might do
 the same thing.

                    REMEDIES.
   You must, as in all other  cases of inflammation be-
 fore mentioned, depend much on frequent bleeding,
 and the free use of the warm bath: and on all such
 medicines as will determine to the surface, or, in other
 words, produce a gentle moisture  on the skin.  Also,
 get a syringe and inject water made pleasantly warm
 into the bladder, which will remove  the  irritating
 causes; and, after washing out the bladder with warm
 water as just directed, make a decoction of slippery
 elm bark and let it become cool; with this decoction
 or tea, mix a very weak preparation of sugar of lead,
(which must be dissolved in cold wrater,) and inject
the preparation into the bladder occasionally; this will
lessen the inflammation, and assist  in finally subduing
it; but I caution you to make the solution of sugar of
      2 F               43 
3'i$      INFLAMMATION  OF THE BLADDER.

lead  very weak.  You are  not to use a blister in this
complaint;  because  it would act immediately and
particularly on the bladder, by suppressing the  urine
Glysters of the mildest kind are to be given ; they will
always soothe, relieve, and reduce the irritation of the
bowels, and the adjacent parts.  If the pain is very se-
vere, laudanum should be given, (see table for dose.)
and the water frequently drawn off by a catheter: the
fact is, that a physician should be immediately called;
but if necessity should urge the use of the catheter, by
a person who is not a professional man, a description
of the instrument, and of the precise manner of using
it, both in male and female  cases, will be found under
the proper head.
  DRINKING COLD WATER WHEN OVER-
                    HEATED.
  The imprudent use of cold water wiien a person
is over-heated, almost invariably produces cramps or
spasms of the  stomach, which usually  terminate in
death.  In the year 1816,1 saw five persons expire in
less than ten minutes in  the city of New York, from
drinking cold water; in  truth, the deaths  became so
frequent at the different  watering  places throughout
the town, that placards or printed  bills were ordered
by the city council to be stuck  on the different pumps,
to caution all persons  against drinking cold Water when
over-heated and bathed in sweat.  This dangerous and
fatal practice, if it even does not produce immediate
death, almost invariably lays  the foundation of linger-
ing and destructive diseases, which are extremely diffi-
cult of cure.   That eminent and distinguished physi- 
             D TIN KING COLD MATER.          339

cian, Benjamin Rush, describes the causes of fatality in
these cases in the following manner:  " When large
quantities of cold water are suddenly taken into  the
stomach, under circumstances of an over-heated sys-
tem, the person in a few minutes  afterwards loses his
sight, and every  thing appears dark about him: he
staggers in attempting to walk, and unless supported,
falls to the ground; the breathing soon becomes very
difficult, and a rattling noise is heard in the throat; the
feet and hands become cold, and the pulse cannot be
felt, and generally in about five minutes death is  the
consequence, unless  speedy relief can  be obtained."
Iced toddy, when taken under the same circumstances
of being over-heated, has often been known to produce
the same  fatal effects: and I have  known many in-
stances  in winch ladies in  full health, have been
brought to the brink of eternity in a few minutes,
from eating iced creams when overheated by dancing.
The truth is, that very cold articles of food or drink,
even when the body is moderately cool, sometimes, in
peculiar constitutions, are productive  of  dangerous
consequences: cases which are not very violent, and
which come on with cramps or spasms, should  be im-
mediately attended to, or they will also  terminate
fatally in  most instances, by inflammations  of the sto-
mach.
                    REMEDIES.
   " I have discovereji," says Doctor  Rush,  " but one
certain remedy in this desperate, and if not immedi-
ately relieved, fatal disease: this remedy, and  it may
be relied on, is laudanum; whichJjas to be given in the
quantity of from a tea to nearly a table-spoonful  im-
mediately in violent cases, before relief  can  be  obtain-
ed."  When laudanum cannot be had in time, a glass 
340
DRINKING COLD WATER.
     of  strong whisky or brandy, one of which is generally
     found forthcoming everywhere, may be given.   Laud-
     anum, however, is so very easily made, and so fre-
     quently necessary in all families, that it ought always to
     be  kept in preparation for use:  it will frequently save
     the expense of sending for a physician at an unseason-
     able hour, and oftentimes save life.in sudden and des-
•    perate cases.  For the mode of preparing it, see under
     the head Laudanum. Every person about to drink cold
     water, when warm and  in  high  perspiration, should
     observe faithfully the following rules.   First,  pour
     considerable quantities of water  on the wrists: and
     next, wash the face,  temples, and hands, with water,
     and suffer them to dry.  These measures, from the
     coldness  of the water applied, and the evaporation
     which succeeds, will abstract or draw from the interior
     of the body, and particularly from the  vital parts, a
     considerable portion of heat; and prevent the sudden
     and dangerous  action of the cold  on the stomach, and
     other vital parts of the system.   You are, also, when
     you drink, to take the water in small quantities at a
     time; in  fact, not more  than half a pint at once : re-
     peating the draughts about every five or ten minutes.
     It would be the safest plan, even with the above pre-
     cautions, to mix some spirits with the water.  Farmers
     engaged  in harvesting their grain, should always let
     the water remain some time in the vessel before using
     it;  many fatal diseases have originated in an imprudent
     disregard of this cautious  practice. 
COLDS.       a          341
             CATARRH,  OR COLD.

  Colds  are so common in all countries, and their
modes of treatment so generally known, that not much
need be said respecting them; further than to remark,
that early attention will frequently prevent their laying
the foundation for other complaints, which may in the
end prove highly dangerous  and very  difficult  to
remove.   Persons  of delicate  constitutions are most
subject to colds; and from the  carelessness of such
persons, in neglecting to avoid exposure, and to remove
the early symptoms of disease, more than tw7o-thirds of
the whole number of consumptive cases, in  all coun-
tries, arise and become fatal.  Cold usually comes  on
with a dull heaviness of the head, which feels as if the
nose was  stopped  up,  which  is generally the case.
There is, also, at times, much sneezing, which  is  al-
ways  followed  by discharges of a thin watery mucus
from  the  nostrils.  You have  soreness of the  throat;
cough; and chills stealing over you,  with occasional
hot flushes; persons of very weakly constitutions have,
also, a tightness and pain of the chest.   Sometimes the
symptoms are highly inflammatory or feverish; this is
nearly always the case with very irritable constitutions,
in which instance  the complaint must be arrested im-
mediately.  Here I repeat, because it is all-important,
that most of the consumptions of this country originate
in neglected colds, brought on by exposure to the night
air; by damp feet; by  changing warm  clothing far
thin;  by becoming warm from exercise, perhaps in a
crowded ball room, and suddenly .exposing the body to
a cold  current of air ; and by many other imprudent
courses of conduct.
2f2 
342
COLDS.
                   REMEDIES.

  Immediately before going to bed, bathe the feet and
legs in warm w7ater fifteen or twenty minutes; then
wipe and rub them perfectly dry, and wrap them care-
fully in warm  dry flannels.   After lying down, take a
large drink of warm sage, balm, or hyssop tea, or any
thing else that will sweat moderately.  If the head is
much stopped  up with the cold, you may relieve your-
self in a sitting posture, by covering the head with
flannel or a blanket, and producing a steam beneath
and surrounding the head; this can easily be done by
placing a hot rock  in a crock or basin, and gradually
dripping water on it, at the same time holding the ves-
sel on your lap, and closing all  the avenues by which
the steam might escape from about your head, except-
ing one through which you are to breathe.   This will
give much  relief in a short time.  My practice in the
commencement of a cold is, to give an emetic or puke.
which in nine cases out of ten relieves the patient at
once, and cuts short the advance of the fever: see table
for dose.   When  fever is  very  considerable, with
violent pain in the head, indicating inflammation, the
loss of some blood would be advisable:  after which,
give a tea-spoonful of antimonial wine, every three
hours, in any kind of drink; this will determincto the
surface, or  in  other words produce  a gentle moisture
on  the  skin, and allay the feverish symptoms.  The
bowels should be purged moderately, by the daily use
of Epsom  salts, in small quantities, dissolved  in cold
water.  If there be any pain in the chest or  side, after
employing the above remedies, put  a blister over the
part affected with  pain, and keep it running as long as
possible; look under the head Blisters.   The diet in 
colds.                  343
colds should be light and cooling.   Heating or stimu-
lating articles, either of drink or diet, are highly im-
proper, and always produce more or less fever.   The
best drink during the day is flaxseed tea, with a small
portion of acid in it.   After the feverish symptoms are
removed, a troublesome cough sometimes remains: this
may be relieved by the use of balsam copaiva, in doses
of ten or fifteen drops, on lumps of sugar, given  three
times a day; and a dose of paregoric, each night at bed-
time, (see table for dose,) or a small pill of opium: see
table.  The French  have an excellent  remedy for
curing cold, which I have frequently employed with
success, producing immediate relief.   They apply  a
poultice of boiled onions to the sole of each foot on
going to bed, after having bathed the feet and legs wrell
in warm water: and if the throat  is sore they apply
the boiled onion poultice to it.   This is a  valuable ap-
plication, and may be  much relied on.  If the chest is
much oppressed, the application of this poultice to the
breast will almost invariably relieve.  The following
remedy, which is an excellent and efficacious one, has
frequently afforded relief in cases where  colds had
nearly settled  down  into  confirmed  consumptions.
Take one tea-spoonful of flaxseed, half an ounce of
liquorice, and a quarter of a pound of raisins; put them
into two quarts of rain-water, and simmer the whole
over a slow fire, until you reduce the quantity to one
quart.  Then prepare some candy made from brown
sugar, and dissolve it  in the liquor boiled  down to  a
quart; half a pint of this is to be taken every night on
going to bed, mixed with a little good vinegar to  give
it a slightly acid taste;  this will certainly relieve a cold,
if used a few days.  I have been more particular on
this disease than at first view  might seem necessary; 
344
COLDS.
but considering it as intimately connected with, and in
many instances the forerunner and foundation of con-
sumption, I think I  am justified in treating it with
great attention.
                    DROPSY.
  Dropsy is a disease of the whole system, arising from
debility or weakness, and can  easily be distinguished
from other diseases, by the collection of water in some
part of the body.  By pressing the fingers on the flesh
with some force, a depression or pitting will take place,
which can be seen some little time after the fingers have
been removed: in other words, the flesh will have lost
its elasticity, and will not immediately spring back, on
the removal of a pressure.   Or if the water is lodged
in any particular cavity of the body, it may also be
heard distinctly, on  any sudden change of  position, or
rapia movement of the body.  Among physicians, it is
called by different names, according with the different
parts of the system  in which the water may be depo-
sited.   When the water is seated in the cavities of the
head or brain,  the  disease  is  called  hydrocephalus:
when seated  in  the cavity  of the chest, it is called
hydrothorax: when in that of the belly, ascites: when
seated in the scrotum or bag of the privates, it is called
hydrocele: and when the water is effused in the cellu-
lar  membrane,  which  is  the thin  and  delicate skin
found among the muscles or flesh  of the body, and
which is the same that butchers blow up in their veal
and mutton, the dropsical disease is called anasarca.
There  is strong resemblance between dropsy of the
testicles or stone in men, and ascites ovarii in women; 
DROPSY.                  345
the latter being small collections of dropsical fluid in
the ovaria, which are two oval flat bodies  about an
inch in  length, and half an inch in breadth, situated
about an inch behind the womb, and which are sup-
posed to contain and supply whatever the female brings
to the procreation or formation  of the foetus  or child.
This is proved from  analogy, by the simple  fact, that
an animal deprived  of the ovaria, as in the case of
spaying swine, loses all power  of  conceiving, and all
venereal desires.   I omitted to  mention, that hydroce-
phalus or dropsy of the brain, is a disease common to
children, and will be treated of under the proper head.
I have, in the first instance, and contrary to the  im-
pressions of some medical men, given it as my decided
opinion, that dropsy  is a disease of the whole system,
and my reader may be assured  that I am sustained in
that opinion by many of the most distinguished phy-
sicians in the United States.

                    REMEDIES.
   More diseases of dropsy have been removed by bleed-
ing, and more relief has been  obtained  from it, than
from any other known remedy; for which reasons it is
nowr considered  as satisfactorily proved, that this com-
plaint is more frequently inflammatory than  was gene-
rally supposed.  For this very important information,
w7e are indebted to that highly distinguished physician,
Dr. Benjamin Rush.   Bleeding must be entirely regu-
lated as to frequency and  quantity by the relief it af-
fords to  the patient.   In my practice, I  always use it
freely; and never omit at the same time to purge freely
with calomel  and jalap, or jalap alone;  see  table for
dose.  If these purges operate without pain, and  the
stools are fluid or watery, and your patient is not much
                         44 
346                 DROPSY.
weakened by them,it does not matter how7 many stools
are produced daily ;  because the remedy is an efficient
and proper one.  One ounce of cream tartar, in half a
gallon of water, drank during the day. will be of much
service: in truth, all articles which will increase the
flow7 of the urine, or water from the bladder, called by
physicians diuretics, are very useful in this complaint.
The following cures which I shall notice in the words
of an experienced and distinguished man, give evidence
of the correctness of some of my introductory remarks,
among which are the following: " The  discoveries of
each succeeding day convince  us  that the Almighty
has graciously furnished  man with the means of cur-
ing his own diseases, in all the  different countries and
climates  of which he is an  inhabitant; and there is
scarcely a day, month, or year, which does not exhibit
to us the surprising cures made by roots, herbs, and
simples, found in our own vegetable kingdom, when
all foreign articles  have utterly failed," &c. &c.  The
truth is, that  the wise and beneficent Creator of the
universe has made nothing in vain; ana\ the time will
come,  when the apparently most  useless and noxious
plants  will be found eminently useful in the cure of
diseases,  which  have hitherto  baffled the profound-
est skill, and  the most powerful  energies of genius.
The following are the words of the author just alluded
to: -I am knowing to two extremely distressing cases
of dropsy being  entirely relieved by means of the bark
of the common elder.  One,  a woman advanced  in
age, in the last stage of this disease, who lost a brother
some short time  previous by the same complaint. The
other,  a young  woman who  had been for eighteen
months confined to her bed,  during four of which she
was unable  to lie down, and who is now wholly free 
DROPSY.
347
from  dropsy, and recovering strength in  a most sur-
prising and unexpected manner.  A great many other
cases, less aggravated, have been cured by the bark of
the common elder; I have used it myself with universal
success;  and its immediate adoption by the afflicted,
is truly important and deserving attention.   The re-
ceipt is as follows: take two handfuls of the green or
inner bark of the white or common elder; steep them
in two quarts of Lisbon wine twenty-four hours: if
this wine cannot be had, Teneriffe or Madeira will an-
swer ; take a gill every morning, fasting, or more if it
can be borne on the stomach.   The bark and  leaves
of the elder have long been known as powerful eva-
cuants.   I ought to  have said in the proper place, that
the young woman I have mentioned used the elder-
barked wine at the instance of one of the most distin-
guished  physicians  of Boston;  who had previously
tried  every knowm  prescription  without  success, and
that the use of the elder entirely cured her."   The fol-
lowing remedy, handed to me by a respectable man,
wiio resides in Roane county, Tennessee, (Mr. William
Mead,) will  undoubtedly be worthy of  trial,  and I
therefore submit it to the reader : " Take two or three
handfuls of rusty nails, and put  them into half a gal-
lon of good apple vinegar: then boil, or rather sim-
mer the vinegar down to a quart, and strain it well
through a linen cloth;  next, add to the vinegar a quart
of molasses, a  handful of camomile  flowers,  and a
handful  of lavender from the garden.  Boil or stew7
this mixture  down to a quart.  The dose for a grown
person is a  large table-spoonful, to be increased gradu-
ally to one  and a half; the dose, of course, must be
smaller for younger and more weakly persons."   The
character of Mr. Mead for integrity and veracity, and 
348                  DROPSY.
his solemn assurances that  the  prescription has often
been eminently successful,  induce me to place it on
record.  The oxide of iron, in other words rust of iron,
would probably answer a better purpose than the nails
mentioned by Mr. Mead.
                    SCURVY.
  This disease is frequently of a highly putrid nature,
and generally afflicts persons who have lived a consi-
derable time on salted provisions, or unsound and taint-
ed animal food.  Those are also subject to it who have
been long confined without due  exercise; those, also,
who have been  unable to obtain vegetable food for a
considerable period.  Cold moist  air, bad water, the
morbid influence of depressing passions, such as grief,
fear, &c, and the neglect of personal cleanliness, will
also produce scurvy.   With regard to cleanliness, I
must speak  in plain terms.  Neglect of personal or
bodily  ablutions ; in other words, washings among fe-
males at particular periods, are in reality the causes of
very many cases  of scurvy: and here I am compelled
to say,  that such are  the cleanly habits of the French
of the  better order,  male and female, I have never
know7n a single case of scurvy among  them, although
much accustomed to their society in Europe: they are
in the  constant habit of using  the warm  bath.  The
disease called scurvy can always be known by the soft-
ness and sponginess of the gums, which, even  on be-
ing gently rubbed with a soft sponge, will invariably
bleed.   Ulcers next form round the teeth, and  gradu-
ally eat aw7ay the lowrer edges of  the  gums, by  which
the teeth become loose, and sometimes fall out.  The 
SCURVY.
349
breath is always offensive, and smells badly ;  the face
is usually of a pale  yellow colour, and considerably
bloated;  the heart  palpitates,  or  beats rapidly and
irregularly, on slight  exertion; the legs and feet swell;
small ulcers or sores break out on different parts of the
body, and more generally  on the tegs; pains are felt
over the whole body; the urine or water is highly co-
loured ; the stools smell very badly;  the strength be-
comes very  much reduced, and bleeding  takes place
from the nose, ears,  gums,  and fundament.   When
these last symptoms  take place, the sufferer is near the
termination of his earthly career;  and it is no less sin-
gular than true, that  the appetite remains good to  the
last, together with a perfect retention of memory.

                    REMEDIES.
  All acids are valuable medicines in scurvy: such as
common vinegar with fresh vegetables;  in fact a bath
made of vinegar and water, in which the whole body
can be frequently bathed, will be  of  essential service;
as will also the plentiful  use of ripe fruits.   Sour krout,
or pickled cabbage, is so excellent a remedy in scurvy,
that a Dutchman (whose  name I have forgotten) re-
ceived a large premium from the British Government
for introducing it into the English navy.  Where there
is much debility, the moderate  use of good old wine
will be proper; as will also the use of nitric acid: see
Diseases of the Liver, page 314, where you  will see this
medicine plainly described, together with its effects, by
which the bowels will  generally  be  kept  sufficiently
loose, at the same time that the system will  be strength-
ened.  If, however, the bowels  should  be bound, dis-
solve a table-spoonful of cream tartar in a pint of boil-
ing water, and when cold use it as a drink.   I must
     2G 
350
SCURVY.
not omit to mention, emphatically, that regular exercise
is absolutely necessary in this complaint.   You will
find the following medicine also a good remedy : dis-
solve three ounces of common saltpetre in a quart of
good vinegar, and take one or two table-spoonsful three
or four times a day;  or less quantities if the state of
your patient will justify it.  When the gums are much
swollen, with considerable ulceration, and the  mouth,
teeth, and breath have a fetid or bad smell, the mouth
must  be frequently washed with water, prepared as
follows:  boil red oak bark in water, then strain the
water well, and in it dissolve a lump of alum, to which
add a tea-spoonful of finely powdered charcoal, which
is to  be prepared  by burning common smith's coal
over again. I have omitted to state, that if the breathing
is difficult, or there is much pain in the breast, a blister
should be applied on the chest over the pain; you are
never to bleed in scurvy, if you do you will  lose your
patient.   Pure air, moderate yet sufficient exercise,
and the  warm  bath  of pleasant  temperature, with a
sufficiency of vinegar in it, as before mentioned, will
restore your patient.
                   PLEURISY.
  Pleurisy is an inflammatory complaint, and  re-
quires remedies for the immediate reduction of the
inflammation.   The symptoms are a sharp pain in the
side, particularly when  you draw your breath; the
pain then shooting into the breast, back, or shoulder;
great difficulty in lying on the affected side; the tongue
is of a white  colour; the urine or water of a high
colour;  the face flushed and red; and the body very 
PLEURISY.
351
hot, denoting much fever.  Sometimes this  disease is
accompanied with cough ; and when this is  the case.
it is what physicians call a short dry cough.  Some-
times the  cough  increases, and  is accompanied by
spitting up of  tough phlegm;  and the blood, w7hen
drawn from the arm, and suffered to cool, has a coat
or covering on it of a buffy colour, which  always de-
notes inflammation.  This complaint is brought on by
exposure to cold and wet;  by sleeping on the damp
ground, and getting the feet wet; by being exposed to
sudden  currents of cold  air, when the body is over-
heated ; by the suppression of certain periodical evacua-
tions ;  or, in other w7ords, by the  obstruction of  the
menstrual  discharges in women.   The  winter and
spring are the seasons in  which this complaint is most
prevalent.  I will endeavour, for the satisfaction of the
reader, to notice such symptoms as indicate a favourable
termination of the disease ;  and, also, such as argue an
unfavourable and fatal  issue of the complaint.  First.
the symptoms are favourable when there is a free per-
spiration or sweating;  when there is a copious dis-
charge, by expectoration or spitting freely; when  the
urine, or  water,  deposites, on  settling, considerable
sediment or grounds, in the urinal or pot; when there
is a spontaneous bleeding at the nose; or a gentle purg-
ing comes on; or the skin becomes warm  and  soft,
with an abatement of thirst; and when there is a con-
siderable relief from pain in the head and side. Second,
the symptoms are unfavourable, when there is violent
fever; when the patient is delirious or out of his senses;
when the pain suddenly stops, and the face or counten-
ance changes its expression; when there is little, per-
haps no expectoration or  discharge by spitting; or if
there is any thing spit up, it is of a dark colour;  and, 
352                 PLEURISY.

finally, when there is a sinking and irregularity of the
pulse: these symptoms are highly dangerous.

                   REMEDIES
  I have stated above that pleurisy is an inflammatory
disease, and that it requires the  immediate reduction
of the inflammatory symptoms.  You must, therefore,
bleed in the first instance, as freely as the constitution
and state of the  patient will  bear.   If the fever still
continues high, and the pulse remain hard and full; or,
in other words, if the pain and fever after  the first
bleeding should be relieved for a short time, and after-
wards return with any violence, it will be proper to
bleed a second time moderately.  In fact, I have fre-
quently been compelled to bleed three and four times
before I could reduce the  inflammatory symptoms.
After the first bleeding apply a large blister  over the
pain, whether situated in the side or chest: and if the
blister should not run sufficiently after being dressed,
and  the pain should  continue, apply another blister.
After the bleeding and blistering  give a large dose of
Epsom salts;  and if any considerable pain  is felt, put
the patient in a warm bath which will cover the whole
body.   I have, in more than fifty ca-*"-* in the State of
Virginia, relieved pleurisy by immediate and copious
bleeding, and as early as convenient afterward, by using
the wrarm  bath.  After the inflammatory action is  in
some degree removed, the Seneca snake-root tea will
be found a valuable remedy : look for a description  of
this root, under that head. Throughout this complaint,
the  bowrels must be  kept open by the use of Epsom
 salts, or senna and manna, or castor oil: Epsom salts,
 however, will alwrays be best, if they can be procured.
 Glysters of any simple kind, such  as thin gruel milk- 
•»    PLEURISY.
353
 . warm, or starch dissolved in warm water, will be per-
  haps equally good for keeping the  bowels  open.  See
' under the head Glystering, and how to prepare glysters.
  When perspiration or sweating is not produced in mo-
  deration, by the remedies I have  mentioned,  equal
  quantities of antimonial wine and sweet spirits of nitre,
  mixed, and given in doses of a tea-spoonful every two
  hours^ will assist in producing perspiration.  Toward
  the close of this  disease, and after the inflammatory or
  feverish symptoms have subsided, and not before, if the
  cough should continue troublesome, give a pill of opium
  at night, or a dose of paregoric or laudanum: see table
  for doses of these articles; and also under different heads,
  how they are made.   If the pulse should sink, and
  your  patient  become weak, stimulate  gently hut
  cautiously  with warm toddy, or  wine mixed with
  sugar and water, and apply blisters to the ankles, and
  cataplasms or poultices to the soles of the feet, made of
  mustard-seed pounded fine, and mixed with vinegar.
  These measures sometimes become necessary  from
  sinking of the pulse, coldness of the feet, or extreme
  weakness:  they always produce excitement  and
  warmth in the system.  This complaint requires the
  strictest abstinence from all animal food, and  from
  every thing wilich has a tendency to produce fever.
  The patient should live on the lightest diet, and such
  as will keep down all fever and inflammation: in fact.
  there  is no disease mentioned in this book, which re-
  quires a more rigid abstinence  from solid food than
  pleurisy.  Nothing but toast and water, barley-water,
  gruel, or flaxseed tea, ought to be taken in this disease,
  and that warm, and in very small quantities at a time;
  a little panado  may be given as nourishment.  Unfor-
  tunately, and for want of experience, when any person
        2  G 2              45 
354                PLEURISY.    •

is taken sick in this country, and refuses to eat for two
or three days, great alarm is created immediately lest
the patient should starve to death: and  I have known
several instances since I have  been in the western
country, in which the officious stuffing of patients with
food,  with the best possible intention, has produced
death, in spite of medical assistance.  I wish all such
persons as are disposed to cram their patients with food.
when there is  no appetite for it, and the stomach re-
jects  it, to remember that nature generally speaks the
truth.  After recovering from this disease, great care
must  be taken to avoid all cold and dampness, and par-
ticularly exposure to the night air; because they almost
always produce dangerous relapses.  Flannel ought to
be worn next the skin; and dressed  buck-skin, I am
convinced from my own  practice, worn in the  same
manner  by delicate persons, is  also an excellent de-
fender from cold, and much superior to flannel.
            GRAVEL AND STONE.
  Gravel and stone,  which  originate  in  the  same
causes, are to be distinguished thus from each other.
Gravel is usually understood to mean calculi, (from the
old word  calx, a limestone^) or little sand-like stones.
which pass from the kidneys,  through the ureters into
the bladder.  The ureters are small  tubes which run
from the kidneys to the bladder, and convey the urine
into the latter.  The word stone speaks for itself; it is
a strong concretion of  matter, which enlarges and
hardens by time, seldom found in the ureters or tubes
themselves,  but generally lodged in the kidneys or
bladder: when the stone is in  the kidneys, it is because 
GRAVEL.                  355
it is too large to be passed off hy the tubes leading to
the bladder; and when found in the bladder, it is from
the simple fact of its being  too large to be passed off
through the channel of the penis.  When a disposition
to  gravel (which I have just explained) exists in the
urinary system, there will be occasional  paroxysms or
fits of pain in the back, which sometimes shoot down-
ward to the thighs; and sometimes a numbness of one
of the  legs inside, accompanied with a retraction or
drawing  up of one of the testicles or stones in men.
The pain I  have just spoken of is often extremely
violent, and is sometimes terminated by a discharge of
small gravel stones from the urethra, with the water
in the common way.  The  stone, however, which I
have also described, and which is usually found in the
kidneys or bladder, sometimes in both,  is a disease of
more serious and dangerous consequences altogether.
When the stone has acquired some size, if situated in
the  bladder, there is a frequent and almost constant
desire to make water;  sometimes the wrater passes off
drop by drop, with much pain; and sometimes in a
small  stream  which occasionally stops  short; in the
last  case, when the water passes in a small stream with.
sudden stoppages, there will be great  pain for some
minutes  after in the glans penis, in other wTords, the
head of  the  penis.   In some persons, the violence of
straining to evacuate the urine, makes the rectum or
lower gut contract, and expel its excrements : or if that
gut  be empty, this straining occasions tenesmus or- a
constant desire to go to stool.  In discharges of urine
when stone exists in  the bladder,  there is very often
blood to be seen in the wrater, and sometimes pure blood
 itself is passed off in small  quantities.   When the cal-
culus or  stone is formed in  the kidneys, in addition to 
356                  GRAVEL.
the general symptoms of stone in the bladder, there
will be felt a dead, heavy, dull pain, in the loin where
the kidney containing the stone is situated; frequently
accompanied by fits of shuddering, and creeping cold-
ness in and over the part affected; this shuddering and
coldness  of sensation are sometimes so great, that suf-
ferers  have  been known  to blister the small of their
backs, by exposure of the parts naked to the heat of
large fires.  In several cases of calculus or stone, either
in the kidneys  or bladder, there is frequently expe-
rienced, during the time of passing the urine, sickness
of the stomach, a desire to vomit, and much  faintness.
Aged persons are most liable to disorders of the urinary
passages; which do not in all cases arise from gravel
and stone, or even from spasmodic strictures in those
parts.  These apparent disorders of the  urinary pas-
sages frequently occur in  old persons from the consti-
pation  and retention of feculent and fetid matter in the
bowels, which ought always to be attended to by gen-
tle purging, and particularly by frequent glystering:
for Glystering, see that head.   The gravel, and some-
times the stone, when the latter has not become much
enlarged  from the lapse of time, may much more easily
be removed from  the  bladders of females than from
those of males.  In women, the  urethra or canal which
leads  from  the bladder   to the  exterior, is always
straighter, shorter, and wider than in men, and may in
many cases be dilated so much  by artificial means, as
to admit the gravel or stone to pass off with the water.
The extraction of  the stone from  men, by the  use of
the knife, is called by physicians  lithotomy.   This is
a delicate, dangerous, and very painful  operation; and
I have uniformly advised  persons much  advanced in
age, and who were afflicted with the stone, to employ 
GRAVEL.                  357
palliative  remedies  for the pains attending it, rather
than lithotomy.

                   REMEDIES.
  When there is much difficulty in passing the urine,
and that difficulty arises from strictures or obstructions
in the urethra or canal which conveys off the water;
and especially where  inflammation of the bladder is
apprehended, the catheter must be used; for which
see the head Catheter. When the complaint is painful
and oppressive, in what are called paroxysms or fits of
the gravel or stone, for I make no distinction between
them as to remedies, and there is so much irritation as
to lead to apprehensions of  inflammation,  bleeding
should be immediately  resorted to, followed by the
warm bath; in which the patient should remain some
time.  In most cases, I have been enabled to allay the
pain  entirely, by bleeding  in the first instances,  using
the warm bath next, and then giving a pill of opium, or
a dose of laudanum: for which, see head Warm Bath,
and table of doses.  After these remedies, if considered
necessary, the privates and belly should be rubbed and
bathed with flannel cloths wrung out of warm water
in which camomile flowers have  been boiled;  after
which, the cloths themselves should be applied warm,
and suffered  to remain.   The drink of the patient
should be flaxseed tea; given as freely as you please.
Should  the pain  still continue severe, give  a glyster
made of gruel, and  strained, in which put two table-
spoonsful of castor oil or sweet oil, and forty drops of
laudanum.   This is to be thrown up the bowels plea-
santly warm : see head Glystering.   Old persons, who
are afflicted with gravel or stone, will find great relief
from frequently using such glysters, and from taking 
358
gravel:
in moderation, occasionally, laudanum or opium to
procure rest: see table of doses.   But, among all  the
palliative  remedies  ever yet discovered, I am compel-
led, from both experience and incontestable authorities
to believe, that, in  all diseases of the urinary organs,
and  particularly in  stone and gravel, the uva ursi of
the mountainous regions of Europe,  and possibly of
this country, stands  conspicuous and alone.   The  fol-
lowing cases of actual experiment,  to which, had I
space, many more might be added, will prove conclu-
sively that it is a sovereign remedy, if not in dissolving
the stony  matter,  at least in banishing the  sufferings
with which it is usually attended.
  Case 1st. At the age of thirty-two, Mr. B----hav-
ing tried  various  remedies, submitted to an operation
for the stone, with which he had been afflicted many
years.  When the usual passage was opened into  the
bladder with a knife, a rough stone of the  mulberry
kind was taken out. Although the operation was well
performed, the incision perfectly cured, and the severe
pains he formerly felt had ceased for a time; yet, after
the lapse of some  weeks, he again began to be afflicted
with excruciating pains, and great difficulty in making
water.   The urine was accompanied with a discharge
of matter, which  had  continued ever since the opera-
tion ; and  now, instead of decreasing as was expected,
it had become more abundant, bloody, fetid, corrosive,
and inflammatory, and excited exquisite agony at every
attempt to pass it  off.  After various remedies, ordered
by the best physicians, had been tried in vain, the  use
of the uva ursi w7as  recommended,  and many cases in
which it had been successful related to him by way of
encouragement.   On the  10th of October, 1762, after
taking some medicines by way of preparation, he began 
                     GRAVEL.                 359  •

with  half a drachm of the  powder of the plant uva
ursi,  which had  been brought from  Vienna for the
greater certainty; this dose  he took twice a day, ob-
serving a temperate diet, and abstaining from every
thing considered pernicious.   In three weeks his pains
were appeased; the matter was greatly diminished in
quantity, and was also of a much less acid quality; and
he voided his urine more freely.  These circumstances
gave  him great hopes of  being perfectly cured; nor
were  his expectations ill grounded : for in ten  weeks
he was entirely free from pain, made wrater easily, and
was no more afflicted  with fruitless  provocations to
urinate.   And now, April 25, 1763, by persevering in
this course, he is so perfectly free from all symptoms
of the complaint, that he  considers himself perfectly
cured.
  Case 2d.  A youth twelve years of  age, of a tender
constitution and delicate frame, having been frequently
subject to coughs and  other ailments, was suddenly
attacked with severe pain in the region of the bladder.
This continued for several days; during which time
he frequently cried out as if upon the rack: his water,
which was very mucous, dropping from him very pain-
fully, gave strong suspicion of the gravel.   The usual
medicines were given; but  in vain.   He was next
sounded by a skilful physician, and a stone was found
in the bladder.   About  this  time, De Haen's account
of the uva ursi became public : and this wras considered
a fair  case in  which to give  it a  trial. After proper
preparations, half a drachm of the powdered plant was
given twice a day.  For a week, no  perceptible relief
was obtained; but in three days more the pain abated,
and the water became less charged with  matter.  In
short, by observing a regular diet, and by a steady per- 
360
GRAVEL.
severance in the medicine, he is now so entirely well
that an operation for extracting the stone by the knife
is no longer thought of.
  Case 3d.   A gentleman  near forty years old, of a
good constitution, living in a place supplied with water
of a bad quality, became afflicted with the gravel to a
very painful degree.  He frequently passed small stones,
of a sandy substance, which he could plainly perceive
to fall from his kidneys, where  they seemed to be ge-
nerated, through the ureters into the bladder; always
exciting, during their descent, intolerable misery.  All
the most  celebrated measures adapted to  such com-
plaints were  fairly tried. Little or  no relief was ob-
tained.  The matter voided  in his urine gave suspicion
of decay in the kidneys.  The uva ursi wras therefore
advised, and  continued in  the dose  of half a drachm
twice a day; by which, with regular and abstemious
diet, the patient in  three  months became perfectly
well.
  I consider the foregoing cases,  to which, as I have
before  remarked, many others might  be added from
excellent authorities, entirely conclusive as to the me-
dicinal virtues of the uva ursi; for a particular descrip-
tion of which, together with some other cases of cures
in stone and gravel, I most strongly and seriously refer
the reader to the Materia Medica.
  SUPPRESSION OR STOPPAGE OF URINE.
  This is a disease, which is frequently produced by
inflammation of the urethra, or canal which conveys
the water from the bladder ; it is also sometimes pro-
duced** as I have mentioned under " Inflammation of 
/
              SUPPRESSION OP  URINE.          361

the bladder," by falls in various ways, and by that false
delicacy  which  induces a bashful and inexperienced
person to retain the urine an unusual and  dangerous
length of time.  It is also produced among  those who
have worn  down their  manhood  in indiscriminate
debaucheries in early life, and sometimes among those
who are naturally of delicate and weakly constitutions,
by taking too large quantities of the tincture  of Spanish
flies, for  purposes which I forbear to  name.  It also,
sometimes, arises from  the necessary application of
blisters, and not unfrequently from costiveness or con-
stipation  of the bowels.

                   REMEDIES.
  Draw  some blood; this will relieve  the  system.
Then put the patient in a w7arm  bath, which  must be
continued from a quarter to half an hour.   Next give
a warm  glyster, made of starch  and water,  in which
must be mixed three table-spoonsful of castor oil. For
the warm bath, and glystering, look under the proper
heads.  If it seems to be necessary, after these reme-
dies, give a  dose of castor oil by the mouth.  If all
these means fail of  producing  a flow of urine,  the
catheter  must be skilfully and  cautiously  used: for
which  look under the head.  Throwing cold water on
the belly and thighs will sometimes afford relief, when
all other  remedies have  failed.   A glyster of warm
water,  in which tobacco leaves have been steeped for a
few minutes, is an excellent remedy; it must however
be used with great caution; being very  powerful in
its effects, and must be made very weak; and should
by no means  be  repeated, unless under the direction
of a physician.  Its immediate effects are,  a  general
relaxation of the whole system, accompanied  with pros-
     2 H               46 
362-
SUPPRESSION  OF URINE.
tration of muscular power, faintness, and sickness of
the stomach;  profuse swreat  breaking out over the
whole body; and if the remedy succeeds, the urine is
immediately evacuated.
   ■
          GREAT FLOW OF URINE.
   This  complaint is called by  physicians diabetes.
 The word diabetes is derived from two Greek  words-
 which signify to pass  through; and I mention the
 fact merely to show how little connexion there usually
 is between the derivation  of  words and their real
 meaning.  The quantity of water usually discharged
 in diabetes, is more than double the liquid taken in
 both drink and food.   The attacks of this  disease are
 generally slow and gradual.   I have known instances
 in which it has been more than two years  in making
 its advances on the constitution.  The symptoms of
 diabetes are, larger and  more frequent discharges of
 water  from the bladder than common; the urine is
 clear and transparent as spring water; and having a
 sweetish and sickish taste, like sugar and water, accom-
 panied by a  faint smell, as if mixed with rosemary
 leaves.   These  symptoms generally  occur without
 pain,  and  are usually   attended  with a voracious
 or greedy appetite.   When this disease  occurs on
 young persons, or is attended to in  grown  individuals
 at an early period, it can frequently be removed ; but,
 when suffered to proceed for any  length  of time, or
 when it attacks persons in advanced age, or those who
 have indulged to excess in spirituous liquors, it is ex-
 tremely difficult of removal.  As this disease increases
.on the constitution, (for  I certainly consider it  a  con- 
              GREAT FLOW  OF URINE.         363

 stitutional complaint,) the whole body becomes ema-
 ciated, and gradually wastes away ; the mind becomes
 dull and melancholy; the patient has a strong aversion
 to motion and exercise;  there are frequent darting
 pains in  the privates,  accompanied  with a dull and
 heavy, pain in the small of the back; nearly constant
 thirst, which it seems impossible to satisfy; the bowels
 are costive, and the pulse irregular; as the disease ad-
 vances, fever takes place similar to that in hectic and
 consumptive cases, the  feet begin  to  swell, and  death
 usually closes the scene.  The favourable symptoms in
 this  disease  are the following: the appetite becomes
 more natural, and  the  thirst  diminishes: the urine is
 voided in small quantities, and the  desire  to  make
 water less frequent;  the water assumes its natural co-
 lour,  and regains its usual smell; the skin becomes
 more flexible or soft, and is suffused  or covered with
gentle and natural  sweat; the mind gradually becomes
more cheerful, and the  desire for exercise increases:
when these  symptoms  manifest themselves, there are
always great hopes of  speedy recovery.  The bodies
of many persons who have died of diabetes have been
accurately examined by skilful anatomists: and the
results have always shown diseased state of the kidneys
and their vessels, and consequent derangement of their
secretions: in plain language, and I am supported  in
the opinion by the  celebrated  Rush, and several  other
physicians of note, diabetes is a consumption 'of the
kidneys.

                   REMEDIES.
  Emetics or pukes are frequently to be given in this
disease^ and much dependence may be placed on them
for a cure.  Ipecacuanha is perhaps the best puke that 
364
GREAT FLOW  OF URINE.
can be  given: see table  for dose.  Blisters are to be
applied  to the small of the back, and kept continually
running: and a Dover's powder is to be given at night,
which will produce a determination to the  surface, or
in other words a gentle sweat: to prepare these pow-
ders, look under  the head Dover's Powders.  Use the
warm bath frequently,  and have  the  whole body
rubbed well twice a day with a flesh-brush, or coarse
towel; the rubbing should at least continue half an
hour to  benefit your patient.  Flannel must be worn
next the skin.  The tincture of cantharides, cautiously
administered, is a valuable remedy, and should be given
to a grown person, from eight to ten, and twelve drops
every four  op five hours, in a little cold water, or in
water in which  some gum has been  dissolved:  wild
cherry tree gum or  peach tree  gum will answer.
Astringents may be serviceable in this complaint,  and
should be tried agreeably to the  following directions.
Alum  dissolved in  water, and  occasionally  given
throughout the day, as the stomach will bear it with-
out inconvenience or unpleasant  feelings, will be  ser-
viceable : or sugar of lead, given in a grain and  a  half
to two  grains, twice a day in cold  water, for  grown
persons, has afforded  much relief and expedited  the
cure: for the dose of alum or sugar of lead, see table
of doses for different ages.  When it is possible  to ob-
tain chalybeate water, or  in other words  spring water
impregnated or  mixed with iron, you should direct
your patient to use the water freely.  East Tennessee
abounds with those springs on almost every branch or
rivulet.   As there is  an  acid  of the stomach,  which
frequently acconipanies the complaint, it will be pro-
per to give your patient weak lime water, or chalk, or
soda powders : look under that head, and you will see 
GREAT FLOW  OF URINE.         365
how soda powders are made.   If fever is present in
this disease, which is sometimes the case, the loss of a
little blood occasionally will be proper.  Your patient
is to use no strong drink of any kind;  to eat no vege-
table food, but to live on animal food; to avoid cold
and exposure of every kind; and to defend the feet and
body well against the damp air, and, in good w7eather,
to take moderate exercise.  In my practice, I use  the
uva ursi tea, and have derived great benefit from it; I
therefore recommend it with the utmost confidence.
By the use of  emetics,  with this  tea, and frequent
bathing in warm water, if commenced  at  an early
period, a cure may be speedily expected:  (read under
the head Uva Ursi, for a description of this plant, how
it may be obtained, and how to use it.)   The  bowels
are to be moderately purged, and kept open by castor
oil; or by rhubarb, either by chewing it, or taking it
in powder.  Rhubarb is preferable to castor oil in this
disease, and  should  be  used  if it can be obtained.
(Look under the head Rhubarb, for explanation of  its
qualities, and see table for  doses.)  Doctor Samuel
Sair lately  read to the Academy of Medicine  in
France an interesting *memoir on this subject.  He
refers most cases of incontinence or involuntary flow
of urine, or diabetes, to a want of equilibrium in power,
between the body of  the  bladder  and its neck:  in
other words, w7hen the muscular powTer of the neck Of
the bladder is so much weakened or relaxed  as not to
retain the urine against the contractible pow7er of the
bladder itself.   With this view of the subject, he ima-
gined that, if he could stimulate the neck of the blad-
der, and not the body of it, he could succeed.   He in-
troduced by  means of a catheter  some  tincture  of
cantharides, so as to touch the urethra in  its prostatic
  2 li 2 
366
GREAT FLOW OF URINE.
part, and also the neck of the bladder:  by this process
he cured three patients who laboured under this dis-
ease.  When this remedy is to be resorted to, the  aid
of a skilful physician will be required.
               THE CATHETER.
  A catheter is a small surgical instrument made
use of for drawing the water from the bladder.  There
are two kinds, male and female.  The difference be-
tween tnem is very little;  the male has but one hole
in the end that enters the bladder; the  female has se-
veral ; this is the only difference in the instrument.
By this simple operation, which any person of common
sense can  perform, the lives of  thousands have been
preserved;  and this is one among the many reasons I
could advance, for having explained the outward parts
of female generation so plainly.  Now  many fools say
that I ought to  have left out an explanation of these
parts.  And why do they  say so ?  Because they do
not read the book, so as to see the necessity of writing
so plain.   Are  we  ashamed of  the parts which  the
diseases of our nature require to be explained, so as to
obtain relief in cases of disease ?  I am writing a book
not for the learned but the unlearned,  not for amuse-
ment, but to explain in plaifi language  the diseases to
which  we  are subjected,  and the  method to  obtain
relief from pain and sickness. With these remarks I
shall proceed.

      METHOD OF USING THE CATHETER.
  Holding the private member near its head, between
the finger and thumb of the left hand: (standing at his 
THE CATl/ETEIt.
367
 side;)  now7 with your right hand you  introduce the
 point of the instrument into the passage, (out of which
 flows the  urine,) the  convex side of the  catheter to-
 wards the patient's knees; then gently, by no  means
 using force, push the instrument down the urethra, at
 the same time endeavour to draw up the penis on it.
 When you first introduce the catheter, the handle will
 of course be  near the belly of  the patient; and as it
 goes  down the canal, it will be thrown farther from it,
 until it enters the bladder, which you will know by
 the water immediately flowing through  the tube into
 the basin or pot.  It sometimes occurs that you cannot
 succeed whilst the patient is on his back;  if this is the
 case,  make him stand up, or you may place him with
 his shoulders and back on the ground, while his thighs
 and legs are held up by assistants.  In difficult cases I
 have  been compelled to place the patient on his back,
 and when the catheter was as far down as it would go,
 I introduced the forefinger, well oiled, into the funda-
 ment, and endeavoured  to push the point upwards
 while still pressing forwards with my other hand; by
 which means  I have often succeeded, when all other
 methods failed.  You must recollect force  is never, on
 any account, to be used.  Vary  the position of the in-
 strument as often as you think  proper; even permit
 the patient himself to try, but by all means use no force
 or violence; but humour the instrument, take your
 time,  and be cautious, and you will at last succeed.  I
 will state to you a case.  During my practice in Vir-
 ginia, in Botetourt county, near the town of Salem, a
 Mr. T., a young man in the prime of life, was engaged
in raising a large barn, wiien a  part  of the building
gave w7ay, and he was dreadfully mashed, with a fall
of thirty feet.   I was immediately called in  to his case; 
368
THE CATHETER.
it was such as to leave but little if any hope  of his
recovery.   One of the logs having  fallen across his
privates, placed him in such a situation as to be entirely
helpless.   In this critical and, I may add, wretched
situation, he continued five days without passing a drop
of water.  I had made  daily unsuccessful efforts to
introduce the catheter, but without success; his fever
and thirst very great.  I had bled him very copiously
every day, and endeavoured by all means to reduce in-
flammation.  His misery was excruciating from being
unable to pass his water.  All my efforts  to pass the
instrument, from the bruised  state of the parts, were
unsuccessful.  I then determined, previous to an ope-
ration, to make the last trial;  when I introduced my
finger, as before described, into the rectum.   Feeling
distinctly the point of the instrument, I passed it gently
into the  neck of the bladder, when  immediately the
water flowed.   So great  and instantaneous was the
relief afforded him, that he exclaimed, " I thank thee,
merciful God !" By this operation upwards of a gallon
of water was drawn off.  From this time his recovery
gradually  commenced.   The instrument  which  I
learned him how to introduce is continued, I am in-
formed, until this time, being unable to pass his water
without it.  He is still living in Virginia, but, poor fel-
low, entirely deprived of the use of his lower extremi-
ties.  I will now relate to  you  a second case; with
which I shall close my remarks on the subject of this
small  but  valuable instrument.   Two years  since I
was called upon at night to visit a young lady, of the
most  respectable family, residing about ten miles from
Knoxville, said by the messenger to be  dying.  On my
arrival I  found her in great  misery.   She desired the
room might be cleared of ail save her sister, wiien sh° 
TIIF. CATHETER.
369
 with the greatest delicacy declared  her misery was
 from being unable to pass her water.   In this horrible
 situation she had been  for four days; during which
 time, the whole catalogue of teas had been prescribed
 from water melon tea to the full extent of twenty dif-
 ferent kinds.  All had been poured down the throat of
 this poor innocent girl, until she declared that she had
 rather die than drink another draught.  On examina-
 tion  I found I had forgotten my catheter, but, as I have
 often done before, I made a temporary instrument. I
 took a common goose quill,  cut  it off at both ends,
 made one of the ends perfectly smooth, passed it into
 the small hole which I have so plainly described in
 the outward parts of female generation, and in less
 than five minutes this amiable and interesting girl was
 entirely relieved,  by an  operation which any old wo-
 man might have  performed,  saved me a disagreeable
 ride of a very cold night, and the family an expense of
 ten dollars. This lady is now married, and the mother
 of a fine family.  I have often since laughed with her,
 about the quality and quantity of the teas administered.
 I have mentioned this late case to show you the actual
 importance and indeed  the  necessity of explaining
these parts, which otherwise I should have veiled in
different language or omitted them altogether.
         ERUPTIONS OF THE SKIN.
  The close connexion which exists between the sto-
mach, skin, and bowels, is evidently demonstrated by
the simple fact, that in many instances where the
bowels are internally disordered, the skin exhibits exter-
nal evidence of disease.  The  many eruptions which
                      47 
 370         ERUPTIONS  OF THE SKIN.

 show themselves on the face, hands, legs, and bodies of
 individuals, are positive proofs of the deranged state of
 their systems internally : and by removing the prima-
 ry or first causes, you  invariably  remove  those erup-
 tions, which are in general mere effects.   You should
 therefore always endeavour to ascertain whether those
 diseases of the skin are not produced by some impure
 state of the blood, from a foul  stomach, from costive
 bowels, or  from  some constitutional disease  derived
 from parents.   If either of those causes  produce erup-
 tions of the skin, you will easily see that  they are to be
 removed by internal remedies; I mean those which
 strike at their  roots: for, if you  should  succeed in
 driving in the eruptions of the skin, by merely exter-
 nal remedies, you will always produce fever, and almost
 invariably seat some  fatal  disease on the vital  organs.
 Whenever diseases exhibit their effects on the skin, you
 may be assured that they are efforts of nature to relieve
 herself  from oppression; and the real business of a
 physician is  to assist nature, and never to retard or stifle
 her operations.

                    REMEDIES.
   The first great and important rule, in all eruptive
 disorders of the  skin, is to  open  the  bowels and keep
 them in a laxative state  by cooling medicines; such as
 Epsom  salts, or  equal quantities of cream  tartar and
 sulphur.  If  the stomach is out of order, (there being
 a close connexion  between it and the skin.) a  gentle
 emetic will sometimes be necessary to cleanse the sto-
 mach, and to assist nature in throwing the wiiole dis-
 ease on the surface, where  it may expire and  fall  off
 in scabs.  Tea, made of sassafras  or sarsaparilla, should
always be used as a common drink.  Whenever fever 
             ERUPTIONS  OF THE SKIN.         371

takes place, which is sometimes the  case, draw some
blood from the arms, and  give an active purge of calo-
mel at night, followed by a dose of Epsom salts in the
morning.  Common starch rubbed on the skin, in all
kinds  of eruptions, is a cooling and pleasant remedy:
and the application of it on going to bed will produce
much  relief from the itching,  and consequently  re-
freshing sleep.  Persons who are subject to eruptions
of the skin should live on light and cooling diet:  avoid
salted provisions, and every thing of a heating nature:
avoid spirituous liquors, and use cooling acid  drinks;
and, by all means, keep  the skin clean by frequent
warm or tepid bathing.
          SAINT ANTHONY'S FIRE.

  This disease is called by physicians erysipelas: it
is of an inflammatory character, and always attended
with some fever.  The skin burns and  itches very
much, and usually turns to a scarlet colour.  It gene-
rally commences in a red blotch, and quickly extends
itself over the whole body.   Sometimes the face swells
very much and becomes inflamed:  there is, also, head-
ach, sickness  at the  stomach;  and not unfrequently,
violent fever attended with delirium.

                    REMEDIES.
  This  disease is attended  with inflammatory symp-
toms, and, like others of the same  character, must be
treated by moderate bleeding, cooling purges, and cool-
ing drinks.   Bathe  the feet and  legs frequently in
warm water, and remain in your room, so as not to be 
372
SAINT ANTHONY S  FIRE.
exposed to damp cold air, by winch the disease might
strike inwardly.   Every two or three hours, give equal
quantities of antimonial wine and sweet spirits of nitre
in doses of a tea-spoonful, in a stem-glass of cold water.
If the headach is very severe, the loss of some blood.
a blister between the shoulders, and poultices made of
mustard-seed and corn meal, will give relief.   Sprink-
ling  the  body with fine starch, or with wheat flour,
will  greatly assist to cool and allay the irritation.  A
tea-spoonful of sugar of lead, put in three half pints
of cold water,  and used  as a remedy by washing the
body, is also a valuable application.
          TETTER OR RING WORM.
   This is  a disease confined  to the skin, for which
medicines are seldom given internally.  It first appears
as an inflammatory eruption of small magnitude, not
larger than the finger nail, and  gradually extends itself
into a circle, which sometimes embraces the hands,
sometimes  the  face, and not unfrequently large por-
tions  of the  body.  Unless relieved, it at length be-
comes extremely painful, and is attended with an itch-
ing sensation, which is greatly increased  by the least
warmth or exercise

                   REMEDIES.
  Puccoon-root, called by  some  persons blood-root,
and by others Indian paint, steeped in strong vinegar,
and applied  as a wash to the parts affected, is a most
excellent remedy;  perhaps  the best one known in this
disease.   The blue dye made by the country people to
colour their cloth, has been  sometimes known  to re- 
TETTER  OR RING WORM.         373
move it, when many other remedies had failed: this
must be owing to the indigo and urine the dye contains.
I do not recollect, however, one single case in my prac-
tice in Virginia, in which the puccoon-root and vinegar
failed. In France the application of the fumes of sul-
phur is always resorted to with success in all diseases of
the skin: (read under the head Sulphuric Fumigation.)
                SCALD  HEAD.
  In this disease, the whole scalp or skin of the head
is covered with small  sores, which  discharge very
offensive matter.  These sores eventually turn to little
scales or scabs, while fresh  ones continue to break  out
at the roots of the hair, and follow the same process of
turning to scales and falling off.   This disorder is in-
 fectious or catching, andis  often taken b^hildren' [f
 consequence of wearing the  hat  or Cap °f P™ **'
 fected with it.  Sleeping in the same bed, or combing
 with the same comb, when the child has constitution-
 ally a scrofulous taint, will also communicate the  dis-
 ease ; which is sometimes tedious and difficult to cure.

                    REMEDIES.
  First shave off the hair as close as possible; then
cleanse the sores daily with warm soap-suds, and  put
on the following ointment,  which must be spread on a
bladder, and worn as a cap.  Take two table-spoonsful
of tar, and a sufficient quantity of.suet or lard to make
an ointment; to these add a  table-spoonful of powdered
charcoal, and  two tea-spoonsful of sulphur: or take
spirits of turpentine, red precipitate in powder, Bur-
gundy  pitch  in  do., each one ounce:  hoffs' lard one
     2 1                               3 
374
SCALD HEAD.
pound.  Make them into an ointment, and apply it in
the manner just mentioned.   The bowels must  be
kept open with Epsom salts, and a tea made of sarsa-
parilla and sassafras drank freely; these measures will
purify the blood.  Once or twice a week, bathe the
whole body  in  water  of  a pleasant  temperature.
Doctor Chapman, of Philadelphia, one of the Profess-
ors of that University, recommends highly the follow-
ing remedy.  Take of liver of sulphur three drachms;
of Spanish  soap  one drachm; of lime water  eight
ounces; and of rectified spirits of wine two drachms:
mix them well together, and use the wrhole as a  wash.
(Where the remedies I have mentioned fail, look  under
the head-of Sulphuric Fumigation for a certain remedy
in all the diseases of the skin.)
                  TOOTHACHE.

  This disease does not always arise from decayed
teeth; it is frequently the offspring of nervous affections,
of cold, of rheumatism, and not unfrequently, among
females, of  stoppages of certain evacuations.  I have
knowm many sound teeth to be extracted unnecessarily,
and on account of diseases which were afterwards dis-
covered to be seated in other parts of the body; and I,
therefore, earnestly recommend, that great caution be
used in discovering the causes of toothache before  a
tooth  is suffered to be drawn.   Toothache, in very
many instances, arises from a disordered state of the
stomach and bowelst  In  these cases the  suffering is
generally severe, and must be removed by attention to
cleansing the stomach and  bowels.   Many  instances
have occurred in my practice, where persons have re- 
TOOTHACHE.
375
quested teeth to be drawn to remove toothache, when
all their teeth on examination were found to be sound.
In these cases I have always relieved them by a purge.
Among women, more  than one-half of the suffering
from toothache, may be fairly traced to some bodily-
habit, or some nervous sympathy, to which the female
constitution is peculiarly liable, and which may be re-
moved  by other  means than the extraction of the
teeth.   Persons who have written before me on the
subject  of toothache, have spoken of the disease as pe-
culiar to and  confined to the  teeth alone; when the
fact is, that common sense and experience will teach
any man the palpable absurdity of such  doctrine, and
convince him that toothache is very frequently a com-
mon symptom of other diseases, which are to be sought
out and removed before relief can  be obtained.

                    REMEDIES.
  When toothache is presumed to arise from nervous
affections, the nervous system  is to be strengthened by
gentle tonics, nutritive and cooling food, and moderate
exercise in the open air.  When it proceeds from cold
or from rheumatism, consult those two heads for direc-
tions to  remove it; and when  it arises from  stoppages
of the menses in  females, see and consult that head,-
among the diseases of women.   Extracting teeth ought
always to be the last remedy resorted to; it is a painful
operation, and oftentimes a dangerous one, when at-
tempted by an unskilful and clumsy  hand.   When a
tooth is  discovered to be defective, and  that there is
inflammation at the root, (which  is the cause of the
pain.) let the inflammation be reduced  by  blistering
the  surface of the cheek, or by scarifying the gums
with a lancet, and the tooth plugged with gold leaf, or 
376
TOOTHACHE.
silver, or tin foil.  Toothache is frequently owing to
the nerve of the tooth being exposed to the air from
decay: in this case, it is always advisable  to avoid  the
extraction of the tooth, and to have it plugged as I have
just told you, with gold leaf, or with silver or tin foil.
These articles can always be obtained pure.   There
are cases in which the diseased tooth will not bear the
wedging pressure of  being plugged with gold leaf; in
these  instances  pure tin or lead ought to be  used.
These Jast-mentioned articles, however, wear out in a
few years; and it is well known that tin will rust
or turn black  in a short time, from the action of the
acid generally used in food.  Gold, in its pure state, is
always preferable for plugging a  tooth; it will some-
times last twenty years.   If the disease arises from in-
flammation, the practice of holding hot and stimulating
articles  in  the mouth is  highly  improper: you will
know7 when it arises  from inflammation, by the follow-
ing indications:  you will have headach, which will be
attended with fever.   If so, take a full dose of Epsom
or  glauber salts,  and repeat the  dose if necessary.
Apply to the face cold mush  and milk poultices; or
those made of meal  and vinegar, as cold as possible;
and if the inflammation runs high, and is  attended
with  fever, the loss  of  some blood  will  be proper,
together with the application of  a blister over the
pained part.   Great  suffering about the teeth is fre-
quently  caused  by  certain nervous pains,  to which
females  are  sometimes  Constitutionally  liable: these
cases are  to  be treated  with simple remedies,  and
scrupulous care, until the original causes are removed:
and you may apply to the face some irritating tincture,
such  as  Cayenne pepper, tincture of Spanish flies, or
volatile liniment.   I have said  before, that toothache 
TOOTHACHE.
377
sometimes arises, though not very  frequently, from
rheumatism. when this is the case, the whole sides of
the  face will be pained, together with the sound as
well as the decayed teeth.  There will also be felt a
dull, heavy pain, extending along the jaw-bone ; and a
stiffness of the neck, sometimes attended with pain in
the shoulder.  The following is  a good remedy: put
a piece of lime, the size of a walnut, into a quart bottle
of wrater; with this rinse the mouth tw7o or three times
a day,  and clean the teeth with it every morning until
the  pain ceases.  But, in rheumatic affections of the
kind just described, see under the head Rheumatism.
  The tartar, or scurvy of the teeth, is a very destruc-
tive disease; it greatly injures the teeth, and frequently
destroys  them  before  you are aware of the danger.
Tartar is an accumulation of earthy matter, deposited
on the teeth from the saliva or spittle.  It  collects on
the teeth of some persons much faster than on those
of others ; this is owing to the natural or constitution-
al state of the fluids of the mouth.  When first depo-
sited on  the teeth, it is  soft  and very easily removed
with a tooth brush; but if suffered to remain, it ac-
quires  hardness by time, and thickens about the necks
of the teeth.  The gums become irritated and inflamed
by it:  the sockets  are  next destroyed; and the teeth
being left bare, without any support, are pressed out by
the tongue, or fall out.   The importance of removing
tartar from the teeth must be obvious to all: and the
operation  ought always to'be performed by a skilful
person, called a dentist; or by a physician.  To pre-
vent the accumulation  of tartar  on the teeth, and to
restore the healthy state of the gums, nothing more is
requisite  than a stiff brush,  and pounded  charcoal.
mixed  with an equal quantity of Peruvian bark.  The
      J ; J               48 
378
TOOTHACHE
use of all acids for the removal of tartar is a base im-
position.  Acids will, indeed, make the teeth look
beautifully white for a few days, dissolve and remove
the tartar, and  stop the toothache; but, in  a few
months, the teeth will become of a dead chalky white,
next turn dark-coloured, then begin to decay and crum-
ble to pieces, and finally leave their fangs in the sockets,
exposed to pain and inflammation.  Milk-warm water,
and the tooth powder I have mentioned, will not only
preserve the teeth, but correct in a great degree the
offensive effluvia arising  from decayed teeth and un-
healthy gums.              t
                      ITCH.

   This filthy disease is infectious, or in other words
catching;  and is frequently  produced by w7ant  of
cleanliness: it is confined to the skin, and first shows
itself between  the fingers in small watery pimples,
gradually extending to the wrists, thighs, and waist.
There is a constant desire to scratch, which is much
increased after you become warm in bed.  Cleanliness,
and  early attention to this dirty disorder, will prevent
its being communicated to a whole family: children
are apt to take it at school, and to communicate it to
those with whom they sleep.  Travellers are apt to
take it from sleeping in beds that have been previously
occupied by persons whoirtiave it:  therefore  a good
caution in travelling is, to have the sheets and  pillow-
cases changed.  Frequent  instances occur in travelling
where persons  of much respectability have taken the
itch, and been much mortified by it, from w7ant of this
precaution. 
itch.                   379
                   REMEDIES.
  Take one drachm, or sixty drops of sulphuric acid,
which is oil of vitriol: mix it well with one ounce of
hogs' lard, or fresh butter without salt.   After it is well
prepared by good rubbing,  anoint the parts  affected
until cured; this is an innocent and certain  remedy
for the itch. Or, you may make an ointment of a table-
spoonful of sulphur, and a table-spoonful of lard, or but-
ter without salt, and put in the ointment a table-spoon-
ful of the essence of lemon, or a tea-spoonful of the oil
of lemon, which will give it a  pleasant smell.  This
ointment must be rubbed  on the parts affected, three
or four nights on going to bed. Sulphur is nothing more
than common  brimstone purified and  pounded fine.
Or, you may take one  drachm  of red precipitate, and
rub it well in a mortar with an  ounce of hogs' lard, or
butter without salt, and  anoint  the  parts affected:
(this last is a  valuable and certain cure.)  A strong
decoction  or tea of Virginia snake-root, known gene-
rally as  black snake-root, will frequently cure the itch
when used as a wash.  Tobacco leaves steeped in wa-
ter, and used two or three times a day as a wash, will
affect a cure ; but this remedy must be  used with cau-
tion  on children.  Water dock grows  in wet ditches,
mill ponds, and sides of rivers; and flowers in July
and August.   The root boiled  in strong decoction or
tea, and used as a wrash, is a good remedy for itch;  the
narrow  and broad leaved  dock,  found in yards and
fields, will answer the same purpose.   Mercurial oint-
ment, sometimes called oil of baze, is frequently rub-
bed on the joints for the itch : this is highly improper,
because it  frequently salivates, and produces  pains in
the joints and bones for life. 
380             APOPLECTIC FITS.
              APOPLECTIC FITS.
  This disease derives its name from a Greek word,
which signifies to strike or knock down; because those
affected with it  are suddenly prostrated to the earth
and deprived of sense or motion.  A variety of causes
have  been assigned for apoplexy:  but they may all
be comprised in the following words : whatever deter-
mines or throws so great  a quantity of blood on the
brain that cannot return from that vital organ.  It is
not necessary to  enumerate those causes, further than
to remark, that among them are:  violent  fits of pas-
sion, excess of venery,  stooping down  for  any length
of time, overloading the stomach, and wearing any
thing too tight about the neck, great cold, and intem-
perance.   Persons most liable to  apoplexy are such
as have short  necks and large heads.   In attacks of
apoplexy in the severest form, the blood-vessels are
found bursted, and  the blood  poured  out in  various
parts  of the brain;  and when apoplexy  attacks in
milder forms, those  blood vessels are found distended,
or swelled with  too large  a quantity of blood.  This
complaint has deprived the republic of some of her
greatest ornaments, among which were the Hon. De
Witt Clinton; Thomas A. Emmet, the Irish patriot;
and William Pinckney, Esq., our former minister to
London.   Intense and  protracted mental exertion was
probably the cause  of  the death of Messrs. Emmet,
Pinckney, and Clinton; but, in most  instances, apo-
plexy is to be  dreaded  by  corpulent or plethoric per-
sons, (such as I have before named,) having large heads
and short  necks, epicures, gluttons,  and those who use
spirituous liquors to excess. 
APOPLEXY.                381
                    REMEDIES.
  The chief remedy in apoplexy is large and  copious
bleeding, which must be repeated if necessary.  Cup-
ping at the temples ought also to be resorted to, the
great object being to draw the blood from the  head,
and to relieve the oppression of the brain as speedily as
possible.  The  next thing to be attended  to is to give
the most  active purges; see table for doses.  Apply
cold cloths wet  in vinegar, and the  coldest water
constantly to the head.  If your patient should reco-
ver by the means  directed, in order to  escape from a
second and third attack, the person should scrupulous-
ly observe the  following rules of living:  he must eat
vegetable  food,  drink no wine nor spirits of any kind,
avoid all strong and long-continued exertions of mind;
and, after  the full  state of the brain has for some time
subsided, the use of chalybeate waters, such as those of
the Harrodsburgh Spring in Kentucky, will be of much
service.   As this is a common and often fatal  disease,
I will make some  further remarks on it.  Many phy-
sicians  have recommended, and put in practice in this
complaint, opening one of the jugular veins.  They
imagine that by drawing blood from one of these veins,
they unload the brain, and relieve its blood vessels from
distension, and  the danger of rupture.  The fact, how-
ever, seems to be otherwise.  Instead of unloading the
vessels  by this  operation, the pressure which is neces-
sary to  be made on the vein for the purpose of drawing
the blood, evidently retards the return of  blood to the  *
heart:  and a certain and  inevitable  consequence of
this pressure is  the accumulation of blood in the arte-
ries, and  greater distension of the blood-vessels imme-
diately takes place.  To exhibit the force of this rea-
soning  clearly,  I will make an example of bloodletting 
382
APOPLEXY.
 from the arm.  The, arteries of the arm convey, by
 the muscular power of the heart, all the blood in those
 arteries to the points of the fingers: here the veins take
 up the same blood to return it again to the heart.
 Now, when we cord  the arm tightly in order to draw
 blood from a  vein, what are the consequences ?  Why,
 we stop the  course  of the  blood  back to  the heart,
 swell the veins of the arm next; and, lastly, distend the
 whole of the blood-vessels of the arm : and are not the
 same effects produced on the blood-vessels of the head,
 by a strong pressure in cording the jugular vein ?  The
 above doctrine,  as well as it can be explained from the
 works of the great Doctor Baillie of London, I am in-
 duced  to consider correct.   Instead of  opening  the
 jugular vein,  in cases of emergency, I  would recom-
 mend bleeding  in the foot.  In performing this opera-
tion, after the bandage has been put on, the foot should
be put in warm w7ater:  the  fact is, that  warm water
applied to both feet in bleeding for apoplexy, would be
attended with considerable advantage.
                EPILEPTIC FITS.
   This disease differs from apoplexy by the persons
 attacked having convulsions, and frothy spittle issuing
 from  the  mouth.  The ancients gave, it the name of
 the sacred disease, because  it affected  the mind, the
l^most  noble part of the rational  creature.   These tits
 last from  ten minutes to half an hour, depending  on
 their violence: they always leave the sufferer in a stu-
 por, attended with great weakness and  exhaustion  of
 the body.   Epileptic  fits arise from  the  following
 causes:  Original or natural  defects; in other words, 
       "J"
       a
                    EPILEPSY.                 383

defects derived from nature, and severe blows on the
head.   When the disease arises from either, or both of
these causes in combination, it is seldom if ever cured.
But, when  it proceeds from any  of the  following
causes, cures may be effectuated  by medicine, proper
diet, &c.   In children, when it proceeds from worms,
cutting teeth, impure and acrid matter in the stomach
and bowels, eruptions of the skin which suddenly strike
in, and sores on the head which are too quickly healed
up, relief may be obtained by medical  means.   Relief
may also be had in the cases of grown persons, afflicted
from the too free use of spirituous liquors, from violent
excitements of those passions which affect the nervous
system, from stoppages of  the menses in women, and
those who have not yet had their courses according to
nature. This disease is sometimes, although not often,
produced by great debility or weakness; and some-
times by Onanism.

                   REMEDIES.
  In fits of this kind, a few days  previous to the ex-
pected attack, draw blood  from the foot; and every
night on going to bed, bathe the feet for some time in
warm water, so as to prevent too great a determination
of blood to the head, as these fits generally attack per-
sons during sleep.  If considered necessary,  give an
emetic or puke to cleanse the stomach, followed by an
active purge to act on the  bowels: see table for dose.
These fits generally occur about the change or full of
the moon.   The  singular and  surprising  influence
which  this planet is known  to exercise in many in-
stances over  the  human species, is absolutely unac-
countable, and is even ridiculed by many physicians;
but I feel fully confident,  from reflection and expe-
* 
384
EPILEPSY.
rience, that this planet has considerable control over
certain diseases to which the human system is liable;
one or two  of  which I  will notice.   The monthly
courses of women, at  particular  times, are  evidently
under its influence : madness, or mental derangement,
is in many cases greatly increased at the change of the
moon ; and it is  well  known to  almost every person,
that the periodical return-of epileptic fits is generally
about the full and change.   These  circumstances cer-
tainly  denote  some  secret  and mysterious agency,
which is concealed from human knowledge. On a full
examination of the different remedies  recommended
in epileptic fits, where  they arise from  circumstances
which can be traced to some particular cause, please to
refer to the different heads; rerriembering always, that
when you expect to effect  a cure, it can only be done
by removing the  cause.  I have  mentioned emphati-
cally, bleeding in the  foot  and the warm bath;  these
will remove the  blood from the brain when harsher
means have failed. The bow7els must be kept in  a lax-
ative state, by Epsom salts, castor oil, or mild glysters •
see table for doses, and head Glysters.  By permitting
the bowels to be the least  bound, you subject the per-
son to much risk of having a fit.   An  issue or a seton
in the neck, something resembling a rowel, and kept
continually discharging, is  a good remedy in fits.  The
use of tartar emetic ointment  is a remedy resorted to
in the hospitals of Europe with success: I have tried
it in two cases ; it succeeded in one and failed in the
other: this, however, is the usual  fate of most remedies
applied in this disease.  Setons always lessen the  fits in
number and severity, and the tartar emetic ointment
sometimes removes the complaint; they are, therefore,
both worthy of a fair trial.  For the mode of preparing 
EPILEPSY.
385
this ointment, and the manner of using it, look under
that head; and for issues or setons, see that head.  All
that can be done during the fit, is to prevent the per-
son from injuring himself, by placing a bit of soft wood
between the teeth, and unclenching  the hands. - The
following remedies should be tried separately, and with
moderation, where there is any hope of success: plunge
the whole body in a strong  bath  made of salt and
water, a few mornings in succession before an  attack
is expected ; or you may give  spirits of turpentine, in
small doses, on an empty stomach;  or take ,the person
afflicted through a gradual and  moderate  salivation
with mercury.
  Doctor Currie, an eminent physician, speaks highly
of the Digitalis or Fox-glove as a remedy in this com-
plaint ; but it must be used with caution.  Five or six
drops of tincture, increased two drops every five or six
days, ought to be given: see table for doses.  The bow-
els must be kept open with senna and manna.  Doctor
Wharton, of Shenandoah  county, Virginia,  a man of
distinguished abilities, administered it with great suc-
cess :  see page 184, Medical Recorder.  Persons who
are subject to these fits, should avoid all strong and
heating  food,  together  with  all  kinds of spirituous
liquors.  Hog meat should  never be used as food  in
any way, nor  should any thing difficult of digestion
ever be eaten.   Moderate exercise must be taken, and
every thing is to be avoided which is calculated to pro-
duce melancholy, because the mind and passions have
great influence on the nervous  system.
2K
49 
386
PALSY.
                     PALSY.
   Palsy is a disease attended with the loss or diminu-
 tion of the power of voluntary motion.  It sometimes
 affects one  part of the body  and sometimes another:
 but in whatever part of the system it prevails, there will
 always be a numbness, and almost entire want of feel-
 ing, and  a  loss of power to move the part affected.
 This disease may arise from apoplexy; from any thing
 that prevents the flow of the nervous fluid from the
 brain to  the organs of motion;  from luxurious and
 intemperate living;  from the suppression of  certain
 evaeuations, such as are mentioned in epileptic fits:
 from spasmodic affections  or cramps; from  too fre-
 quent intercourse with women, by which the  nervous
 system is much weakened;  from exposure  to cold:
 from affections of the spinal marrow; from any me-
 chanical  compression; in fact, from whatever has  a
 tendency to weaken and relax the system in an extreme
 degree.   Dissections  frequently show collections of
 blood, and sometimes of serous or watery fluid effused
 or spread out  in the brain;  and what  is something
 singular, these collections and effusions are generally
 found on the opposite  side of the  brain from the parts
 of the body  affected

                   REMEDIES
  In no cases of palsy should bleeding be resorted to.
unless the patient is of a stout and full habit of body,
and where the disease, originating in the head, causes a
great determination of blood to the vessels of the brain.
In all other ?ases bleeding is of much more injury than
benefit.   Where the person is of a full habit, and then* 
PALSY.
387
is much determination of blood to the head, in addition
to bleeding in the first stage of the attack, active purges
will be very beneficial.  If, on the contrary, the person
is of a delicate and wTeakly habit of body, is consi-
derably advanced in life, or if the disease has affected the
system for a time, bleeding and very active purges should
never be used:  it will  be  sufficient here to keep the
lower bowels gently open by mild and at the same time
stimulating glysters: see the head Glysters.  The fact
is, that constipation of the  bowels on the one hand, and
excessive laxness on the other, are extremes equally to^
be  avoided in palsy.   Constipation or costiveness of
bowrels always oppresses the brain with an accumula-
tion of blood, which must be relieved:  and too much
purging  with  very  laxative  medicines  invariably
weakens the system greatly, and, as I have somewiiere
before remarked, produces morbid irritability.   Palsy,
with the  exception of the cases I have mentioned,
must be treated with tonic or strengthening medicines.
Every second or third  night#take two grains of calo-
mel, and  three  of ground ginger,  in a little  honey:
these doses are to  be continued until there is a cop-
perish taste in the  mouth; here you must stop taking
them.   During all this time, you are to have the af-
fected parts well rubbed with a brush for half an hour
three times a day: and you are also once a day to bathe
in strong salt and wrater, made pleasantly warm.  See
Tepid Bath, where you will find that out of nine hun-
dred and ninety-six cases of palsy, eight hundred  and
thirteen were benefited by it.   Blisters are also very
beneficial in  this  disease, one of which ought to be
placed between  the shoulders, on  the inside of each
ankle, and one over the part affected : they should all
be  kept continually running, by the  application  of 
  388                  PALSY.

  some irritating ointment.  An  issue or seton  in the
  neck is also highly recommended, especially where the
  disease has originated from apoplexy.
    I have found great benefit in palsy, by using  on the
  affected parts the following  liniment:  one ounce of
  spirits of hartshorn, one table-spoonful of spirits of
  turpentine, one table-spoonful of the tincture of Spanish
  flies,  made  by steeping the flies in whisky.   These
  articles are to be  mixed in half a pint of sweet oil, and
  well rubbed on the parts affected three times a day. If
  these articles cannot he had, bathe the parts in whisky,
•  in which Cayenne pepper has  been steeped so as to
  make it strong of the pepper.   Use horseradish freely
  with your food, and take thirty-five drops of spirits of
  turpentine on a lump of sugar three times  a day.  As
  soon as practicable, take exercise in the open air, and
  when on the recovery make use of water impregnated
  with iron, and use your bath cold instead of wrarm, in
  the manner of a shower bath: see that head: the water
  should be mixed  with salt.  I will remark  in conclu-
  sion, that electrifying or shocking in this disease is very
  highly recommended, as is also the method of cure
  resorted to with great  success in Austria, France, and
  Germany, which is the use of the sulphur bath, by
  which six hundred and seventy-three cases  were cured
  in the hospitals of Paris, and four hundred and eighty-
  four in those of Vienna : see head Sulphuric Bath.
                   ASTHMA.
  In this disease, from an  extensive experience, I  un-
hesitatingly say that asthma, when once firmly seated
in the system, is a complaint that may be palliated bn<* 
ASTHMA.
389
never entirely removed by medicine.  When the dis-
ease attacks young persons, abstemious diet and due
exercise are the best remedies for subduing its violence;
but an entire and permanent cure of the complaint is
only to be expected from the spontaneous and power-
ful efforts of nature herself.  In  age"d persons, where
the disease is of long standing, great care and attention
are required to lessen the severity of the attacks; this
is nearly all that can be done  by the boasted powers
of medicine, when the disease has become obstinate by
age.  Many physicians have asserted that asthma is a
nervous  disease;  the  contrary,  however,  has  been
established, by many  dissections  in the hospitals of
Paris, and other cities of Europe.   Corvisart, Baumes,
and Rostan, besides many others, allege that asthma
depends  on  a morbid or diseased alteration in the
organs of breathing or respiration and circulation, by
which congestions or collections of blood in the lungs
are procured.   Rostan, particularly, gives in evidence
of this opinion the following facts: he says in substance,
that the bodies of many who had  died of asthma, were
opened immediately after death, and that in all of them
alterations in  the structure of the heart and arteries,
were found combined with extensive congestive dis-
eases of the lungs, proving that disorders of the  heart
and large blood-vessels have mueh greater influence
in the production of asthma than is generally supposed.
The symptoms of asthma are, difficult breathing or
respiration for a time, succeeded by short  intervals of
comparative ease, which are followed by  attacks similar
to the first, in many cases amounting almost to suffoca-
tion ; a great tightness across  the breast and in the
region of the lungs: a wheezing noise in breathing, at-
tended  by a  hard  cough at  first, which  gradually
   2k2 
390
ASTHMA.
diminishes in toughness, until a white, stringy, tough
mucus is discharged from  the throat  and mouth,
accompanied perhaps by a gentle moisture on the skin.
Persons subject to periodical attacks of asthma gene-
rally know  the approach of those attacks, by the fol-
lowing symptoms and sensations:  depression of spirits
amounting to melancholy; sense of fulness and disten-
tion about the stomach, attended with  uneasy and
restless feelings: drowsiness accompanied by headach,
and a sense of tightness or constriction across the breast.
These indications usually occur about the close of  the
day, increase in severity during the night, and sensibly
diminish towards morning.

                   REMEDIES.
  Bleeding  must  never  be resorted to  in asthma:
although it  is frequently practised by physicians, it is
altogether wrong, and must  always be avoided.  The
reason  is obvious, and particularly so in the cases  of
persons advanced in age.   Bleeding retards, in fact it
prevents, expectoration by the mouth and throat;  in
other words, it prevents hawking and spitting up mu-
cus from the throat and lungs, which always give re-
lief in asthma.   So soon  as symptoms of an attack are
felt, which I have just described,  give a mild emetic
or puke; this will always shorten the attack; during
which the feet must be bathed in warm water, and the
steam of warm vinegar inhaled,  or breathed from  the
spout of a coffee-pot.  Stew down, over a slow fire,
half an ounce of seneca snake-root in a pint of water,
after bruif ing it with a hammer, to half a pint: of this
take a table-spoonful every ten or fifteen minutes, and
drink a small glass of warm toddy. I have frequently
afforded relief in a short time, by merely bathing the 
ASTHMA.
391
feet and giving plentifully of warm toddy.  The Indian
tobacco is a valuable remedy in this complaint, used in
the following manner: take of the leaves, stem, and
pods, nearly as much as you can hold grasped between
the forefinger and thumb; put it into a bottle of whis-
ky, and in five days the  liquor will be fit for use; of
which give a tea-spoonful every half hour until relief
is obtained. When this complaint attacks young men,
(for it is much more apt to attack men than women,)
they should rise early and take active exercise, particu-
larity by ascending the highest and steepest hills, and
mountains, where they can breast the pure mountain
breeze.  These people should always rise from a hard
bed instead of a soft one,  and swallow a raw egg  be-
fore walking.  To persons severely afflicted with this
disease in advanced life, smoking the dried root of  the
Jamestown weed will be beneficial, as will also smoking
the dried root of the skunk cabbage.  Look under the
head Jamestown weed, where this plant is described:
it must always be used gradually, and with some cau-
tion.   Baron Brady  states that he cured himself of
asthma of twenty-one years' standing, by the internal
use of mustard seed, of which he took every morning
and  evening a tea-spoonful in tea or broth.  Doctor
Pitschaft says he derived much benefit from the inter-
nal use of mustard, in pectoral disorders attended with
cough, and excessive mucous expectoration.
                  SORE LEGS.

  Sore legs  frequently arise from  the  imprudent
neglect of bruises; and from trifling sores which  are
permitted to become inflamed, and finally ulcerous. 
392
SORE LEGS.
Sore legs, like consumptions, and other diseases which
descend from parents to children, sometimes run in
families for several generations: when they run in fa-
milies, it is generally in such families as  are addicted
to king's evil,  scrofula,  or scurvy.  Doctor Rush
says, that he considers  them, in many  instances, as
arising from general debility, or weakness operating on
the whole system, but centering more particularly on
trie legs.   Persons who have been afflicted any length
of time with ulcerous sore legs, or  indeed with ulcers
situated anywhere  else, if of long standing, should be
cautious how they heal them suddenly, without purify-
ing and preparing the system for the change ; because
the sudden suppression of an habitual discharge, with-
out this previous purification,  almost invariably seats
some newr disease on a vital  organ, or produces death
by apoplexy.

                   REMEDIES.
  The first and important remedy in  sore legs, is to
keep them perfectly clean, by frequently washing them
with soap  and water.  Doctor Rush says,  and I per-
fectly agree with him in opinion, that the great success
of old  women in curing sore  legs, arises more  from
keeping the ufcers  clean, than  from any peculiar effi-
cacy of their medical applications.  Where sore legs
have been of any long standing, it is of importance, as
I have told you before, to attend to purging and purify-
ing the whole system, with  frequent doses of  Epsom
salts.  Nitre or saltpetre, given in doses of ten, fifteen,
or twenty  grains,  three times a day in  a  little cold
water,  will be found a useful  and cooling  medicine.
Pouring cold water on  the sores three times a day, i«
an excellent application; but it must be done on  ar, 
SORE  LEGS.
393
empty stomach.  Poultices of light wheat bread and
milk, applied as cold as possible, will reduce the inflam-
mation or fever:  so will, also, a poultice of slippery
elm bark  pounded well, and moistened before being
applied.  A wash of white oak bark, in old ulcers, is
a valuable remedy.  I have succeeded in curing old
sores, when every other means had been tried in vain,
by the application of common tow kept wet with new
milk, to the ulcer.   A salve made of Jamestown weed
will be found an excellent remedy, as will also a salve
made of the common elder hark.  When the sores are
sluggish, and refuse to heal, a poultice made of com-
mon garden carrots will be found  of great  utility.
Should proud flesh take place, after washing the sores
with castile  soap-suds, sprinkle a little red precipitate
on the sores,  or a little  calomel, or a little  burnt alum,
or dissolve a little  blue  vitriol (blue  stone) in water
and wet the  ulcers with it.
   In sore legs of  long standing, moderate exercise
should  be taken, and tight bandages applied, com-
mencing  at  the toes and winding  up the leg, which
will give due support to the vessels.  In such cases, to-
nic or strengthening medicines are necessary, such as
barks, iron rust, &c. &c, with a moderately nourishing
food.  The use of opium—see table for dose—will be
a useful medicine in allaying the pain, and invigorating
the whole system.  Rest, in a lying posture, should
always be particularly  attended to, in all cases of sore
legs; and the  diet  should be cooling, accompanied
with pure air.   Every thing of a heating  and  stimu-
lating nature should be avoided, particularly  ardent
spirits.  In some old ulcerations of the legs, nitric acid,
(aquafortis,) very weak, is sometimes taken internally,
and  also applied outwardly as a wash for the  sores.
                         50 
394
SORE  LEGS.
Charcoal will correct the smell, and purify the sores;
or if made into a poultice is an excellent application to
ill-conditioned ulcers.  Water dock, which grows in
wet, boggy soils, and on the banks of ditches, boiled to
a strong decoction, is a good wash for old ulcers; and
an ointment made by simmering the root in hogs' lard,
is a valuable remedy, derived from the Indians.
                     PILES.
  There are two kinds of piles, originating from very
nearly the same causes: one is called the bleeding
piles, and the other the blind  piles.   The piles are
small swelled tumours, of rather a dark appearance,
usually situated on the edge of the fundament. Where
there is a discharge of blood from these tumours, when
you  go to stool, the disease is  called bleeding  piles;
but when there is only a swelling on the edge of the
fundament, or some little distance  up the gut. and  no
ibleeding when you evacuate the bowels, the disease is
called the blind piles.   Both men and women are sub-
ject to piles;  but women more particularly during the
last stages of pregnancy, in which the womb presses on
the rectum or gut.  In passing the stool, you can plainly
feel these tumours, which extend from the edge of the
fundament to an inch or more  upwards, if you have
them severe : wiien these burst and bleed, the person
is very much relieved: and when the pain is excessive,
it is apt  to produce some fever.   Many persons are
constitutionally subject to this disease through life.  It
is, however, generally brought  on by costiveness, or
having irregular stools.   Piles  are also produced  by
riding a great deal on horseback in warm weather;  by 
PILES.
395
 the use of highly seasoned food; by sedentary habits,
 in other words, want of exercise ; by the use of spirit-
 uous liquors to  excess; and  by the use of aloes as a
 purge, if constantly taken for any  length of  time to
 remove costiveness: therefore, persons subject to cos-
 tiveness should particularly avoid aloes.

                    REMEDIES.
   Cold water is one of the best remedies that can be
 applied in this complaint: nor will any person ever be
 afflicted much with bleeding or blind piles, w7ho will
 bathe  the  fundament well with  cold  spring water
 daily, or with iced w7ater  to prevent, or to relieve the
 disease if formed.  I have known many persons who
 have exempted themselves from this painful disorder
 merely by  bathing twice  a day in the coldest water.
 For  those who, from  laziness or neglect, omit to use
 this simple and  powerful precaution, I shall proceed
 to give the usual remedies.  When there is a fever at-
 tending piles, it will  be  proper to lose a little blood,
 and  to take a dose of Epsom salts  or castor oil:  for
 doses see table.   Purging and bleeding should be  re-
 peated, if the  inflammatory or feverish symptoms do
 not subside.  If the pain  is violent, bathe the funda-
 ment with  some  laudanum, say a tea-spoonful mixed
 in a table-spoonful of cold water;  or  sit  over a tub
 in which some tar has been  heated or set on  fire, so
 that the steam may sweat  the fundament; this steam-
 ing should  continue some time, and be frequently re-
peated.  Sweet oil applied to the fundament is a good
remedy; and cooling applications of sugar of lead are
also good, made by putting a  tea-spoonful of the lead
into a pint of spring water, and bathing the parts fre-
quently with it.  Mercurial ointment, otherwise called 
396
PILES.
oil of baze, is a fine remedy; and by greasing the parts
with a small quantity three times a day, speedy relief
will be obtained in a  short time.  The root of the
Jamestown weed, made into a  salve, and  the  funda-
ment greased with it, will also afford speedy relief from
pain.  All persons subject to piles should live on light
diet of a cooling nature,  avoid  costiveness, and use
plenty of cold water in bathing, as before directed.
           PUTRID SORE THROAT.
  In this infectious or catching disease, the respiration
or breathing becomes hurried, and the breath hot and
offensive.   The swallowing becomes more and more
difficult; the skin burning and disagreeably hot, with-
out the  least moisture; and the pulse very quick and
irregular; the mouth and throat  assume a fiery red
-colour, and the palate and glands  of the throat much
swelled.  Blotches of a dark red colour appear on the
face about the third or fourth day, which gradually
increase in size, and soon spread over the whole body.
On examining the throat at this stage of the disease, you
will discover small brown  spots inside  of the throat,
which soon become deep sores or ulcers; a brownish
fur covers the tongue; the lips have small watery pim-
ples on them, which soon break and produce sores, the
matter of which is of an acrid nature.   If the disease
is not immediately relieved, it soon terminates fatally,
from the fifth  to the seventh day.  As the disease ad-
vances,  the following  symptoms denote an unfavoura-
ble and  fatal termination.  Purging a black matter, of
a very offensive and  fetid smell;  the hands and feet
becoming cold; the eruptions becoming of a dark livid 
              PUTRID SORE THROAT           397

 colour, or suddenly disappearing;  the inside of the
 mouth and throat assuming  a dark hue; the pulse be-
 coming  small, quick,  and  fluttering;  the breathing
 much hurried, with an almost constant  sighing; and a
 cold and  clammy sweat.  When putrid sore throat is
 about terminating favourably, the skin becomes gra-
 dually soft and moist, denoting the abatement of fever:
 the eruptions on the skin become of a reddish colour
 over the whole body; the breathing becomes more free
 and natural; the eyes assume a natural and lively ap-
 pearance ; the sloughs, or parts which separate from
 the ulcers, fall off easily, and leave the sores of a clean
 and reddish colour:  when these symptoms occur, as I
 said before, the  disease is about terminating in the re-
 covery of the patient.
   This infectious and frequently mortal disease made
 its appearance in Knox county, Tennessee, in the fall
 of 1827,  and proved fatal  in  very many instances.
 Having a short time before arrived from Virginia, and
 being a stranger, my practice was necessarily confined to
 some cases which occurred at Knoxville.  I immediate-
 ly determined to use a remedy which I had seen suc-
 cessfully administered  in the West Indies in  this dis-
 ease ; and the result  of the prescription was successful
 in my own practice.  Feeling it a duty to communicate
 the remedy to several gentlemen in the country, whose
 children were attacked with the  complaint, I was in-
 formed it was usually successful in every case in which
 it  was resorted to in the early stages of  the disease.

                    REMEDIES.
   In this disease, which is generally a dangerous  one,
 unless treated with judgment, bleeding and purging are
always fatal in their consequences, and you are scr*pu-
      2L 
398
PUTRID SORE  THROAT.
lously to avoid both.   Many physicians have treated
this complaint injudiciously, from the simple fact of not
giving themselves the trouble to investigate its causes.
It generally makes its appearance at the close of sultry
summers; when the system has been much weakened
by protracted  exposure  to intense heat;  and when
people have been for some time exposed to breathing
the putrid atmosphere arising  from stagnant waters
and decaying vegetation.
   You are  in the first instance to give an emetic or
puke of ipecacuanha: see table for dose: and the dose
must be repeated in moderation the next day  if consi-
dered necessary.  This will throw off the acrid matter
which Would otherwise produce injury by descending
into the bow7els, which are apt to be kept gently open
by glysters: see under that head.   If it is necessary, a
little  castor oil by the mouth, or a little  rhubarb, may
be given to assist the glysters in  removing offensive
matter; use then the following valuable prescription,
which is well knowm in the West Indies, whence I
derived it.   Take Cayenne pepper, in powder, two
table-spoonsful, with one  tea-spoonful of salt; and put
both into half  a pint of boiling water; let them stand
one hour, and  strain  off the liquor.   Next  put this
liquor, as pure as you can make it, into  half a pint of
strained vinegar, and warm  it over the fire.  Of this
medicine give  tw7o table-spoonsful every half ifoour.
Make, also, a strong decoction or tea of Seneca snake-
root, and give of it two table-spoonsful every hour.  If
any debility or weakness should come on, bathe the
grown person or child in a strong decoction of red oak
bark.   If the weakness is very considerable, add one-
fourth of whisky to the decoction, and give wine, or
toddy made with spirits and sweetened  with sugar, to 
              PUTRID  SORE THROAT.          399

support the system.   Wash the mouth and throat fre-
quently with the liquor made of pepper, vinegar, and
salt; and apply to the throat  a poultice, frequently
renewed, of garlic and onions, or ashes moistened well
with vinegar, and enclosed in a small bag, so as to pro-
duce a slight irritation of the skin.  Volatile liniment
will answer:  look under that head;  but blisters must
never be applied to the neck.  I have never used the
compound, but am strongly  impressed with the  opi-
nion that a tea-spoonful of good yeast, mixed with the
same quantity of powdered charcoal, and given three
times a day, would be a good remedy in this complaint,
                  HEADACH.
  This affection is produced from a foul stomach, from
costiveness, from indigestion, and sometimes from ex-
posure to the rays of the sun.  There is also a painful
affection of the head, accompanied with some  nausea,
called  sick headach, which comes on  periodically, or
af particular times;  this last  is sometimes called  ner-
vous headach, but is not so; it arises  from want of
acid on the stomach, or from an excess of acid.  There
is, indeed, a nervous headach, which arises from the
same causes as those which produce toothache in fe-
male diseases, and which may be produced also by
grief or any of the depressing passions, and should be
treated by gentle stimulants.

                   REMEDIES.
  If produced from a foul stomach, give an emetic or
puke:  if from costiveness, give an active purge: see
table for dose; if from exposure to the sun, read under 
400
HEADACH.
the head Inflammation of the Brain.  In sick headach,
a late remedy has been discovered, which may be relied
on; it  is citric acid, which may be  had  at any drug
store;  in plain terms, it is nothing but  the acid of le-
mons, of which you have only tp put  a  little in cold
water and drink it.   This remedy is  believed to be an
effective one;  and was, like many other valuable dis-
coveries, the result of  mere accident.   A girl who
attended a bar in London, was called on  to make a
glass of lemonade.   She was so afflicted with sick head-
ach as scarcely to be able to  prepare it.   On tasting
the lemonade  to know if it was good, she found-that
every sip she took relieved her head, and finally, she
obtained entire relief from drinking  the  whole glass.
When  sick headach arises from excess of acid  on the
stomach, a tea-spoonful of finely powdered charcoal, in
a little  cold water, will correct the acid :  a tea-spoon-
ful of magnesia will do  the same.   When  headach
arises from debility, stimulants are  required, particu-
larly for delicate females.  Wine sangaree, made with
warm wrater, wine, sugar, and nutmeg, is  an excellent
and gentle stimulant.   I have, in many cases, given' a
bottle of Madeira wine to a female in the  course of a
day, and produced much  benefit from  it  in this dis-
ease, without the least  intoxicating effect.  The best
wine must always be used.
                   EARACHE.
  Many persons are subject, on  the  slightest cold, to
painful affections of the ear.  These pains usually sub-
side in a day or two, and the disease ends in a discharge
of matter.   Sometimes great pain  is produced: by 
EARACHE.
401
some insect crawling into the ear of a person whilst
sleeping;  and it is not unfrequent that an accumula-
tion of wax takes place in the  ear and produces deaf-
ness.
                   REMEDIES.
  Warm some fine salt, place it in a bag, and  apply it
to the ear; or make a poultice of roasted onions, and
apply it to the ear and side of the head, first putting into
the ear a little fine wool, on which has been dropped a
few drops of laudanum and sweet oil warmed.  If the
pain or  deafness is  occasioned by the lodgment of
hard wax in the ear, inject strong warm soap-suds into
the ear, so as to soften and finally dissolve the wax.  If
the pain is very severe, a  blister behind the ear will
relieve it: and if the deafness continue for some time
after the pain has gone off, inject into the ear  once or
twice a day a little strong salt and water, after which
keep the  ear stopped with some wool, which must
be moistened with spirits in which  camphor has been
dissolved.
                    MUMPS.
  This complaint is so universally known as to make
a minute description of it unnecessary.   It appears on
the throat; sometimes on one side, and  sometimes on
both sides.  It makes its appearance in  a lump imme-
diately under the jaw, which swells and becomes large
and painful, and often renders the swallowing difficult.
The cheeks and w7hole face generally swell at first, and
continue swelled for five or six days.  When the dis-
ease is  any way severe,  it is usually  attended with
fever:  children are generally  affected with it, but it is
      2 i. 2               51
• 
402                  MUMPS.

not exclusively confined to them.   When it attacks
grown persons, male or female, great care should be
observed in treating it. In men, the testicles frequently
become swelled as large as gourds, and extremely pain-
ful : in women, without great attention, the disease is
apt to settle in the breasts, which become swelled and
very hard;  in this case there is much danger of an ac-
cumulation of matter.  These consequences, however,
both to men and women, usually arise from want of
attention, and from the taking of cold; when due cau-
tion is exercised, there is very little danger from this
complaint.

                    REMEDIES.
   In simple cases of mumps nothing can or ought to
be done, but  to avoid taking cold.  Keep the face.
throat, and head, moderately warm, by wearing flannel
round the parts. Keep the bowels gently open,  by a
little  castor oil or Epsom salts; and  always  avoid the
damp ground, wet feet, or even damp feet.  If the tes-
ticles swell, immediately lie down on your  bed, and
move as little as possible, and also be bled from the
ar$, and purge freely. Apply to the privates poultices
of cold light bread and milk, which are always to be
renewed as soon as they become warm.  Dissolve a
tea-spoonful of sugar of  lead in a pint of cold water,
with which you are to wet the poultices  and also the
testicles, which are to be suspended, or  held up in a
bag made for the purpose; a handkerchief will answer
the same purpose, which is merely to prevent their
weight from doing injury.   Women, in cases of swell-
ed breasts, must pursue the plan of bleeding and purg-
ing prescribed for men, and apply the poultices to the
breasts  to prevent  the formation of matter  in them 
MUMPS.
403
Poultices made of flaxseed, applied cold, are also effect-
ive in reducing inflammations.
                  SORE EYES.
  This is so common a disease in the western country
that  it requires to be treated of with much attention*.
The  eye is exceedingly tender, and subject to a variety
of maladies, some of which usually terminate in total
blindness, unless speedy relief can be obtained.   TJus
delicate organ exemplifies, in the wisdom of its con-
struction,  the boundless and incomprehensible power
of Almighty God.   It  may  be called the mirror of
the soul:  and the interpreter of the passions of man-
kind.  At a single  glance, it  takes in the sublime
beauties and magnificent splendours of  the  visible
creation ;  reaches by its mystic  energies the bosom of
unlimited space; and at the next moment, by an effort
of microscopic vision which is absolutely unaccounta-
ble, it expatiates on the mild tints of the opening rose-
buds, and detects the analysis of a physical atom ! The
loss of such powers of vision, then, must be  indeed a
great misfortune, and frequently, when I have reflected
on the dangers of so  great a loss, I have been astonish-
ed at the carelessness and inattention with which dis-
eases of this noble and distinguished  organ are  some-
times treated.
  In a work like this, winch is intended  for popular
use and benefit, it would be irrelevant and unimpor-
tant  to treat of such diseases  of the eye as require
surgical operations; such must  always  be met by the
skill and judgment of a practical operator.
   Ophthalmia is the general name given by physicians 
404                SORE EYES.

to inflammatory diseases of the eye: these diseases are
either inflammations of the coats or membranes of the
eye, or they are inflammations of the whole orbit or
globe of the eye  itself.  In common ophthalmia (for
there is such a disease as venereal ophthalmia) the eyes
exhibit considerable inflammation, owing to the fulness
of the small blood-vessels.  There is also much heat
and pain felt over the whole surface of the eye;  and,
generally speaking, an involuntary flow of tears. When
the inflammation is suspected to be deeply seated,
throwing a strong light on the eye will determine the
fact, by producing sharp shooting pains through the
h«ad, accompanied with fever. When the pains of the
eyes and head  are not much increased by an  exposure
of the eyes to  a strong light, we may safely conclude,
that  the inflammation is of a slight and  local nature.
It is  my opinion, and I know it is contrary to the com-
mon opinion, if any judgment can be formed from the
general practice of  physicians, that inflammatory dis-
eases of  the eye  are very frequently connected with
diseased  states of some of the other  organs, or with
general and constitutional derangements of the whole
system.
  Inflammatory diseases of the eye are usually  pro-
duced by severe cold; by sudden changes of  the wea-
ther ; by exposure to cold, raw7, and damp winds; by
residing in very damp, or in very sandy countries; and
by exposures of the eye to the vivid beams of the sun,
on sandy or snowy wastes of country, for some length
of time.  In the salt mines of Poland, to which many
convicts are consigned for life, and where the exclusion
of daylight renders torches  necessary,  not  only the
prisoners but the horses themselves become blind, from
the insufferable brilliancy of the salt rock. This sim- 
SORE  EYES.
405
pie fact is sufficient to place all persons on their guard
against exposing the eye to a strong glare of light.  In
addition to the above causes, inflammations of the eye
are often  produced from  external injuries, such as
blow7s and bruises; and also from splinters, dust, or any
other irritating matters getting into the eyes.  Healing
old ulcers, or sores of  long standing, and particularly
driving in eruptions of the head  and face, will very
often inflame the eyes.  Besides all  these causes, the
suppression or stoppage of some  habitual discharges,
such as the menses, bleeding at the nose, hemorrhoids
or piles, &c, will produce  inflammations of the eyes:
and, to close the catalogue  of the causes of inflamma-
tory diseases of the eye, venereal ophthalmia itself is
produced by the action of the virus  or poison of the
venereal disease, or scorbutic or scrofulous  habits of
body.   This last disease of the eyes  generally termi-
nates in impaired vision, or total blindness.  You, who
are yet  tyros in the school  of experience and humani-
ty ; you, who are melting down your physical and vital
energies on the corrupted bed of lust and debauchery,
listen to this!

                    REMEDIES.
  In all inflammations of the eyes, presumed  to arise
from a diseased state of the general system, from a foul
stomach, from  costiveness  of the  bowels, from  colds
accompanied with fever, or even from local  affections
of the  organic  structure of the eye, the stomach is to
be thoroughly evacuated and cleansed by gentle emetics
or pukes, and the bowels by active and cooling purges.
U the inflammation should be severe, some blood should
be drawn from the arm occasionally, at the same time
that very gentle  and cooling purges are in operation. 
406
SORE  EYES.
The diet should  be of the  lightest kind, and of the
most cooling nature.  Cold acid drinks are also proper,
because they tend to lessen the  inflammation, and to
cool the whole system.   The skin should be kept clean,
and perspiration or  sweating kept up continually by
the warm or tepid bath,  after bleeding and purging
have been sufficiently resorted  to.  Dr. Physic, who
is probably among the greatest men of his profession,
either of this or any other age, expressly recommends
that in very severe inflammations of the eyes, blister
plasters should be applied over and around them, which
are to be kept shut; and  that between these plasters
and the eye lids, two or three doublings of  gauze are
to be placed, in order to prevent the flies or cantharides
from entering the eyes.  When the  inflammation is
considered merely local and external,  and not deeply
seated in the-system or vital organs, poultices, made of
light bread and milk and  applied as cold as possible,
will be beneficial; in fact, the coldest applications are
to be kept to the eyes, such for instance as the follow-
ing : Take  twenty grains of sugar of lead, and ten
grains  of white vitriol, dissolve them in half a pint
of pure rain water, and  let the  mixture  settle  for
several hours;  then pour  off the clear part from the
top, and  keep the  eye  constantly moistened with this
water.   If the eyes are very painful, you may add to
the mixture a tea-spoonful  of laudanum, to  allay the
irritation.  Persons who are constitutionally subject to
weak eyes, will find much benefit from bathing them
frequently in pure water; and  if the weakness is un-
attended by inflammation, by bathing  them in  weak
spirits  and w7ater.   In  cases of films overspreading the
cornea, or transparent part of the eye, so as to induce
blindness, I consider it my duty to make the following 
SORE  EYES.
407
note: Doctor Manlone, formerly a celebrated physi-
cian, of Dinwiddie county, Virginia, since dead, left on
record in the margin of one of Prideaux's works, the
following note:  " The gall  of an  eel, laid  on with  a
soft  brush, and with  great care, and occasionally re-
peated, has successfully removed a film from the eye.
The writer of this leaves it on record in this place,
with the intention that it may be useful to some fel-
low-creature, wrhen the writer is no longer an inhabit-
ant of this world.  I  most solemnly declare that  I
have experienced the good  effects of the application,
in the course of my practice; but it should be used
when the disorder is recent.       C. Manlone."
   Thus we see, notwithstanding the  sneers and  ridi-
clue of modern infidels, that the story in the Apocry-
pha, of Tobit's blindness being cured by the gall of  a
fish, is neither ridiculous nor improbable.  Dr. Man-
lone has been dead about forty years.  For the satis-
faction of the reader, I will record a case in which  I
myself was successful in the cure of blindness.  Miss
Hudson, of Knox county, Tennessee, who resides with
her father on the waters of Holston, in that state, came
to me afflicted with blindness in one of her eyes, from
a film, which I speedily and easily removed, by intro-
ducing upon the surface of the eye-ball clean hogs'
lard; it was introduced into the eye with a fine camel-
hair pencil, and with much care.
                  WHITLOW.
  There is an inflammation at the end of the finger
or thumb.  The pain gradually increases, attended
with a throbbing sensation, and always produces in its 
408
WHITLOW.
progress the most excruciating torment.  In whitlow,
the finger  or thumb affected always puts on a glossy
or shining appearance.  After six or eight days mat-
ter forms  under the  nail or at the side of it, which,
on being opened, gives immediate relief.

                   REMEDIES.
  The old plan of treatment in whitlow has been en-
tirely laid  aside; it consisted merely of poultices and
warm applications.   The method of cure now adopted
in the European hospitals, which may be said to be an
infallible one, is simply as follows : The moment the
whitlow is discovered, press the  part gently and  gra-
dually with  your thumb and forefinger;  then with a
piece of tape or narrow binding, bind or wind the sore
finger or thumb tightly, from the point upward toward
the body of the hand.  This bandage must be permit-
ted to remain on, the object being merely to stop the
circulation until a cure is effected.  You may unwind
it once a day to examine the whitlow, but it must im-
mediately be put on again.   If the bandage give much
pain, so that you cannot bear it, it must be gradually
loosened until  you can bear the pressure.   By this
simple method  whitlow may be easily cured, if mat-
ter has not formed in it.   Were I not convinced that
many wise men and old women will laugh at this sim-
ple cure, I would not put myself to the trouble of
proving its efficacy.  Doctor William Balfour of Edin-
burgh  relates more than fifty cases of whitlow being
cured, some  of them with  matter formed and highly
inflamed, by this simple method.  I  will give two
cases  of success, selected  from the London Medical
and Physical  Journal.  "James Briddet,"  says  the
writer, "who was a tanner, aged twenty-five years, 
WHITLOW.
409
 applied to me on the 25th of August, with a whitlow
 on one of his thumbs.   He knew no cause for the com-
 plaint, which had existed about a week, and prevented
 him  from following his occupation.  When  I had
 pressed the jparts firmly, and applied a bandage, I de-
 sired him to  call the next day.   He looked at me as if
 he would ha we said—'is this all that you are to do for
 me?'  I  foijind this fellow," says the doctor, "quite
 doubtful  wijth regard to my cure, and again desired
 him to call pie next day.  In the morning he accord-
 ingly returned, w7hen I found  the inflammation and
 swelling considerably abated.  On the third day the
 pain was  en, tirely gone, and the man had the free use
 of his thumlj).   I now asked him if he was not at first
 quite distrustful of  the  mode of cure I had  adopted;
 he laughed**, and admitted that he was; expressed  his
 surprise at *. the quick result; made his  acknowledg-
 ments, and t went about his business.  Peter Fraser re-
 ceived an ipnjury on the 26th of  December last, by
 having his tahumb bent forcibly backward in lifting a
 heavy stonen.  When he applied to me on  the 29th, he
 complaineds of having passed three days in great agony,
 and three sitieepless nights.  The pain was confined to
 the first joimi't, but the swelling extended a considerable
 way upwarcll.  I never handled a more excruciatingly
 painful casef', and believed it must soon terminate  in
 suppuration ," (breaking and running.)   -Such was
 also the opinion  of Doctor Anderson of New York,
 who  happei ified  to be with me w7hen the  patient pre-
 sented himsieelf.   I told that gentleman, that exquisitely
 painful as w tas the complaint, I had no doubt of curing it
 in a week, vd<vithout any other application than my own
fingers, and pa a simple bandage of narrow  tape.  The
cure was ccci>mpleted in  six days, inclusive of that on
    2 M                  52 
410
WHITLOW.
which the patient applied to me."  I have thus given
two cases in which whitlow has been cured by the
mere application of a bandage;  and I will adventure
another  suggestion, which is this, that eyen  in  cases
wiiere suppuration has actually taken pjace, and the
lancet has been used, the use of an easy bandage would
be greatly beneficial, applied to every part of the finger
or thumb, except immediately over the small point of
discharge.
        COW-POX, OR VACCINATI ON.
  This valuable discovery, made several wears ago by
the celebrated Doctor Jenner, is  now resorted to as a
remedy against the infectious and dreadfuj inroads of
the smallpox, in almost every portion of tij-ie civilized
world.  Vaccination  is merely the introdu ction or in-
sertion into  the  arm, by means of the  laucet, of thev
matter by which the cow-pox is produced in the human
system.  There is a contention among physicians, and
those too of the higher orders, w7hether l}he  cow-pox
is, in all cases, a preventive of that dreadful, scourge of
mankind, the smallpox; for  myself, I am
believe that, with very few exceptions, it i
sidered an antidote to smallpox, especiall}
cination has been effectual on the system.
out of five hundred and eighty-four thousai
born in the year 1821, forty thousand of
vaccinated for the cow7-pox.  During the aiLove period,
there died of smallpox, in all the provinces; belonging
to Prussia, one thousand one hundred and
      and before the introduction of vaccii
sons
thirty to forty thousand died annually o
induced  to
nay be con-
 when vac-
In Prussia,
id children,
them were
ninety per-
lation, from
  smallpox. 
VACCINATION.
411
Although persons who have been vaccinated  may be
liable to take  the smallpox afterwards, yet the latter
disease always terminates very mildly. Of many hun-
dred thousand persons vaccinated in London, not a
single case of death has  taken  place from smallpox,
where  the matter of the cow-pox, had  before taken
proper effect. The Report of the College  of Physicians
in London, for 1807, expressly states, that smallpox
in any shape rarely proves fatal,  when it  attacks tnose
who have been successfully vaccinated.   The success
attending this operation in the United States, has enti-
tled it to the highest confidence of  our most distin-,
guished physicians.   I have  before remarked in sub-
stance, and I think the opinion a correct one, that many
who have taken the smallpox after vaccination, took it
from bad management in inserting the cow-pox mat-
ter: when the proper effect  is not produced  on ihe
system, by the introduction of the  cow-pox matter, it
is to be  expected that persons will still be liable to the
contagion of smallpox.
  To every man of common  prudence,  and proper
sentiments of self-preservation, advice of the necessity
of vaccination, as a preventive  of the dangers atten-
dant on smallpox, would be superfluous; to those  who
seem to slumber in security, respecting the  future
ravages  of smallpox in the interior of our country, I
have only to remark, that the facilities  of commerce
with other countries are daily increasing, from the
universal  introduction of steamboats, and  the rapid
improvement of our internal navigation;  and that in a
few years, through these  mediums, the  most remote
and secluded  portions of our country will stand  as
much exposed to the mortal inroads of smallpox  as
our large cities and maritime towns. 
412
VACCINATION.
   The great object in vaccination is the certainty that
 the matter used takes full effect on the system ; and it
 is needless to remark that, unless the matter be genuine,
 no beneficial effect can possibly result from vaccination.
 Vaccination  is an  innocent and valuable preventive
 against smallpox,  in w7hich little if any  medicine is
 required; in children it passes over in a few days.  In
 grown persons it may produce  slight  fever and pain
 under the arm, which usually goes off in a few hours.
 If the person vaccinated be of a gross habit of body, a
 moderate dose of salts will be of much service on the
 seventh or eighth  day.  If the inflammation of the
 arm  becomes very painful, moisten  the place  fre-
 quently with a little weak sugar of lead water, until
 the sore is dried up; this however is seldom necessary.
 The great point in vaccination is  certainly to know
 that the matter introduced into  the system has taken
 a full  and sufficient  effect. If there is only a slight red-
 ness in the arm, where  the matter  has been inserted,
 and no other effect is produced on the system, you may
 certainly conclude  that the vaccination has failed of
 effect.  But  if, on  the contrary, a pustule or pimple
 arises, of a full and oval form,  with an indentation or
 dent in the centre, not  unlike a button mould, about
the sixth day, containing matter, vaccination  has  had
the desired effect.   Great attention  should be  paid to
these  circumstances by the operator, or he will proba-
bly be the cause of  a future exposure of the person to
the ravages of the  smallpox, and not  improbably to
the imminent hazard of death.   The influence of the
kine or cow-pox over affections of the skin, in many
cases in which medical remedies have failed, has lately
produced considerable attention and interest in the hos-
pitals  of Europe.  The matter of cow-pox can alw7ays 
VACCINATION.
413
be obtained pure, by addressing a letter to the Vaccine
Institutions of New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore,
from either of which, on application, you  will receive
it, by letter.  If the matter be received from a distance,
it is best to hold the lancet, on which is the matter you
intend to insert  into the arm, until  it softens a little ;
then hold the lancet in such a position, that the matter
can gradually go off the point.  Next scratch the skin
frequently, but not too deeply, with the  point of the
lancet  on which is the matter, until a little blood may
be seen; this is the whole secret of vaccination. Some-
times the matter of cow-pox is sent on threads;  when
this is  the case, make a slight incision  in the arm, and
lay the thread in it, which must be covered with court
plaster to keep it in its place until the disorder has been
communicated.  If a physician be convenient, it will
always be advisable to employ him to perform the ope-
ration, because much depends on the exercise of judg-
ment,  respecting  the  future security of the  person
against that  most dreadful of scourges, the smallpox.
                  SMALLPOX.
  How imperfect are the conceptions which are formed
by the fortunate few7, of the sufferings to which millions
of the human race are subject, when  afflicted by this
dreadful and fatal disorder!   How important then is
the great remedy of vaccination, which I have before
described, that, from some inexplicable principle, ren-
ders harmless this powerful enemy of human life!
  Smallpox is known by  the  following symptoms : a
few days  before its appearance you  feel restless and
uneasy, and a great dislike to motion of any kind :
    2 M 2 
414
SMALLPOX.
cold chills steal over you,  followed by flushings of
heat, and accompanied by a slight fever, all of which
end as the disease gradually increases.  You have a
pain in the head, a dull heavy pain in the small of the
back, great thirst, increase of stupor, until about the
third  day,  when  the eruptions or spots on the  skin,
something like flea bites, make their appearance on the
face, neck, breast, and arms, and gradually extend over
the whole  body.   These, spots gradually increase in
size, until  about  the fifth  or  sixth day, when  they
begin to turn white at the tops, and feel  painful.
Your voice then becomes hoarse, as if you had a severe
cold;  your face  becomes  much swelled, and  your
features appear much changed; your eyelids, particu-
larly, swell to a considerable extent, so as frequently to
close the eyes entirely, and a spitting takes  place as if
you were salivated.  On the eleventh  day these pus-
tules or pimples have increased to about the size of a
common pea, and instead of white contain a yellow
matter; on the tops of which pustules or pimples  you
will discover a small black  spot, whilst all the rest is
filled with this yellow matter.   About the twelfth day
they burst and discharge their contents, with a horrible
stench which is almost  insupportable;  nor dare  you
attempt to wash  off this matter, the  slightest touch
giving the most excruciating pain.  It is this matter
which leaves the scars on the faces of persons disfigured
with  the disorder.   If the matter dries quickly,  it
leaves no marks; but if, from any unhealthy constitu-
tional defect, it lingers for some time  on the  body, it
generally leaves those marks behind it which disfigure
the countenance for life.  This disease  sometimes, but
not frequently, comes on with  great violence, with all
the symptoms of typhus or nervous fever: refer to page 
SMALLPOX.                415
204, where you will see the form of treatment which
must be observed in smallpox, should it come on with
symptoms of typhus or nervous fever.   When these
unfavourable appearances take place in the commence-
ment of the disease, it is called by physicians confluent
smallpox.  The eruptions  alppear much earlier in this
form of the complaint; they run in patches, and in-
stead of rising, remain flat and are of a dark livid
colour; they secrete a dark brown unhealthy  matter.
The fever, which in the first form of smallpox, abates
when the pimples become full, in this form of the dis-
ease continues constantly throughout the disease, end-
ing in great debility or weakness.   In this  last form
or  stage  of smallpox, which   I  have  described as
of the nervous or typhus kind, it may be considered as
very highly dangerous, and as generally terminating
fatally without judicious and skilful treatment.

                   REMEDIES.
  In the treatment of this complaint you arc-to avoid
every thing, as  you value the life of your patient, of &
heating nature, either as drink^or food, or clothing.
The room is to be kept as quiet as possible.  Cover the
patient  with nothing but a  very thin sheet;  even  the
weight  and heat of a common linen sheet is painful and
oppressive, and unless he complains of feeling cold, you
cannot commit an error in keeping him too cool.  Let
all his drinks be of the most cooling nature.  As a ge-
neral drink, cold water sweetened with sugar, in which
is put a little acid, so as to make  it pleasantly sour, is
the jpest drink that can be given.  In fevers of every
description, and particularly in the one w7hich attends
on smallpox, acid drinks abate  the  fever, lessen the
thirst, and cool the whole system.  The heat and pain 
416
SMALLPOX.
 of the eruptions will always be lessened by keeping
 them well moistened with equal quantities of milk and
 water, or with cold water alone.   Cold water, as a
 remedy used in sponging the  body in the first stages
 of this complaint, will greatly tend to lessen  the heat,
 and pain in the head and back.   In fact, as I have told
 you  before, there is no  danger of cooling remedies,
 unless the patient complains of being chilly and cold,
 which is not frequently the case; but if he should do
 so, moderate the quantity of cooling drinks to the feel-
 ings of the patient:  nature usually tells the truth.   If,
 by any accident, the complaint should strike in, (which
 is not the case once in a hundred instances,) the warm
 bath made pleasantly w7arm should be used, and a little
 warm wine whey, or warm wine, given internally at
t the same time.  These measures will again bring out
 the disorder on the skin.  For the proper treatment of
 this disease, when it puts  on the appearance of nervous
 or typhus fever, and  is called confluent small pox: I
 refer you to page 204, where you will find it at length.
 When the eruptions burst "and discharge their matter,
 an ointment  made  qf cream  and common  garden
 parsley, and constantly applied by means of a soft swrab,
 or rag rolled round a small stick, to keep the sores soft,
 and to  prevent their  hardening, will entirely prevent
 any marks or scars  being left on  the  face.    I have
 omitted to state, that jf the bowels  are costive, Epsom
 salts should be given  in a little cold water: see table
 for dose:  or you may keep them gently open, by cool-
 ing glysters:  for glystering  look  under the  head
 Glysters.   The loss  of some blood from  the arm is
 sometimes necessary in the first stage of this disease, if
 the inflammatory symptoms run high, and the pain in
 the head is \erv distressing.  This, with  the use of 
SMALLPOX.
417
cold water as  before mentioned, if the inflammatory
action is very great, will produce a beneficial effect in
relieving a pain in the head and back.
             VENEREAL DISEASE.

   The prevalence of this dreadful disease among man-
 kind is another proof among the many others  that
 might be adduced, that it is the interest of man to be
 virtuous, if he wishes to be happy, and that  a decree
 of the Almighty has announced to him, in  language
 not to be mistaken, that " the penalty of a misdeed shall
 always tread on the heels of the transgression ; if you
 violate my laws, which wTere formed for your happi-
 ness, I will convince you of that violation by  plunging
 you  into sufferings and misery."
   That there are  moments of licentious conduct in
 early life, affording but a short and transitory enjoy-
 ment, to which memory in after periods looks back
 with sorrow and remorse, no man possessed of common
 sense will deny; but when to the bitter pangs of re-
 morse for a misdeed are added the pains and sufferings
 of bodily disease, as is always the case in venereal com-
 plaints, language has no powers  to describe  the  real
 condition of the sufferer.  What dreadful sacrifices are
 frequently made by mankind of health, wealth, fame,
 happiness, and character, for a momentary gratification
 of sensual pleasure, which  often ends in shame, and
 remorse, and  the misery of a whole life, inflicted by
 the venereal disease.  If the transgressor himself alone
suffered, this  disease would not present  so horrible a
spectacle to the eye of humanity: but how often do we
                        53 
4iS
VENEREAL DISEASE.
 kee an innocent  and spotless wife, in moments of en-
 dearing confidence  and love, receiving this infectious
 disorder and communicating it to her children: I will
 not say  from a husband, (it would  be a misuse of the
 wrord.) but from a brute, who has  violated every prin-
 ciple of honour, and the most sacred ties of humanity.
• But this is not -all:  how often do w7e see  an innocent,
 virtuous,  unsuspicious  wife,  with  her  constitution
 "destroyed, her health deeply impaired, and all her hdpes
 Bf earthly happiness blasted forever, by having received
 frbhi the man she calls her husband this loathsome and
 filthy disorder, and having to submit to an examination
 bf'those parts vvhich common decency forbids me to
 name, in  order that she may be  cured of a disease
 Which always ends in death of-a most terrible charac-
 ter, •dhle'ss medical means Can  be used.
   This  cdhiplaiht  is  produced  in mdst cases by a
 healthy  person having sexual  intercourse or connex-
 ion with another Who has'this infectious disorder in
 the 'genitals or  privates.  JIt  took its name from a
 6?reek Word 'Which in  our 'language means filthy. The
 Old TeSta'ttietit informs us'that the  ancient inhabitants
 of the'ealrterh'countries were much subject to diseases
 bf thegenitals dr privates, and that for the preservation
 of the Jewish nation circumcision was enforced in the
 Mosaic  lawrs, and made also a religious rite or ceremo-
 ny. "Circumcision  means the  Cutting off the foreskin
 dr prepuce of the private 'ifiember. Which prevents  any
 poisOnOus  Or infectious matter fro'm producing disease,
 by being lodged  under the skin.   Although no direct
 mention is made  of Venereal disease among those peo-
 ple, yet  the descrifttio'n 6f some of  the diseases of the
 genitals  to Which they Were  Subject. leads us directly
 tbthe belief tllHt tfHey Yvdre  well acquainted with ve- 
VENEREAL  DISEASE.            419
nereal  complaints; be this  however as it may, about
the close of1 the fifteenth century, I think about the
year 1494, the venereal disease appeared in Europe,
from which it communicated with great rapidity to
every part of the known world, and became such a
scourge to the  human race  as to become an object of
great medical attention.  I have neither time nor space
for pursuing the subject of  its history any fi^JJier, in-
deed it would be both useless and unnecessary.
  After you have taken this disorder in the manner I
have described, it will depend very much on the state
of, your system, and  other peculiarities of that systeiri
not distinctly known, at what particular time the dis-
ease will make its  appearance.   In some persons,
whose  systems are very irritable, it will show itself on
the third or fourth day after you have had sexual con-
nexion with a person infected with the  disease; in
other persons  it  will be eight or ten days  before it
makes its appearance; and  I have known it to remain
a month  or more in  the system before it would  show
itself in  any form.   In fact, cases are mentioned by
good medical  writers, in which several  men have had
connexion with a woman known to have the venereal
disease, some of whom  took  it, while others escaped
uninjured.  This singular circumstance, which we are
bound to credit from the goodness of the  authorities,
must have been owing to the fact of the infected wo-
man making  water  immediately before  having con-
nexion with those who escaped without injury.
   I am inclined to believe that it has never been fully
ascertained how7 long the venereal matter will remain
as it were asleep in the system, without making its ap-
pearance; some writers say  three months, some  six
months,  some  a year, and so on.  1 suspect the fact to 
420
VENEREAL DISEASE.
 be, in those cases  in which the disease is supposed to
 appear after a considerable time, that the persons have
 not been entirely cured ;  in other words, that the dis-
 ease has merely been driven back  by quackery, and
 afterwards showed itself  under the following forms :
 in the  nose, in the throat, in  the  eyes, on the legs, in
 sw7ellings of the groins, in splotches or sores on the
 body, &c  This last  stage of the venereal disease is
 called  constitutional, because it is firmly seated in the
 whole  body, by the venereal virus  or poison having
 been absorbed, and carried into the whole circulation.
 The venereal disease may be communicated by wound-
 ing or pricking any part of the body with a lancet hav-
 ing on  its point any particle of this venereal poison.  I
 recollect a student of medicine who came very near his
 death from cutting his finger slightly, when dissecting
 a person who had  died of the venereal disease; the
 poisonous matter was communicated to the slight cut;
 in twelve hours afterwards he laboured under violent
 fever, which continued ten or twelve days before the
 inflammation  could be subdued.    This disease may
 also take place from an application of the matter to a
 scratch, to a common sore, or  to a wound.  Several
 instances are mentioned of venereal or pox sores being
 formed in the  nostrils, eyelids, and lips, from the slight
circumstance of persons having the  disease touching
their nostrils,  eyes, or lips with their fingers, imme-
diately after handling the  venereal sores on their own
privates.   These remarks are made with the intention
of showing how easily this loathsome disease, with all
its impure and life-corrupting taints, may be  commu-
nicated, and to place physicians  and midwives on their
guard against infection.
  Venereal disease  has two distinct forms;  I might 
VENEREAL DISEASE.
421
say three forms, for the third is nothing more than the
one I have just described as constitutional, which al-
ways arises from one of the other two, or from both in
combination.  The first is pox, properly so called; and
the other clap, called by physicians gonorrhoea, which
is so simple in  its nature, that with proper treatment
it may be cured in from three to five or six days.
  The pox  is a most  corrupting, dangerous, and de-
structive disease;  and if suffered to progress in its ra-
vages on the human body, never fails in desolating the
human constitution, and destroying life at its very core.
When it is foolishly concealed, and suffered to run on,
or badly treated in attempting its cure, it always ends
in distressing and  irreparably fatal consequences.  In
ten cases out of eleven, if application were immediately
made, with the proper remedies, the complaint, dread-
ful as  it is, might be cured in a very short time with-
out affecting the system; for I do know from actual
experience, having paid much attention to the general
practice in venereal cases, that  thousands have been
salivated, and their constitutions destroyed  by mercu-
ry, when more simple and less dangerous  practice,
combined with adequate and proper attentions, would
entirely have removed the disease. Medically speaking,
pox is at first a local, and  not a general disease of the
system, by which I mean, that it is more a disease of
tie part first affected than of the whole body; and I
have no manner of doubt that many a poor, unfortunate
fellow has been pushed and dragged through a tedious
and destructive mercurial  course, and perhaps for a
disease which was not actual pox, who might have
been cured  by a  little lunar caustic, a wash  made of
blue-stone; a little red  precipitate, or even by sprink-
ling on the chancre, or first venereal ulcer, a small por-
      2N 
422            VENEREAL DISEASE./

tion of calomel.  I have  frequently observed in the
United  States many cases which professional honour
forbids  me to name, in whioh  patients have suffered
infinitely more from the imprudent and'(to coin a new7
word) quacknical use of mercury, than could possibly
have resulted from the most insignificantvenereal soroi
itself, with strict attention to cleanliness, had  the dis-
ease been permitted to run its course.     •u»i'
  That mercury holds a distinguished, powerful, and
perhaps perfect dominion  over venereal  diseases, in
most, if not in all cases, I freely admit to be true ; but
I as firmly believe that thousands  might have been'
cured of this horrid complaint under very mild admi**.
nistrations of this powerful medicine, this Samson of;
the drug shops.  I have witnessed the progress of thise
disease in both Europe and the United  States, from itg
mildest forms to its most destructive  ravages on the
human system, and feel perfectly assured that  the dis-
ease, which is the same in all countries, assumes either
a milder or severer form, according to the peculiarities
of the human  constitution, the irritable  state of the
system at the time this disease is taken, the habits of
the person, the i character of the climate, ana* so on.
Very few  cases of pox in France, in proportion to the
immense population, terminate in injuries to the bones
of the face, disfigurement of the nose, loss of the palate.
of the mouth, &c.  This is altogether'.owing to their
proper management of the complaint;  with  them, the
pox produces, very little alarm, probably not more than
the itch does in this country.  They are perfect mas-
ters of the disease, and there  are few7 cases that do noj(j
terminate speedily and successfully, under their strict;
and judicious treatment.   An  individual may travel
through France, and have promiscuous intercourse of 
VENEREAL DISEASE.
423
a sexual character for years without receiving the least
injury.   On the contrary, in this country, from causes
which need not be particularly named, the least devia-
tion from moral propriety involves the participant in
disease and suffering.  As my  object is  the develop-
ment of truth, regardless of petty objections and servile
prejudices,  I  assert that we  use  infinitely too much
mercury in the cure of pox in the United States; and
we very frequently communicate a serious disease by
the imprudent use of mercury, instead  of  removing
one ;  yet I trust in God the day will arrive, and  that
too at no very distant period, when diseases themselves
will be prescribed for, and  not their merely technical
names.   There are generally, in the venereal hospital
at Paris, in France, from five to seven hundred vene-
real or pox patients.  Included in this number, there
are usually about three  hundred women  of the town.
in other  words,  common prostitutes. " The patients
of all the French hospitals," says Doctor F.  J. Didier,
honorary member of the medical society of Baltimore,
" are carefully nursed by the sisters of charity, a class
of nuns whose lives are consecrated to  the relief of
wretchedness and  the calming of pain.   With what
eloquence  does Voltaire write  in favour of these
charming and admirable women!  ' Perhaps,' says he,
' there is nothing on earth so truly great, as  the sacri-
fice made by the softer sex, of beauty, youth, and often
the highest worldly expectations, to relieve that  mass
of every human suffering, the sight of which is so re-
volting to  delicacy.'  I myself have observed one of
these angelic women, administering consolation and
relief to  a man tortured by the agonies of disease and
wretchedness.   She appeared to take the greatest in-
terest in the poor sufferer.  The sweetness, the capti- 
424
VENEREAL DISEASE.
vating voice, the winning  kindness of these sisters of
charity, soon dry the tear which flows down the care-
worn cheek, and infuse the gleam of hope in the soul
depressed by misfortune."  It is rather singular to an
American, that the French government should license
common prostitutes, and exact a tribute from debauch-
eries, but such are  the facts.   The probability is, how-
ever, that these measures originated in sound policy on
the part of the government, and in sentiments of actual
charity to those who, under any circumstances, would
lead a life  of whoredom and  prostitution.    Several
objects are attained by this policy; the license subjects
these women  monthly to  a  medical  examination
touching their diseases: and tends to  check and pre-
vent the spread of venereal infection through their im-
mense population; it furnishes the police officers of
their large cities with monthly registers of their names
and places  of abode, and exacts  from them a fund,
while in youth and health, for their care and support
in  sickness *and  old  age,  which  they themselves
would  never  think of laying up.   I think these
considerations worthy  of the attention  of  our own
general and  state governments.  For  the fact is, that
if the legislatures would compel the loose characters
in all our cities  and towns, who practise prostitution
on a petty and filthy scale, to take out license and sub-
mit to medical examination monthly, or abandon their
commerce in low and corrupt debauchery, we should
soon have fewer cases of venereal in our  commercial
towns, or be rid of the fraternity of prostitutes altoge-
ther.   I have  in  the  foregoing  remarks, perhaps,
strayed a little from the precise track of my subject;
but, as the digression will probably not be wholly un-
interesting,  I shall make no  elaborate apology for it. 
                VENEREAL  DISEASE.           425

 I will first describe pox and clap separately, and next
 give their remedies separately.

                       POX.
   When you suppose you have taken this disease, no
 foolish or childish  delicacy  should prevent you  for a
 moment from ascertaining the fact.   The disease ge-
 nerally makes its appearance by what physicians call
 chancres.  These are small  inflamed pimples, which
 show themselves on the head of the  penis or yard, or
 on the side of the  penis near the end.  In a very few
 days  these pimples enlarge  themselves, and become
 what are called venereal sores or ulcers.  In women,
 these pimples show themselves first, immediately inside
 of what are called the lips of the privates, and unless
 arrested in their course of enlargement, extend them-
 selves to the fundament in  a short time.  The pox,
 also,  sometimes makes its  appearance  in  what are
 called buboes;  these are  hard lump-like kernels or
 swellings, which rise in one or both groins.  These
 swellings gradually increase in size, until they become
 about the size of an egg, and  have an angry red colour,
 and unless driven awray by the application of medicine,
 eventually come to a head, and discharge their poison-
 ous matter.   These buboes generally produce great
 pain, some fever, and prevent the person afflicted with
 them from walking, without  considerable  difficulty.
 Buboes sometimes  make their appearance under the
 arm-pits, ana* sometimes in the glands of the throat;
these  appearances of bubo, however, are not  very fre-
 quent, and are much oftener the effects of mercury,
 improperly administered in the pox, than arising from
 the disease itself.  The fact is, that I think them pro-
duced, generally, from the neglect of many in not
      2 n 2              54 
426
POX.
speedily effecting a cure by the proper and  efficient
use of medicine ; in other words, by halfway dilatory
measures, which neither cure the disease nor suffer it
to run its course.   When the constitution is very irri-
table', the disease will  sometimes attack the nose, the
throat, the tongue, the eyes, the skin, bones, and so on.
and fill the whole system with  the venereal poison
in no great length of  time, and unless efficient, com-
bined with well-judged remedies be resorted to, the
human system will become a mass of putrifying sores.
and the sufferer become  an object of compassion and
disgust.  By this short and comprisive description, you
will be  at no loss to know w7hat  the pox is, if you
should ever have it.

                      CLAP.

   Clap is a  simple disease, and  may be very  easily
cured, if timely attention be paid  to it.   The first
symptoms of  this disease  are, burning  and scalding
sensations or  feelings in the urethra or canal of the
penis, whenever you urinate or make water.  There
will be a discharge of matter  from  the penis, first  of
nearly a white colour, next  of  a  yellowish colour.
which' will stain your shirt, and lastly of a greenish
colour.  After having the disease some time, or perhaps
from the irritability of your system, you will experience
what is called chordee: this is a spasmodic contraction
of the penis, which gives considerable pain in erections
of the yard, as if it were wound w ith a small cord.  In
women, this  disease called clap is still more simple:
in its first stage merely resembling the whites in their
worst stage.   There is, how ever, this specific difference
between clap and  whites in women: in clap there is 
POX.
427
always a scalding and  burning sensation in making
water, and a continual uneasiness and itching about the
parts, neither of which  sensations are experienced in
mere whites.
               REMEDIES  FOR POX. •
  As soon as the first symptoms of pox are discovered,
which will in all common cases be  known by the ap-
pearance of chancres or  buboes, both of wrhich I have
described to you sufficiently, take an active  purge of
calomel and jalap.  The object of this purge is to clear
the bowrels of all irritating obstructions, and to remove
as far as possible every  species of irritation  from the
system : see table for dose.  If this dose of calomel and
jalap does not operate in proper time, take a tea-spoon-
ful  of Epsom salts to assist the operation, and  to make
it fully effective.  If you should have dark  stools, let
the medicine run on its  whole course; but if the stools
become yellow and watery, and you feel  much weak-
ened by the operation, take from ten to  twenty drops
of laudanum, or a tea-spoonful of paregoric, to prevent
the medicine from working you too severely.  Next,
obtain from any doctor's shop a small quantity of lunar
caustic: cut the end of a quill, and set the caustic into
it, which will afford you  an opportunity of using it
more conveniently, and  without handling it with your
fingers; wet the end  of  this caustic in water, and
touch the chancres or sores with it lightly, twice a day,
until you have killed the poison, always taking care to
wash and cleanse the sores well with soap and water
immediately before this operation is performed.  The
caustic will sting you  a little ; but never mind this;
you are now on the stool of repentance, and  are only
learning the salutary moral  lesson, that  " the penalty
always treads upon the heels of the transgression," and
«i 
428
POX.
that the sacred laws of nature and her God  can never
be violated without punishment to reform the offender.
After using the caustic as just directed, apply dry lint
to the sores.  If caustic cannot be had, red precipitate
will answer nearly the same  purpose; this must be
used by sprinkling a little on the chancres, after cleans-
ing them with  soap and  water as before  mentioned;
or you may, if  you have neither caustic or precipitate,
use a little calomel, in the way that I  have directed
the precipitate  to be used.   The better way, however,
will be, where  all the articles can be obtained, to use
the three alternately,  or  in rotation, [until you can
ascertain which of them seems best to heal the ulcers,
and then to adopt the one which you prefer, from the
exercise of your best judgment. I, myself, have always
found the lunar caustic the best remedy.  If you are
difficultly situated as to procuring the  articles above
named, dissolve some blue vitriol, generally called blue
stone, in water, and wash the chancres or ulcers with
the solution repeatedly, taking particular care to keep
the sores very clean, and entirely free from matter.
  If the disease appears under the  form of  buboes,
which are such  swellings  of the  groin as  I have
described to you, and which, if left to themselves, will
rise and break like boils, you are to put blisters of Spa-
nish flies  on  them, which extend one or two  inches
over the  buboes; and  I suppose  I need not tell you
that these said blisters are  to be renewed  until the
buboes or swellings are what the physicians call " dis-
cussed," in other words, driven away or back entirely.
If you cannot get blisters,  lie on your back, and apply
linen rags to the buboes, kept constantly  wet with
clear strong  ley,  which we vulgarly pronounce lye.
For this remedy, which is a valuable one, wTe are  in- 
pox.                   429
debted to the French physicians: I learned it in France.
And now, mind me particularly, if these buboes, not-
withstanding the application of  blisters, or the appli-
cation of ley, rise to a head, burst, and discharge their
offensive and poisonous matter, which they will cer-
tainly  do  if not driven  back,  you  are to take  the
greatest possible precautions to keep them clean, while
discharging their loathsome contents; if you do not, the
matter  will  be very apt to produce other  venereal
ulcers, especially if it happens to lodge on any sores on
other parts of the body; therefore wash them gently,
but well, two or three times a day, in strong soap and
water, and after drying  them  well, wash the sores
again with a little of the weak solution of corrosive
sublimate.    If you cannot procure this preparation,
sprinkle a little red precipitate or calomel on the sores,
and dress them with some simple ointment, such as
Turner's cerate: see under that head:—but mind me,
these dressings, or either of them, are never to  be put
on, unless after washing the sores well with soap and
water.  During all this treatment, and from the very
commencement of  the disorder, you are to drink freely
of a strong decoction or tea, made of  low ground  sar-
saparilla, to every quart of which tea, after you have
strained it clear, you are to add sixty  drops of nitric
acid, vulgarly called aquafortis.  Take this tea thus
prepared, freely, say from a pint to a quart per day, and
avoid particularly every kind of strong food, and all kinds
of spirituous liquors.  These measures carefully and
strictly pursued, combined with time, patience, and
the requisite rest, are all that are required to cure this
dreadful  scourge of debauchery  and  licentiousness,
under any form in which it may appear in the human
system.  This has been my uniform practice; and it 
I
 430                   POX-

 is well known that I have succeeded in many cases of
 the most desperate and hopeless  character, and where
 other modes of practice had been resorted to in  vain.
 By these means, which have never before been made
 knowm by me.  I succeeded  in curing a gentleman in
 Virginia.several years ago, whosecase, I will dareaver,
 was as bad a one as can well  be imagined.  He had
 been attended* and prescribed for  by several of the
 most distinguished physicians in the United States, and
 was brought to me twenty miles in a carriage to Mont-
 gomery courthouse, where I then resided, in so help-
 less  and  dreadful. a  condition  that he had  fainted
..several times on; the short journey, and  was but the
 shadow of a human being.  , Yet in the lapse of six
 weeks, by the* practice I have just described, he became
 a well man.'' He is now married, and I am happy to
 add, from late accounts, is a healthy and virtuous hus-
 band,  and an  excellent citizen.   I am constrained,
'however,  to add, that the real danger of his .situation
'was as much owing to the effects of the mercury he had
 taken, as to, the actual  presence in his  system of the
 venereal virus  or poison.  That his disease  was both
 venereal anq\ mercurial^ Ii have never entertained the
 least doubt: in  other words, it came under the consti-
 tutional diseases  I  have . before,  described,  as  being
 characterized by sores  on the body, blotches, &c. &c.
 The venereal  disease, in this constitutional  stage, has
 been called by some  medical writer, and I perfectly
 coincide  with  him in opinion,  the mercurial pox,
 which .I certainly consider not' only more dangerous,
 but greatly more difficult to.cure than the real disease
 itself, if no other means than ;mercury be relied on.  I
 am perfectly aware-that the  #ea of abandoning the use
 of mercury in the quit of pox will be  considered a 
POX.
431
novelty by many of the faculty of this country; but I
am fully as well aware, that the sarsaparilla, as I have
prescribed the use of it here, combined with the nitric
acid or aquafortis, as  before mentioned, will  remove
the pox from the human system in its worst forms and
stages.  For the powerful and salutary influence of the
nitric  acid or aquafortis on the  human system, the
skeptical reader will please to see " Remedies," in Dis-
eases of the Liver, from page 308 onward.   The prac-
tice vof treating venereal  eases without mercury, has
now become general, both in the hospitals of England
and France;  and I predict that the day is not  far dis-
tant when mercury will cease to be used throughout
the United States.   The belief that pox can only be
cured with safety and certainty by the use of mercury,
is so deeply seated in the minds of physicians  at this
time, that I am persuaded it will require much time to
remove their confidence in its favour.:  That mercury
is, as I have before said, a cure for the venereal disease,
is well known; but that the effects produced by it are
frequently mistaken for the pox itself, I have no more
doubt than I have of my ow7n existence.
  The French method of curing pox, is by the use or
administration of Van Swieten's liquor, as they call it,
or anti-syphilitic rob: for this medicine and the man-
ner of preparing it, look  under that head.  The rob
was used in the London hospitals, until it was super-
seded and thrown out of use by Swaim's panacea: for
the method of preparing which, see  under that head.
Both these medical  preparations are used with advan-
tage in secondary symptoms, by which I mean what I
have said before, in cases where the disease has become
constitutional, and  is  attended  with  ulcers,  sores,
blotches, &c.   The sulphur bath, or  sulphurous fumi- 
432
pox.
gation, is much used in France.  After the fourth bath,
the ulcers and venereal blotches begin to heal, and ge-
nerally in ten or twelve baths are entirely cured. This
last remedy, which is an  excellent one, is  entirely
neglected, if I must speak out, upon no other principles
than laziness and inattention  on  the  part of practi-
tioners, and ignorance in their patients.  This bath is
nothing more than the fumes of sulphuric acid, which
is nothing but oil of vitriol.  For a full description of
this valuable remedy, I may add this astonishing one:
read under the head Sulphuric Fumigation.
  With the foregoing exposition of my own mode of
curing pox, and the material remedies used  in other
countries, I will now proceed to give the common and
general practice in this disease, leaving it optional with
the patient to adopt  that which suits  his opinions or
convenience  best.  Were  I to advise,  however,  on
the  subject  of  a choice,  I would  recommend  the
mild method in the first  instance,  and the  mercu-
rial  one only wrhen the aggravation of the symptoms
seemed to call  for  it, which I must confess I think
would be  but seldom where the plan of treatment I
have laid down  had  been faithfully adhered to  and
persisted in.  Doctor Rosseau, of Philadelphia, a gen-
tleman of distinguished ability, and  great practice in
this disease, expressly says,  " I have  never found  any
benefit to be derived from a salivation; on the contrary,
those patients who have undergone  this dirty, filthy,
torturing process, have, to my knowledge, and to their
own sorrow, felt  the deleterious effects of it for many
years, and very many for life."   For a full description
of this complaint in  its secondary and constitutional
symptoms, and the dreadful effects of mercury, I refer
to this very able, intelligent, and honest  writer; Me- 
pox.                   433
dical Recorder, volume third, " Sketches on  venereal
complaints."
  The practice throughout the United States has been,
and now generally is, to introduce into the whole sys-
tem as much mercury as will produce a soreness of
the gums, or  salivation, by giving small doses of calo-
mel alone, or combined  with opium, if the calomel
alone would  run off by the bowels; and by rubbing
on the bubo,  to disperse it, mercurial ointment, known
by the country people as oil of baze, of which a piece
about  the size of the end  of your finger is to be rub-
bed in and about the bubo, night and morning,  until a
salivation is produced, or  until the lump in the groin
is dispersed.  When the mouth  has a copperish taste,
or a slight soreness is felt, stop taking the calomel, and
omit rubbing in the mercurial ointment, as the whole
system is then considered to be under mercurial in-
fluence.  The  blue pill is now  used very extensively
in the United States instead of calomel, being a much
milder preparation of mercury.  For a description of
this pill, and the manner of preparing it, read under
that head.   The dose is one pill in the morning, and
 one at night, until they  produce the  effects  on  the
 gums and mouth required to be  produced by calomel:
 when they are to be continued, only so far as to keep
 up the effect on the gums and mouth, until the disease
 is removed.  The chancres, or buboes, are to be treated
 as  before  described in a preceding page.   Dr. Cart-
 wright, who is among the greatest medical  men now-
 living, in this or any other country, recommends the
 following practice, and  relates many cases treated  by
 himself with unbounded  success.  " I never," says he,
 " prescribe calomel with a view  to produce salivation:
 but to guard against  it, I order a glyster or some mild
      2 0                  55 
434
POX.
purgative to be taken, in  twelve or sixteen hours after
the calomel, if it does not operate: and in the event of
its operating too  much, I direct a little laudanum to
check it, so  as to limit it to two or three stools, unless
the stools are of a  dark or green colour, when the purg-
ing should be permitted to go  on until  they change
their appearance.  As it respects this disorder, when
taken in time, I have found by an experience of two
years' practice, that  pox  is as easily cured by giving
twenty  or thirty grains of calomel every day, or every
other day, as a common dose.  In good  constitutions,
pox yields to  the native powers  of  the system.  As
soon as a copperish taste is perceived  in the mouth, or
the least tenderness of the gums, or soreness of the teeth,
I order  an immediate suspension of the calomel  until
these symptoms have disappeared, when it  should be
resumed with  caution.  The preparation I generally
use," says the doctor, " is twenty grains of calomel and
four of rhubarb, given at bedtime.   Generally, by the
time three or four doses  have been taken, the breath
will begin to have a mercurial odour, a copperish taste
will be perceived  in  the mouth, or the gums will feel
tender.   About this time, or even before  it, the vene-
real symptoms begin to disappear, and in a few days
more  the chancres entirely heal.  I generally recom-
mend, after  healing the chancres, a dose or  two more
to complete the cure of the disease. I  have rarely
found more than twelve or fifteen pills, each ten grains
of calomel and two of rhubarb, necessary for a cure of
a recent  infection, or, in  other w7ords, one that is not
of long  standing."  I have now given a full  descrip-
tion of the various  methods of treating this  loathsome
disease called  pox, in the  best manner,  leaving the
reader to make his own selection among them.  Much 
POX.
435
of my information has  been derived from experiment
and observation :  and I regret to say that I have wit-
nessed the disease in as severe forms in America as I
ever did in the hospitals of Europe.  I omitted to re-
mark, that buboes are always to be poulticed with light
bread and milk, or slippery elm bark, if they are likely
to come to a head.
                                       «
              REMEDIES FOR CLAP.
  The moment you discover that you have contracted
this complaint, the symptoms of which I have plainly
described to  you, take  at bedtime an active dose of
calomel, (see table for dose;) and if necessary, which
is usually the case, assist the operation of the calomel
in the morning with a dose of Epsom salts ; see table
&c.   Take care to live on cooling and simple diet, say
corn or  rye mush and milk, and avoid every thing of a
heating and irritating nature, such as salted provisions,
high seasoning, and spirituous liquors.  When the me-
dicine I have directed  has done operating, use the fol-
lowing  prescription, and use it with some accuracy
too : take one ounce (wilich is about two table-spoons-
ful) of balsam  copaiva,  (commonly called capiva,) and
add thereto one table-spoonful of spirits of turpentine;
mix  them well together by shaking, and take thirty
drops of the mixture three times a day on some sugar,
and drink freely  of  flaxseed tea, made by pouring  a
quart of boiling  water on any  quantity of flaxseed
convenient.  The tea must be  taken  cold, and used
freely as a common drink.  If you ride on horseback,
or walk much, or take active exercise, clap is difficult
to cure, and requires a  much longer time than if you
remain quiet  and stationary while using the above re- 
436
CLAP.
medy.  I generally cure it in three days, and frequent-
ly in less time.   A dose of salts should be taken every
other morning.  Sometimes this balsam operates on
the bowels without producing the proper effect on the
urinary organs;  if so, reduce the  dose to  thirty-five
drops twice or three times a day, which is to be taken
as usual on sugar.   Cleanliness (and I wish  you to
mind this matter particularly) is very important in the
cure of this  disease; by which  I mean frequently
washing the parts well, three or four times a day, with
soap and water, so as to remove the poisonous matter. «i
Clap  is generally more mild and  much more  easily
cured in women than men, unless women permit it to
remain and run on them for some  length of time; in
this case the disease becomes painful, and requires the
remedies prescribed in the cases of men, only in smaller
doses; say from  twenty to thirty drops of the balsam
and turpentine three times a day.   If any attention be
paid, nothing more will be necessary than keeping the
parts clean by washing with soap  and water, and in-
jecting up the birth-place with a small syringe or lead-
en squirt the following mixture:  put fifteen grains
sugar of lead, and fifteen grains white vitriol, in a quart
of cold water, and  let them fully dissolve; then, of
this water, inject ior throw up the birth-place a syringe
full five or six times a day, and drink freely of flaxseed
tea, using the balsam and turpentine as before directed
if necessary.
  Doctor Chapman, one of the  professors of the uni-
versity  of Philadelphia,  recommends the  following
valuable remedy, which is admirably suited  to weakly
persons, and those whose stomachs are much debili-
tated.  It is perhaps, better calculated for the summer
season, being a very mild preparation, than any other. 
                      clap.                  437
                                        9
I have used it frequently in my practice; but the first
remedy is always certain to put a stop to the disease.
  Chapman's remedy.—Take two table-spoonsful of
balsam  copaiva, the same quantity of sweet spirits of
nitre, some of the white of an  egg, and  mix them
together; add, then, one tea-spoonful of laudanum, and
ten table-spoonsful  of cold  water; shake  the whole
well together, and  the mixture will be  ready for use,
remembering always to shake  the medicine up before
taking it.  Morning, noon, and night, take a table-
spoonful of this mixture.  You may take it with any
thing that will render it pleasant to the taste.  It is an
excellent, certain, and mild remedy, either for males or
females ; and I now again  admonish you, that if you
wish a  speedy  cure, you are  to avoid  every  heating
article of food or drink, and to  repose much on  the
bed.
  When clap is permitted by neglect to go on, or when
you ride much on horseback, you will be apt  to have
what is called  chordee,  whieh I  have fully described
under the head Clap, and which it is needless to repeat.
In these cases of chordee, take a  dose of laudanum on
going to bed: see table; and when the spasm comes
on, which  it will  with a partial erection, pour  cold
water over the parts which pain you.   Should a dis-
charge  of  blood take place, wiiich is sometimes  the
case, apply cooling poultices of light bread and  cold
milk to the afflicted member, or  a poultice of slippery
elm.
  The  old plan of curing clap, which it is scarcely
worth while to mention, was by weak injections of
sugar of lead and white  vitriol; equal quantities mixed
in  water,  and  thrown  up  the canal with a  syringe.
This old and imprudent practice, which in many in-
      o 2 
438                   clap.

stances occasioned swelling of the testicles, gleet, and
what is called running of the reins, has entirely ceased.
The methods of cure I have just  laid down are infi-
nitely superior in every respect, and are attended with
none of the dangers of the old manner of cure.
                    GLEET.
  This disease is sometimes  called running of the
reins.  It is a discharge which resembles in consist-
ence the white  of an egg.  Men who have frequently
had the clap, also those who have been  old soldiers in
the wars of Venus, are very liable to have gleet.  It
is also produced by too frequent intercourse with wo-
men, in those enjoyments which ought always to  be
bounded by virtue and moderation. This disease is
also produced by  that horrible practice of self-pollu-
tion, called Onanism;  and also by the use of strong
diuretic medicines, or such as cause a  great  flow  of
urine.  This complaint sometimes resists the powers of
medicine for  years;  and operates  as a  constant drain
on the strength of the system, by which the constitu-
tion and vital energies are sometimes prostrated; it is
a disease that ought never to be neglected.

                   REMEDIES.
  You are to bathe  the parts four or five times a day
in cold water; this cold bathing will act so as to give
tone and strength to the parts.  Obtain  a phial of mu-
riated tincture of iron, and take thirty'drops of it three
times a day, in a wine-glass of strong tea, made of the
dogwood bark; it must be taken cold. By persevering
steadily in this remedy, and in cold bathing for a month 
GLEET.
439
or two, you will probably be relieved of gleet.  You
may, at the same time, use an injection of red oak bark,
made by boiling a little of  the  bark in water, and
straining it clear.  A little of this tea can occasionally
be thrown into the canal by the aid of a small syringe,
wrhich you can obtain at any doctor's shop;  it must be
thrown up cold, four or six times a day.   In throwing
up this injection, you are to press your left forefinger
pretty hard  on the lower  side of the  penis near the
root, to prevent any part of the injection getting into
the bladder.
  After a fair trial of the above remedies, and you are
baffled of success, commence with ten drops of tincture
of cantharides or Spanish  flies, instead of the iron, in
the tea three times a day, gradually increasing the dose
to thirty drops, and no more.   This is generally a cer-
tain remedy.  Women may use the iron as directed;
but not the last tincture, unless in very small doses of
eight, ten, and fifteen drops, three times a day; bathing
frequently with cold water, and with a female syringe
throwing the bark water up the birth-place, five or six
times a day.   Cold water thrown up will also answer
a good purpose. As our country abounds with chaly-
beate springs, they ought to be resorted to, and used
freely by all persons labouring under gleet.  I suppose
I need not tell you that chalybeate w7ater is such as is
impregnated  with iron.  The turpentine of our  com-
mon pine  tree, made into ordinary sized pills, and
given one at a time, three times a day, is a valuable re-
medy in gleet, and has been  known to cure it when
all other remedies have failed. 
440
POISONS.
                    POISONS.

   Any substance taken into the stomach, or any other
 part of the body, or applied externally to the  body, so
 as to produce disease or death, may be called a poison.
 The most active and  powerful remedies  we  use in
 medicine, if given in  large doses, operate as  poisons;
 but when given in small ones, are not  only innocent,
 but valuable.  There are also many medicines which
 when taken  into the stomach are quite harmless, in-
 deed very valuable in  the cure of disease; but, when
 taken into the lungs by breathing or  respiration, are
 dangerous and  destructive  in  the extreme.   The
 poison of the rattlesnake when taken into the stomach
■ is entirely harmless; but the same poison, when in-
 serted into  the  flesh, so as to reach the circulation,
 immediately produces  disorder and death, unless relief
 can be obtained. I make these introductory  remarks
 on poisons, to throw as much light on their operations
 as possible, in the fewest words.
   When mineral poisons, such as copper, arsenic, cor-
 rosive  sublimate, lead, lunar caustic, &c, are taken into
 the stomach, in too  large quantities, you will  feel a
 burning and pricking sensation  in  the stomach, and a
 great pain in the bowels, accompanied with a constant
 puking, and a thirst which cannot  be satisfied.  Your
 mouth and throat will become rough and dry, as if you
 had chewed and swallowed an unripe persimmon, and
 the  pain  will  gradually  increase,  until it becomes
 almost insupportable.   In this stage,  unless  speedy
 relief is had, inflammation will take place, and termi-
 nate in mortification  and death.   Should the dose of
 poison taken not be sufficient to destroy life, a fever 
POISONS.
441
will take place, which will last for some time, attended
with a constant trembling of the nerves.
  When vegetable poisons, such as Jamestown weed,
hemlock,  opium, henbane,  deadly nightshade,  fox-
glove,  wolfsbane, laurel, &c. are taken  into the sto-
mach in too great portions, they produce stupor and a
constant desire to sleep.  The Jamestown weed usually
produces effects peculiar to itself: for which, and a
description of the plant, read under that head.
  When the poison of animals is introduced into the
human system, it is  communicated by the bites  or
stings  of serpents, spiders, &c. &c, requiring  prompt
and immediate attention to the following remedies,
which, together with those applicable to other species
of poison, mineral and vegetable, are arranged under
the proper heads.

             REMEDIES FOR POISON.
  When  any poison  has been  swallowed, wiiether
vegetable or mineral, the first thing to be done is  to
empty the stomach by an emetic or puke of the most
active  kind.  White vitriol, from five to  ten, and even
twenty grains, should be given in a little warm water,
and repeated every fifteen or twenty minutes if neces-
sary, until free and copious puking is produced, which
you must encourage and keep up by large draughts 9f
warm  water.  The white vitriol is an innocent puke,
and acts almost instantaneously; and if  the  emetic
should require assistance, apply tobacco leaves, steeped
in warm vinegar or water, to the stomach; they will
materially assist the operation of the vitriol.  If the
patient cannot be made to puke, you must immediately
give repeated glysters, made of strong flaxseed tea and
sweet milk, and let your patient drink freely of vine-
                        56 
442
POISONS.
 gar and  water, sweetened with sugar.  If the poison
 taken into the stomach is < f the mineral kind, beat up
 the whites of fifteen eggs with a quart of cold water,
 and give half a tea-spoonful every three or four minutes;
-ithis will greatly assist the puking.   From taking large
 doses of opium or laudanum, your patient will  some-
times sink into a stupor, or deep and insensible sleep;
 when this is the case,  stimulants must  be  given, of
 sufficient power to rouse  him if possible.   In these
 cases I have sometimes resorted to scalding the soles of
 the feet  with boiling water;  and in one instance  saw
 the life of a young man saved, by .whipping him to
 keep him in motion.  There is one simple and certain
 remedy, however, to be found in almost every house:
 take  two tea-spoonsful of made mustard, or in other
 words, common mustard seed pounded fine and mixed
 as if  for  eating: put them into some warm water, and
 give  the whole as an emetic,  and copious puking will
 almost immediately be produced.  This simple  and
 effective remedy has been the means of saving hun-
 dreds who have accidentally or intentionally swallowed
 poison.
   I have.mentioned that poisons might be taken  into
 the* lungs by breathing or  respiration.  Doctor Paris,
 in his book!on diet, speaks decidedly against  the intro-
 duction of gas lights into the interior of dwellings, and
 says, 4,that carburetted hydrogen is a deadly poison,
 which, even in a state of great dilution, is capable of
 exerting a baneful effect on the nervous system.  I
 have been consulted," says  the doctor, "on several oc-
 casions, for pains in the head, and distressing languor
 which had evidently been produceo"  by the persons
 inhaling the unhurnt gas in the boxes of playhouses."
 Sir Humphry Davy, the celebrated chymist, made an 
POISONS.
443
experiment on himself, by inhaling pure carburetted
hydrogen; and the result was, that after three inspira-
tions his vital powers were so completely suspended
that he  did  not recover them until  the next day.
Many instances have occurred of persons sleeping in
close rooms during the night, where small  charcoal
fires had been kept up for warmth, who have been
found dead in the morning.  I mention this as a cau-
tion ; and will also notice some other facts respecting
poisons, which ought to be attended to  by those who
value their safety.
  Medicines should always be strictly examined, espe-
cially if to be given  by inexperienced persons, and
those not well acquainted  with  their appearance and
qualities; even those who make a profession of selling
medicines sometimes  make  dangerous  mistakes in
them.  I have now in my office three pounds of emetic
tartar, which I received for cream of tartar;  and, had
I administered this medicine without detecting the
mistake, the results must have been fatal to many.  A
merchant of  the first respectability received from a
young man who attended a drug store in Baltimore,
emetic tartar for cream of tartar, and was in the very
act of giving it to a friend who  was indisposed, when
the master of the shop arrived in  great alarm, having
discovered the blunder just in  time to  prevent the
fatal consequences.  I will give one case more, by way
of caution respecting mistakes in medicines.   During
the summer of 1825, a gentleman from South Carolina
stopped  at the house  of Mrs. H., of Patrick county,
Virginia; he felt somewhat indisposed, and desired to
have a dose of salts; through mistake he received and
took saltpetre.  Nothing saved him but the early arri-
val of the son of Mrs. H, a gentleman of superior in- 
444
POISONS.
telligence, who immediately administered a  powerful
emetic, and relieved him.
  Poisons communicated  by the bites of snakes, spi-
ders, and other insects, are to be immediately attended
to.   The moment you  are bitten by a snake, you are
to tie a tight and strong bandage immediately above
the bite ; this will prevent the circulation of the blood,
and give you time to apply the  remedies needful for
relief.  As soon as possible, dissolve six grains of lunar
caustic in  six table-spoonsful of wrater, and wet the
bitten  part with it constantly.   Every man in the
country ought to keep a small piece of lunar caustic in
his house :  it is sometimes called nitrate of silver, and
is made of  pure silver, nitric acid, and pure water. If
the  caustic cannot be  obtained, make a poultice of
quicklime  and soap, and apply it to the part affected,
and give the patient as much red pepper tea  as the sto-
mach will  bear, and  also every hour give him a table-
spoonful of the juice of  the plantain.   In all cases
wiiere a physician can  be had, the best remedy  is to
cut out the bitten part.   The Indians, when bitten by
a poisonous snake, always extract the poison by suck-
ing the wound.  There is no danger in this operation;
I have told you before that the venom of the snake, if
even taken into the stomach, is attended with no dan-
ger.  The  blood should be encouraged to flow from
the wound, by scarifying the  part immediately about
it, and applying the cupping instruments. When you
are bitten by a spider, or injured by any other insect,
apply  a linen rag constantly moistened  with lauda-
num, spirits of hartshorn, or strong ley.
   I shall record  a few  cases in which  it will  be evi-
dent that the bite of the rattlesnake may be very easily
cured, by  extremely simple  and always practicable 
POISONS.
445
remedies.  The cases may be found in detail, on pages
619, 620, and 621, of the sixth volume of the Medical
Recorder.   I shall abridge them.  1st. "One evening
at my residence, on the hills of Santee,"  says William
Maryant, Esq., (formerly a member of Congress,) " I
heard a violent scream at no great distance.   In a few
minutes I was called out and was informed that a ne-
gro had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and was dead, or
dying.  I  found  him motionless and speechless, his
jaws locked, and his pulse fluttering and scarcely per-
ceptible.   I had heard of the successful  use of spirits
in such cases, both among  the whites and Indians.   I
therefore took a glass of whisky, put  into it a  table-
spoonful of powdered red pepper, and poured it down
his throat;  in a few minutes it w7as puked up, as were
also three or four more doses.  After the fourth glass
it remained  qn  his  stomach.   His pulse improved
greatly in  a short time, and after getting  five  or  six
glasses to remain, I ceased  giving him any more, until
the pulse fell very fast, and nearly ceased beating.  I
again commenced giving him the whisky and pepper,
and soon discovered that on ceasing the stimulants, his
pulse would again sink to nothing. After taking more
than one quart of this liquor, a copious stool followed :
the spirit was again  administered, until  his pulse be-
came steady.  During the  night, he took three  quarts
of  whisky ,• in the morning he was much  better, but
very weak; he finally recovered.
   2d.  "About a year afterwards,  I was called to
another slave w7ho had been bitten by a rattlesnake: lie
was in great pain about the chest, and was puking a
green fluid.  I gave him repeated doses of whisky and
pepper, until his pulse returned, which had nearly
      2 P 
446
POISONS.
ceased to beat;  in twelve hours, by the use of about a
quart of this liquor, he was a well man.
  3d.  "I related the above cases to a friend, who had
lately arrived from Rio Janeiro, after  a residence of
thirteen years.   He told me that the serpents of that
country w7ere so extremely venomous, as in many in-
stances to produce death in fifteen minutes; and that
the natives effected their  cures, by giving large doses
of spirits, in which herbs had been stewed. He related
an  instance in which a man w7as found with one of
these most poisonous snakes on him, and biting him
repeatedly.  The snake was killed, and the man taken
to the house, to all appearances dead.   In a short time
he came to himself, and  was unhurt  by the poison.
The fact was, that he had been  very drunk, and had
fallen on the snake; the stimulus of the liquor had, no
doubt, counteracted the influence of the poison; this
was the solution of the difficulty."
  These three cases coincide, strongty, with a case pub-
lished several years since, in the National Intelligencer,
by the celebrated Doctor Ramsey, in which large doses
of brandy and opium were given with  complete suc-
cess, in the bite of a rattlesnake.
  The tincture of cantharides, which is nothing more
than the Spanish or blistering flies, or our common
potato fly, steeped for a few days in whisky or  spirits
of any kind.  Of this tincture, apply a few drops to the
wound until it occasions a redness.  By this application
the poison is rendered harmless;  and  the  stings of
insects or reptiles are entirely removed as soon as the
blister arises.   This is a  late  discovery, and truly a
valuable remedy.
  I  cannot qui! this interesting subject without no- 
POISONS.
447
ticing particularly, that a most excellent remedy in the
bites of both venomous snakes and spiders, is the im-
mediate application of the soft black mud from spring
branches, or such mud as is  used for the daubing of
houses.  I have never had occasion to try the experi-
ment myself, but fully believe, from the best authority,
that it is an efficient and powerful application.
   PAINFUL AFFECTIONS OF THE  FACE.
   This disease  is called by physicians tic Moureux,
and, happily for mankind,- is of very unfrequent occur-
rence.  It is an  acutely painful affection of the nerves
of the face, particularly over the cheek-bone, in which
the pain shoots with great  quickness and suddenness,
and is almost insupportable for a few seconds, when it
as suddenly becomes easy.   The  slightest touch will
cause it to dart instantly, and sometimes by opening the
mouth quickly, it will return with a jerking and spas-
modic affection of the muscles of the face.  There  is
in this complaint  neither swelling of the cheek, nor
any species of inflammation, nor does the pain seem
deeply seated.
                    REMEDIES.
  Remedies for curing this complaint have  long been
objects of attentive research, with the most  distin-
guished and able physicians.   The remedies usually
resorted to, but I confess  with very little  success, are
sulphate of zinc, which is white vitriol, Peruvian bark,
opium, and carbonate of iron, given in doses of twenty
grains every fourth hour.   As I have just remarked,
these  are remedies attended with  very little success: 
448
PAINS OF THE FACE.
the carbonate  of iron was for  some time considered
efficient and beneficial; but at length, like the other
remedies, it fell into disrepute.  We are now indebted
to a common weed for the cure of this complaint, a
weed which infests our  gardens, highways, and barn-
yards:  it is  the common Jamestown weed,  usually
called the stink-weed and thorn apple : read under the
head Jamestown weed.  A physician of much distinc-
tion, Doctor John Eberle, of New York, speaks thus in
substance of this weed: In  July last, I w7as called to
see a lady aged about twenty years, who was suffering
very much from this complaint in the right side of her
face.  The paroxysms or fits of pain, were sometimes
so very violent as to produce temporary loss of reason.
She  had been treated by other  physicians with the
usual remedies ; all of which had been found incom-
petent to afford the slightest degree of relief.  I pre-
scribed  for  her the extract of stramonium or James-
town weed, and gave her a grain of this extract every
four hours.  She commenced with this in the evening,
and  towards morning had intervals of  ease, and slept
some.   She continued this medicine during the suc-
ceeding day, and experienced much less pain than she
had done for eight days  previously.  After the fourth
dose, she felt some vertigo or dizziness of the head, and
was directed to take the medicine only every six hours,
in which she persisted until entirely relieved and fully
cured, which was in a  few  days.  " The Jamestown
weed," says  this eminent physician, " is  undoubtedly a
medicine of great  and valuable  powers.  In  chronic
rheumatism I have employed it in several instances
with the most unequivocal  advantage.  In  sciatica"
(by which  the doctor means  hip gout) " also I pre-
scribed it with complete success in three cases.   We 
PAINS OF  THE  FACE.
449
 are chiefly indebted  to Doctor Marcet  for our know-
 ledge of its efficiency in affections of this kind," &c.
 " If I were called upon," says the writer, " to express in
 a few words  the general opinion which I feel inclined
 to form from the opportunities I have had of studying
 the properties of stramonium," (Jamestown weed,) " I
 should say that, when given with due caution, and in
 proper doses, in  all cases of chronic  disease  attended
 with acute pain, it will invariably lessen the sensibility
 to pain and suffering."  I fully accord with the doctor
 in his opinions, and refer the reader to the head James-
 town weed, where he will find an interesting develop-
 ment of the medical properties  and powers of this
 plant.
   The  following remedy is taken from the New York
 Medical Inquirer: " Mr. Abernethy has administered
 the nitrate of silver in this disease," (which means lu-
 nar  caustic,) "in the dose of  one grain twice a'day
 made into pills with  conserve of roses," which is no-
 thing more than syrup made of rose leaves with sugar
 or honey.
   " A Mr. Thomas also recommends this  preparation
 in this  most distressing disease.  The following is a
 copy of Mr. Thomas' prescription : take of the nitrate
 of silvH" one scruple, nitric acid fifteen drops," which
 is  commonly called  aquafortis,  "pure w7ater three
 ounces ;  from forty to sixty drops to be taken twice a
 day, in two table-spoonsful of camphorated julep." For
a description of the  method of preparing the camphor-
ated julep, read under that head.
2 p 2              51 
450
LOCKED JAW.
                 LOCKED JAW.
*   This disease is called by physicians tetanus; which
means spasms with rigidity;  it is from the Greek
word which means to stretch.   It  may be considered
an involuntary contraction of all the  muscles of the
body, while  the  patient remains  perfectly in his
senses'.  It generally arises from wounds; and I  have
even known it to originate from the slight puncture of
a needle, in which case it terminated in the death  of an
amiable lady.  It comes on with a dull stiffness of the
neck and head ;  in a short time the head and neck be-
come difficult to move; the tongue also becomes stiff
and difficult to be moved about or put out at the mouth;
the swallowing becomes painful; there is a  tightness
across the breast, sometimes attended with pain in the
small of the back;  the jaws gradually become  stiff;
and the teeth clenched ; this is locked jaw.

                    REMEDIES.
   You are  immediately to open the wound, if that be
the cause, with a lancet or other sharp instrument, and
remove any matter that  may be in it.  Then apply
spirits of turpentine to the wound, and if the person is
strong, hearty, and in full  habit, you are to draw blood
freely from the  arm; then put your patient  in the
warm bath; I mean here  that the whole body is to be
immersed in warm water for some time; and give two
grains of opium.
  During the time these operations are making, a  skil-
ful physician must be sought for; because the immense
quantities  of opium which must be given will make
even the best physician dread  his own practice.  Yet
such are the fatal consequences of delay and timidity 
LOCKED JAW
451
in locked  jaw,  that  unless bold remedies are used,
particularly the use of opium in heavy doses, death
must certainly take place.  Opium  has to be given in
this complaint according to the situation of the patient,
aiid the violence of the disease, almost without  regard-
ing the quantity.   That it is the proper remedy in
spasms there can be no doubt; and that the quantities
sometimes  given in locked jaw are almost incredible,
is a fact well known to practitioners of medicine.  To-
bacco is highly spoken of in this  distressing  spasm,
given in the form of glysters.  Dr.  Thomas  tells  us
" that many cases are on record, where the astonishing
quantity of an  ounce of opium has been given  in
twenty-four hours."  To proportion the quantity  of
opium to be given, combined with the administration
of glysters  of  tobacco, must always require the judg-
ment of *a  sjrilful  physician, and I therefore  recom-
mend that  one always be procured where practicable.
In desperate cases, where, by reason of the clenching
of the teeth, the patient cannot receive any thing into
the mouth, it is necessary to remove a front tooth, and
sometimes  more than one.  I have never heard of nor
seen the practice, but should a case of desperate locked-
jaw occur  in my practice, I would try the effect of a
warm bath made of, ley or lye, in which the body of
the patient  should be entirely immersed, at the same
time I would give a glyster containing  fifteen grains
of emetic tartar; in addition to which I would  stimu-
late the patient freely with warm toddy.
                    CANCER.
  Cancer generally makes its appearance about the
lips, the nose, and  about the breasts of females.   It 
452
CANCER.
sometimes, also (but the instances I am happy to say
are not very frequent) makes its appearance in the
womb, in which the  cure is very doubtful.   Those
who are advanced in life are much more  subject to
cancerous affections than young persons; particularly
if they have scrofulous constitutions, which have de-
scended to them from their ancestors.  A cancer com-
mences with  a small inflamed pimple of a bluish
colour, which  becomes a sore, with hard rising edges
of a ragged and uneven apprearance.   On a close ex-
amination of the sore, you will discover two whitish
lines crossing from  the centre to the edge of the sore.
At first a burning sensation is felt in the sore, which is
accompanied as the disease  increases with sharp shoot-
ing pains.  After some time these pains subside, and
the cancer discharges a highly offensive matter; this
discharge increases gradually, and the matter commu-
nicating to the  adjoining  parts, finally ends  in  a large
offensive sore or ulcer, of a most dreadful and exhaust-
ing nature, always terminating, unless a cure is effect-
ed, in a lingering, painful, and horrible death.

                   REMEDIES.
   The moment cancer is discovered, dissolve ten grains
of corrosive sublimate in a gill of whisky, or a gill of
strong spirits of any kind.   Apply cautiously this mix-
ture to the affected part;  it may be done by making a
small rag swab, wetting it with the solution just named,
and touching the affected  or  sore part with it  very
gently.  This operation is to be performed once a day,
until the cancer is destroyed.   This is a powerful me-
dicine, and the pain produced by its application is very
severe; but by an early application of this remedy, and
bearing the pain of its application fifteen  or twenty 
CANCER.
453
minutes  for a few days it will kill the cancer.   It
should never be used on large ulcers or cancerous sores,
the pain it inflicts being as severe  as if a red-hot iron
were applied.  In many cases, when applied at an early
stage of cancer, I have known this remedy successful.
The sores should be washed with salt and water and
dressed with charcoal plasters.  ' To kill the pain give
opium or laudanum: see table.  But notwithstanding
what has been said of the foregoing remedy, in order
to insure a successful one, I think the parts ought to be
removed or cut out at an early period of the disease. I
have performed the operation fifteen or sixteen times
with success; the last operation was performed on Mr.
H-----, of Monroe county, Virginia, during my resi-
dence in Botetourt county, of  the  same state, assisted
by my medical friends, Doctors M'Dowell and Foot,
two gentlemen of distinction in the  medical profession.
The gentleman on whom the operation was performed
was about forty-eight years of  age.  The cancer was
seated in the lower lip,  and was of such  a size as to re-
quire the removal of the lower lip  entirely.  By  the
suggestions of  Doctor M'Dowell, (but with great cau-
tion,) I cut well down the chin and secured the edges
of the  incision together after taking out the cancer.
Singular as it may appear, a new lip was formed.  The
wound healed  with the first intentions; and when it
was entirely well, the mouth was so extremely  small
as scarcely to  admit the  end of the forefinger.   The
mouth, howrever, gradually distended  itself by  the
exertions of nature, and is now both useful and beauti-
ful.  Before the operation, the mouth was large and
the lips coarse  and fleshy.  On my way  out to Ten-
nessee, I presented to Dr. Powell, of the boatyard, the
old lip, and I doubt not he has it now in his possession. 
454
CANCER.
A remedy for cancer appeared in the public journals
some  years since, which, from its marks of authenti-
city of ^atement, and success in  the  case of Thomas
Tyrrel, I think proper  to  place on  a  more durable
record.   It is simply the use of "a strong potash,"
made of the ley of the  ashes of  red-oak bark,  boiled
down to the consistence  of molasses.  With this sub-
stance the cancer must be first covered, and in about
an hour afterwards, the whole is covered with a plaster
of tar.  This must be removed after a few days, and
if there  are any protuberances or lumps in the sore,
the applications are to be renewed.   As far as an  opi-
nion  can be relied on without actual  experiment, I
think the remedy a good one.
            SCALDS AND BURNS.
  Because we all know well what scalds and burns
are, and  because  the saving of  space for matters of
high interest  is important to both the subscribers to
this work and myself, I shall not attempt to  describe
them.
                   REMEDIES.
  In these accidents, which sometimes unfortunately
arise from negligence, the important point  is to use
such remedies as are immediately at hand, or are easily
obtained, for affording direct  relief from  excruciating
pain.  Nature, always a tender parent, bountifully af-
fords the best and  most soothing remedy, cold water;
in which the parts affected are  to be  immediately
plunged.  If  ice can be obtained, which is but water
under another character, its application will be as good, 
SCALDS AND EURNS.
455
  if not better than mere wrater, which sometimes cannot
  be had of sufficient coldness.  If the body is severely
  scalded or burned, apply cloths kept  constantly wet
  with the coldest water.  Where the scald or burn takes
  place in children, and to no great extent, the applica-
  tion of common tar immediately to the injury, is a
  valuable remedy not often resorted to,  but which I
  earnestly recommend.   The application of carded cot-
  ton to a scald or burn is also an excellent remedy, and
  one which is nearly always convenient.   The old me-
  thod of applying sweet or olive  oil immediately to a
  scald or burn is a bad plan, and ought never to be re-
  sorted to, until cold water or ice has been applied for
  reducing the inflammation ; then olive or sweet oil will
 answer a valuable purpose.  If oil is not convenient,
 which is often  the case, the application of poultices
 made of raw Irish potatoes, carrots, or turnips, will be
 proper; the oil, however, if possible to be obtained, is
 preferable.   When the patient has been in the greatest
 pain, and every  remedy I had applied gave  but little
 relief, I have always been able to give instant ease, if I
 had or could procure it, by the application of Turner's
 cerate.  For the method of making  this very valuable
 salve, look under that head.  It must be applied by
 spreading it on linen rags, and covering the burned or
 scalded parts with them ; and I suppose I  need not tell
 you that  these  cerate plasters are to be  supplied by
 new ones every  day laid on fresh.  This  cooling and
 soothing remedy seems  to act like  magic  in giving
 relief from the most horrible suffering.  On my arrival
 in Montgomery county, Virginia, I was called in con-
 sultation with Doctor Joseph Miller, who was a physi-
 cian by nature, and a man of the highest native genius,
a man who must have stood at the head of his profes- 
 456            SCALDS AND BURNS.

 sion, had his great intellectual powers  been aided by
 adequate opportunities of education.  With this gentle-
 man I attended on Major-----.   He had been taken
 with a fit, and fallen into a large fire by which he w7as
 sitting, after his family had  retired to bed.  Before he
 was discovered by his family and taken out, he was
 literally roasted: his ribs were perfectly exposed on the
 right  side, and the motion of the abdominal viscera
 (the intestines or guts) could easily be distinguished
 through  the  thin membrane.  His situation was  as
 truly  horrible as can w7ell be imagined,  and his suffer-
 ings were so very great as frequently to induce him to
 pray to us that something might be given him to end
 the miseries of his existence.  Those sufferings must
 indeed be unspeakable, w7hich  destroy  in  man the
 natural and deep-seated love of life.  By the applica-
 tion of Turner's cerate, which was spread on a sheet
 and applied to him, and slippery elm tea given inter-
 nally, this gentleman recovered; and is now living in
 Montgomery county,  Virginia, near Christiansburgh.
. I mention this case  in all its horrors, to induce every
 family into whose hands this book may fall, always to
 have in their possession Turner's cerate for immediate
 application.
                     CORNS.
  We all know7 what corns are, and it is useless to
consume time in ■•describing them.   Remedies.—To
get rid vof them in the shortest possible time, bathe the
foot or feet well in warm water, about half an hour
before going  to bed.  When the corns have  become
soft from bathing, shave down the horny parts smooth, 
CORNS, WARTS.
457
but not so close as to produce blood; then moisten the
tops of them with spittle, and  rub over  them a little
lunar caustic, which you  can  easily  procure.  This
caustic must be gently rubbed on, until a sufficiency
of it sticks on the corns to change them first to a dark
gray colour and next to a deep black.   Put a little cot-
ton over them, to prevent the  stocking from rubbing
them, and in  a few days  they will come out  by the
roots; this is the remedy of Doctor Brown, of Phila-
delphia, and is a good one.
                    WARTS.
  We all know what warts are, and it is also useless to
describe them.  Remedies.—Put on each w7art a small
blister of Spanish  flies, wilich can easily be confined
by  adhesive plaster  of any kind.  In a few days the
warts  will Come out, when you may use the  lunar
caustic, as in the case of corns ;  or you may wet the
warts with a little sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, which
will soon bring them off;  or with nitric acid or aqua-
fortis, which will produce the same  effect; or  (as is
confidently asserted) with the saliva from  the mouth
upon rising in the morning. This latter remedy is cer-
tainly very simple,  and well worth a trial.
2Q                58 
DISEASES  OF WOMEN.
  When we consider the important relations in which
woman stands  to man in every department of life;
when we consider, that in one relation, she is the wife
of his  besom, the chosen  companion of  his heart,  the
voluntary sharer of his prosperity and misfortunes,  the
mother of that  offspring, in whose  life and prosperity
man, even in the decline of life, and the decay of health,
lives over again  the youthful vigour and tender passions
of his early years ; when we consider that, in another
relation, as the sincere lover of his  virtues, and  the
admirer of his  heroic and noble achievements,  she
urges man to perseverance in the performance of  his
moral  duties, and to  those sentiments of patriotism
which  gave to  the  ancient republics their statesmen
and heroes; to  Ireland her Emmets, to  England  her
Sidneys, and to  America her Washingtons : and w7hen
we  consider, that in another  and important relation,
the minute  and apparently ignoble cares of  a family
devolve on her,  where there are no witnesses to support
her under endless sufferings and trials, and where  no
civic crowns or  public honours await her victories over
domestic miseries, and ignoble sufferings and misfor-
tunes, we cannot but be astonished at the fortitude,  the
courage, the devotedness, the fidelity to her duties, and
the heroic virtues of woman.   Place man in her situa-
tion, and compel him to perform the duties of woman,
and he would soon either degenerate into a savage, or
     4"S                              *-. 
DISEASES  OF WOMEN.
459
sink into perfect insignificance.  Placed in the limited
sphere of the employments of woman, and man would
soon feel himself an obscure and lonely slave; doomed
like her to a life of obscurity and domestic cares, where
the anticipation of no honours would await the per-
formance of his duties, his boasted magnanimity and
fortitude would expire like meteors of night, and leave
him a monument of powerless and fallen ambition!
And  how soon  would his boasted philanthropy and
love of mankind expire were there no historians to re-
cord  his deeds  of  benevolence  and patriotism, and
transmit them to future  ages:  and especially were
there no honours to be gathered  but such as grew on
the brows of obscure and suffering humanity, and such
as  would fade in the grasp and be  remembered no
more!
   Woman! when we reflect on thy blameless life, thy
artless tenderness, thy pious simplicity, thy confiding
love, and the meek and lowly resignation of thy heart
and feelings,  under the  pressure of miseries and mis-
fortunes of almost  every  possible character, it seems
difficult for the  most humane of mankind duly to ap-
preciate either thy sufferings or thy worth ; but when
to  these considerations  are  added the multiplicity of
diseases  entailed on thee  by nature and sexuality, as
well as by the ignorance of the midwives of this coun-
try, thy lot and  condition of present  existence seems
hard indeed!   Most of  the midwives of this country,
and indeed of most other countries, are those who take
 up the employment from too great laziness to exert
 themselves in other walks  of life; from utter ignorance
 of the great  responsibilities attached to such a calling,
 and from a heartless destitution of feeling and humani-
 ty, which permits their ignorance and officiousness to 
460
DISEASES OF WOMEN.
entail diseases originating in mismanagement on thou-
sands of women for life.  These  people  are  always
seen wishing to officiate in something which had better
be let alone; in fact, if I must speak in plain terms, in
attempting to force nature into premature and exhaust-
ing exertions, who, if let alone  so  far as not to be
retarded in her operations, would finish her own work
without injury to the sufferer.  I do  not mention this
to cast censure on all midwives; I am acquainted with
several of excellent qualifications, who are kind, feel-
ing,  and experienced, and who possess the excellent
good sense never to hazard or exceed the due bounds
of prudence; and who, in all cases where there is lin-
gering and difficulty, always so far distrust their own
judgment is to acquire the  aid of a  skilful physician.
Women s1 ould never dread the time of child-birth, but
always  eflect on the innumerable millions of  cases in
w7hich women have passed safely through  the trial, for
one, perhaps, winch has been unfortunate.
   When a physician is called in, which in many cases
is absolutely essential to the preservation of life, and
the safety of the child,  his  whole solicitude should
concentrate  in feelings and  sentiments of humanity;
in such cases, therefore, no woman, however deliGate,
or even fastidious in her feelings or sentiments, ought
to feel any hesitation in permitting the assistance of a
physician ; life is always to be preserved, and the safety
of human beings insured, by much  greater sacrifices
than those which pertain to  feelings of bashfulness, or
even sentiments of modesty.  When I speak of calling
in a physician, with permission to render the essential
assistance to nature in child-birth, I mean  a  man of
delicacy of sentiment and feeling, tried and well known
 discretion, and dignified elevation of character; I d0 
DISEASES  OF WOMEN.
not mean a beardless boy, who has dozed
cal book for a year, or  even two, withou
ing its contents, and who is as proud of
doctor as is a child  of a pair of new7 n
such a physician would be worse than a
officious midwife, who always wishes to
thing, right or wrong.  When young in
I always thought it necessary to be giv
article in all  cases; in other words,?
would do neither good nor harm ; this 1
will do well enough, so far as it has a te
up and animate the spirits of the pati
ought to stop.  My good old preceptor
had for more than forty years officiatec
a man-midwife, gave me the following
recommend most sincerely to the atte
readers: "Neither  hurry nor retard i
time  to  perform her  own  operations,1";
fails assist her."
            MENSES OR COURSES.
  The early or late discharge of the menses or courses
depends very much on the climate;  the constitution
of the woman as  to strength or weakness;  on the
emotion or passions of the mind, or in other and plain-
er terms, on the lasciviousness or chastity of her vene-
real desires.   In all cold climates this discharge is later
in making its appearance than in warm ones.  Fruit
ripens sooner in warm latitudes than in cold ones, and
it is the same with females.  In the genial climate ol
Italy,girls have their courses at nine years old; but ii
the colder regions of Russia, this discharge does no
  2q2 
                r

                NSES* OR COURSES.

                 en are from twenty to thirty-five
                 en  not unfrequently in very small
                 7arm climates, says a distinguished
                 it all the splendour of their charms
                 e children in understanding; but •
                 ave arrived at maturity, they cease
                 B.
                country,  although the climate  is
                 |ect to changes, and  these changes
                 eects on the health of women, and
                  utions.   The western  country is
                  the winter season, in consequence
                  im  being exposed to w7et feet, are
                  ularities in this discharge (called
                 is) than in any other part of the
                ien the usual  period for  this dis-
                » little attention on the part of the
              •fficient  to discover the symptoms.
           > cheir discharges without inconvenience,
         a suffer considerably when  the period  is
       come  on, such as  great  restlessness, slight
    ieadach,  heavy and dull pain in the  small of
  jack and bottom* of the belly, swelled and hardened
 4sts, and so on.  The appetite becomes delicate, the
nbs  tremble and feel weak, the face  becomes pale,
d there is a peculiar dark streak or shade under the
 »s.   When these symptoms and feelings occur, every
 ig should be done to assist nature in  bringing for-
  i this  discharge. This is a critical  period of life
   much depends on the result.  The greatest possi-
   recautions should be used to prevent the g*hfl from
    »- cold at this time, because by very slight expo-
    mture may be prevented  from performing this
    mportant office, by the failure of which some 
MENSES OR
CO ERSES.
463
of the most fatal female diseases are produced.  Exer-
cise  should be taken  on horseback at  this time, or
indeed any exercise that will give free circulation to
the blood;  the  emotions and  passions  of  the mind
ought also  to be particularly attended to; a cheerful
disposition  should  be produced and kept up, at  the
same time every effort should be made to banish grief,
despondency, or any of the depressing passions, which
I need not tell you have a powerful  effect in prevent-
ing a due  discharge of the menses or courses.  The
discharges  in their first appearance are in small quan-
tities, are rather  irregular as  to time, but gradually, in
healthy women,  become  regular, and flow monthly.
  While in a state of pregnancy, or when suckling
children, women do not have these menses or courses,
nor do they ever become pregnant, or in plain terms,
get with  child, until this menstrual discharge makes
its appearance on them.   Women also cease to breed
when this menstrual discharge leaves them, in advanced
life.   The period when this  discharge commences on
women, and the period when it leaves them, are criti-
cal and dangerous  periods of time, to the health  and
constitution of women.   As  I shall describe the reme-
dies more fully in cases where the menses have been
established, and  have suddenly  stopped from cold, or
other causes, I sh^ll  merely remark  here, that in all
cases where the  first symptoms of menses make their
appearance in young girls, they should use mild and
gentle methods of courting nature to the performance
of her office, by  sitting over the steam of warm herbs,
bathing their feet and legs at the same time in warm
water, as high as the  knees, or, what is preferable,  use
the warm or tepid bath; (see page 160,) and drink
freely of warm pennyroyal tea. These remedies should 
464           MENSES  OR COURSES.

be  used  a short time before going to bed, so that a
gentle moisture or sweat maybe produced on the skin,
which generally causes the menses or courses to  flow.
This discharge is usually at first very small, but by
attending to the simple course which I have laid down,
when the proper or expected time has arrived for their
appearance, nature will gradually become regular, and
the menses or courses be produced.  The quantity, as
I have observed, will  at first be quite small, perhaps
just sufficient to stain the linen or shift, which will
increase in quantity at every period or monthly return.
As this discharge depends very much on  climate, con-
stitution, manner of living,  and  exercise, you will
easily account for its differing in quantity, not only in
different  women, but  even in the same woman,  in-
creasing  or diminishing according to the state of the
system.   In all southern or warm climates, the quan-
tity discharged is from eighteen to twenty ounces; but
in colder climates  it diminishes accordingly, even to
one or two ounces.
   The length of time the menses or courses remain on,
and the time of their monthly return, differ very much
in women; in some it will remain but a few hours or
a  day, in others, from two to four days, and I have
even known it to remain  ten  days.  The common or
usual time, however, is from  three \o six days.  In the
wrestern  and  southern country,  the menses generally
cease at about the  forty-fifth year; this, however, de-
pends very much  upon  the period they make  their
appearance: if at an early age, they go off earlier, and
if at a later period, they sometimes continue to fifty
years.   About the  expected  time  that the menses or
courses should flow7, which will be easily known  from
the description I have given you of the symptoms, you 
               MENSES OR COURSES.           465

are to avoid every thing that may injure the digestive
powers, and particularly costiveness or being bound in
the bowels, loss of sleep, exposures of any kind, such as
damp feet, or sudden  changes from warm to  thin
clothing.  Girls in the country should be prevented
about this time from wading in the water, or walking
barefoot through the dew, as  it often stops  this dis-
charge.   Getting cold, from any imprudence or unne-
cessary exposure, must also be avoided. On the subject
of medicines,  you  are  particularly requested, as you
value the health of your child, to give no.strong medi-
cines in the  first stage of the menstrual discharge,
called vulgarly " forcing medicines."  This indeed is a
proper name, for you are  truly forcing nature, which
is contrary to  every principle  of  common sense; for
this  discharge, unless stopped  from some one of the
causes I have  mentioned, will assuredly  yield to pa-
tience and simple remedies; after  a full trial, and suf-
ficient time  allowed,  and you  are  disappointed in
bringing them on,  you will try cautiously and mildly
the various remedies under the following head,  " Ob-
struction  of the Menses," where you  will  find  the
valuable  remedy,  "Seneca snake-root:" for a full
description of which important root, in  the stoppage
of the menses or courses, read under  the  head Seneca
snake-root.



           OBSTRUCTED  MENSES.
   When the menses or courses have been once regu-
lar, and have been stopped from any accidental cause,
such as cold, and so on, they are said to be obstructed.
This is sometimes attended with pain; when this is the
                       59 
>H
466           OBSTRUCTED  MENSES.

case, it is called obstructed or painful menstruation, and
is attended with greater or less injury, according to the
state of the system at the  time  this obstruction takes
place, and more particularly if  any other part of the
body is labouring under disease  : for the  womb, from
whence the menses or courses flow, is subject to great
varieties of diseased action, and it is utterly impossible
for me to  describe  the close connexion which is im-
mediately and sensibly felt between the womb, the
stomach, the head,  and the  influence  or power it has
on the pulse.   In six cases out of ten, hysterics, de-
spondency of mind,sickness of the stomach, pains in the
head, coldness of the hands and  feet, flushings of heat
Over the whole body, and not unfrequently fever, arise
from obstructed menses or courses, or some disordered
state of the womb.   I have had in my practice many
females who became greatly alarmed  from the spitting
of blood.   This is  frequently the case, where the ob-
struction has been for any length of time, accompanied
by frequent bleeding at the nose, dry short cough, pains
in the bottom of the belly, and in the small of the back,
pulse hard and quick, skin hot, and burning sensations
in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.  When
these last symptoms take place, immediate  attention
should be paid, or consumption will take place.   A
skilful physician must be sought for, if the remedies,
after a fair and steady trial, should not produce the dis-
charge.   In some instances,  this  obstruction  of the
menses or courses  arise from  debility or  weakness of
the constitution.  This will be known  by the whites
making  their appearance.   When  this  is  the  case,
you must not force nature, but give tonic or strength-
ening  medicines  to  restore  the  system  first;  then
the remedies that follow, beginning with those that 
               OBSTRUCTED MENSES.           467

are most simple, until the menses  or courses are pro-
duced.

                   REMEDIES.
  If the woman is of a robust or full habit of body, the
loss of some blood from the foot will be proper.   A
short time before  the return of the menses or courses,
warm cloths wrung out of hot water must be applied
to the bottom of the belly; this is  to be done a few
nights before the expected time, or  you  may sit upon
the steam of common pine tops, on which boiling wa-
ter has been poured; or you may sit in a tub of warm
water for fifteen or  twenty minutes before you go to
bed, and while  sitting in  the  warm water, have your
feet  bathed  in  another  tub or vessel,  in  which  the
water should be as w7arm as you can conveniently bear
it, or plunge the feet and-legs in and out  frequently,
as you may be able  to  bear the heat  of the water.
While you are bathing or steaming over the pine tops,
use the following remedy, which must be prepared and
kept ready for use when you are going  to bathe : one
ounce of Seneca snake-root well bruised with a ham-
mer, then put it into a quart of boiling wTater, and stew
it over a slow7 fire  to half a pint; of this tea take a table-
spoonful every ten minutes while bathing, or while over
the steam.  For a full description of this valuable root,
see that head.  When you have used these remedies for
a quarter or half an  hour, retire to  bed, and have  the
bottom of your  belly well rubbed with a coarse warm
towel, or a soft brush; this is called friction, the inten-
tion  of which is  to rouse the circulation, excite the
womb to action, and cause the  menses  or courses to
discharge or flow.
  You will find  the following medicine to be a valuable 
468           OBSTRUCTED  MENSES.
assistant in .producing this  discharge, and it should be
taken for one, two, and  even three nights before the
expected time: five grains of aloes, five grains of rhu-
barb, and five  grains of  calomel, finely powdered and
mixed together well, and should the dose not  produce
a stool or two by morning,  you are to take a small dose
of Epsom salts to assist the operation.  If  the dose
should purge you too severely, the next dose should be
less, say  three grains of each instead  of five, or even
two grains of each will  answer; your own judgment
will easily regulate the dose  to the constitution of the
person.   Or you may apply a small blister a day or
two before the time, between the fundament and birth-
place, called by physicians the perineum, giving at the
same time a purgative twice or even three times a day
of aloes, each dose five grains.   Should these remedies
all fail, inject or throw up with a syringe or squirt, into
the  vagina, a mixture of  strong whisky and water, so
as to irritate or excite an  action in  the womb.  As I
have remarked in the first  instance, the  loss of some
blood will generally be found beneficial, unless the
constitution or health of the woman will not admit of
the loss of blood, which is  not very frequently the case.
The loss of  blood always  tends to assist the womb to
return to its natural action.  Madder, which is known
to every person  in  the country as a die, and may be
purchased at any of the stores, is highly recommended
by the late Doctor  Barton,  of Philadelphia, professor
of the" medical school in that city, in  doses of twenty
or thirty grains.   The tincture of gum guaiacum, in
doses of a table-spoonful in half a cup of new milk may
be given.  This tincture is  made in the following
manner:  obtain one ounce  of gum guaiacum, which
is w7orth about ninepence,  mash or pound it fine with 
              OBSTRUCTED  MENSES.           469

a hammer, and put it in a pint of spirits of any kind;
let it steep for ten days, shaking it daily, and you have
the tincture of gum guaiacum, it being then fit for use.
Doctor Dewees, professor of midwifery in the medical
school of Philadelphia, asserts, that in the experience
of thirty-two years  it has never failed him  in  pro-
ducing the menses and courses.  Of  this spirit, put a
table-spoonful in  the milk,  and gently pour  off the
spirit, so as not to shake it at the time you are about to
use it.  I have  now  given you the different and im-
portant remedies, out of which you may select which
you please for use; they are all valuable.  You will,
however, bear in mind, that  the efforts to be made to
bring on the menses or courses, should take place about
the expected time, or a little before it.  The constitu-
tion  of the woman must be fully and properly exa-
mined, so  as  not to force, but to assist nature in her
operations.
               GREEN SICKNESS.
   When the menses or courses have been retained or
stopped for any length of time, and the whole system
becomes diseased from  a want of  this discharge, so
necessary to the health of every female, it terminates
or ends frequently in what is called  chlorosis or green
sickness.  When this is the case, the skin turns of a
pale yellow or greenish hue; the  lips become pale or
of a purple colour;  the eyes have  a dark or purple
tinge around  them;  on making the least exertion, the
heart palpitates or beats; the knees tremble, and there
is a frequent sighing without knowing the cause. The
mind is very fickle, and the woman dislikes, or seems
     2 R 
470
GREEN SICKNESS.
to want the power to attend to her domestic concerns.
The cheeks are  frequently flushed, similar to  con
sumption ;  the feet swell, and the whole system seems
to sink under debility or great weakness.  I have now
described to you  the symptoms which I  alluded to,
when I directed you to examine the constitution, and
not to force nature, especially when  tonic or strength-
ening medicines are required  to restore the whole sys-
tem, before any attempt ought to be made to bring on
the menses or courses. The treatment in this last stage
called  green sickness, should be as follows: as  little
medicine as possible should be given ;  in fact, nothing
but some simple  medicine to prevent costiveness by
keeping the bowels open, such for instance as a tea-
spoonful of Epsom salts, and a tea-spoonful of magne-
sia, ground  finely and well mixed together, to be taken
in a cupful of cold water when necessary for this pur-
pose; travelling on horseback, or moderate exercise.
Good Madeira wine, taken  frequently and  in  small
quantities:  bitters made of  equal  quantities  of  wild
cherrytree bark and poplar bark (usually called swamp
poplar) steeped in wine for several days, and taken in
moderate doses: or tea made of the  flowers of garden
chamomile, and taken cold, in doses of a wine-glass-
full, three or four  times a day.  The chalybeate water
should be  used very freely.   Our country abounds
with these waters; for they are to be found on almost
every branch or creek.   Chalybeate waters are those
springs which are  impregnated with iron.  By these
remedies the whole system  will be restored, and  in
due time the menses  or courses will  again  appear ;  at
which time, mild  and gentle remedies are  to be used,
to court nature to  the proper performance  of this ne-
cessary and important discharge. 
MENSTRUAL DISCHARGES.         471
THE GREAT DISCHARGE OF THE MENSES
                 OR COURSES.
  When the menses or courses come on suddenly or
irregularly, and  the discharges for several days  are
greater than usual, #by which the woman is greatly
reduced and weakened—this is called excessive men-
struation.   The  causes are, too great a determination
of blood to  the womb; or, in other words, too great an
action in its vessels.  This over quantity, or large dis-
charge, generally takes place in delicate women, par-
ticularly those who take but little exercise, or those
who sit a great deal; such as milliners or seamstresses,
and in fact all who lead sedentary lives,  and are  ad-
dicted to such unhealthy habits.

                    REMEDIES.
  Draw blood from the arm immediately;  and regulate
the quantity taken by the constitution, the habits, and
the strength of the woman: there are few  cases that do
not admit of a little blood being drawn.  Give a purge
of Epsom salts or castor oil, and let your patient go to
bed and there remain; she must be  kept as cool as
possible, with her hips a little raised.  The room also
must be made and  kept as cool  as possible.  If  the
discharge  of blood is considerable, apply cloths wet   *
with cold water to the birth-place, and even push them
up it; at the same  time injecting cold water up with  a
female syringe or pewter squirt.   There  is no danger
whatever in these cold applications; therefore do  not
hesitate to use them if necessary.  I have always used
ice in my practice  in Virginia, by  putting it in a towel
or piece of flannel, and applying it to the belly. If the 
472
MENSTRUAL DISCHARGES.
blood flows rapidly, make a plug with cloth, and push
it well up the birth-place, so as to prevent the blood
from flowing, or that it may congeal and stop.  Should
these remedies fail, you  must  resort  to the following
remedy, w7hich should only be used  in extreme dan-
ger : Mix two  grains of  sugar of lead with a  quarter
of a grain of opium, and a little honey;  give a pill of
this mixture every two hours, until the discharge of
blood is lessened.   If the patient is  very much ex-
hausted, give laudanum  in  the dose of fifteen drops,
occasionally, or administer opium : see table for dose ;
administering either laudanum or opium, according to
the urgency of her situation, pains, &c,  as both  these
medicines will give strength, and allay the great irrita-
tion of the nervous system.   Or if there is great pain
in the womb, administer a glyster: look under that
head.  The glyster must be made of the bark  of slip-
pery elm, by pouring  boiling water on the inside part
of the bark.  It is to be perfectly cold, and in it put a
tea-spoonful of laudanum.  Throw this glyster up the
fundament, out of which passes  the stool.  These glys-
ters are to be given every hour, until relief is obtained.
Every thing used at this time as a drink  should be
perfectly cold.  Nothing heating, of any description,
ought to be given, either as food or drink, during this
great flow of the menses or courses.
  To prevent a return of this discharge, when once
relieved, take moderate exercise : bathe the  back and
belly frequently in cold water, and take the salt bath ;
see  under the head Cold Bath.  Take moderately the
best old Madeira wine;  and a short  time before the
expected  discharge, lose  some  blood  from the  arm.
At  all times you are to pay particular attention to
your bowels; that is, not to permit them to become 
MENSTRUAL DISCHARGES.
473
costive or bound.   Morning  and night, when you rise
or retire to bed, use friction;  which  means rubbing
the whole body, for twenty or  thirty minutes, with a
brush or coarse towel; this  should be done by a ser-
vant or assistant.  The last remedy is truly worthy of
strict attention.
 CESSATION OF THE MENSES OR COURSES.
   A cessation of the menses or courses means an
 entire  stoppage of these discharges, or a change of
 nature in this respect, at an advanced period of  life.
 This revolution or change takes place, generally speafc-
 ing, from the forty-second to the  forty-seventh year:
 it is a critical and extremely  dangerous period of a
 woman's life, and although thousands pass through it
 without experiencing any great inconvenience, it is a
 period which requires particular attention and care.
   All exposure to cold and damp must be scrupulously
 avoided; and particularly wet feet, and remaining any
 length of time on the damp ground.  Sudden changes
 of dress are also extremely hazardous at this period;
 in fact, every thing that produces  sudden revolutions
 in the bodily system, from extremes of heat, cold, and
 dampness.  By not attending to what I have just laid
 dowrn, you will be sure to lay the foundations of dis-
 eases of a multiplied and stubborn character, which
 will be sure to imbitter  and distress the remainder of
 your life, be it long or short.
  The courses about this time of life, begin to lessen in
 quantity, and to become  more or less irregular in their
 discharges.  When you  are likely to suffer some  in-
convenience in this change of  nature, you will have
      2 r 2               60 
474         CESSATION OF  THE  MENSES.

warning by the occurrence of the following symptoms:
You will have pains in the head and small of the back,
trembling of the knees, flushing and burning of the
face, choking sensations in  the throat, sickness of the
stomach, dizziness or swimming in the head, and fre-
quently mists before your eyes.  You must now live
on spare diet, and, as I have  just told vou, avoid all
kinds of cold, damp, and wret.

                   REMEDIES.
  Very few medicines are to be taken in  this  state
of the system, and those that are taken must be of the
most simple, mild, and innocent kind.  For the  pur-
pose of  keeping your bowels  open, and removing all
causes of irritation, use purges of Epsom  salts, or cas-
tor oil when necessary;  they will always cool the
system, and allay any dangerous irritations.  If you
are of a robust and full habit of body, and have dizzi-
ness and pains in the head, cupping on  the temples
will give relief.  For the method of cupping, which
is very simple, look under that head.   Or, if you should
not like the plan of cupping,  or if it be inconvenient,
you  may occasionally draw a little  blood  from the
arm; when those unpleasant feelings  1 have described
make their appearance.  Temperance, or, in  other
words, abstaining from strong  food, and living on  very
spare and simple diet, is greatly more important  than
any medicines that can be taken; nor will any medi-
cines  be necessary in most cases, other than  such as
will keep  the bowels in a gentle  laxative state,,  as
mentioned before, with cupping, if considered neces-
sary.   You should  take  moderate exercise in good
weather on horseback, and above all other  remedies
use regularly friction; which means rubbing the whole 
            CESSATION OF  THE MENSES.       475

 body with a brush or coarse towel, morning and even-
 ing.  This friction  you are  not to neglect, because it
 is very important at this period.  You are also to keep
 the birth-place perfectly clean, by washing daily those
 parts in  milk-warm water  and soap.  Unless these
 parts are  kept perfectly clean, they retain a secretion
 which  I  need not name, which irritates and  excites
 diseased action in the womb.  Whenever you feel pain
 in  your back, belly, &c, take the tepid bath, which
 you are to make sufficiently warm to be pleasant. For
 a description of this bath, see page 60.  If pain is
 felt in the head, stomach, or breast, a blister must  be
 applied between the shoulders, which will give relief.
 You may take off the blister, after it has been on two
 or  three  hours, if the pain has been  removed  by  its
 application, as is sometimes  the case after the skin has
 become red from the  blister.  But the warm bath,
 moderate  bleeding, and  keeping the bowels open with
 the mild  medicines I have described, will afford you
 the necessary ease and relief in your  situation, pro-
 vided you keep yourself in  a perfect  state of rest on
 your bed.
  If the pain in the womb be  considerable, and you
 have any fears of an inflammation in those parts, apply
 a large  blister over the belly; which  blister is to be
 dressed  with sweet oil.   You are also to give glysters
 frequently, which are to be thrown well up the bowels,
 say three  or four times  a day.   They are to  be made
 of slippery-elm  bark, by pouring boiling water on the
 inside bark, and letting  the  water stand until about
 milk-warm ; this water  is to be thrown  up as directed
under the head Glystering.   If the inflammation  is
great in the wromb, throw up the birth-place, with the
glyster-pipe, the slippery-elm water, five or six times a 
 476        CESSATION OF THE MENSES.

 day; but remember it is to be perfectly cold, when
 you throw it up the birth-place: when thrown up the
 fundament into the bowels, it is to be milk-warm.
 There is an excellent preparation, which can be easily
 made, to throw up the birth-place, which is perhaps
 better than the slippery-elm water.   Take two tea-
 spoonsful of sugar of lead, and put them in a quart of
 the coldest water.   After the lead is dissolved it will
 be fit for use.  Of this lead water, throw up about a
 gill, mixed with about a gill  of  slippery-elm water.
 Do this occasionally.
  Should an ulcer  or sore break out on the legs, or any
 part of your body,  be very careful not to heal it up im-
 mediately or very suddenly; it is an effort of nature to
 relieve herself of the discharge.  It may be necessary
 for  me  to  remark, that if the  womb is  painful, and
 there is no danger of inflammation, apply over the belly
 and to the small of the back, warm herbs, or warm
 salt, or bladders filled  with  warm water, and take a
dose of laudanum or opium: see  table of doses.  By
attending closely to these instructions, which I have
laid down plainly, you will pass through  this change
of nature with safety; and no doubt enjoy through the
winter of old age an exemption from those complaints
which are too apt to occur, from neglect of this impor-
tant change of the female constitution.
                THE  WHITES.
  This disease is called by physicians fluor albus.   It
is an unnatural and white coloured discharge from the
birth-place, and is produced from various causes: such
for instance, as the powers of the womb being impaired
by severe labours, repeated miscarriages, getting out of 
THE WHITES.
477
bed too soon after child-birth, or by taking cold at
this  time,  or  any other time when the  menses or
courses are about coming on; or by over fatigue or
weakness, produced by general bad health; or where
the general secretions and  excretions have been de-
ranged by  disease; as the womb always more or less
sympathizes with the whole system.  Women who are
of weakly or delicate constitutions, and take but little
active exercise, and such as have had many children,
are much subject to the fluor albus or whites.  I have
known many instances in which the whites made their
appearance monthly, instead of the natural menses or
courses.  This is generally the case where the woman
is  labouring under the suppression of the menstrual
discharge, or some weakness or derangement of the
whole system.   I shall  now describe the means of
knowing the whites from the clap.
  In the clap there is a swelling of the parts, an itching
and uneasy feeling, and much heat in making water.
In a little time both the inside and outside of the parts
become inflamed, and  give much heat and scalding in
evacuating  the  urine; if these symptoms occur you
may be tolerably certain you have taken the clap, in
which case  you will find the means of relief distinctly
laid down, from page 435 to 438.
  The whites are called by this name, because the dis-
charge resembles the white of an egg, or the mucus or
slime which runs from the nose when you have a cold.
There are three or four stages of this complaint between
its mildest and severest forms; and if permitted to run
on, it will entirely destroy the constitution of the wo-
man, by  reducing  her flesh and muscular strength.
Her complexion will  change to a sickly pale colour;
she will become very weak, and her heart will  palpi- 
478
THE WHITES.
 tate or beat with the slightest personal exertion.  As
 this disorder seldom stops without medical assistance,
 means ought always to be immediately used, or it will
 commit great ravages on the female constitution. The
 whites come on very irregularly; sometimes the dis-
 charge is in lumps,  but  more frequently it is of a
 w7hite, slimy, ropy consistence.  If the disease is of the
 mildest form, the discharges resemble the white of an
 egg, having no smell, and no colour but that just men-
 tioned.   In the second stage the discharges  are of a
 Kght yellow or straw7 colour, and  something offensive
 to the smell.  In the third stage, the  discharges are of
 a greenish  colour, of a  tough and gluey consistence)
 and quite offensive in smell.  In the worst stage of the
 disease, or when the disease  has been permitted from
 ignorance or negligence to run on, the discharges are
 very offensive, and mixed with blood; the face becomes
 of a sickly greenish hue ;  under the eyes there is an
 unnatural colour; the lips become purple; the feet and
 legs swell; the face becomes subject to flushes of heat;
 there is a dry cough and great difficulty of breathing,
 particularly on the slightest exertion; and unless relief
 is obtained, the  disease will, after this stage, terminate
 either in consumption or dropsy.
  I shall now proceed to describe the effects which the
 disease produces in the different stages of its advance-
 ment.  When it is slight, or in its mildest  form, and
 the general health of the woman is not much impaired,
 there is a pain in the back, the menses are not regular,
and on the slightest exertion, the woman feels a shoot-
ing and afterwards a heavy pain in the back.   In the
second stage, the above symptoms are  felt most con-
stantly and severely; the stomach becomes disordered;
the head aches: the bowels are costive  or bound up; 
THE WHITES.
479
there is a dizziness or swimming in the head; and
there seems a heavy pain in the bottom of the belly,
and at the upper part of the thighs.   In  the -severest
form of the disease, the symptoms of which  I have
already  described, all the indications or marks of dys-
pepsia or indigestion take  place: for a description of
which  complaint see under that head.   The whole
system becomes disordered and unhealthy;  the men-
strual discharge entirely stops; and the woman, from
general  debility and  weakness,  sinks  rapidly into
decline, and ends  either in consumption or dropsy, as
I have said before.

                   REMEDIES.
  There is no remedy in  the first stage of this com-
plaint equal to scrupulous cleanliness, or bathing well
those parts in cold water three or four times a day, and
injecting up the birth-place frequently the same thing,
cold water.  Sleep  on a mattrass  instead of  a feather
bed, or in other words, a hard bed of any kind.  Rise
early and take proper exercise; and if convenient to a
chalybeate spring, or one whose  waters  are impreg-
nated with iron,  drink freely of those waters.  The
country abounds with waters of this description; and
they are a most valuable remedy for women labouring
under this disease, or any irregularity of the menses or
courses.   The bowels are to be kept open with mild
laxative medicines, such as Epsom salts or castor  oil.
From fifteen to twenty drops of balsam copaiva are to
be given on sugar, three times a day; which if neces-
sary are to be  continued eight or ten days, or even
more if found essential.  I have relieved this complaint,
when all  the different  remedies had been  tried, by
simply using the  turpentine from the common pine 
480
THE WHITES.
tree.  It must be made into pills with honey, andjme
of the pills given two or three times a day, using at the
same  time the following injection,  which  is  to  be
thrown up the birth-place three or four times a day.
A tea-spoonful of sugar of lead is to be put into a pint
of spring water, and permitted to remain until dissolved.
Obtain at any doctor's shop a female syringe, which is
a pew ter squirt with holes in the end of it.  With this
instrument you are to throw7 up the  lead water three
or four times  a day.   You will find this a valuable
remedy.  If it be inconvenient to get  the sugar of lead,
make a decoction of white-oak bark, by boiling it in
water: and of  this water, when perfectly cold, throw
up the  birth-place as often, and about  the same  quan-
tity that you would  of the lead water.
  If the discharge is very offensive from the parts, you
should  introduce up the birth-place every morning and
night about a tea-spoonful of common charcoal, pound-
ed as fine as possible.  This will entirely remove the
offensive smell.
  If the directions  I  have given  do  not restrain the
discharge, you  will apply a large blister to the small of
the back, at the same time using the  injections freely
as directed.  Should the constitution be much injured,
and the woman greatly reduced by the discharge, ob-
tain from any doctor's shop  a tincture of sal martis,
which  is a preparation of iron  dissolved in  muriatic
acid.  Obtain also a .box of soda powders.  On these
boxes you will  find directions how7 to use them ; if not
look under the head Soda Powders.  When you have
mixed your papers of soda powrders with water, in two
tumblers, and before you have poured them together,
drop into the tumbler  in which  you have put the con-
tents of the blue paper, eight or ten drops of the medi- 
THE WHITES.
481
cine in the phial.  Being now ready, pour  it all into
one tumbler and drink it down  immediately while it
is foaming or effervescing. This drink should be taken
three times a day.  I have merely to remark, that this
is a preparation of one of the most  valuable  mineral
waters known in Europe, and is admirably adapted to
debility of the stomach, or indigestion, affections of the
womb, and  indeed, debility  of  any kind.  After  all
these remedies have failed, polypus of the womb may
exist, which always requires  the assistance of an able
physician.
                 PREGNANCY.

  When the sexual connexion between a male and
female has' been favourable to the increase of our spe-
cies, the seed of the man and that of the woman are
conveyed, as already described, through the Fallopian
tubes into  the womb, and there deposited.   Here the
growth of the foetus or child'commences, whilst at the
same time  there is formed a bag or covering for  the
whole, (called the membranes,) which lines the womb.
At the same time, there is a fleshy substance formed,
widen very much resembles the liver; this substance
is called the after-birth, and by physicians the placenta.
This fleshy substance, called  the after-birth, receives
and prepares the blood, which is supplied by the womb
for the child.  From this after-birth to the navel of the
child, there is a small cord  or tube called the navel
cord, or umbilical cord.  This  tube admits the circu-
lation of the blood between the mother and the child.
There  is also a fluid, known by the  name of the wa-
     2 S                 61 
482
PREGNANCY.
ters, in which  the foetus or child  moves and increases
in growth.
  You will now readily perceive  that  the womb con-
tains,  when pregnant, the child, the waters in  which it
moves, the membranes which support it.  the navel-
cord, and the after-birth.  From eight to ten days after
the woman has conceived, the first formations of the
child  may be distinguished;  it  is, however, so ex-
tremely delicate as to require the most minute atten-
tion to discover it with  the naked eye.  The face and
form of the large features are as yet not sufficiently
plain to be distinguished ; you can merely discover the
formation of the head and trunk ; the trunk being the
longest and most delicate ; the whole resembling a bit
of jelly of an oblong figure. You will perceive by close
examination the resemblance of a  small feather, which
comes from the navel, and ends in the membrane by
which the whole is enclosed.  This fine feathery fibre,
afterwards the navel-cord, connects the young with the
after-birth.
  In about three w7eeks after conception, the formation
of the infant may be plainly distinguished, because by
this time the head and features of the face begin to
assume something of a strong outline;  in other words,
they begin to show the realities of what they are.  The
arms and legs are next seen to project from the body;
two black specks  represent. the eyes; and  two ex-
tremely small holes make the place of  the ears.  The
ribs on each side are about the size of common threads ;
and the fingers and toes about the same magnitude.
The arms are something longer than the legs in conse-
quence of their growth being more rapid.
  In about one month after conception, the foetus or
child is about one inch in length; and  it now takes a 
PREGNANCY.
483
bending posture in the middle of the water or liquor I
have  described to you.  About this time the mem-
branes, sometimes called the bag or covering, become
enlarged, and get thicker and stronger, and the whole
mass  together is about an inch in  length, and nearly
the shape of an egg.
  In about six weeks  the  motion of the  heart of the
child  may be  perceived.  In fact, in surgical opera-
tions which I have seen  performep!, where the child
was taken from the wromb, the heart was  seen to beat
for a considerable length of time.
  In three months the child is three inches in length,
and its weight from two to three ounces.  Women as-
sert that they have felt the motion of the child about
this time,  but I would suppose it doubtful at this early
period.  In about fourteen weeks the head of the child
is bent forward and the chin rests on the breast; the
knees are lifted up; the legs bent back on the thighs;
and both the hands lifted up towards the face.
oj In the lapse of time the child acquires more strength,
and is constantly changing its posture; but  the head
most  commonly inclines downward.  Near the  fifth
month the mother can distinctly feel the motion of the
child, which is called quickening, and which is often
accompanied with sickness at the stomach, and vomit-
ing, particularly in the morning. When this quicken-
ing is felt, it is a very certain symptom of pregnancy.
About the  time of this quickening, the womb seems as
if it w7ere loose in the lower part of the belly. As long
as the womb is detained in the pelvis or basin, you can,
by introducing the finger up the birth-place, the woman
being in a standing position, distinctly feel the  mouth
of the womb, which is lowrer down than in the natural
and unimpregnated state.  This is occasioned  by the 
484
PREGNANCY.
weight of the wromb and its contents, continually and
gradually bearing downward.  Thus the mouth of the
womb can be felt, after the woman has become with
child, for several weeks, and affords another evidence
of pregnancy.
  After this time the womb begins considerably to in-
crease in size, and ascend gradually up into the abdo-
men or belly, growing at last so large that it remains
mostly above the bones of the pelvis or basin, and par-
tially rests on them.
  In the beginning of the  fifth month the belly be-
comes hard, and the navel of the mother is perfectly
even and smooth.  From this onward the woman in-
creases in size; pregnancy being now evident, a further
description of its progress would be  unnecessary.  In
nine months, or in about forty-two weeks from the
stoppage of the menses or courses,  the child is pre-
pared for its entrance into life; and nature prepares
herself for a delivery of her burden, by a contraction
of the fibres of the womb, wrhich are no longer able to
bear the irritation.  Here commence the pains of
labour, in other words, restless and uneasy sensations,
pain in the small of the back, frequent desire to make
water, accompanied with bearing downwards, particu-
larly at the bottom of the belly ; constant desire to go
to stool, perhaps without being able to pass any thing;
costiveness, with a small  discharge of mucus or slime
from the birth-place, &c.
  I have mentioned to you the waters in which the
Child moves and changes its position.   As to the quan-
tity of these waters at the birth of the child, it varies
very much in different women.  In some I have seen
not more than a gill, in others  not more than half  a
pint, and in others I have known nearly  two quarts. 
                   PREGNANCY.               485

Those who have written on this  subject before me
state that these waters resemble the white of an egg,
and have  very little  smell.   This  is,  however, not
always the case, the waters are sometimes very offen-
sive.  The fact is, that their colour and consistency
depend on the peculiar state of the system.
  The after-birth prepares the blood in  a proper state,
which is then conveyed by the navel cord to the child
for its support and growth ; you will therefore under-
stand that the growth is produced  by and through the
after-birth.  This after-birth or fleshy substance, which
resembles the liver, is generally in weight from a pound
to a pound and a half;  and depends both for  weight
and size, not on th$ appearance of the woman, but on
the healthy or diseased state of the  womb and its secre-
tions ; for  I have very often seen in my  practice, very
large women produce quite small after-births, whilst, on
the contrary, I have seen very delicate women produce
astonishingly large ones.
  The navel cord, called by physicians  the umbilical
cord, is formed  of  two veins which come from the
after-birth, and an artery which comes from the child ;
these being twisted nicely together, is the reason why
it is called the navel cord.  The  blood which passes
through the veins of this cord  enters at the navel of
the child, and by the proper vessels is conveyed to its
heart; it  is then conveyed again back from the heart
to the various parts of the child's body  for its growth
and  support, as  I told  you before,  After returning
again, the heart  forces it  back through the  artery,
wilich I have mentioned as a part of the cord, to the
after-birth, which prepares it for the foetus or child.
   I have now given you a plain explanation of preg-
nancy, and of the  means by which the child  is sus-
       2 s  2 
486
PREGNANCY.
tained in the womb, and of the parts connected with
the womb, necessary to be known and understood.
This explanation will enable you with a little atten-
tion  to  understand  something  of the  astonishing
powers possessed and employed by nature for the pro-
creation, increase,  and  preservation  of  the human
species.
            SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.
   Sickness in the morning, often attended with vomit-
 ing or puking;  heart-burn, and sgreness on the sto-
 mach ; loss of appetite, and dislike of the sight of food;
 craving for things which before you were indifferent
 to, or even disliked;  and  stoppage of the menses or
 courses; this last symptom, however, is sometimes oc-
 casioned from cold, &c.  Pregnancy is also known by
 palpitations or  flutterings  of  the heart;  faintness,
 accompanied with a desire to vomit; these last symp-
 toms are generally felt by  young  married women in
 their first pregnancy.  The breasts become more full,
 the nipples more firm  and hard, and the rings around
 them assume a darker colour.  The rising of the navel,
 so as to become flat and smooth with the belly, may
 be considered an almost certain evidence of pregnancy.
 I omitted to mention  that  toothache frequently is an
indication of pregnancy.
  The pulse of a  woman with child is considerably
quicker than common ; there is also frequently a dizzi-
ness or swimming in the head ; the complexion of  the
face generally changes, either by becoming much im-
proved, or by exhibiting a more sallow, pale, and sickly 
              SIGNS  OF PREGNANCY.          487

colour.  There are few women  who  do not undergo
some peculiar change of countenance  in pregnancy, so
as to indicate with those well acquainted with them
their real situation.   There is, however, no certain
sign of pregnancy, but the motions of  the child felt by
the mother; and all the  symptoms I have mentioned,  f
although sufficient to induce the belief of pregnancy,
may be deceptive.  For instance, the menses or courses
may stop, and it may be produced by cold, or some
cause other than pregnancy; therefore, until about the
third or fourth month, doubts may exist as to the actual
situation of the woman.
  I have mentioned that after conception, and before
the womb began to rise above the pelvis or  basin, by
introducing the finger up the birth-place, the mouth of
the womb might be plainly felt.  This is the fact, and
the reasons are obvious.  The increasing weight of the
womb, at this period, lowers its mouth in the vagina or
birth-place, so that it can be  easily  touched  with the
finger: and an experienced physician  or midwife, by
such an examination,  could  easily  tell whether  the
woman was with child or not.  The indications, how-
ever, are more plainly felt in a young  married woman
than in one wiio has borne children.  In making this
examination the woman should always be in  a stand-
ing posture, leaning on the shoulder of the operator, so
as to relax the parts as much as  possible.  In women
who have borne children, or suffered in injuries from
child-birth, the mouth of the womb is very apt to pro-
trude downward through the birth-place, and is called
falling down of  the womb.  This is caused  by the
ignorance  and stupidity of  common  midwives, from
pulling  the  after-birth  away,  and  producing this
descent of the  mouth of the wromb.  You will be 
488
SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.
made fully acquainted with this falling of the womb
in the proper place.
     CAUT-JQNS DURING PREGNANCY.
  When the womafidiscovers her change of situation,
or, in other words, that she is with child, she is to at-
tend to her bow els particularly, so that they may not
become costive  or bound up.  She must steadily bear
in mind, that more than half the diseases which arise
during pregnancy, are more or less occasioned by neg-
lect to keep the bowels regular.  If you cannot  have
a stool daily, take a glyster of simple milk and water.
There is  no indelicacy in this matter.   There are in-
struments called self-pipes, which you can use yourself,
and  there ought to be one of these in every family.
For a description how7 to prepare and administer  glys-
ters, read under that head.   I have known many wo-
men who, by neglecting  their  bowels during preg-
nancy, were compelled to submit to  having the  hard
excrement removed  from the  fundament,  before  a
passage could  be obtained.  This is certainly more
indelicate than using a glyster pipe, and merely throw-
ing up  a  glyster of milk and water; and I do assert,
that if these glyster  pipes  were  more  used  in the
United States, both by women and men, there would
be many constitutions saved, and  very many diseases
and  sufferings avoided.  Is  it not reasonable to pre-
sume that  mere danger is  done to  the stomach, by
eternally  keeping it loaded with  drastic  purgative
medicines, than would be done to  the  system  by the
simple use of the glyster pipe ?
  Women, during pregnancy, may be  said  to labour 
           CAUTIONS DURING PREGNANCY.      489

 under constant irritation, however delicate their con-
 stitutions; and, therefore, glysters not  only afford  an
 easy and pleasant passage or stool, but cool the bowels,
 and allay the irritation  of the  whole  system.   The
 tepid  bath  (see page 160) ought to be  used  during
 pregnancy.   It will entirely soothe, not only the bodily
 irritation, but also tranquillize the mind and feelings.
 You will recollect  that the water of this  bath is to be
 but pleasantly warm, because hot water has been
 known to produce  abortion, which means losing the
 child.   The bath I recommend will have an effect to
 preserve and equalize the healthy action of the  womb,
 and all the parts connected with it.  Particular atten-
 tion should  be paid  to the diet or food; let it be sim-
 ple and plain, and of such a quality as agrees with you.
 If you will but attend to these instructions, I may assure
 you that  you will  pass through this period, not  only
 with  safety, but with great  comfort, and produce  in
 due time, not only a healthy but a vigorous offspring.
  By all  means banish gloomy and depressing fears*;
 nor listen for a moment to the idle tales  of misfortunes
 which are said to have happened to others; all these
 tales are without a shadow of truth.   Think  of the
 countless  and innumerable  millions who have passed
 through these feelings and trials without  the slightest
 accident.   Therefore  place  full  and implicit confi-
 dence in the benevolence, wisdom, and  mercy of the
 great  Father of the universe, who rules and governs
 ail  human  destinies!   Be  cheerful,  collected, and
 serene, for in  multiplying and replenishing the earth,
you are fulfilling an imperious command of the Al-
 mighty, in which he will never desert you.
62 
 490          DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.

          DISEASES OF  PREGNANCY.
   The  many diseases to which women are generally
 liable during pregnancy, mostly arise from the causes
 I have already enumerated, such as costiveness, impro-
 per diet, and so on.  The womb  at this period  is ex-
 tremely  irritable, and always sympathizes with  the
 other parts  of the system, and particularly with  the
 stomach and head.  Some women suffer a great deal
 during pregnancy, and others very slightly.  The fact
- is, that the mind, the passions, and even the feelings of
 Women  sometimes participate strongly with the phy-
 sical system during pregnancy; not only leaving pow-
 erful impressions on the foetus or child itself, but exer-
 cising a  strong influence on  the very conduct of the
 woman  herself.   I hardly need instance such matters
 as longing for particular articles of food, or  the vast
 and countless varieties of whims, caprices, sympathies,
 antipathies,  arid--so-  on, which beset some  pregnant
 women ; nor need I point out to the reader the abor-
 tive  proportions of birth, and the varieties of injury
 sometimes sustained by the child, through the mind,
 imagination, and feelings  of the mother.  Pregnancy
 also (and not unfrequently)  exercises a moral  influ-
 ence.  1 recollect  a  lady in  New York, of the very
 first respectability, whose husband was long an asso-
 ciate  of  the legislative councils of the nation, who
 niever visited, or left  her  house after she had felt the
 quickening sensations of pregnancy, in other w7ords
 the motion of the child, without experiencing an irre-
 sistible propensity to steal; nor could she ever combat
 successfully, or l-estrain the unaccountable desire to
 pilfer.   This, however, is only one case among a mil-
 lion that might be adduced to prove the existence of 
             DISEASES  OF PREGNANCY.          491

 influences  in pregnancy, which baffle the wiiole pow-
 ers of genius and human reasoning.
   Doctor  Rush,  or some other physician of equal
 celebrity, relates the case of a medical man in  some
 part of Europe, in whose  natural disposition the pro-
 pensity to steal w7as so strong, that he never was known
 to visit a sick chamber,  without  stealing  some articles
 of value, if they were not put out of his reach.   His
 practice was very extensive, he was  wealthy, and his
 propensity  to theft so well known to  society, that after
 a few years had passed in stealing the  same articles
 over and over again, nothing w7as said  about the matter.
 The fact is, that he had  stolen the same  articles so
 often, that  it became the  business of his wife, on his
 return home every night,  to search his pockets, assort
 out and send home the  articles he had so often stolen.
 If this delineation of native character  be correct, which
 we 'are not  even permitted to  doubt, why need we be
 surprised at the few instances of a natural  propensity
 to petty roguery and hook-fingered avarice,  which our
 own country presents ?  Or why need we  be in the
 least surprised to find men whose native  and irresisti-
 ble propensities to swindling, petty fraud, and diminu-
 tive rascality will lead  them  to cheat in  weights and
 measures on all practicable occasions.
  This  subject, however, presents  itself in another
and much  stronger point of view.   It bears strongly
on the criminal laws and jurisprudence of our country,
and must at some future period arrest the attention of
our legislative bodies.   If there is such an  influence
in nature as leads to the  commission of crime, and that
too in defiance of moral restraints and fears of punish-
ment, are there not cases in which moral justice would
revolt at the punishment of involuntary and  irresistible 
492
DISEASES  OF PREGNANCY.
criminality?  rI have  not space  i,n  this work to give
this  subject such an investigation as it really and in-
trinsically merits:  but should it  be  in my power, as I
now intend  to publish a future volume  Of this work,
when time and circumstance will permit, this subject
shall  be  one which shall be particularly  embraced.
To speak plainly,  I  have long  entertained doubts,
whether  under circumstances in which it is practica-
ble to banish a man from society, deprive him of his
liberty, and  prevent his committing future crimes, it
can ever  appertain to justice and the security of society
to shed human blood.
   It is very true that the Scripture thus denounces the
murderer; - whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed ;" but ought we not to take into se-
rious  consideration  the simple fact that, at the  period
this penalty of murder was announced to the Jews, so-
litary confinement  for life was unknowm to the policy
of human laws.
   That a diseased state of the mind  may exist, on one
particular point, and that the same mind may be sound
and sane  in all other respects, no medical  man in his
senses will deny. The daughter of a  wealthy merchant
of.Philadelphia was in the habit of  stealing from the,
different  stores in which she purchased  goods.  Being
extremely wealthy, and her propensity fcnown, private
accounts  of the articles stolen were always kept, and
always duly paid by her father.  She married, and was'
never known during her pregnancy  to steal the small*-
est article ; and candidly  confessed that during these
periods she had not the smallest propensity to steal or
pilfer : and what was equally extraordinary, so soon as
her .deliveries were over, the old and natural propensity
to theft returned. How are we to account, on any thing 
            DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.         493

like known principles, for the above facts and delinea-
tions of character ?  Medical philosophers, I propound
the interrogatory to you !  The value of the articles,
this woman often repeated, had nothing to do with the
natural impulse to theft. Was it a disease of the mind,
derived through the physical system, from impressions
made on the foetus or child in the wromb, from the
mind, and passions, and feelings of the mother ?
       SICKNESS OF THE STOMACH.
  This is common in the commencement of pregnan-
cy, particularly with the first child:  it generally lasts
until the  quickening sensation is felt, and no  longer.
If the  vomiting  or puking is not severe, it will do no
injury; but if it should continue, or become severe,
which  is sometimes the case, you will find relief in the
following remedies.
                   REMEDIES.
  If the habit of body be full, that is, strong and fleshy,
the loss of  some blood from the  arm will be  proper.
But if  the woman should be wTeakly and delicate, omit
the bleeding,  and use the following  remedies: of co-
lumbo  root and  camomile flowers make a strong de-
coction or tea, to which you may add a little ginger :
let this tea  get perfectly cold, and give three  or four
table-spoonsful occasionally.   Or you may obtain the
columbo  root in powder, and give fifteen or twenty
grains,  mixed  with a few drops of peppermint, and a
little good old spirits of any kind; or take an ounce of
columbo root, and bruise it with a hammer, then pour
a pint of boiling w7ater on it, and let it get cold.  Take
     2 T 
 J94       SICKNESS  OF THE STOMACH.

a wine-glassful of this decoction, with a few drops of
peppermint in it, three or four times a day, or when
you feel this sickness of the  stomach.  This bitter is
very serviceable in weak stomachs and laxative bowels.
Where the vomiting  or puking is \ery severe, apply
the stewed leaves of the garden mint to the pit of the
stomach :  the application must be warm, and it will
stop the vomiting or  puking without fail.  Or  pur-
chase a box of soda powders, on which you will find
directions; or if there are no directions, see the head
Soda Powders. Give these powders three or four times
a day.  Ginger tea, and mint tea, are also good reme-
dies.  Or  use elixir vitriol, in doses of ten or fifteen
drops, three or four times a day, in a glass of cold wa-
ter.  Should the vomiting be extremely severe, rub a
little laudanum over the pit of the stomach: if this
does not stop it, give ten or fifteen drops of laudanum,
occasionally, in  a little mint or ginger tea.   In very
stubborn cases of vomiting, the following will always
give relief: mix in a phial equal quantities of compound
spirits of lavender, laudanum, and spirits of hartshorn :
of this mixture, give a tea-spoonful in a little cold wa-
ter, three or four  times a day, or as  the sickness and
vomiting may take place.
       CHOLIC  DURING PREGNANCY.
  This is a common complaint during  pregnancy;
and this is the reason  why I have cautioned you so
particularly  respecting  your food or  diet, and by all
means to avoid costiveness, or, in other words, permit-
ting yourself to be too long a time without having a
stool.    The bowels, during the time  you are with 
           CHOLIC  DURING PREGNANCY.        495
                       f
                       m
child, will  always be much subject to  flatulence or
wind, which is called in the country windy cholic.

                   REMEDIES.
  Bathe the belly with warm water, or sit in a tub in
which there is warm water, and take a table-spoonful
of castor oil.   Or you may apply to your belly warm
salt: or you may apply cloths wrung out of warm wa-
ter to the belly, and throw up the fundament, with the
glyster pipe, the following  injection: make a pint or
quart of thin  gruel; strain it clean, and put into it a
table-spoonful or less of hog's lard, let it stand  until it
becomes milk-warm, and take it as a glyster:  see the
head Glystering.
 PAIN IN THE HEAD, AND  DROWSINESS.
  When there is a pain in the  head, or a heavy, dull
drowsiness is felt, it is apt to arise from the blood-ves-
sels being  too full.  This is generally the case with
fleshy, strong, healthy young women.  In delicate and
weakly women pain in the head and drowsiness are
sometimes  felt, but they generally arise from an oppo-
site cause, from a want of due circulation of the blood,
which induces debility or weakness.

                   REMEDIES.
  If the woman is fleshy and strong, and is  thus af-
flicted, draw blood from the  arm, and give a  dose of
laxative medicine, such as Epsom salts, castor  oil, &c.
But if, on the  contrary, she  be  delicate and  weakly,
bleeding in any way would be highly improper.  She
is to take moderate  exercise  on horseback, attend to 
496   PAIN  IN  THE  HEAD, AND DROWSINESS.

the state of her stomach, and also to her food: use freely
the tepid bath :  see page 160 : take very gentle medi-
cines, or a glyster to keep her bowels regular if bound;
bathe her forehead and temples frequently with spirits
in which camphor has been dissolved; and take occa-
sionally through the day, a glass of real good wine, or
some toddy made  with any kind of spirits.   If this
pain or heaviness of the head  still remains, after the
above means have been resorted to, it may arise from
the stomach: if so, the columbo  root, as already  de-
scribed, will be found of great benefit.
                 HEART-BURN.
  This complaint generally arises from acid on the
stomach, and .very few women  escape it during preg-
nancy.  If the heart-burn is attended with a constant
hawking up of tough phlegm, the stomach should be
cleansed with a  gentle emetic or puke, of fifteen or
twenty grains of ipecacuanha.  But if the heart-burn
is accompanied with a sour taste in the  mouth, or a
belching up of sour water, it will be relieved by the
use of very weak lime-water, or a tea-spoonful of mag-
nesia in a cup of cold water.  This last, or  either of
them, may be taken whenever these acid tastes  take
place.  The magnesia is generally preferred in lumps,
and  may be eaten in  moderate quantities, being per-
fectly innocent.   When a considerable lump is used,
it will act as a mild purgative.  By adding a little rhu-
barb  to the magnesia, it  is an excellent purgative for
women in a pregnant state.   As both articles are quite
innocent, they may always be used when found neces-
sary for opening the bowels. 
SWELLED LEGS.              497
               SWELLED LEGS.
  This swelling is produced by the womb, which is
enlarged during pregnancy; the weight of the womb
presses on the vessels which return the fluids from the
lower parts of the body.   When the woman is far
advanced, these swellings frequently give much pain;
there is, however, no danger;. nor should they give any
distress to the  afflicted woman.  These swellings are
very apt to go off if she  will take rest on a bed, bathe
her feet at night in strong salt and w7ater, and steam
herself over mullen, on which boiling water has been
poured.   As rest, in a  recumbent or lying posture,
lessens very much the swellings, it would be advisable
for the woman to indulge in it, and remain as quiet as
possible, and lose a little  blood from the arm  occa-
sionally.  Attention to these things, with a little cool-
ing medicine, such as Epsom salts, or a little cream of
tartar, will nearly always allay these swellings of the
legs.
                    CRAMP.
  Cramp generally comes on about the fourth month
after pregnancy, and is often very troublesome at night.
while the woman is in bed.   Its attacks are generally
in the legs and thighs, but sometimes in the bottom of
the belly and hips.  Those women who have never
before  been subject to cramp, are very  apt to  have
attacks of it during the last stages of pregnancy.

                   REMEDIES.
  When the cramp is frequent and severe, the loss of
a little blood would be proper.   Cramp sometimes
  2t2                   63 
498                  CRAMP.
arises from  costiveness or constipation of the bowels;
when this is the case, you may give a glyster, or a "cool-
ing purge, such as Epsom salts.  Standing a few minutes
on a cold hearth with the feet bare, is a simple remedy,
and will alw7ays give relief.  I have known a small
garter or belt, in  which was confined some pounded
brimstone or flour of sulphur, to relieve several ladies
who were much subject to cramp.
  CONSTANT DESIRE TO MAKE WATER.
  The constant desire to make water, or pass off the
urine, is occasioned by the weight of the womb con-
stantly pressing on  the neck  of the bladder.  When-
ever this desire becomes troublesome, rest as quietly on
your bed as possible, taking at the same time a cooling
purge.  If convenient, and whether so or not. the use
of the warm or tepid bath will be very beneficial; by
which I mean that  the whole body is to be placed in
water about milk-warm ; if this be impracticable, for
want of a vessel large enough, you may sit once  a day
in a tub of water in this warmth.   The fact  is, that by
bathing occasionally in water milk-warm, during any
stage of pregnancy, considerable benefit will  always be
derived.
           STOPPAGE OF URINE.
  This is called suppression of urine by physicians,
and means when the urine is stopped from flowing
from the bladder, at those periods when nature requires 
                STOPPAGE OF URINE.            499

 the evacuation.   When this stoppage takes  place, the
 bladder becomes distended or swelled with the water,
 and is also severely painful. Relief must now imme-
 diately be had, by applying to  the belly cloths wrung
 out of w7arm water, and taking a glyster of warm milk
 and water: see the head Glystering.  Glystering is ex-
 tremely  beneficial in  this and all similar cases, and
 women should early be taught to know, not only that
 there is no indelicacy in the operation, but that in all
 warm climates it is absolutely essential to most women
 in a state of pregnancy.  All the lying-in hospitals in
 Europe are amply furnished with the apparatus for
 glystering: but in America, where there is certainly as
 much general intelligence as in any part of the world,
it seems that you might as well desire a lady to swallow
an elephant as to take a glyster instead of a purgative
medicine.  This is all false modesty;  the women of
all countries ought to know that the more simply their
diseases are treated, and the more according to nature,
the better will  their  health and  safety be insured.
After  the remedies  just mentioned  have been  used
without affording relief, you are  to send for a physi-
cian, who will draw7 off the water with a catheter: for
a description of which, and the mode of using it, look
under the head Catheter.
               WANT OF  SLEEP.
  On or about the last stage of pregnancy, most wo-
men become restless and uneasy, and their sleep very
much  disturbed.   They  are also  troubled  with  a
choking sensation, and a  difficulty  of getting their
breath.  This last affliction is sometimes so great that 
500             WANT  OF SLEEP.
they are obliged to get out of bed, and to throw up a
window for fresh air, which generally relieves them.
  If the  woman who is  subject to these unpleasant
feelings be of a robust and full habit of body, the loss
of a little blood  from the arm will be proper; in addi-
tion to which some mildly laxative medicines ought to
be taken  to open  the bowels.   If the woman is of a
delicate constitution, and  much debilitated or weak-
ened, bathe her  feet and legs in strong salt and water,
made pleasantly warm, before she retires to bed;  and
give her fifteen  or tw7enty  drops of laudanum; or if
laudanum cannot be had, give her a  glass of toddy,
made with any kind of spirits.
        PILES DURING PREGNANCY.
  This is an uneasy and troublesome complaint, which
frequently attends on pregnancy, and generally afflicts
fat, stout women.  The  fact is, however, that  most
women are subject to piles,  after the fifth or  sixth
month.  In addition to the remedies I shall mention
here, refer to page 394, where you will find a full de-
scription given of piles.
  Women who have never before been troubled  with
this disorder, are apt to be afflicted with it, as I have
just mentioned, during the last months of pregnancy.
It is almost invariably produced from  costiveness or
constipation of  the bowels.   The common oak-ball,
pounded fine, and stewed down in butter without salt,
is an excellent remedy. The parts are  occasionally to
be rubbed with this ointment; whilst at the same  time
you are to take a gentle purge.   You may also occa-
sionally bathe the parts in cold water: or you may put 
PILES DURING PREGNANCY.
501
a tea-spoonful of sugar of lead into a pint of  cold
spring water, and frequently bathe the parts with it
during the day.  As much rest as possible is to be
taken; in other words, walk or ride about as little as
possible.
                 FALSE  PAINS.
  These pains resemble  the pains of labour  very
much, and are frequently the cause of alarm, and much
inconvenience to all concerned. False pains are always
produced from some deranged state of the  system ;  or
from the improper conduct of the woman herself, by
excessive, and sometimes slight fatigue.  Anxiety of
mind; sudden exposure to cold or heat; want of atten-
tion to the bowels; indigestion or eating such articles
of food as produce wind in the bowels, will frequently
produce  these pains.   Dysentery, accompanied  with
severe griping, will also produce these pains.
  When these pains occur frequently it will be pro-
per to employ an  experienced physician, because  their
too frequent presence may  produce miscarriage, or, in
other language, the loss of the child.   On  discovering
the pains to be false, which  must be ascertained by the
physician or midwife, either of which should be well
acquainted with the mode of conducting an examina-
tion, they are to be removed  as speedily and easily as
possible.   If there is  much pressure on  the mouth of
the womb from above, and  if it is perceived to dilate
or open during  the continuance of the pains, they are
not false, and the woman may be considered in labour;
but if neither pressure nor  dilation or opening can be
felt, the pains are false, and are to be removed. 
502
FALSE  PAINS.
  When these  false  pains are caused by fatigue, the
patient should  be  kept  as quiet as possible, and take
the necessary rest to remove the fatigue.  If she be of
a feverish disposition, she must lose a little blood; and,
generally it will be proper to give a gentle  dose  of
laxative medicine, or some mild and opening glysters.
                   FLOODING.
   Flooding is a disease incidental to pregnancy, often
of a dangerous and fatal character, in which there is a
loss of blood from the womb.  It is, fortunately, of not
very frequent occurrence; but wtien it does come on,
you are to lose no time in obtaining a skilful and expe-
rienced physician.  It is a case in which merely com-
mon skill and experience wift  seldom answer, because
it is frequently attended with abortion, and often with
the loss  of life.  Flooding is usually produced by a
sudden fall, by over exertion, by fright and alarm, and
not unfrequently by the gloomy  and depressing pas-
sions of the mind. It is also produced by weakness of
the womb, originating miscarriages,  or  other injuries
derived from  severe labour or child-birth.   It also
sometimes arises  from the after-birth separating from
the womb, and the large blood-vessels entering into it,
discharging their contents through the  mouth of the
womb.   This  complaint is  very  alarming to persons
well acquainted  with its real  dangers, because death
frequently  comes on suddenly, and with very little
warning of its approach.
  No discharges of  blood ever take place from the
womb  in a  natural and sound state of pregnancy; the
idea of regular discharges in pregnancy  is  entirely er- 
FLOODING.
503
roneous and perfectly farcical; and whenever they do
take place, they always prove to the man of skill and
judgment  that there is something wrong.   They al-
ways either proceed from the passage to the womb, or
from the womb itself.  When they merely come from
the passage to the womb, they are seldom, if ever, at-
tended with danger; but when they proceed from the
womb  itself,  there  is  considerable  danger  that disa-
greeable consequences may be the result.  When but
a little blood  comes  aw7ay, from much walking or
riding, or from standing in an  upright posture, and
there is only a trifling pain in the lower part of the
belly, attended with no symptoms of fever, and  no in-
creased or inflammatory action of  the blood-vessels,
the blood may always be presumed to come from the
passage to the womb.  This can  always be  removed,
and that very easily, by lying a short time in a recum-
bent or horizontal position; and afterwards avoiding
much  walking and riding, and long-continued  stand-
ing in an upright posture.  But, mind me particularly,
when the  discharge of  blood is  preceded or accom-
panied with flushings of the face, considerable heat in
the palms of the hands, and great thirst; or when there
are great  pains in the lower part of the abdomen or
belly, in the loins, or in the back, it is evident that the
discharge  of blood  is  from the womb itself, and also
that there is much danger.

                   REMEDIES.
  The first step to be taken, when the flooding pro-
ceeds from the womb itself, and may therefore be con-
sidered dangerous, is to place the woman in bed, and
to keep her as cool  as possible, by removing the bed
clothes, and admitting the cool and fresh air;  and as 
504
FLOODING.
you value the life of your patient, give her nothing to
eat or drink of an inflammatory or heating nature ; in
other words, nothing that will  increase the action of
the blood-vessels.  I have told you before, that in this
case, which is  a dangerous one, a skilful physician
must be obtained if possible.  The Woman should be
immediately bled from the arm, freely, copiously, and
rapidly, so as to produce fainting, because this is the
moment, if ever, when those clots of blood are formed
and congealed which put a stop to the great discharge
from the blood-vessels. Apply at the same time to the
belly cloths wet  with the coldest water, or even ice
wrapped in very thin cloths, if it can possibly be pro-
cured.   If the  blood  should  still continue to flow in
any considerable  quantity, a soft piece of cloth  ought
to be introduced up the birth-place, also wet with cold
water.   These cold applications, how7ever, ought not to
be continued so long as to  produce a chill; but while
they are continued they ought to be occasionally and
often renewed.   A glyster of cold water, occasionally
thrown up the  fundament, will also be very effective
in stopping this flooding.
   If the above remedies should  fail, which  is some-
times the case,  you are to give the patient two grains
of sugar of lead every hour, for five, six, or seven hours.
This is a powerful remedy, and  most generally an
effective one.   You may also  put twenty or twenty-
five  grains of sugar of lead in a quart of  water, and
w7hen it is dissolved you  may  throw about one-fourth
of it up the bowels, and with the residue occasionally
wash the  birth-place; these  measures will greatly
assist the cure,  and, if necessary, they may be repeated
two or three times.   The last  remedies mentioned are
generally attended with  relief;  but  there is always 
FLOODING
5Cto
considerable  danger of the return of the flooding;
therefore it is very immaterial how well the patient may
feel after relief, she must continue in bed three or four
weeks, and be kept cool and quiet, and always ready
for the application of cold wet cloths to the belly, and
also  up the  birth-place; her situation  will  still  be
dangerous for that  length of time, and  without this
cautious  and circumspect conduct, she  may still  be
lost without three hours' warning of her fate.  If, how-
ever, all these remedies should fail to stop the flooding,
and to prevent its  reaching the stage in  which the
woman must inevitably perish, an abortion must  be
resorted to, as the only possible means of saving her
life.
                   ABORTION,
AND THE MEANS TO BE  OBSERVED IN PREVENTING
                OR PROCURING IT.

  I intend by abortion the expulsion of the foetus or
child at such an early period of pregnancy, that the
child is either dead when it is brought forth, or dies
soon afterwards.  Whilst speaking of flooding, many
of the symptoms and circumstances attending miscar-
riage  or  abortion are  named;  but there are several
others which precede and cause abortion, which must
be particularly mentioned.  They are the following,
and are  always to be guarded against or removed by
pregnant women, if they wish to preserve their bur-
dens  until the  expiration  of  the period fixed  by
nature.   Severe  and oppressive exercise; violent and
sudden  exertions of strength;  sudden  and agitating
  2U                 64 
506
ABORTION
frio-hts- fits  of excessive and violent passions; excess
of venery, by which I mean too frequent sexual com-
munication with the male; a morbid or diseased state
of the womb; external  injuries of all  descriptions
which affect the generative organs; and general and
excessive debility or weakness of the whole system. I
say nothing of those  means of procuring abortions
which are sometimes  used by pregnant women, with
the intention of relieving  themselves of their charge ;
these are matters to be referred to the lofty and unerring
tribunal  of God himself;  they are accounts between
such women and their Maker.
  Generally speaking, before abortion comes on there
will be felt*some slight pains about  the lower part of
the belly, and  also  in  and  about the loins; there will
be a looseness and flabbiness about the breasts, and some
general sensations of shuddering and coldness; and in
women of full, strong, and muscular habits of  body,
there will nearly always be some considerable degree
of fever.  Next to these symptoms, slight discharges
of blood will take  place from the womb; and these
discharges will continue to increase, perhaps occasion-
ally stopping a short  time, until they amount to ab-
solute flooding,  which  I  have  already  particularly
described.   When these discharges  return, after they
have become copious and debilitating, they are always
attended with a sense of dead weight, and a heavy bear-
ing down about the womb, great sickness of  the  sto-
mach, and sometimes frequent  faintings.  These are
self-evident  indications of immediate miscarriage or
abortion, which soon takes place, and is always follow-
ed by profuse bleeding, which, however, soon subsides.
Ai'ter the expulsion of the contents  of the womb, and
the bleeding has gone off, there  is a serous or watery 
ABORTION.
507
 discharge mixed with a little blood; but this is a mat-
 ter of no consequence.
    This  is an abortion, according  to the dictates and
 operations of nature herself.   It may sometimes, how-
 ever, be avoided, by observing the  following  simple
 treatment: on the occurrence of the first symptoms
 of abortion, the  woman must be  placed in bed, and
 kept cool and quiet until the matter be decided.  If
 she is of a full and strong habit of body, she must be
 bled.  Every thing of a heating, irritating, and stimu-
 lating nature, either as food or drink, must be entirely
 avoided.  Nothing but cold water or very weak tea is
 to be drank by the patient.  The bowels may be open-
 ed if costive, and kept open  by merely jnjecting  up
 them some milk-warm water.  The irritation of the
 womb is to be lessened immediately, and as much as
 possible;  to effect the lessening or reduction of this
 irritation, the woman ought to be placed in a tub of
 warm water, and when taken  out, to have large quan-
 tities of sweet oil rubbed  about her back, loins, belly,
 and breasts.   If these means fail  in preventing the
 abortion, nature will  effectuate the expulsion of the
 child in the manner I have just described.  She may,
 however, be assisted in her exertions by the following
 means: The woman is to be  kept quiet, and treated
 as  in common labour; after which, cloths  wet with
 cold water must  be applied to the belly, to aid in the
 contraction  of the womb, after the  expulsion  of its
 contents.
   When abortion is to be brought on, in order to stop
 profuse and dangerous flooding, it is to be done in the
 following simple and easy manner.   I will here adopt
 the language of Doctor Bard, with  some observations.
Ai The woman is to be brought down to the edge of the 
508                ABORTION.
bed, either lying on her side, with a pillow or two be-
tween her thighs, which are to be drawn up;  or lying
on her back, with  her hips a little raised, and her feet
on the lap of an  assistant on each side.  The operator
must sit on a low seat immediately before her, whilst a
double sheet thrown over her body and that of the phy-
sician or midwife, must protect her from cold, and form
a decent covering.  The hand  of the  operator, well
rubbed with good oil or hogs' lard, with the fingers col-
lected into a  point, must then be slowly introduced
through the birth-place to the  mouth  of the womb,
which will sometimes make considerable resistance
against attempts to open it.  This resistance must be
overcome by cautious, gentle, and patient efforts. When
the mouth of the womb begins to dilate or widen with
the efforts of the operator, one of the fingers must be
introduced into it, then another, and so on, until by
patient and gentle attempts it admits the hand.  The
efforts to  dilate  and widen the  mouth  of the womb
(and you must remember this particularly) are always
to be suspended  or stopped whenever the  pains come
on, and whilst they are on.   In other words, when-
ever the pains cease, you are to proceed in your efforts
to widen  gently the mouth  of  the womb.   When
the hand passes  into the womb, it  is  to be opened
and laid flat;  this will prevent  a contraction  on  the
knuckles, which might rupture the neck of the  womb,
and do much injury.  The mouth of the womb be-
ing sufficiently widened, if  the hand  can then be
easily passed over the part of the contents, called by
physicians the placenta, or  after-birth, which  is se-
parated from  the womb, until the fingers  reach  the
membranes, this is to be done; and breaking the mem-
branes, it is to  be immediately passed into the womb. 
ABORTION.
509
But  if you cannot readily pass the separated portion
of the placenta, and the flooding be great, you are to
pass  through it, which is less dangerous than to sepa-
rate a larger portion, by pressing the hand between it
and  the womb.  The hand  being now in the womb,
the neck will generally cling so close to the wrist as to
prevent the escape of much water, and you  will find
room to act with freedom.  Here you are to deliberate,
and  to refresh the  woman with some proper drink.
You  ought now to get at the feet of the child, by all
practicable and gentle means. "You  are to  recollect,
that the most natural presentation is the most common;
and in that case, the child's head is at the brim of the
pelvis or basin, with the face and belly to the back of
the mother, the knees bent to its breasts, and the feet
towards the upper part of the womb.   As, therefore,
the child must ultimately be turned, this  is the best
time to push  the head and shoulders up towards the
fundus, and to turn the  face  of the child to  the back
of the mother, which is mo^t easily done  within the
membranes; by this movement the feet of the child
will  be brought within reach of the hand, and having
secured them, they may easily be brought, by a waving
motion, into the vagina or birth-place.   You are always
to remember that you are to pause whenever a pain
comes on.  Next, you are to bring down the hips and
body of the child ; and take care, if it be necessary, to
turn the child gently, so that when it  is delivered to
the arm-pits, the belly of the child shall be to the back
of the mother, which  is the position in which the arms
and  head can be most easily delivered.  Now, or  be-
fore this time, examine the navel string, and  occasion-
ally  pull it down a  little, so as to prevent its being
stretched.  If the pulsation has ceased in the cord, or
      2 ti 2 
510
ABORTION.
if the  woman floods  freely,  either the child or  the
mother may be lost by delay ; and you are to finish the
delivery as soon as you prudently can, in doing which
you  are  to  remember,  that  gentleness,  caution, and
dexterity  are  always to  be used  in  preference  to
force."
  There are few conditions more truly  dangerous and
alarming than flooding to any excess, towards the ex-
piration of the natural term of pregnancy; and I there-
fore strongly and emphatically advise, that in all. such
cases, where an experienced and skilful physician can
possibly be had, he be immediately sent for, and espe-
cially wnere a forced abortion is  essential to the pre-
servation of the life of the woman.  Such cases always
require skill, judgment, promptness of conduct, and
decision of resolution;  he must therefore be a man who
can decide coolly, and act with firmness and caution.
After the delivery or rather the abortion has been pro-
duced, the womb  may be assisted in its contraction,
and the flooding retarded and stopped, by the means I
have already noticed so plainly; in addition to which,
the rest of the woman will  be promoted, and her re-
covery much hastened, by small or w7eak anodynes, in
some cordial julep, such as spirituous cinnamon water,
or a little good w7eak toddy with nutmeg.  These are
the remedies*first  called  for, and  they are to  be suc-
ceeded by small  portions of nourishing diet, repeated
with cautjon whenever called for, and by strengthen-
ing articles, such as tonics in which Peruvian bark has
been infused, and port wine in which cinnamon bark
has been infused. 
LABOUR.
511
                   LABOUR.
  The commencement of labour means the time the
woman  begins to be delivered of her child.  She is
always warned of the approach of her time by pains
which are called labour pains.  They are produced by
contraction or drawing up of the w7omb, which at the
commencement expels or forces out a slimy matter, ge-
nerally coloured with blood, which is called the shew.
As soon as this matter is discharged, the mouth of the
womb at each pain begins to open and widen itself, so
as to permit the contents of the womb to pass.  You
will recollect that I have before informed you what
the womb in pregnancy contains.   These pains in-
crease gradually, the belly diminishes in size, and the
womb seems to sink, or approach nearer to the birth-
place.   The pains  are at first quite  short,  and  only
come on after considerable intervals; the woman is
now restless, first hot and then cold, and not unfre-
quently sick at the stomach.  She is also often griped,
and frequently belches wind, or passes it off backward,
which should never be restrained from false delicacy.
These pains now fly quickly to the back,  and  then
again to the bottom of the  belly.  The wxnnan has
now a great desire to urinate,or make water frequently,
and to go  to stool.  These inclinations are  always to
be attended to, because emptying  the bladder, and
evacuating the bow els frequently before actual child-
birth conies on, are highly important and ought never
to be neglected.  The pains having  been, sharp and
some time between  them, she then begins to be uneasy
and fretful, and requests something to be given to her,
to bring on the pains more rapidly.
  This is the precise point of time in which so many 
512
LABOUR.
injuries are done, by ignorance and officiousness, in at-
tempting to force nature into premature exertions, who,
if left alone a little while, would in almost all cases per-
form her  office, according to the dictates  of  divine
wisdom, and with safety both to the mother and child;
for you may be assured that what  you so much dread
is intended for your eventual benefit, by permitting the
womb gradually to distend or open, with perfect safety
to the parts, and in order that you may be blessed with
an easy birth,  and a  living and uninjured  offspring.
You will always know the pains I now speak of, by an
irresistible desire to catch hold of every thing within
your reach, such as the  bedstead, a chair, and  so on.
These pains, as I have already told you, arise from the
constant efforts of nature  to open the mouth  of the
womb, and they must and will continue,  until she
accomplishes her end.
  When this is the case, and the mouth of the womb
is sufficiently widened, nature will immediately com-
mence her efficient and powerful operations, to press
down the infant so as  to empty the womb.   You will
immediately know this  change, by a pressing down
pain, if I may be allowed  the  expression, which gra-
dually increases to a strong sensation of bearing  down.
Although these forcing pains are powerful and strong,
yet the woman will bear  them with more apparent
ease  and fortitude than those which were felt in the first
stage of labour.  At this time the membranous bag
which contains the child  and the waters which sur-
round  it, and which I  have before  described to you, is
pushed out of the  womb  by  degrees at every pain.
The  distance which this bag extends out varies in size
in different women ; sometimes it is  very small, and
sometimes of considerably  large dimensions.  It con- 
LABOUR.                  513
tinues gradually to force open, and to widen the mouth
of the  womb, until*it  opens  the parts sufficiently to
permit the head of the child  to pass.  You will  now
perceive, that by these  gradual exertions of nature to
arrange and prepare all things properly, those delicate
parts, which by sudden and powerful exertions would
have been seriously injured,  are  now sufficiently en-
larged to permit the birth of your infant without in-
jury.  And you  will  also discover, by what I  have
disclosed to you, that if nature is hurried by an impru-
dent physician or midwife, by forcing the child away
before  the parts  are sufficiently  widened, great and
signal injuries  must be the consequences, both to the
mother and child.
  As soon as the parts are sufficiently prepared for the
birth of the child, this membranous bag bursts open,
and  the waters are discharged;  sometimes,  however,
these events take  place at an early stage of the labour.
When this is the case, the labour is never so easy as
under other circumstances. The quantity and quality
of this water differ in different women, as I have before
told  you.  When these  waters,  then, burst  forth in
proper time,  which I  have pointed out, the bearing
down pain continues,  and the child gradually enters
into  the world. As soon as the child's head passes, the
woman's relief is very great, and a little rest ought to
be allowed her; you are by no means to pull the  body
out by force, for  by so doing you will produce  great
injury to the soft  parts, and at the same time render it
very difficult to deliver the woman of the after-birth.
  I must here remark emphatically that this is another
stage of labour, at which thousands of women are in-
jured materially and fatally, by the hurry and officious-
ness  of midwives in hastily forcing the birth.   Give
                        65 
514
LABOUR.
time, and I will insure  that nature will exercise suffi-
cient power to expel the child in her own time.  The
body of the child is not to be pulled and forced out-
ward :  let it alone, converse with the sufferer, and
cheer her spirits, and tell her that from the  time  the
Child's  head makes its appearance, she is not to force
and bear down.   Tell  her  that  by so doing she will
force the child forward, before  the parts are  ready;
and that the consequence may be  the tearing or rup-
turing the perineum.   This is the part between  the
fundament and the birth-place.  Tell her that such an
injury would leave her in  a wretched  condition for
life, and must be avoided by all means.   It is the duty
of the midwife or physician, as the child's head passes,
to keep one hand pressed firmly yet cautiously against
the perineum, which must, of course, from distension
or stretching, be very thin and easily torn ; and at the
same time gently press  so as to incline the head of the
child upward toward the pubes.
  When the woman has rested, and the pains again
come on, the hand must again be pressed against  the
perineum with steadiness and care, until the shoulders
and  hips of the child  pass,  at the same time  gently
supporting the child, and delivery is over so far.
  The child being  now born, you are to permit it to
lie still a few minutes, without being molested.   Give
it fresh air and time to breathe, and the pulsation in the
navel-cord will begin to diminish.  The pulsation, by
all means, should  be suffered to subside, before you
separate the child from the mother.  You will, then,
with a waxed thread, or a small  string, make a mode-
rately firm tie about the navel-cord, about three inches
from)the navel of the  child; then make another tie,
about three inches further from the child, on the navel- 
LABOUR.
515
 cord, and cut the cord asunder between the two ties,
 with a scissors or sharp knife.
   You are now to hold steadily, but by no means, as
 you  value the life of the mother, to pull the navel-cord
 which has been tied and cut off; because  this cord is
 attached  to the after-birth;  which is still in the  body
 of the mother, and is yet to be delivered.  Permit me
 to caution you, to implore you, to command you not
 to pull aw7ay, by  force, the after-birth ; for I do now
 know some of the finest women in the United States
 who are  suffering daily and hourly, and will continue
 to suffer during their lives, from officiously and  impru-
 dently forcing away from them the after-birth, which
 nature herself would have effected, without  risk or
 pain, had she been left to her own exertions.  By pull-
 ing away the after-birth before the proper time, and
 before  nature expels it by what are called after-pains,
 the consequences  will and  must always be, flooding,
 and great loss of blood; because you force  the separa-
 tion,  before you give  time  for the contraction of the
 blood-vessels; in other words, before the mouths of
 the blood-vessels have hacrHime to close.  In fact, the
 exercise of common sense cannot  fail  to  teach you,
 that where the after-birth is yet connected with, and
 strongly adheres to the womb, force will always tear
 the wonlb from its connexions, and be productive of
 unspeakable  injuries.  From this plain statement of
 facts,  and  the reasoning I have  employed, I am con-
 vinced you will exercise due  caution in a  matter of
 such vast  importance to the future  health and  safety
 of the motlfer.
  According to the old usage and practice, the child
would be immediately washed in warm water, and not
unfrequently in spirits.  Either of these plans of treat- 
516
LABOUR.
 ing the infant, in fact both of them are highly impro-
 per, and have been the causes of destroying thousands
 of children.  Warm  w7ater or spirits ought never to be
 used in this manner, unless the infant be born appa-
 rently dead; in such a case, warm water merely  is
 proper to be applied.   For a further explanation of this
 important matter, look under the head " Treatment of
 new-born infants."
  The woman having rested for a short time after her
 separation  from the  child, in  the  manner I have de-
 scribed to you, the after-pains may be expected to come
 on, for the expulsion of the after-birth.  These pains
 are produced by the  contraction or drawing up of the
 womb, to deliver or expel this  after-birth ; they gene-
 rally come on in the lapse of from  fifteen  minutes to
 an hour after the child has been brought forth.  You
 are now to remember that none but gentle and simple
 measures are to be used in order to  produce the expul-
 sion or delivery of the after-birth.   You are to rub the
 belly of the  woman, and  gently  extend or pull  the
 cord, at the same time that she blows with some force
 into the palms of her own*-*hands ;  the policy of this
 blowing is obvious; it will cause a  gentle and natural
 bearing  down,  without the straining which  would
 arise from holding and forcing the breath.  If the wo-
 man be healthy and  strong, if she  has lost no blood,
 and if she feels able, let her stand up, and support her-
 self on the shoulders of the operator or physician, while
 he is endeavouring by the means just pointed out to
 relieve her of the after-birth.   I have, however, often
succeeded in delivering the-after-birth when the womb
 would  not  contract,  and when  the woman was in a
lying posture, by introducing the finger  up the birth-
place, and gently turning it around in the mouth of 
LABOUR.
517
the womb; in this case, the sensation felt in the mouth
of the womb, will generally cause it to contract and
expel the contents.
  If all these means fail, and an hour passes without
the expulsion of the after-birth, you are to introduce
your hand with great caution, the parts being very sore,
and open your  fingers inside  and round the edge of
the womb; at the same time that you feel cautiously,
and slowly separate, between the edges of the  after-
birth and the womb, any parts which may adhere as
the womb gradually closes.  When the after-birth is
expelled or brought away, and any great discharge of
blood takes place, apply to the belly some cloths wet
with  cold w7ater, and put one up the  birth-place, as
directed in flooding.  The woman is then to be wiped
or very  gently rubbed dry, and suffered to rest quietly
for several hours.
            DIFFICULT* LABOUR.
  Most cases of tedious labour arise among women
with their first child, with women who have married
late in life, and with those who are so healthy, robust,
and corpulent, that the parts seem to relax so slowly as
hardly to permit the birth of the child.   The loss of
some blood from the arm will be proper; and I have
frequently, after bleeding, put them in warm water; in
doing this, however, you must be careful as to the child.
I have known instances, in which women  have had
their children in the close-stool or pot, while in the act   ,
of endeavouring to urinate or have a stool.  The warm
bath and bleeding will relax the system sufficiently in
      2X 
518            DIFFICULT LABOUR.

all probability for the child to be born ;  but take  care
that the child is not injured by the water, while the
woman is in the bath.
  When convulsions or fits take  place during labour,
and the woman has before complained of great pain in
the head, and dimness with  loss of  sight, remember
that you are to  bleed freely, and to open  the bowels
with glysters, or some gentle laxative  medicine.   The
most powerful means, and the best known, for  reliev-
ing tedious or difficult labour, is bloodletting from the
arm;  and it should always be done if  the woman is
strong, healthy, and of a vigorous constitution.
                    TWINS.
  What I have already said on the subject of labours
relates to cases in which nature presents the mother
with but one offspring at a birth. You are well awTare,
however, that  she sometimes presents a parent with
two children;  and in  the western country, if rumour
speak the truth, she in more than one instance has not
even stopped at this number.  In about ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred, the directions I have given you,
which relate to the  birth of one child, will be found
sufficiently amp^e and particular; but I must not omit
to instruct you also as  to cases of child-birth in which
more than one child is to be born.
  It is not easy to ascertain that there are twins, or more
than twins to be born, until after the birth of the first
child ; and if there are three to be born, not until  after
the birth of the second.   Where twins are to be pro-
duced, the membranes of both children may be felt at
the birth-place, sometimes before the  delivery of one 
TWINS.                   519
of them, but not often;  and sometimes, but very sel-
dom, it may be distinguished on examination, that dif-
ferent  parts  of both children  present themselves.
Twins  are always  considerably smaller than  single
children, which generally causes their birth to be more
easy and rapid; in fact, the rapidity of a first birth ge-
nerally produces the first  suspicion that there are
twins.   Generally  speaking,  immediately after the
birth of the first  child, another may be felt  by very
accurate pressure on the belly  of the mother.  But if
the womb be very capacious or large, rather than sub-
ject yourself to great uncertainty, the hand may  be
very cautiously and gently  introduced, and the  child
distinguished by the touch.  Where there are twins,
the second child is brought forth within about an hour
of the first, and in a position directly contrary to the
first; so that when the first is presented with the head
foremost, the second may always be expected with the
breech or feet foremost.
  " The first child being delivered," says Doctor-----,
"as prescribed in  single  cases, some  time must  be
allowed to recruit the woman's strength, and to afford
nature time for bringing on the next delivery.  There
are cases in which it would be necessary to wait even
three or four hours.  1st. When artificial aid was used
in the  first case.  2d. When the child presents unna-
turally.  3d. When fits  of flooding come on.
  "When both children  present  naturally,  and the
labour of the first ends without aid, and without much
fatigue to the patient, I  wait for the secondary pains;
but should these not come on in a reasonable time, say
four hours, I introduce my hand cautiously, and rup-
ture the membranes;  when,  commonly, the second
child passes readily through the pelvis or basin.  If the 
520
TWINS.
first labour has been natural, and the second child pre-
sents in a wrong direction, I have generally, without
delay, extracted it by the feet.  If the first labour has
been unnatural, with but little delay, the membranes
are to be ruptured; and, whether the child should be
brought down immediately, and delivered  by the feet
or not, the operating physician or midwife must de-
cide.   The rules  applicable to  twins  will equally
apply to cases where there are three or more children."
  Where a woman has brought forth  twins, or more,
great care and attention are  necessary  to prevent her
from fainting.   She should, therefore, not have her
head raised or elevated; and even  in  moving should
have herself rolled over in a bed.  A  broad bandage
round the belly should never be omitted  in the case of
twins, to support the belly of the mother.  The direc-
tions I have already  laid dow7n, respecting the after-
birth of single children, are  fully and entirely appli-
cable in  the cases  of twins, and more children even
than two.
        DIRECTIONS FOR MIDWIVES.
  The  following remarks are especially intended for
the serious  consideration  and benefit  of  midwives;
and indeed of all such as are in the practice of officiat-
ing in the delivery of pregnant women.   Regularly
bred and licensed physicians  are alwrays presumed to
know their duties, and to perform them with skill and
judgment, in this  highly responsible department of
their profession.  The practice of  midwifery by those
who are not regularly taught the  medical  profession,
and who are presumed to know little or nothing about 
            DIRECTIONS FOR MIDWIVES.        521

the organization of the human system, implies the as-
sumption of a most awful and dangerous responsibility;
especially when it is considered  that the fatal conse-
quences of ignorance and presumption, if combined
with total disregard of moral feelings, duties, and prin-
ciples, are nearly as chargeable with criminality, as if
they proceeded from voluntary and intentional viola-
tions of the laws of God !   There is very little differ-
ence, in other words, between the  disregard  of those
duties which are enjoined  by the laws of justice and
humanity, and  their palpable and unconditional viola-
tion.
  The directions  which I shall lay down for your
considerate adoption will be plain, simple, and natural;
they will be obscured by  no technical language, and
rendered unintelligible to  you by none of the myste-
ries of the medical profession; and if you scrupulously
attend to them, they will enable you to  be successful
in ninety-nine cases of midwifery out of  a hundred in
which you  may  be engaged.  If you wish to be es-
teemed great and skilful  in your calling, and if you
desire to be an instrument  in the  hands of divine Pro-
vidence, for  affording consolation and relief  to your
sex in the hour of affliction, treasure  up the salutary
advice, and never lose sight of it, that you are never
to force nature ; that you are to  give her time to per-
form her operations;  and, if you  have any doubt as to
the success of the  delivery, you  are to run no risks.
but to call  in the aid of a skilful and experienced phy-
sician.  By attending to this  course of conduct, you
will relieve yourself of dangerous responsibilities, dis-
charge your duties  to a fellow creature, and appear iu
the presence of your Creator with the consciousness
   2x2                 66 
522        DIRECTIONS FOR  MIDWIVLs.

of having acted in obedience to the  most solemn in-
junctions of humanity.
  1st. Immediately on your being called to deliver a
woman, your first inquiry of her should be  as to the
state of  her bowels, whether she has had a stool, and
whether she is bound or  constipated in her bow els.   I
need not tell you that the discharge of the bowels, and
also the  urine or water from the bladder are both im-
portant and even necessary; first, in  preventing  inju-
ries to the  parts, as  the  child enters  the world; and,
second, to render the  labour and birth more easy and
safe.  You will of  course, therefore, strictly attend to
these evacuations in proper time.
  2d. You are now to ascertain and determine whether
actual labour has taken place or not;  and the only cer-
tain and satisfactory signs of actual labour are such as
I have before minutely described to you.  The mouth
of the womb is to be felt  by introducing the finger
with much tenderness up the birth-place;  and if you
feel that it dilates or opens during the time that a pain
takes place, the woman  is in actual labour.
  3d. When examining, conduct the operation  with
caution  and tenderness; and at the  same time take
care to  have your  nails closely and  smoothly pared,
because  your finger  will feel the membranous bladder
or bag containing  the waters.  If the  labour  be not
much advanced, you will only feel the mouth of the
womb and  its dilation or opening at every pain.
  4th. Place a pillow between the thighs of the wo-
man, so  as to give sufficient room for the child to pass,
and for its head to rest upon as it enters into the world,
and let the woman draw up her legs.
  5th. As  the  head of  the child advances, press your 
           DIRECTIONS  FOR MIDWIVES.        523

right hand steadily and firmly against the part between
the fundament and  birth-place,  called by physicians
perineum, so as to give it support, and prevent its rup-
turing or  tearing:  at the same time that you incline
the child's head to  ^he  pubes,  which are the parts
which form the arch in front.   If you will  recollect,
and if you do not read the part over again, I have fully
described and enforced the necessity of your being ex-
tremely careful to prevent injuries to the perineum;
for by its  being ruptured or torn, which is sometimes
the case from incautiousness and imprudence, as well
as from hurrying  the birth, the  lower gut or funda-
ment, and the birth-place itself, become  one opening
from  the  tearing or the laceration of the perineum.
.On this point, then, let me again urge you  to be ex-
tremely careful.
   6th. If the child's head advances forward too rapid-
ly, resist or stop its  passage outward, for one or two
pains with your hand; by these means you will in-
crease the powers or energies of nature in the mother;
avoid all risks of injuring the perineum, and  give ulti-
mate facility or ease  in the delivery.
   7th. So soon as the head is delivered, the woman
will have some respite from her sufferings. You must
then converse with her, and encourage  her  to be pa-
tient and  firm in  her resolutions.   Remember  now
that the head of the child is to be supported, and that
no force or pulling whatever is to. be used.  You are
to wrait patiently for the next exertions of nature, who
will  always perform her operations in due time ;  the
woman is  by no means to strain, bear down, or force
her pains.  As I told you before, and gave you  the
reasons, she may  blow strongly into the palms of
her hands, but exercise impulsion or force no further. 
524        DIRECTIONS  FOR MIDWIVES.

  8th. The child being born, you have now nothing
to do for a few minutes but to give it  fresh air and
permit it to cry.  After it has had  sufficient time to
breathe freely, and the navel cord has in some mea-
sure  ceased its  pulsation, the cord is to  be tied about
three inches from the navel oF the  child,  and then
again about an inch and a half from the first knot, and
cut asunder between the two ties, with a scissors  or
any other sharp instrument.  But I have told you this
before.          •
  9th. When the child is separated from the mother,
you  are not to wash  it according to the old custom;
this  is a wrong  and highly improper plan, and fre-
quently produces serious  injuries to the child, as you
will  be fully informed by reading  under  the head
"Treatment of New-born  Infants,"  which you  will
find among the diseases of children.
  10th. Now comes the period in  which so many
women are injured for life, by ignorance and impru-
dent haste.  Let the woman  rest a short  time, and
await patiently the return  of the pains which are  to
expel the after-birth,  which the womb will do by con-
traction.  Your own good sense will teach you, that if
you  pull or force down the after-birth, you will also
pull  down the womb,  or separate the after-birth be-
fore the womb has contracted, so as  to stop the blood-
vessels from pouring out their contents.  Now, if you
do pull after all the advice to the contrary I have given
you,  the  consequence will  be, that the w7oman will
bleed to death.  I have told you before how to excite
the w7omb to action,  so as to bring on the pains for
expelling the after-birth.   You, are  to rub her belly;
and if she is a strong  woman, and feels able, you may,
by assistants, raise her up by supporting her under the 
DIRECTION FOR MIDWIVES.         525
 arms.  She may then blow in her hands a long breath,
 for the reasons I have already given you.  As soon as
 an after-pain comes on, the midwife is gently to stretch
 the cord, but not to pull it or use any force.   By the
 motion of the cord, or^fe gentle extension, the after-
 birth  is very apt to conre away.  If you do not think
 proper to  use these measures, you may turn  the wo-
 man over on her belly, and introduce your finger into
 the mouth of the  womb with  much care, the parts
 being extremely sore; then turning the finger gently
 round the mouth  of the womb  as you would round
 the edge of a cup, the womb will contract; now gently
 stretch the cord, and you will extricate the after-birth,
 generally speaking, with safety.   An hour, an hour
 and a half, or two  hours may be allowed for the ex-
 pulsion of the after-birth.
   When it cannot  be delivered, proper means are to
 be used for  its  expulsion, in other words, for  its  dis-
 charge.   These  means  are the  following: Let the
 midwife introduce into the birth-place  her hand, with
 the fingers collected into a point, and made as small as
 possible.  At the mouth or edge of the womb let her
 open  or extend  her fingers, and  rub them carefully
 round the edge.  These measures will cause the womb
 to contract; then, with the fingers  gently introduced
 between the after-birth and the womb itself, she must
 slowly separate them from each other, should they ad-
 here or stick together.  Recollect distinctly,  that all
 this is to be done while the contraction is going on.
   11th.  If the discharge of blood is great, after this
operation, apply cloths wet with cold water to the belly
of the woman, as in flooding; and push up the birth-
place gently, and not too far, a soft cloth also wet with
cold water, as directed in flooding. 
526         DIRECTION  FOR MIDWIVES,
    12th.  When the woman is relieved of the after-
  birth, let a wide bandage be placed round  her, plea-
-  santly tight,  and let her also be wiped dry.  The
  clothes which are  wet, and those which were placed
  under her. are now to be rented, and she permitted
  to remain perfectly quiet, am™ take her repose.  If
  she  complains of faintness,  or seems exhausted, give
  her some wine  and water, or a little toddy on which
  some nutmeg has been grated.
    I have now7 given  you a full description of what I
  intended, and I am persuaded, in such plain terms, that
  any woman of  common sense can afford the requisite
  assistance in common cases of labour.
       DIRECTIONS AFTER LABOUR.
  After labour, the more quiet the woman can be
kept, the better.  The fact is, that she is to move or
be moved as little as possible, and to lie principally on
her back.   Her nipples are to be washed with  milk-
warm water,  before the infant is put to  the breast,
which ought to be done within twelve hours after the
birth.  If the woman has lost considerable blood dur-
ing the labour, the milk will be longer in flowing than
otherwise.  When this  is the case, apply warm  bread
and milk poultices  over the nipples;  these will soon
cause the milk to discharge.
  You will frequently observe in women who  have
had children, that their bellies protrude or stick out, as
if they were  always in a state of pregnancy.    This
is owing to negtet and bad management.  To  avoid
it, on the second day after the child-birth, you are to 
DIRECTIONS AFTER  LABOUR.        527
apply round the whole belly, moderately tight, a broad
bandage of cloth or flannel^ the last is the best, which
is to be worn for at least^pe month.  It is not to be
too  tight, but  merely ufnt enough to support the
parts pleasantly.  Th^^ll prevent the woman, after
having recovered, fro^Biaving. a large and ill-shaped
belly.
  You are now to bear in mind, and that too particu-
larly, the advice I am about  to give you, especially if
you value your health, and  probably the preservation
of your life.   On the second day after  delivery you
are  to take a dose of castor oil or Epsom  salts.  More
than two-thirus of the women who have been afflicted
with and finally died  of child-bed fever, have owed
their fate to neglecting, after the birth of  their infants,
to attend to  the evacuation of their bowels. If you do
not  like to take salts or castor oil, evacuate the bowels
with glysters:  see the head Glystering.   The fact is,
you are not to let twenty-four hours pass, after the birth
of a child, without a  passage or  stool.  The conse-
quences of this neglect always are, that it is not only
an injury to yourself, but the child.  When you have
such passages as I have told you are necessary, you are
not to exert  yourself by getting out of bed, but to have
a basin or other handy convenience placed under you;
folding a blanket at the same time to prevent you from
getting wet.  In this way, without any danger  or in-
delicacy, have these passages, from which you will re-
ceive much  relief in body and mind, and derive much
benefit in your recovery.
  You are to have the  birth-place washed with milk-
warm water and good  clear milk every  day, without
fail.  This is to  be  done, by putting meter  the bed-
clothing a basin of warm water, and having your hips 
528        DIRECTIONS AFTER LABOUR.
and thighs raised w ith a pillow7 or some bed clothes.
In  this situation, a commm squirt made of elder or
cane may be used, or a fe*Be syringe, which can be
procured at any doctor's s™ in the country.   Every
day warm water is to be thrown up the birth-place, so
as to cleanse the parts;  an|V remove  any clots of
blood or matter, called by physicians the lochia, which
by remaining would produce irritation and fever.  If
you wish to escape child-bed fever, and the whole train
of afflictions incidental thereto, you are particularly to
attend to these directions.
  In two or three days after delivery, for a short time,
you may sit up in the bed, supported with a chair at
your back  covered with  pillows;  this will  assist the
natural discharges from the birth-place.  You are not
to stand up before the sixth day; and in  making any
change, you are to do it very gradually.  You are to
be kept neither too warm nor too cool; the air of the
room is to be kept pleasant and agreeable: and you
are never to be exposed to a current of air. Two weeks
after delivery is about  the common  time of leaving
your room ; this, however, will depend on your situa-
tion ; caution must always be used  in the  change, so as
to bring it on gradually.  Sudden changes are always
dangerous to women immediately after delivery, and
indeed until they are completely restored.
  From the moment the woman is delivered of her
child, the whole system becomes inclined to fever, and
particularly for three or four days after delivery.  Your
own good sense will now teach you that the practice
of giving in such cases spirituous liquors, highly sea-
soned food, heating meats, and  strengthening  medi-
cines, is directly contrary to w7hat ought to be  done:
giving such things as I have just named, keeping the 
           DIRECTIONS AFTER LABOUR.        529"

woman in a constant sweat, and closing the room so as
to confine all the foul air around her, are the very
means of bringing on the fever which you ought to
endeavour to escape.  Therefore let me tell you, in as
plain and emphatic  language as I can, that whatever
adds to the heat of the woman's body  will always en-
courage the coming on of fever, or increase it if it has
come  on.   On the contrary, light cooling diet must be
used;  the woman must neither be subjected to extremes
of heat  nor cold; her clothing and her bed-chamber
must  be so attended to, as neither to oppress her with
coldness nor heat; attention to these things, in ten days
or two  weeks after she has  had her child, will so
exempt her from fever, that in a little  time her health
will be fully established.
                    LOCHIA.
  This word is derived from the Greek.  It means to
bring forth, and also the cleanings: by which are in-
tended here the  serous or watery, and often  green-
coloured discharges, that take place from the  woml>
and birth-place during the first three or four days after
delivery, when they generally subside.  During  the
first four days, these discharges are apt to change their
colour, and frequently to become offensive, unless due
caution and cleanliness have been observed.
  If they are profuse or great, and there is considerable
weakness, cloths wet with cold water must be applied
to the belly.  There must also be cold water thrown
up the  birth-place, and also a glyster  of cold water
taken, at the same time that some laxative medicine is
taken  to open the  bowels:  as* these, however, are
      2 Y               67 
530
LOCHIA.
necessary  discharges, they are  not  to be suddenly
checked, unless they seem to be going on to a danger-
ous extent.
  On the  contrary, if they should stop too suddenly.
they must be immediately brought  on  again, by  a
course of treatment directly-^posite to that I have just
laid down.  Applications of a warm nature must be
made to the belly ; and glysters of milk-warm water,
instead of  cold ones, must be given : see the head Glys-
tering.  Should the woman be feverish, or of a fat and
full habit  of body, the loss of a little  blood  will be
proper.
                  FA1NTINGS.
  If the woman should faint after the delivery of her
child, ascertain immediately if there is  a  flooding.
Should this be the case, use the coldest applications, as
directed under the head Flooding.  On examination,
should there be no flooding, give her wine, or some
toddy, or spirits and wrater, and draw the bandage tight
for an hour or two, round her belly.  If her  feet and
legs are cold, apply hot bricks, or other warm materials
to them.
<r                    CHILLS.
   When the woman complains of cold after her deli-
 very, or that cold chills are stealing over her, which is
 sometimes the case,  make warm applications  to her
 belly, feet, and legs, and give her nothing but warm
 balm or sage tea to drink.  If the shake is very severe, 
CHILLS.                 531
let the persons round the bed grasp with both hands
her thighs and legs, and hold them firmly but tenderly
until the shivering subsides.  Recollect, now, that you
are to give no heating spirits at this time, or you  will
certainly produce a fever.  Should the chills continue,
you are to have recourse to laudanum or opium : see
table of doses.  These last articles are not, however,
to be given, unless the  chills continue, or are very
severe.
                AFTER PAINS.
  These pains are brought on by the contraction of
the womb, in the  exertion of expelling the clots of
blood and secretions which are contained in the w7omb
after the birth.  When not very severe, you are to let
them alone;  but if too excruciating and severe, you
will generally relieve them, by applying cloths wrung
out of warm water to the back and belly.  If the pains
continue to be  severe, throw a glyster up the bowels
or fundament,  made of thin gruel, milk-warm, in
which put a tea-spoonful of laudanum: see the  head
Glystering.
               INFLAMMATION.
  From difficult or tedious labour, the parts frequently
become inflamed and swelled; and sometimes there
are quantities of blood, which form a substance in the
mouth of the birth-place, which I believe has no name.
Although there is no danger in this matter, yet it fre-
quently produces great  pain and uneasiness.  These
inflammations are to be relieved by cold applications, 
0
532              INFLAMMATION.

such as cold poultices of light bread and milk; bathing
the parts with, and throwing  up injections of cold
water; or by making use of the following preparation:
In a pint of cold water put a tea-spoonful of sugar
of lead, and bathe the parts with the mixture.  Or you
may rub them well with sweet oil, keep them cool, and
daily cleanse them with cold water.
  If the belly feels very sore on being pressed, bathe it
often in warm water; or apply  cloths to it wrung out
of warm water, and  rub the belly well with the follow-
ing liniment.  Get equal quantities of spirits of harts-
horn and sweet oil: mix them well together, and rub
the belly two or three times a day with  this mixture.
This, with the warm bathing, as just directed, will give
immediate relief.
    INFLAMMATION OF THE BREASTS.
  This disease generally arises from w7ant of care after
delivery; by which want of care I mean, that proper
attention has not been paid to the system, in order to
prevent fever, which is always produced from eating or
drinking stimulating articles too freely, and before the
milk has had time to secrete freely.  This effect is also
produced by permitting the breasts to remain distended
too long with milk.  In this case, great pain with in-
flammation comes on; in other words, fever is the con-
sequence of this neglect.
  If there seems  any disposition  to  inflammation, the
best preventive is  to apply, a few hours after delivery,
warm poultices of light bread and milk to the breasts,
for at least three  hours.  This will assist  the natural
discharge of the milk.   If the child refuses to suck, fill 
        INFLAMMATION OF THE BREASTS.     533

a common black bottle with warm water, and apply
the nipple to the  mouth of the  bottle, which  will
gently draw the milk, as the  water becomes cooler.
Bathe the breast well with sweet oil or hog's lard at
the same time.  If the inflammation  continues, put  a
tea-spoonful of sugar of lead in a pint of cold water,
and keep a cloth, wet with this mixture, constantly to
the breast; but recollect you are not to wret the nipple
with this mixture, by which means it may get into the
child's mouth.   When  the inflammation  is severe,
Doctor Physic  recommends a blister over the breast.
When matter is fully formed,  make a small puncture
or hole with a lancet, so as to permit it gradually to es-
cape.  I have always, however, relieved by poultices
and sugar of lead, as above directed, without the pain-
ful necessity of using a blister.
                 MILK FEVER.
  This fever is owing to  the change of the system,
after the delivery of the child,  by the swelling and
irritation of  the  breasts, from  the milk secreted  in
them.   This always occasions the discharge from the
womb to lessen in quantity.  You will now recollect
the advice I have given you  before, as  to  applying
poultices to  the breasts for  a few hours, anointing the
breasts well with sweet oil  or lard, taking some  laxa-
tive medicines, and living  on low diet.  These  mea-
sures and precautions will enable you to avoid the fol-
lowing unpleasant feelings  : heat, thirst, headach, and
fever.  Although  this fever  is quite common, and may
be easily removed, yet  the  imprudence of neglecting
the above advice may be the cause of other complaint*.
  2 y 2 
                                      4    •   «

 534               MILK FEVER.

 which 1 shall in their proper places mention^  If the
 breasts are painful, take a dose of salts to cool the sys-
\ tern:  and if the  fever continues,  the loss of a little
 blood from the arm will be proper.  Drink  mild balm
 or sage tea, in which put about  twenty drops of  anti-
 monial wine.  This drink may be given occasionally,
 so as  to produce a gentle moisture or sweat on the
 skin.  Take no heating articles, and live on light cool-
 ing diet.  In a few days the  milk will flow, and the
 fever  go off.
               SWELLED LEG.
  This disorder takes place after child-birth, and I am
happy to say that it seldom occurs, when due  caution
and cleanliness have been observed.   I am of  opinion
that it arises from some  irritating  matter being leftin
the womb, or at its mouth.  When you discover this
disorder, which is known by a pain inside of the leg-
extending to the heel and  the groin, the limb always
begins to sw7ell, so that the slightest motion gives great
pain.   The pulse becomes quick, the skin hot, the
tongue white, the urine  thick.   There are also slight
pains about the womb,  and the discharge  from the
birth-place is dreadfully offensive.

                   REMEDIES.
  On the appearance of this complaint get a syringe
for females, or what will answer the same purpose,
make a squirt of elder or cane, and throw some w7arm
water up the birth-place, several times during the day.
to cleanse it; and in  the intervals of time, some good
sweet  oil.  Wash the parts wrell with  water made 
SWELLED  LEG.
5U
pleasantly warm, and rub the leg or legs with the fol-
lowing  ointment.  Take a gill  of sweet oil, a table-
spoonful of laudanum, and to these add a gill of spirits
in which camphor has been  dissolved.  With this mix-
ture rub or bathe the legs twice a day;  and provided
the woman has no purging of the bowels, let her  take
at night, and also in the  morning, two grains of calo-
mel, mixed with the same quantity of squills,  and
made into a pill.  This is to be repeated  until relief is
obtained.
              CHILD-BED FEVER.
  This disease is called by physicians puerperal fever.
It generally comes on from the fifth to the eighth day
after the woman has been delivered: but its being ear-
lier or later depends very much on the woman's con-
stitution, and the particular state of her system.  I have
before mentioned to you that you are to be very pru-
dent in your conduct respecting her food, drink, and
the state of her bowels; for  on these three things de-
pend, in a very great degree, her uniform health, and
exemption from this  dangerous disease, puerperal or
child-bed fever.   This fever sometimes arises from a
stoppage of the discharge which I have described to
you, called lochial discharge, and from the putrid mat-
ter which I told you it was composed of, and which I
directed  you to cleanse: see the head Lochia.  An
undue secretion of milk, a stoppage of the lochial dis-
charge, the absorption of putrid matter from the womb,
exposure to too great cold or heat, all these things are
capable of producing child-bed fever.  This fever is
extremely dangerous, and requires  the  immediate at- 
536            CHILD-BED FEVER.

tendance of an able physician; but, as you may be so
situated as to be unable to obtain one, I shall explain
to you clearly  the symptoms of this disorder, and also
the proper remedies.
   Child-bed fever comes on with a chill in the first
instance, then a flushing heat; next, the woman  be-
comes restless, and a sweat breaks out.   In a short
time this sweat dries up, and the skin becomes dry and
burning to the touch:  there is now great thirst; flush-
ing of the face; whiteness and dryness of the tongue;
great pain in the head and back ; sickness at the sto-
mach, sometimes attended  with puking.  In a short
time the belly  swells, feels full, and becomes very pain-
ful ; so much  so  that the weight of the bed-clothes
gives considerable increase of pain.  The bowels  be-
come quite  loose in some cases, and in others much
constipated or bound;  so much  so, that it is difficult to
get a passage through them.  By these symptoms you
are to know this fever.
   I must here  remark, that if this fever continues for
some time, it is very apt to  change to a typhus fever.
When this is  the  case the  inflammatory symptoms
subside, the  tongue and teeth are now covered with a
dark brown coat; small sores break out in the ntouth
and  throat, similar to those in a child that has the
thrush; the  breath smells very badly; the stools  are
dark and very  offensive; and not unfrequently small
purple spots appear on different parts of  the  body.
When the last  symptoms appear, the case is certainly a
very doubtful  one.  In the  typhus stage of child-bed
fever, refer to page 202, and you will find the remedies
under the head Nervous Fever.   The remedies in the
first stage I have described, or child-bed fever properly
so called, are as follows : 
CHILD-BED FEVER.
537
                   REMEDIES.
  While the cold stage is  passing over, warm appli-
cations to the feet and legs are to be made; and when
the inflammatory or hot  stage comes on, as before de-
scribed, the  woman is to be  bled from the arm, and
immediately purged freely with calomel: see table of
doses.  This purge of calomel is  to be followed up
with a dose  of Epsom salts: see table.   If the woman
is of a full,  stout, and healthy habit of body, and the
pains and fever, in eight or ten hours, do not begin to
give way ; and if the pains in the head and back con-
tinue severe, I generally draw more  blood from the
arm.  During this fever, obtain a phial of antimonial
wine,.and one  of sweet  spirits of nitre: mix as well
as you can  equal quantities of these two articles, and
give a tea-spoonful of this mixture every half hour, in
a little water or  tea: in other words, giv* it in such
a manner as to produce a little sickness of the stomach,
attended with a gentle moisture on the skin.  If it be
inconvenient for  you to obtain these articles, put into
a pint of milk-warm water ten grains of tartar emetic,
and give of this water  one or two table-spoonsful,
every one or two hours, so as to produce and keep up
a constant sickness at the stomach.  This will lessen
the fever.  Rub the belly well with sweet oil, and by
injecting a  little up the birth-place occasionally, the
irritation will  be greatly lessened.  The application
of flannel cloths frequently wrung out of warm water,
and laid to  the belly, will also be highly important in
lessening the pains and inflammation.   Should the
pain continue in the belly, apply a blister at the upper
part of each thigh.  I would advise blistering on the
belly, that being the proper place, but then you  could
not apply the warm cloths, which are highly import-
                         6S 
538            CHILD-BED  FEVER.

ant.  It will  therefore be better to  apply the blisters
as directed.   Glysters made of slippery elm, and about
milk-warm, thrown up the fundament with a  proper
pipe, three or four times a day, will  answer a valuable
purpose, and be a cooling and soothing remedy in this
complaint.  You will recollect particularly that  in
this disease operations must  be had  by the bowels,
during the inflammatory period ; and that when the
disease changes its appearance and character to typhus,
as it will  sometimes do, you  are to keep  the bowels
gently open, but not to purge so as to weaken the pa-
tient.  In this event, the continuance of mild glysters
will be found truly a  fine remedy.  For the method
of glystering  see that head.  When purging comes on,
so as greatly to weaken the woman,  which is not un-
frequently the case, you are to  check it by giving a
glyster, made'with common starch on which hot water
has been  poured.  This glyster must be  about the
thickness of gruel, and be about  milk-warm, in  which
you are to put twenty-five or thirty drops of laudanum:
it must be repeated three or four times a  day, as the
pain and looseness- may require.
  At the commencement  of this child-bed  fever, the
diet or food must be very cooling and light;  but as the
disease advances, and the woman becomes weaker, let
the nourishment be increased: and if necessary, from
her loss of strength in purging, or from other causes,
or if the disease seems to be approaching to  the typhus
or nervous fever, the symptoms of which I  have fully
explained, it will be necessary to support her system
by  the assistance of good wine or  toddy,  and such
nourishing food  as will support  the  enfeebled  action
of the system.   In these cases, wine and barks may be
given also; or camomile tea  made strong, and taken 
CHILD-BED FEVER.
539
cold occasionally through the day; or you may give a
strong decoction of dog-wood bark, wild-cherry tree
bark, and swamp poplar bark, made from equal quan-
tities of these barks boiled  together and  perfectly
cooled, in the quantity of about a wine-glass full three*
or four times a day.  These remedies are all valuable
tonics, or strengthening medicines to  support the sys-
tem.   Remember  particularly,  that  no  tonics  or
strengthening medicines are to be given, until after the
system has been entirely cleansed of its impurities: and
also you are most particularly to bear in mind, that
tonics or strengthening medicines are never to be given,
when they produce or increase fever.
  Spirits of turpentine.—I am induced to believe, from
testimony not to be questioned, that this valuable medi-
cine,  spirits of turpentine, has not  yet  received the
attention, or been employed  sufficiently in child-bed
fever.  So far as my studies and experience will enable
me to form  and deliver an opinion, I would prefer its
use to that of  the lancet in this fever, in the reduction
of febrile and inflammatory symptoms.  I have been
in the practice, for several years past, of using spirits
of turpentine as a medical remedy, and feel no  hesita-
tion  whatever  in  asserting that a fair and impartial
trial of it, in a great variety of cases, would entitle it to
rank and appreciation among medical remedies, of the
very first order.  In obstinate costiveness of the bowels,
and when every other remedy  had failed, I have fre-
quently used it with signal success;  nor  is there  any
thing superior to it in cholic, and in various inflamma-
tory or spasmodic affections of the abdominal viscera.
In enteritis, which means inflammation  of the intes-
tines ; in  dysentery ; and in hemorrhage, which means
a discharge of blood, I know from practical experience
***>*• t 
540             CHILD-BED  FEVER.
that it is a very valuable remedy.  With these remarks,
which I consider amply due to the subject, I will sub-
join such  testimonials of the efficacy of spirits of tur-
pentine, as will  entitle it  to  much attention  in the
treatment of child-bed fever.
  Says Doctor Payne, in substance, pages 98-9, of the
6th vol. Medical Recorder—" Puerperal or child-bed
fever, within  the last fifteen years, has  raged with its
usual  violence in many parts of this kingdom, particu-
larly in the West Riding of Yorkshire, when but few of
those  attacked by it escaped death.  Before the publi-
cation of Doctor Brennan appeared, recommending the
oil of turpentine in this fever, bloodletting was usually
resorted to ; but there was much less success attending
it than appears to have followed the application of the
same  remedy, in the cases of Doctor Campbell.  After
reading Brennan's  work,  I was  glad  to try a fresh
remedy in child-bed fever, because I had  seen so little
good result from bloodletting.   It is now nearly eight
years  since I  was called to visit a female, who laboured
under this disease;  when  the surgeon, who had only
seen the patient  a short time  before, proposed  giving
the oil of turpentine, which was assented to, and given
in doses of half an ounce every two hours.   The effect
was a very copious discharge from the bowels, appear-
ing to consist of a serous or watery  fluid, tinged with
green, in which were seen floating numerous pieces of
w7hite matter, like coagulable lymph.  Soon afterwards
the patient became maniacal or deranged,  and con-
tinued so  for several days, wiien her  intellects were
restored, and  she gradually recovered.
  •• Since  that period,"  says the doctor, ,; I have seen
several cases of child-bed fever, one of which had been
attended hy a surgeon, who had discontinued his visits. 
CHILD-BED FEVER.            541
I believe she had not been bled.  Her friends, seeing I
had an unfavourable opinion of the  case, called in a
more experienced physician, and it was agreed to try
the oil of turpentine as a last resource.  Two drachms
of it were given every two hours, which soon  brought
on a purging, of a  matter of a like  nature as before
mentioned.  I have stated, in the first case mentioned,
that mania or derangement of mind  had  taken place
from giving the oil of turpentine; and the probability
is, that the largeness of the doses produced the effect,
by throwing too much blood to the head.   In the case
I am now speaking of, two drachms only w7ere given
at a dose, and the result was, that although the patient
seemed to be at the  very verge of eternity, she quickly
recovered."
  I will give but one other  case.  It is one  commu-
nicated to the Medical Recorder, (6th vol. page 615, )by
doctor James H. Lucas, of the county of Madison, and
State of Georgia.  It is ably  and clearly detailed, and
will be highly satisfactory to the reader.
  "On the 15th July I was  called to a woman  who
had been delivered  five days before of her third child,
after a lingering labour of two days and nights.  When
I saw her, there was a wildness of expression, and great
anxiety,  with  considerable sharpness of  the features.
Her pulse was from one hundred to one hundred and
ten.   She had a severe pain above the eyes, a  hot and
dry skin, and great  restlessness; the  tongue* furred in
the middle, and a red appearance of the edges.  There
was much tenderness of the belly, with an appearance
like a ball over the pubes.  Her bowels were  costive;
her extremities cold, every morning about two o'clock,
with a scarcity of the lochial discharge; the restlessness
was  also much more  troublesome in  the afternoon.
  2Z 
542            CHILD-BED FEVER.

The child and placenta were both  delivered as usual.
As  a preparatory means, ten grains of calomel were
given, to be worked off with castor oil.  This relieved
her  considerably, particularly her  head.   The next
morning, the 16th, ordered her to take two tea-spoons-
ful  of the spirits of turpentine, in a solution  of gum-
arabic, or beaten up with the white of an egg, with a
table-spoonful of castor oil in the evening to assist the
operation of the  turpentine.  On the 17th, the tender-
ness of the belly had  nearly subsided ;  the pulse was
less  frequent: and four mere stools of a green colour
and  offensive smell from  the oil and turpentine, were
voided.   She was ordered to continue  the medicine.
On the 18th  the tenderness was gone, except on pres-
sure ; and the pulse was but ninety in a minute.  Three
stools had been passed of  a less offensive smell, and but
slightly tinged with green.  The skin was much cooler
than on the day  before.   The medicine was  still con-
tinued.   On the 19th the pulse  was natural,  with a
slight perspiration on the  surface :  the tenderness of the
belly was entirely gone; the  lochial discharge of its
proper quantity and colour; five stools had been voided,
the  two  last of which were of a  natural appearance;
and her appetite was good.  On the 20th 1 found her
up,  quite cheerful, and perfectly free from fever or dis-
ease, and she has continued so ever since."
  From these  cases, which are  drawn  from high
authorities, the value of spirits of turpentine, as a most
valuable remedy in child-bed fever, will  probably be
acknowledged by every reader of this work. 
HYSTERIA.
543
                  HYSTERIA.
  This important disease has been much neglected or
entirely overlooked by medical men, and  not unfre-
quently entirely mistaken  as alone originating from
mental emotions, or in other words^ from the passions
of the mind; and this is the reason why so  many poor
victims of this complaint have been  teased and ridi-
culed, and left perhaps to brood over a morbid sensi-
bility of mind and bodily suffering, which made life
itself insupportable.  How  many  constitutions might
be preserved, if hysteria was better understood or more
thoroughly investigated.  Howt many thousands of the
human race might be  preserved who have  been dosed
and  drenched  with medicines, and all to  no purpose
except to prostrate the constitution, or destroy life!
  That this disease sometimes originates from mental
emotion I  admit,  particularly in women  of delicate
habits, whose nervous systems are  extremely sensitive:
such women are subject more or less to these affections;
but when this is  the  case,  the hysteria is  seldom at-
tended with any danger.
  I shall now direct your attention to one  of the pri-
mary causes of this disease,  and if you will  but take a
proper view of the subject,  it will be  found of the ut-
most importance, not only in preserving many  a con->
stitution from a long and  tedious confinement, but
probably be the means, through Divine permission, of
restoring a beloved companion,  a daughter, or some
dear sister  from  this perplexing  disease, which in its
train brings suffering, despondency,  and worse than
death: I mean the suppression of the  catamenia, or, in
plainer language, the stoppage of the menses or courses*
The different  shapes,  forms, and  symptoms that this 
544
HYSTERIA.
disease often assumes, from local causes combined with
excessive sensibility, may often deceive  at first sight
the young, and not unfrequently the oldest and best
informed physician : notwithstanding it should appear
so difficult, yet strict attention to all the distinguishing
characteristics of these affections, even to a common
observer, will in a short time conclusively establish the
fact, that in eight  times out  of ten this  complaint  is
produced by some irregularity in the monthly courses.
For in twenty years practice I have seldom seen a case
that did not give more or less evidence of some derange-
ment in the menstrual discharge, either by  an  entire
stoppage, or too great flow or discharges at irregular
times, or too dark; at other times pale and watery, and
not unfrequently attended  with great  pain and sick-
ness about the time of the monthly change.   Now you
must observe  that hysteria is not  confined to women
of delicate habits and nervous temperament, although
they are generally most subject to it; yet it frequently
attacks the most apparently healthy and strong robust
women, from the age of thirteen  to forty-five;  there-
fore be satisfied fully as to the nature and cause of this
disease  before you commence  giving medicine; and
although it will be necessary  for you to give proper at-
tention to the stomach, liver, and bowels, (for each and
all of them predispose to  hysteria,) yet  the primary
and great cause will always be found  in the derange-
ment of the menses, or in plainer language the courses,
and medically  called  the catamenia.  As an evi-
dence that this important disease  has been entirely
overlooked, or perhaps badly understood by the pro-
fession, there has been no treatise wTitten upon it, or any
attempt made to trace the causes of hysteria until the
year 1829, when a learned and distinguished member 
*
HYSTERIA.
545
of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, was the
first to direct the attention of the medical profession to
this important and neglected disease. This great writer
has been very severe upon physicians for their neglect,
and, to quote his own language, " their ignorance  in
permitting this  destructive  evil to prevail  to such a
frightful extent.   The  selection  of  mild  language
would be  a mistaken delicacy for  that neglect  in
permitting thousands to sink hopelessly, and prema-
turely into an early grave, or to drag  out a cheerless
existence."
   " Though  it  may be  impossible, (says  this  great
writer) to determine  all the reasons  that  have ope-
rated to  prevent  these really  interesting  disorders
from undergoing a more particular investigation: it is
not improbable that. the following  may form part  of
them.
   " In the first place, hysteria has  been from time to
time looked upon as a  very trifling  affair,  made up  of
nervousness, fancifulness, and imbecility;  not unfre-
quently it has scarcely been treated with common hu-
manity; often  turned into  ridicule,  and  considered
altogether undeserving of serious "attention.
   ': In the next  place, with the exception  of that com-
mon form, wilich  is popularly called  ' hysterics;' the
characters it  assumes are so various and indefinite, that
they have seemed not  to admit of being classed under
the same general name, or to bear  any resemblance to
each other.  Further, its pathological conditions have
been very little understood;  and  its great variety of
shapes are so curious and extravagant as almost to defy
description, or even belief.   Hysteria, in some of its
forms, is neither a  fanciful nor a trifling disorder; but
that it is as painful in  its progress,  as tedious in its du-
      2 z 2                69 
546                 HYSTERIA.
ration, and, if neglected or treated ignorantly, is pro-
ductive of as much misery as any disease in the voca-
bulary of physic."
  And here I must take the liberty of saying, that  al-
though pain may be considered the natural companion
of disease,  and that  although hysteria is  sometimes.
under  the  best treatment, tedious and difficult to  re-
move, I believe  its remote  effects upon the delicate
females who are most liable to its invasion, may with
justice be imputed to medical mismanagement, rather
than to the unassisted agency of the disorder itself.   I
say again that I do believe this class of disorders is not
by  any means generally understood, either by young
or old practitioners; and I believe, also, that many of its
unhappy subjects, who have  had recourse  to medical
advice, in the hope of immediate relief, have, in  conse-
quence  of  carelessness, ignorance, or rashness, been
abandoned to all the horrors  of a protracted sickness.
and of a shattered constitution.  So many cases in con-
firmation of this fact have recently fallen within my
own obtffervation, that however severe the remark may
appear, I am satisfied it is just, and am thoroughly con-
vinced that no subject demands more  investigation,
and that none  requires more skill and care than that
which is at present under our discussion ; and  it will
enable those who have  had  little or  no  experience in
hysteria to recognise this disease surrounded with all
its varieties of symptoms, and to administer with con-
fidence  to this complaint, and at the same time save
them from the disgrace of making the remedies worse
than the disease.  Hysteria  is in,some of  its forms
difficult  and embarrassing,  and,  therefore,  even  the
most distinguished physician will no| despise any light
that may be cast upon it, but will appreciate, first, the 
HYSTERIA.
547
importance of obtaining such knowledge of its forms
as shall enable their real nature  to be at once ascer
tained  and  distinguished  from other diseases which
they frequently imitate, and reducing the symptoms
and forms  into such  plain descriptive cases, as will
enable the humblest scholar or reflecting man to know
them, and to apply at  once the best and surest reme-
dies adapted for their cure.
  And for your guide I shall give you such facts and
authentic cases as will clear away the darkness which
has hitherto shrouded this disease, and place your cor-
ner stone upon a rock, on which  you may build with
security and success;  combined  with  the prominent
causes, the appearances, symptoms, and (what is of the
highest importance for you to understand) the distin-
guishing characteristics of these  affections; and after-
wards, to describe that plan of treatment which appears
most proper for the speedy removal of this distressing
complaint.
  It may be necessary for me to  give you the various
technical or medical terms which are applied to these
diseases, all of which I have classed under the general
name of Hysteria, and  winch I assert is  the  proper
name; whether it be called "catalepsy," or"proteian
malady,"  or  " a peculiar spasmodic  affection," or
'• leaping ague," or any other fanciful name by which
it has been  called by physicians. Now let the name
be what it may, you will always  find, where this dis-
ease prevails, that the cause is a derangement of the
menstrual discharge, and that if  you wish to be suc-
cessful you must direct your remedies to this cause, for
you will find that a disordered uterine secretion is al-
ways the forerunner of it in whatever shape it  may
present itself.  With these preliminary remarks I shall 
548
HYSTERIA.
 now proceed to lay down in a simple and plain man-
 ner, the symptoms attendant on hysteria.

                   SYMPTOMS.
   Dejection or lowness of spirits; sudden bursts of tears
 succeeded by laughter; great anxiety of mind; sickness
 of the stomach, with inclination to vomit; starting and
 screaming; lying still as death, and  then  struggling
 with a giant's strength.   A loud rumbling is heard in
 the bowels, called by physicians clangor intestinorum,
 and something like a ball is felt by the patient rising
 up in the throat,  producing a  sense of suffocation.
 This is nothing more than flatulence or wind, called,
 medically,  globus hystericus. There is sometimes a
 shivering sensation; extremities  cold;  great pain'is
 usually  or often felt in the left side, with a distension
 or moving upwards: faintness, and often stupor and
 insensibility takes  place.  The body is  convulsed, or
 turned backw7ards and forwards, the limbs much  agi-
 tated, and hands clasped firmly together and extremely
 difficult to  open, grinding or gritting the teeth,  and  a
 frothy discharge of  saliva or  spittle from the mouth.
 After some time the fit abates, the system from such
 exertion becomes exhausted, and the patient for a time
 remains quiet, and  frequently wind  is expelled or
 belched up, and deep sobbing or sighing ;  when sud-
 denly a  second fit comes on, &c, until  w7orn out she
lies quiet, or sinks to sleep, or perhaps is  gradually re-
stored, unconscious of what is past, but complaining of
great soreness, or slight or dull pains of the head, and
probably much tenderness is felt at, or near, the region
of the chest and stomach.   I think these symptoms
which generally accompany  hysteria are so fully and
plainly explained to  you. that any one of co.n.ion sense 
HYSTERIA.
549
may detect at once the true nature of the case.  But
should it be necessary to have a further guide, behold
those women who for years are deprived of their na-
tural health, with sallow and sickly faces, with fevered,
white, and parched lips, furred tongues, limbs scarcely
able to bear the least exertion ; and you will generally
find that it  originates  from a faulty menstruation;
therefore be  not discouraged if this disease is tedious
and difficult to cure, as this is often the case ; and this
is one  of the causes why so many young women are
neglected, or  get tired of continuing the remedies from
which they have found but  little or no relief; when
the disease is  permitted to continue, and at last assumes
so formidable a shape as to  deceive the oldest and best
informed practitioner of medicine.  For I assure you
you will seldom find tw7o  cases alike, although I have
before told you it originated, eight  cases in ten, from
the derangement of the menses or courses. Therefore,
let them be  called catalepsy, or protean malady, or.
spasmodic affection, or hysteria ; for these are the
medical  names given, and another evidence of hum-
bug, or long-sounding technicalities, similar to those I
have given you in page 140.
   I now proceed to give the evidence  which must  es-
tablish conclusively the facts I  have advanced, and
enable you to treat successfully this heretofore myste-
rious and complicated disease which  should  he, as* I
have called it, named Hysteria.

                      Case 1.
   A woman who resided in the country, aboyt the age
of twenty years, apparently of good health, and rather
a robust stout figure, was  suddenly taken ill; she re-
sided about three miles from the city.   I was called to 
5*50
HYSTERIA.
see her: she was in great distress, with violent pain in
the head, the whites of the eyes looked red  and fiery,
and the light gave her much pain ; tears seemed to flow
involuntarily; with a choking sensation, saying, " O,
doctor, I am suffocating, and without relief I must
die."  '
   I bled her from the1 arm about a pint, which imme-
diately relieved her head very much, anji after a short
time the light was not so painful to her;  her feelings
of suffocation were partially relieved, but not altogether
removed.  I then gave her an active dose of oalomel and
jalap : ordering it in a few hours to be followed  by a
dose of castor oil, so as to purge her bowels freely.
The following day I visited her again, and found  her
medicine had acted well, and shejto all appearance was
relieved.   The second  night following  (about mid-
night) I w7as called by her brother in great haste to see
her, as she was supposed to be dying.   On my arrival,
I found her breathing with great quickness, similar to
a person out of breath from running some distance; she
could with great  difficulty articulate a few words, but
placed my hand on her left side.  I asked her if she
suffered much pain there : she said with difficulty, " O,
yes," and sank into a state of insensibility.  I found it
impossible to ascertain the state of her pulse, in conse-
quence of the agitated state of her respiratory system;
her skin  was  excessively hot, and  her face much
flushed ; the arteries of the neck throbbing with great
violence, and the heart labouring most violently.  The
perspiration flowed profusely, and her lips were  quite
purple.  I immediately bled her freely, when she vo-
mited ; a portion thrown up was saturated with blood.
After an hour or two the symptoms measurably abated,
and she was able to speak, though  complaining of 
HYSTERIA.                 551
drowsiness or stupor.,  Being informed that her bow-
els were sufficiently open, I gave her no purgative me-
dicine that night; her friends being much alarmed, by
their request I remained with her during the night,
which afforded me an opportunity of inquiring more
fully into the nature of the case ;  and found that she
had not menstruated, or, in plainer language, had her
courses regular for  more than a year, and when they
made their appearance it was in small quantities, of a
dark thick colour, at which time  she complained of
much pain in the back, and across  her breast; sickness
at the  stomach, with a  disposition to vomit; and on
the slightest exertion palpitations of the heart, and pain
in the left side.  These  symptoms led me to  suspect
the cause of the disease; and profiting by the  expe-
rience and wise admonitions of my distinguished bro-
ther  of London, who I have before alluded to, from
whom I  attribute all my knowledge and success in
these cases;  I commenced an examination of her case,
so as to convince myself of the real nature of the dis-
ease.
  This is done by w7hat is termed medically an exami-
nation  of the spinal Column ;  which  column or bony
pillar extends from the neck  to the  rump  bone, and
is usually known as the back bone : deriving its name
from the  Latin word spina, a thorn, so called from
its resemblance to a thorn.  It is composed of twenty-
four  irregular bones, called vertebrae; from  the Latin
word verto,  to turn.  The vertebrae are divided into
three classes:  first,  neck;  second, back; third,  loins.
The  first  called cervical;  second,  dorsal; third, lum-
bar vertebrx.   In paying strict attention to such cases
as frequently present themselves in my practice, I have
always observed that by making pressure  with my 
552
HYSTERIA.
fingers,  slowly  and gradually down the  spine, that
great tenderness and pain was felt by the patient when
I approached or arrived at that  portion of the verte-
brae which is sympathetic with this disease :  and it
is most generally an unerring guide.  Even the coun-
tenance is expressive of pain and shrinking, the mo-
ment the fingers touch that portion of the vertebrae.
Having fully explained the method of detecting hys-
teria, I shall proceed with this case.
  Her dress being removed, and her body placed on
the right side, so as to place  the back  as  nearly on a
level as possible, I proceeded to an examination of the
spine, and immediately on  pressing the four  upper-
most dorsal vertebrae, she shrunk and complained of
great pain, and  could not  bear me to touch this part
without exclaiming, " O, doctor, you  hurt me very
much."  Her countenance seemed to  change with a
convulsive spasm, which  extended to her left  side,
the spot on which she had previously placed my hand.
  Being now entirely satisfied as to the nature of her
case, originating from  a  suppression or some  irregu-
larity of her menses or courses, I at once  determined
to use the tartar emetic ointment, which is nothing
more than the tartar emetic mixed with some simple
salve  or ointment:' See table for the manner  of pre-
paring.   This preparation was rubbed along the whole
course of the dorsal vertebras  three times a day; and
she took an active dose  of calomel and jalap, followed
up  by an aloetic  mixture every four hours: for this
mixture see table.  During the night she passed many
dark and offensive stools, after which  her pain and
shortness of breath was much relieved.   Her pulse
wras about one  hundred;  tongue brown and furred;
and the little pimples or pustules which this ointment 
HYSTERIA.
553
will produce, when rubbed on any part of the body,
had not yet appeared on the spine.  On the third day,
about evening,  the crop of pimples  commenced ap-
pearing ; when  instantly, as  if by charm,  her  pains
and symptoms began to disappear.  On the following
day, with the exception of the soreness which  these
pimples always  produce, she  was  perfectly well;  her
pulse  reduced to their natural standard; the skin be-
come soft and  natural,  tongue clean ; but as yet, her
menses or courses did not appear.  She continued to
take  the aloetic mixture with iron, (see table how to
prepare,) and with this medicine she gradually im-
proved, until her time  arrived again for her to be un-
well,  or, in other language, to have her courses, when
suddenly all the old symptoms again returned,  but
not quite as violent as before.  The same  treatment
was pursued in  her case, and as soon as the pustules or
eruption made  their appearance on the back, she was
again perfectly well; from this time she gradually used1
the aloes, and the  natural time having again arrived,
she had  her courses, and from this time she enjoyed^
uninterrupted health, without  any return whatever of
HYSTERIA.

                      Case  2.
  This was a Miss B., a beautiful girl of fifteen years
of age-was taken suddenly ill at a  boarding-school.
In great alarm  I was sent for to attend her.  She com-
plained of headach and loss  of appetite, and without
further warning awoke on Sunday  morning, after a
tranquil night's sleep, with a train of symptoms resemb-
ling  tetanus, in plain English, spasm.  When I first
saw her, she was lying upon her  head and  her heels,
her hack thrown into  an arch, and scarcely touching
      3 A               70 
554
HYSTERIA.
the bed-clothes.  Her arms w7ere bent inward, and hei
fingers violently grasping her  thumbs, which were
stuck into  the  palms:  her toes were bent upwards,
and her legs bent and twisted  in the same manner as
her arms.  It  was with great difficulty  her hands
could be forced open, although the attempt to do so
did not much annoy her.  She was perfectly sensible,
and complained of violent heat and pain in the head;
the light gave her great pain, and when her eyelids
were open she squinted frightfully ;  her breathing was
very short,  with much  pain in the  left side;  palpita-
tion of the heart; pulse one hundred and ten ; tongue
clean; skin very hot, but  covered with perspiration;
extremely thirsty, and complained of her mouth being
dry.  Her  general health had  previous to this been
good, but she had  never had her courses.   Such was
the striking appearance of this case, which, from the
suddenness of the attack after passing a good night, and
from her having never had her menses, I strongly sus-
pected it to be nothing more  than a strange form of
hysteria.  Under this impression I examined the spine,
and  the moment  pressure  was made betwreen the
scapula  or  shoulder blade, upon the upper dorsal ver-
tebrae, she  complained of pain, which was also appa-
rent in  the expression  of her countenance.   That
which w7as conjecture  before, now7 became a matter
of certainty, and I at  once assured the lady  of the
school there was no  danger; that in a few days her
health would be entirely restored.
  The tartar emetic ointment was immediately applied
throughout the  dorsal region;  and a good  dose of  ca-
lomel and jalap prescribed.  As soon as the medicine
acted freely on  her bow7els, her head was  better, and
her breathing relieved, but  the spasms of her  body 
                       HYSTERIA.                 555

   did not yield  until the ointment had the effect as be-
   fore  described.   As  soon as the pimples  began to
   appear, the spasmodic affection gave way, and in less
   than  twenty-four hours after the ointment acted, not
   a vestige of the disease remained.  About one month
   afterwards, the time for her to  have her courses, the
   symptoms  returned in a slight manner; her thumb,
   and  frequently  her fingers were bound down and
   lasted for some  time.   It became necessary again to
   apply the ointment, although she was greatly opposed
   to it from the soreness  it produced : she at last gave her
   consent for it  to be rubbed in, and as soon as the pim-
  ples  made  their appearance, she  was again relieved,
  and from this  time her  disease returned upon her no
  more. From  the first attack the aloetic mixture with
  iron was daily administered, and at the expiration of
  five weeks she  menstruated, and was  afterwards quite
  well.  Thus proving very satisfactory that the menses
  was the  source of the  vertebral irritation, and this in
  its turn produced the other complaints.

                        Case 3.
    Miss L., aged about  19, had not been in good health
  for nearly four  years. In the middle of January, 1825,
  she was  taken  severely ill, with acute pain in  the left
  side, which  was greatly increased by  drawing  a  long
  breath, but was relieved by any pressure.  This pain
  was  so violent  as to make her frequently scream and
  request her friends to  hold or press her sides, which
  pressure was done for  hours together, being all they
 vcould  do to relieve her.  There was  considerable op-
  pression of  the chest, and  her  head  pained her very
<  much.  A few  hours before I saw her, she had fallen
 from her chair  apparently lifeless, and was carried  to 
 556                 HYSTERIA.

 bed.   In this state she would  remain or lie for half an
 hour or an hour, recovering occasionally and speaking
 rationally, and  even cheerfully, and then  suddenly
 sinking into a state of insensibility;  while in this in-
 sensible state her breathing would be apparently sus-
 pended for ten minutes or longer at a time, or carried
 on with  so much  fineness,  that no air apparently
 escaped from her lips: no rising or falling of the chest;
 no motion of any muscles, except a  quivering of the
 eyelids, this  alone was all that gave evidence that she
 was not in a state of " syncope."
   Then a rapid gasping would take place, followed by
 a deathlike  stillness; the eyes were  then turned up,
 teeth fixed, and  her hands convulsively clenched,  so
 that nothing could relax  them.  Now7 during all this
 time her pulse was perfectly regular and she was quiet;
 except that she had occasional palpitations of the heart
 which seemed to convulse her very much; and shook
 her frame from head to foot, which continued through
 her illness.   The little colour she usually had did not
 forsake her lips and cheeks ; wiien for a few minutes,
 she recovered, the pain in the  head w7as greatly com-
 plained of, and her head and chest.  She could not en-
 dure the least exposure  to  light without pain.   She
 entreated me to bleed her, which I did ;  as she assured
 me the pain in her side, with which she had suffered
for the last  four years, had always  been relieved by
bleeding.
  Having never seen this young lady before,  and hear-
ing that she  had  complained of pain  in her left side,
and palpitations of the heart, and that she had been in
delicate health for so long a period ;  I confess, I  sus-
pected there wras here some real disease of the heart to
which all her symptoms  might be tributary.   And  it 
HYSTERIA.
557
was not until after I had seen her in one of. her coma-
tose states, that I took a correct view of this case, and
became satisfied that this was one of the singular cases
of hysteria:  the  phenomena or  symptoms of which
cannot be satisfactorily accounted for; and which are
only to be seen  in females, and in them  only under
particular circumstances.  Having perfectly convinced
myself that  there was no real disease of  any organ,
either of the head or chest, and that the various animal
functions, except that of menstruation, were properly
conducted, I proceeded to examine the spine from  the
upper to the lower part, and throughout the dorsal por-
tions.   Pressure  produced great uneasiness,  making
her shrink from the fingers; upon increasing the pres-
sure the pain was increased,  and passed through  the
pit of the stomach, and on to the left  side at the spot
so long complained of. It also caused the breathing to
be oppressed; there was also some tenderness in  the
cervical vertebrae. In making particular inquiry into
the state of the menstrual  discharge, I found they had
appeared a few days before the attack, and were unu-
sually small in quantity, and  dark  and unnatural in
their colour.  At that time I did not think a trifling
irregularity of the kind would be a sufficient cause for
the development of such remarkable symptoms.  Even
at the end of several days, the  least exertion or  the
mere effort of swallowing any mild drink threw  her
into a state of coma, in which she acknowledged that
she wras sensible of all that was passing around her,« but
was  quite incapable of speaking or of voluntary mo-
tion.
   Upon the  discovery of the pain and tenderress of
the spine, the tartar emetic ointment wras rubbed in
freely along the back or spine, and upon the eruption
  3 A2 
558
HYSTERIA.
coming out, it w7as astonishing to see how immediately
the symptoms vanished.  The fits went off, the head
and side were no longer complained of, and the palpi-
tations  gradually subsided.  Upon  the eruptions or
pustules produced by this ointment  being healed, she
had one or two slight returns of the disease, particu-
larly pain under the left breast; but they soon disap-
peared, and she began to regain her health.  It is now
four years since her  recovery,  and she has enjoyed
much better health than she had done for years before.

                     Case  4.                       •
  Elizabeth  M., aged 20,  early  one morning  was
taken in convulsions.  I was sent for, and found her in
bed, where seven or eight persons were employed in
keeping her there by main force. She had complained
for  several days previous  of  severe headach; she  was
of a pale delicate complexion, of a very slender frame,
and had been for many months without any appear-
ance of her menses or courses.  She had waked in the
night, screaming out like a maniac or crazy woman, to
the terror of all the family, and  in attempting to get
out of  bed, had fallen back  in a state of insensibility.
and had so continued up  to the time of  my arrival:
she was struggling with amazing violence; her eyes
were staring wildly, with grinding of her teeth; hands
clenched firmly together, and in fact, every muscle of
the body seemed to be thrown into a state  of most tre-
mendous spasm.   This was hysteria clearly enough.
So far there was little difficulty  in deciding  as  to  her
case.  Her pulse being quick and bounding, I drew
some blood; but the bleeding seemed to afford not the
smallest relief.   Calomel and jalap were with great
difficulty forced into the stomach: as soon as the  me- 
HYSTERIA.
559
dicine  had acted freely  by the bowels, she became
calm, and the convulsive throes ceased; but she lay*
insensible, like a person perfectly dead, till the follow-
ing day.   I had  already commenced using the  tartar
emetic ointment, and as soon as  she was sufficiently
sensible to answer, I traced with my fingers the course
of the spine, and she complained and shrank away the
moment  my fingers were pressed on the dorsal ver-
tebra ;  and now7 the pain was felt through the whole
chest, particularly at a  spot  beneath the left breast.
Indeed, I have scarcely met with a case in which the
spinal affection was more strongly and clearly marked.
Besides the tenderness of the  spine, and the pain in the
left side, there was in this case excessive tenderness in
the right side under the*margin of the ribs;  this was
so  great  that  she  dreaded the slightest examination,
even before she was touched.
   The pain was confined to the hepatic region or liver,
but was  too acute, and too superficial to induce a sus-
picion that it was connected with visceral disease; both
sides or the pain in them was occasioned by the  spinal
disorder; and as soon as this was removed by the usual
application of  the tartar emetic ointment,  and her
menses  or courses were brought on by the combina-
tion or  mixture of iron and aloes,  (for mixture see
table,) her pains were entirely removed, and this young
woman afterwards gained greater strength and better
general health, than she remembered to have enjoyed
at any former period of her life.
   This,  as I have before remarked, "has been the usual
result of hysterical cases treated in the manner  before
fully described. 
560
HYSTERIA.
                      Case 5.
  The following case will establish the fact, and im-
portant use of the tartar emetic ointment and its great
value.  And here I will step aside from my subject to
remark to you, that in all cases of pain in the breast or
side, particularly in persons disposed to consumption,
or pains of the chest, I have always  found the tartar
emetic plaster to produce the most valuable and per-
manent relief as soon as the  pimples made their ap-
pearance in a full crop: I then suffered these pimples
to fill with matter before I removed the  plaster, and
dressed it afterwards with some stimulating ointment,
so as to  keep it running, similar  to a blister.  The
plaster is made  first as a common Burgundy pitch or
strengthening plaster, and then sprinkled  over freely
with tartar emetic; this is the w7hole secret of  what is
termed the tartarised antimony plaster; meaning in
plain English, a plaster of tartar emetic, which would
be perfectly understood by every person if it was called
by its proper name, (and here is another  humbug of
the profession.) After digressing thus far, I shall resume
the subject of hysteria.
  Miss L., an unusually stout and healthy girl, had
been for  a few weeks in bad health, complaining of
pain in the left  side, and occasionally palpitations.  She
was suddenly seized with fits, which  her parents  fan-
cied must be  fatal.  In this case there was no laughing,
crying, nor violent gestures: but she had  convulsions
of the whole body, lasting for hours together.  During
these fits she had no pow7er of utterance, and was in-
sensible to every thing.  During the intervals, or when
she would come to, she  complained of the light, and
urged for the room to be made dark; and the slightest 
HYSTERIA.                 561
 noise, even walking across the floor, disturbed her, and
 produced a convulsive start;  she complained of pain
 under the left breast, distressing headach, pain down
 both arms, palpitation, great heat of the skin, breathing
 oppressed; these with the globus (which I have before
 explained) were  very troublesome.   This was  her
 usual time for her to have her courses, which for many
 months, although regular, had been attended with se-
 vere pain in the loins; and the discharge was of a dark
 and unhealthy appearance.  In the first three days after
 the attack took place, she was  bled in the arm, leeched
 in the temples, (for leeching, look under that head,)
 blistered, and gentle purgative medicines were given to
 open her bowels, and antispasmodics: such as spirits
 of hartshorn, valerian, asafoetida, camphor, &c, all of
 which were of no benefit, but  rather increased her un-
 comfortable sensations.   If she moved, or made the
 slightest exertions it  produced a fit:  even the act of
 raising her arm, or swallowing a drop of any *kind of
 drink brought on a fit.
  As soon as she became sensible to  feeling, I made
 pressure upon the vertebra, on the  part  I  have re-
 peatedly told you; when my fingers touched the upper
 vertebrx she flinched, and said it gave her great pain;
 on the other parts of the spine when pressure was made
 there wras no pain felt, nor did she complain any, until
 I again proposed to press on the upper dorsal processes;
 she would not, however, suffer me to touch them again.
 This case was similar to the last, as to the spinal tender-
 ness.  I need not again tell you that  I immediately
 commenced the use of the tartar emetic ointment; as-
 suring her parents that as soon as the eruption should
 make its appearance, the fits would leave her alto-
gether.  After  the third day  the pimples came, and
                        71 
562                 HYSTERIA.
this woman had  no return of the fits afterwards, but
enjoyed excellent health.

                       Case 6.
   At Richmond, Virginia, Miss-----, a young girl of the
first respectability, in her fourteenth year, in the winter
of 1833, became gradually indisposed, losing her ap-
petite, with extreme debility and emaciation ; her situa-'
tion alarming her family and friends, she was removed
from school, and a medical gentleman, eminent in his
profession, consulted as to her case.  He advised exercise,
change of air, and entire relaxation from her studies;
all this  w7as done without producing the least beneficial
effects:  her disease daily increased, and her bowels be-
came so torpid as to require a constant use of purga-
tive medicines to keep them open ; strong aloetic me-
dicines  were  given her  combined or  mixed  with
oxide of iron;  this medicine was  continued for some
time, from which she received no benefit.  She seemed
to decline so fast, that her physician despaired of  her
recovery,  and directed  that she should travel.  This
being in April, she was  sent into the country, and
travelled from place to place, so as to derive, if possible,
relief from change of air; but finding no change for
the better, she went to Fredericksburg in hopes of ob-
taining  some more favourable advice  as to her case.
She  was now  reduced to a skeleton, weighing but
forty-eight pounds.  A medical gentleman of distinc-
tion in that place prescribed for her, and was in attend-
ance several w7eeks without affording the slightest re-
lief.  Worn out with physic, and  tortured with disease,
she visited Maryland, and from thence went to the
city of New York, in hopes to find in this large metro-
polis, celebrated for its medical talent, the long-sought- 
HYSTERIA.
563
for panacea.  But for her, like Noah's dove, there was
no place of rest.   Here the faculty were consulted, and
but little hope of a recovery from the use of medicine;
her father was advised to take her to the Saratoga
Springs, and try  the effects of the Congress waters.
She proceeded immediately to the Springs, where she
remained  ten days, using the water as directed.  It
produced  much  oppression and pain in the stomach,
and acted powerfully on the urinary organs, but pro-
duced no effect whatever on her bowels.  A physician
of New England, on a visit to these Springs, was con-
sulted ; he advised either a discontinuance of the w7ater
altogether, or for  her to take some medicine to change
its operation, so  as to make it act  on the bow7els; to
produce this effect, the doctor advised Hossack's com-
pound tincture of cantharides, in doses of five to tw7elve
drops during the  day; this was continued for a week,
and  lest it might produce stranguary or entire sup-
pression of urine, it was occasionally omitted:  at the
same time she used the syrup of Cayenne pepper, which
had the effect to change the action of the water to the
bowels, and also changed the watery stools which is usu-
ally produced by these waters, to natural evacuations.
  After giving  these  waters  a fair  trial, and finding
from them no improvement or benefit; wrecked in
health, worn out with disease, and drenched with re-
medies, which confirmed rather  than removed the
disease, she determined  to return home.   Her extre-
mities  were now almost constantly of a  deathlike
coldness ; languid pulse, pain  in the head, with wild-
ness of the eyes, and evident prostration of the mental
powers.  Her father, despairing and distressed in mind,
determined to return home with her to Virginia; on
his return to New York he sought every hope of re- 
564                 HYSTERIA.

lief, but all was fruitless; and they embarked by sea
in hopes it might be beneficial.  In a few7 days after
her arrival at  home she was  suddenly attacked with
violent epileptic fits, which weakened her very much.
Two physicians were now7 in attendance, and on her
recovery from  the fits the tartar emetic ointment was
suggested as a new remedy advised by the work of the
learned physician I have before mentioned, to whom
all this valuable discovery, both of disease and remedy,
is due.
  The use of the tartar emetic ointment was now com-
menced by rubbing it on the spine, and as soon as the
pimples made  their appearance the disease  gradually
gave way.  In fact, this valuable ointment acted like a
charm, and her health., and strength, and composure
of mind was soon restored; she afterwards, with her
parents, removed  to the west, and  has since enjoyed
unusual good health, nor has she at any time had any
return of her old symptoms.  This case must evidently
establish conclusively the valuable effects produced by
this invaluable ointment in cases of hysteria.

                     Case 7.
  This case is introduced merely  to  show that the
tartar emetic ointment was successful, after the ordi-
nary means had failed.  It w7as a case of chorea, which
in plain language means St. Vitus's dance.  The case
was treated by Dr. M{Andrew, of the  South London
Dispensary, wiiere a young girl of nine years of age
was admitted as a  patient, in March, 1826.  Her com-
plaint commenced in January, in tiie form of slight
convulsive movements in both sides of the body, these
Were always increased by mental despondency: she
had occasional headach  and  diarrhoea.  Her brother 
HYSTERIA.
565
was subject to epilepsy or fits.  She had now the usual
symptoms of St. Vitus' dance, medically called chorea,
but not to a severe degree.  She was well purged for
some time, and leeches applied to her head : for a de-
scription  of leeches look under  that head.'  For one
month  this  course was pursued, but  it merely aggra-
vated the convulsive  movements.   Ether, valerian,
and opium, the medicines usually made use of in such
cases, together with purgative medicines were used,
but still  she grew worse.  She could now scarcely
stand or walk.  Her  head was ordered to be shaved,
and the tartar emetic ointment to be applied, which
brought out a copious crop of pustules or pimples; the
convulsive movements on one side now7 subsided. The
ointment  was rubbed  into the spine, and with decided
and beneficial effects;  the bowels were kept open with
calomel and  jalap, and she gradually from  this time
recovered her health, and had no return of the fits or
convulsions  for several years, when they  slightly re-
turned again, the same course was pursued, and the
moment the pustules made  their appearance the dis-
ease at once vanished,  since which time she has grown
up  to womanhood, entirely exempt from  her former
complaints.
  There could not be  desired a clearer instance of the
salutary effects  of this tartar emetic ointment.  Sup-
posing the same period to have been consumed in the
second set of remedies as in the first, two months
would have been thus lost in pouring all sorts of things
into the little patient's  throat; but the  disorder resisted
every effort to  put  it down, until the ointment was
applied to the head and spine ; it then at once yielded,
and would have done so two months before, had the
tartar emetic ointment been put in earlier operation.
      3B
i 
566
HYSTERIA.
I would just remark here, that in the present case it
was hardly justifiable to  apply the  ointment to the
head, as these pustules are very painful on the head,
and in fact on any other part of the  body, but more
particularly there : it is attended usually with intense
suffering when applied to the head, and is only requi-
site in cases of great inveteracy.  An application of the
ointment limited to the upper part of the spine would
have answ7ered all the purposes just as well, and saved
the poor child a good deal  of punishment.

                     Case 8.
  In Tennessee, in the  year 1835, June  18th, 1 was
called to a Miss-----, aged about eighteen years, of
interesting appearance, she had been previously attend
ed by several physicians, who told her mother (then,
a widow) that  her daughter was afflicted with  catBr
lepsy, or, in plain English, a sudden suppression  of
motion  and sensation.  She had been subject to these
attacks  for nearly two  years, having previous to tins
period enjoyed good health.  On my arrival I found
her as if fast, asleep, with a smile diffused over her
countenance; her breathing  was hardly perceptible;
her pulse extremely quick but weak; her  eyes closed,
and her limbs perfectly  motionless; and one hand
firmly grasped in the other; I raised the lid of the eye
and it appeared fixed, but as bright as in a  state  of
health ; but no motion was perceptible in it that I could
see.  I then endeavoured to separate her hands, which
required all my strength  to do  so, but the moment I
separated them  they fixed rigidly in the  same way.
While I wras feeling her  pulse she suddenly became
convulsed, and  in  the struggle  seized my hand, and
that so  firmly that it gave me great  pain, and  I was 
HYSTERIA.                 567
compelled, with the assistance of several in the room,
by main force to disengage myself, leaving the impres-
sion  of her nails in my hands for several  days after-
wards.  In any manner you might  place her arms in
this situation she would remain until another convul-
sive  motion, when she would firmly grasp  her hands,
and  so continue for a  considerable  time, perhaps an
hour, remaining in a state of unconsciousness;  in these
fits  the muscles are rigidly fixed, while the  instinc-
tive  motions of the involuntary muscles continue  to
act.   Her  mother informed me that she  frequently
had  these  fits while standing, and seemed motionless
as a wax figure, requiring  great strength  to  get her
to bed: in other words, to  explain  to you more per-
fectly the nature of such cases, I would remark, thej
retain any position you may think proper to  place them
in, until the muscles become relaxed, when the body
falls suddenly.
  In about three hours from the time of my first see-
ing her, she gave  indications of returning conscious-
ness, by convulsive motions of the mouth, and by rapid
and violent breathing;  after she had sufficiently reco-
vered I was informed by her what I before suspected,
that she had for several years, and previous  to her first
attack, been irregular in her menses or courses, and hot
unfrequently they had stopped entirely, which gave
her about  this time headach and great pain in her
back and loins, and a few days previous to the time
they should come  on, her head felt so heavy  (as she
described it) as made it almost insupportable, and such
swimming  or dizziness, that she was often compelled to
support herself by any thing convenient,  to  prevent
her falling ; after which she became heavy and drowsy
and suddenly unconscious of what followed.  She had 
568
HYSTERIA.
been  bled  freely at different  times, her arms being
much cut and carved by the use of the lancet: she had
been blistered and purged freely, and alterative medi-
cines  used  freely: in fact, she had been nearly two
years constantly under medical treatment, and  she de-
clared she would rather die than take any more phy-
sic.  I had  great difficulty  in obtaining her  consent
to examine the spine, but with assistance of her mother
I obtained her consent.  On pressure with my  fingers
on the four uppermost dorsal vertebrae, she immedi-
ately shrunk, and complained of great tenderness and
a darting pain in the left  side; in passing my  fingers
over the tender spot a second time, she said," Doctor, if
you press again I shall fall:" this satisfied me fully of
the nature of her case, and I told her mother  I could
cure her. Having every confidence in the success of the
tartar emetic ointment, I commenced rubbing it in the
whole length of the spine, and after giving her an active
purge of calomel and jalap, wrhich produced several dark
stools, I placed her on a course of aloes  and  iron com-
bined, (see table,) depending how7ever entirely on the
ointment.  On the third day the pustules or pimples
made  their appearance, and  I kept them discharging
by dressing with stimulating ointment for some time.
At the usual time of being unwell, she menstruated,
not freely, but with less pain than usual; and  had an
attack of her disease, but much slighter than usual and
but of  short duration, it  having lasted about five
minutes.   I again commenced the former treatment,
and from the effects produced by the first application,
Thad no doubt the second would entirely restore her.
The period having again arrived for her  to alter or have
her courses, she menstruated freely and without pain,
and of a healthy colour; and from this time  all the 
HYSTERIA.
569
symptoms  of  her disease vanished, and she is now
living and enjoying uninterrupted health.  I had the
pleasure of seeing her a few days since, and she  told
me she had never had the slightest convulsion since1 her
menses became regular.
  Difficult then as it may be to recognise this disease,
(for it frequently makes its appearance surrounded with
such extravagant symptoms, that the most experienced^
may be deceived at first sight, so as to be unable to form
a correct conclusion,) yet when the physician carefully
institutes  an examination of the points I have  before
explained to him, all the mysteries vanish, and he is at
once satisfied of its real nature, and will admit the pro-
priety of the treatment, which I have clearly and fully
proved rarely fails to be successful.
   And now, lest you may have forgotten in reading
those cases, to concentrate in your mind  the common
symptoms attendant upon hysteria, I will suggest
them again : tenderness, or pain in the  dorsal vertebra?
when  heat or pressure is applied, and generally in the
upper dorsal portion ; pain in the left side immediately
below the left breast, between the fifth and sixth ribs;
the pain is always increased by lifting the left arm above
the head, or placing the body in an erect position.   I
have known the pain to be in the right side: but  this
is very seldom  the case: probably in fifty cases, you
would not find more than one in which  the pain  was
 located in the right side.  In  this disease, a fluttering
about the  heart is very common, and produces, from its
 violence, very distressing feelings to the patient;  more
 or less pain in the head: intolerance of  light, and the
 globus rising in  the throat, or, in other words,  a chok-
 ing sensation ; pains in the loins, arms and legs, furred
 tongue; costive  bowels; pulse quick and variable, and
       3 B  2               72 
570                 HYSTERIA.
sometimes intermitting, at other times perfectly natu-
ral.  And, lastly, a suspended, irregular, or painful men-
struation, sometimes deranged for months;  nay, for
years previous to the attack: and upon this cause alone
all the other symptoms are more or less dependent in
all cases of hysteria.
                   REMEDIES.
  It is always expected of a physician  that he should
do  something when called;  and this is  the reason
we have  generally and indiscriminately  used the
lancet, and often unfortunately aggravated the  disease;
thereby making the case more difficult of cure than it
would otherwise have been.
  As bleeding never removes  either the spasms  or
pains, it should never be performed without the patient
is of a full plethoric habit: cheeks highly flushed, the
eye injected, the forehead red and polished;  in suqh
cases, it may be useful to let blood from the arm.  But
in the cases of delicate women or girls, bleeding will
do great and  serious injury,  and should not  be per-
formed without some very substantial reason.
  As soon as the patient's situation will admit, a care-
ful  examination of the spine should be made; after
which you  are to apply the tartar emetic ointment
either  by friction or plaster; and if the symptoms
are severe, or the case an important one, the application
of this ointment should be made or rubbed in through-
out the whole course of the vertebrae ;  and this should
be done every six or seven hours, until the pustulation
or pimples is fully produced.  The symptoms of hys-
teria will then begin to give w7ay, and  the patient be-
comes calm and sensible.  The  action of this  pustular
eruption is  attributable  to the  counter-irritation it
produces. 
HYSTERIA.
57-1
   In addition to the ointment, it will be necessary to *
 give active purges of calomel and jalap followed by
 castor oil, so as to cleanse the whole course of the in-
 testinal canal.
   The stools  are  generally  of a black, dark, or un-
 healthy appearance,  and, therefore,  you must  repeat
 these purges until  they change to a healthy or natural
 colour; but should you observe spongy gums, a clam-
 my and tremulous tongue with red edges, and a tainted
 breath, in other words, a scrofulous habit, be cautious
 Itow you employ calomel to any extent; but withjthis
 exception there is no danger in its free use as at any
 other time.
   But to the most important part of this subject: this
 is to produce a healthy and free state of the menses or
 courses, which is to be done by attending to the diges-
 tive functions; then wholesome air, wholesome food,
 exercise, and giving medicines of aloes combined with
 iron; (see preparation, &c. in materia medica;) together
 with the use of the warm, tepid, cold, or shower bath,
as may be best adapted to the constitution,  (a descrip-
 tion of each will be found under their proper heads,)
and such  tonics as may be  necessary to restore the
general health and strength.
                TIGHT LACING.
  In no instances have the folly and childishness of a
large  portion of the world been  more strikingly dis-
played than in the various, and occasionally very op-
posite modes, in winch  they have departed  from the
standard of nature,  and  sought distinction even in de- 
572
TIGHT LACING.
 formity. Thus, while one race of people (the Chinese)
 crushes the feet of its children, another flattens their
 heads between two boards ;  and while in this country
 we admire the beauty and whiteness of the  teeth, the
 Malays file off the enamel and dye them black, giving
 it as a reason that the dog's teeth  are white.  Now a
 New Zealand chief has his coat of arms pricked with
 an instrument, and coloured on his  face and on his
 limbs.   The Esquimaux  has  bits  of  stone  stuffed
 through a hole  made in each  cheek, w7hich he con-
 siders fashionable.   The lady  of our own country
 is equally absurd in her fashions, and still more mis-
 chievous in her selections; for she attaches  beauty to
 the figure of the wasp, and laces up her waist in corsets
 until her very ribs are pressed close to the back bone>
 and the functions of every vital organ is destroyed.
   The Deity makes no exceptions in the operations of
 his general laws, to suit the whim or the custom of
 any individual or class of persons.  What  an  awful
 example do we daily witness in  our cities by this tor-
 turing fashion of tight lacing; how many thousands of
 the most lovely creatures are prematurely brought to
 the grave by corsets.  Witness in our churches and
 places of public resort the hurried movements of the
 chest panting for respiration.
   The lungs have no room to expand; the air does not
 reach all parts of their lining  membrane; the blood
 beneath the latter is not changed, or is so imperfectly.
 The complexion changes its colour to a purple  flush,
 and the mind is oppressed by the accompanying un-
 equal distribution in the circulation on the brain ; in
 order then to breathe freely and with healthy result,
the chest must be allowed its full expansion; so that
it shall inhale or draw in as much air as the lungs can 
TIGHT LACING.               573
 readily hold; therefore, when the lungs are compress-
 ed, the blood cannot acquire its proper colour, nor can
 it receive its other properties, on which the growth,
 strength, and movements of these organs depend.  For
 instance as to respiration, or, in other words, breathing.
 There are varieties of blood circulating  in the human
 body.  One in the veins, which is  of a dark colour;
 another in the arteries, which  is of a florid red: the
 first is called venal blood, and is that which is returned
 from all the organs and tissues of the  body, and flows
 towards the heart, and is finally poured into the cavi-
 ties of its right or anterior side. The second or arte-
 rial blood goes from the cavities of the left or somewhat
 posterior side of the heart, and is distributed to every
 portion of the body. Now before the dark blood  which
 is in  the right  cavities of the heart can reach the
 left, it must pass through the lungs; and before the
 scarlet blood of  the left cavities can  reach the right
 ones, it must traverse all parts of the animal frame. In
 its passage through the lungs from the right to the left
 side of the heart, the  blood acquires  its florid  colour
 and its other properties, in its course through the body
 at lars;e.
   The lungs are spongy and elastic organs which fill
 up the cavity of the  chest, and enclose the heart be-
 tween them ; they are hollow and habitually distended
 with air, which finds entrance through the wind-pipe;
 this tube beginning at the back part of the mouth, and
 before the  passage which leads into the stomach, goes
 down in front of the neck; and on entering the  cavity
 of the chest, at the spot corresponding nearly with the
 beginning of the breast bone, it divides into two parts,
 and these tubes again subdivide, until every part of the
Jungs  is penetrated by them, on their termination in 
574
TIGHT LACING.
ah* cells, which are as minute as drops of water.  The
interior of all these  ramified tubes, and in fact, the
cavity of the lungs, is lined by a smooth and thin mem-
brane, the extent of surface of which is said to be
greater than that of the skin itself;  it being estimated
at twenty thousand square inches.   It nowr remains to
show what part this membrane of the lungs constantly
«Xereises to the air, in the cavity which is lined by it>
amd performs  in dtiangrng the colour  of  the blood.
Tljis fluid which reaches 'the lungs from the right side
isf the hearty of a dark -colour, and  unfitted to nourish
and preserve life, is distributed by a net-work of very
fine -and innumerable Vessels under the lining merti-
4irane, and is -acted-on by the air through the latter.
Ilhe fconse^i*eince of the action of the air in the  pul-
monary cavity on the blood, is its  prompt and entire
-conversion into a fltoid of a bright  red colour, and its
acquisition of  properties by Which  it is prepared to
nourish and vivify every part of tfite animal economy.
TFhus 'changed ft returns from tfce lungs by another set
 of vessels, «and  is conveyed to the cavities of the left
side of the heart; by Whose strong muscular power it
 is propelled into the great artery and its divisions, and
 distributed t© the minutest -portions of the human
 body; iand bf course 5tt abundance to the skin.   It is
 this red, purified, and nutritive fluid, that gives the rose
 of beauty to the ^cnteek; lustre and brightness to the
 eye: and animation an-A cheerfulness to all the senses.
 After it  has reached every tissue, and performed its
 requisites in Vessels So small  as not to be visible to the
 ■naked eye; the blotwi then loses  its florid colour, at
 the moment of its passing into another set of vessels,
 (the veins) which arte at first exceedingly small;  then
 gradually uniting With larger ones, until all the return- 
TIGHT LACING.              575
ing and dark blood of the body is poured by one great
vein into the right cavities of the heart, from whence
it pursues the round of the circulation.  If you will
but notice when  you  open a vein the colour is dark,
but when exposed to atmospheric air in a vessel, that
on the surface, being exposed to  the air, becomes of a
bright red; so is the change from dark to bright as it
flows through the lungs in minute vessels, under the
living  membrane of the wind-pipe and its  ramifica--
tions.  Now recollect what has been before told  you,
and  see  its vast  importance; that the blood which
reaches one side  of the heart, from all parts of the
body, is dark, and unfitted to nourish and support life
and cannot be again carried to the organs until it passes
through the lungs, and is exposed to the air; and  then
reaches the other side of the heart.
  Now I would ask of you, as rational beings, how are
you to enjoy health, when you do such cruel injustice
to yourselves, and to your Creator, by such tight lacing
and compression on your chest, that it cannot distend to
one half its proper dimensions. O fashion! O folly!  how
many of the human race, day after day, are transgressing
the sacred laws of nature ; destroying life, and on the
threshold of existence become the  victims of disease
and death ?  And again, let me tell you, that the blood
sent  from  the heart  and exposed  to  the air flows
through the lungs in the quantity of eight pints every
minute, and about twenty-four  hogsheads in  twenty-
four  hours.  Assuming, as near  the truth, that there
are twelve pints of air constantly in the cavity of the
lungs; (for these can  never be emptied, no matter
how complete the expiration;) there is introduced hy
inspiration  every minute nearly  eighteen pints of air,
and in the space of twenty-four hours upward of fifty- 
576
TIGHT LACING.
seven hogsheads of air are received.  At each inspira-
tion  fresh air is taken into the lungs, and at each ex-
piration the impure air is thrown out; and these two
movements, which constitute the act of respiration, are
repeated every three seconds: or eighteen times in a
minute.   By this  information you at once perceive
how7 readily  and constantly the air is  destroyed or
changed by our breathing, and how indispensable and
necessary it is for us to be regularly supplied with pure
and fresh  air.   The quantity of oxygen, the vital ele-
ment of the air, which is consumed and appropriated
in the  lungs to respiration, and the wants of the ani-
mal economy through this channel; is, on  an average,
forty-five  thousand seven  hundred cubic  inches, in
twenty-four hours.  The quantity of carbonic acid ge-
nerated and given  out from the lungs in  respiration,
during the same time, is rather more than thirty-eight
thousand  cubic inches.   So, in order that we should
breathe freely and according to health, the chest must
be free, and allowed its  full expansion, so as to inhale
or draw in as much air as the  lungs can readily hold;
and the air itself must, be pure; and unless this is the
case  the whole of  the  circulation  is destroyed, and
every organ injured.
  You must  at once see, if you have read these facts
with the least attention,  how enormous the evil where
the regular movements  of the chest are deranged by
the extreme tightness of lacing; which  may be truly
called the fetters and chains of beauty.   And how of-
ten do parents commit a  deliberate act of cruelty w7hen
they suffer this practice  of tight lacing in  their child-
ren, before the  chest has acquired  its proper and rela-
tive capacity; thereby weakening the muscles, and I
may add with truth, withering and diminishing the 
TIGHT LACING.              577
size  to deformity, by the daily use of this fashionaUle
torture  called corsets.  By this lacing the muscles
of the back and of the chest are subject to the same
debilitating and almost paralyzing  pressure,  which
follows  the protracted application of long splints and
circular bandages to a limb.  By way  of illustration
of this fact, I will merely mention the practice of some
beggars I have seen in Europe, who, in order to excite
pity  and obtain  a w7retched support, present  to the
view a leg or an arm apparently shrunk and withered
by disease,  which has  been  purposely reduced by a
bandage rolled tightly round the limb.
   By tight  lacing, the  muscles in time, as I  have be-
fore  explained, lose their power; therefore, that which
is at first adopted from choice or fashion, becomes at
last  a mechanical support, and the poor victim finds
it impossible to do without its assistance for any length
of time. Now, as years advance, from the  constant
habit of lacing, so does the fatal  and pernicious con-
sequence as gradually  destroy the  health.   First,  a
moderate compression, then a little tighter; now a few
moments rest, then a little tighter still;  and so on day
by day,  until gradually a tapered waist becomes an ob-
ject  of ambition, and the corsets are to be laced more
tightly—for Miss Fidget appears much smaller and
more delicate than I do—until the expression is brought
forth, " O me!  I do not think  I can bear it."   This
operation at every dressing goes gradually on, and re-
quires the  utmost fortitude to support the  screwing
and  squeezing;  but by degrees nature gives way, and
the effect, however slow, is sure; and the powers of en-
durance thus exercised come in time to bear almost
unconsciously what,  if  suddenly attempted, no forti-
tude or heroism could possibly sustain.
      .7 r;                73 
578
TIGHT LACING.
  I have before mentioned to you in some  measure
the derangement to health occasioned by this pressure,
but not as fully as the nature of this important subject
deserves.  The close lacing is an  obvious impediment
to the motions of the ribs;  for to give free and perfect
respiration or breathing, these motions should be free,'
natural, and unrestrained.   In proportion as respiration
is impeded, so is the blood imperfectly vitalized; conse-
quently all the functions of the  body are irregularly
performed : this produces at once weakness, winch af-
fects the whole frame, and reduces  every part of the
system to an improper circulation : the hurried breath-
ing shows at once that the lungs are not fully supplied,
thereby creating in the lungs a tendency to inflamma-
tion.  The heart is excited, the pulse is quickened, and
palpitations brought on.  I have been frequently seat-
ed by a lady thus tightly laced, and heard distinctly the
palpitations of the heart as the ticking of a clock, with,
to me,  most alarming rapidity;  and if delicacy would
have permitted it, I should  have cut the string so as to
have relieved  this organ  from its torture.  This con-
stant succession of tight lacing causes many diseases
from the constriction of the chest, as inflexure of the
spine, and a derangement of the stomach and liver, and
other organs subservient to digestion.
  Perhaps  I  have given you a sufficient  evidence of
the fatal consequence of tight lacing, but this is not as
yet all, for there are still more important diseases pro-
duced by this  fashionable and voluntary torture.   By
its operation pressure is made on the lower part of the
chest, and extends gradually its influence to the abdo-
minal viscera.   The stomach and  liver are compressed.
and in time  partially detruded  from the concavity
or the  diaphragm, giving great disturbance  to their 
TIGHT LACING.
579
 functions; and being pressed downwards derange all
 the lower abdominal structure, and in  one w7ord, al-
 most every function of the body becomes injured.  In
 fact, the corsets are so constructed as to  be but little
 adapted to the form of the body, so that the pressure is
 the greatest upon the lower part of the  chest, which
 is naturally  the  widest, whilst they  have  the most
 freedom at the upper part, where its diameter is  the
 smallest; thus in  effect inverting the order of nature,
 and causing a complete transformation of this import-
 ant portion of the body, by making its base uppermost,
 and its apex dowTnw7ards, and producing deformity and
 a total wreck of health; bringing on dyspepsia, habitual
 costiveness, headach, dizziness, cough, quick or hurried
 breathing, disturbed functions of  the brain, nervous
 affections,  palpitations, cold  extremities, pain in  the
 breast, hysteria, depression of spirits, weakness of  the
 back, and premature death.
   Although  this tight lacing may be borne during a
 party or evening display, under a  partial excitement,
 yet it is impossible for outraged nature to bear it long
 without some temporary relaxation.  And now what
 is the consequence ? why, as soon  as the compression
 or contraction is  removed, the muscles of  the back,
 deprived of their  accustomed support, are unable  of
 themselves to sustain the incumbent weight, and give
 way, when the column of the spine bends;  at first  an-
 teriorily, causing round shoulders and an arched back;
 but  eventually inclining to one side or the  other,
 producing  lateral  curvature.  As  soon as  this takes
 place, the lungs and heart  become  greatly disturbed;
 difficult breathing, particularly on ascending a flight
 of steps or rising  ground, which exertion produces a
short, dry cough, and the heart immediately palpitates; 
580
TIGHT LACING.
the lips assume a purple or unnatural colour, and short
pains across the breast and in the side, with much de-
bility of the back, and a general sinking sensation on
the least bodily exertion, when consumption speedily
follows, and your health is  totally destroyed, and  all
the gay anticipations of life shipwrecked, by fashion
and folly; and you have the sad and miserable reflec-
tion that you  have been the instrument of applying
this deadly  machine  in destroying those proportions
which Providence in his wise dispensation made per-
fect for your happiness.  Then let me assure you that
beauty cannot be independent  of health; and that the
one is  unattainable by any practice inconsistent with
the other.  In vain do they  hope to improve their
skins, or  give a roseate  hue to their  cheeks, or aug-
ment the  grace and  symmetry of their forms, unless
cautious to preserve the wiiole  frame in health, vigour,
and activity;  and permit the body to have free power
to  perform  those offices which nature intended:  for
the infringements of  her laws  are always  fatal in
their consequences upon health;  the  Deity requiring
no artificial  means to alter or increase the beauty and
perfection of his work.
  Beauty of complexion, and, to a certain  extent, that
of shape also, is nothing more than visible health, re-
presenting in a pure  mirror the perfect  performance
of the  internal functions, and  of  their harmony with
the external portions of the system.   These are the
effects of pure air, cheerfulness, temperance, and exer-
cise, uninterrupted by any species  of unnatural con-
straint.
  If what I have said to you, grounded on years of
reflection  and observation, and more fully established
by  the death of thousands; and no doubt confirmed by 
TIGHT LACING.              OSl
your own experience, will at once establish the truth
of my remarks, and emancipate your minds from such
ignorance and opposition to the laws of nature, and put
a stop to a violation  of the sacred law7s of divine reve-
lation, which forbids self-destruction, I shall rejoice.
  At Paris, in  France, at the great  hospital  Hotel
Dieu, a young girl, of eighteen years of age, presented
herself for advice to M. Brocket.   On the right side
of her throat was a  large tumour of variable size.   It
reached  from the collar bone  as high as the thyroid
cartilage, called in common language Adam's apple.
When  this tumour was pressed downward  it  disap-
peared, but returned as soon  as the pressure wras re-
moved.  It was quite indolent, soft, and elastic, and
always largest when the chest was tightly  laced in
corsets;  by placing your ear on it, the murmur of re-
spiration or breathing could be distinctly heard in the
tumour, which proved that a protrusion of the  lungs
had taken  place;  or in other words,  the poor girl had
been laced so tightly, that her lungs,  having no  longer
sufficient space to  move in their natural positjon, w7ere
squeezed out of it, and were forcing their way up along
her neck.
  I  have given you two plates, so as to afford you an
opportunity of seeing nature in its proper form.   Both
are accompanied by their skeletons by way of illustra-
tion.
  Fig. 1 represents the outline of the beautiful statue
of the Venus  de Medici: the perfection of a fine  fe-
male figure.
  Fig. 2, opposite, represents the skeleton of the same
figure, with the bones in their proper position; without
being destroyed or laced by corsets out of their proper
form.
3 c 2 
582              TIGHT LACING.
  Now see the difference in Figures 3 and 4, in  con-
sequence of tight lacing; and it will speak a volume
to you, without my urging this subject  on you any
farther, submitting it entirely to your own observath n
of the two figures.
           Fig.  1.            Fig. 2.
 
DISEASES  OF  CHILDREN.
  Surely there can be nothing more painful and dis-
tressing to a mind of sensibility, than to be compelled
to witness, in very many cases without being able to
relieve, the various and often fatal diseases to winch
infants are liable. That most of them are of a morbidly
irritative character, is probably well known to every
physician who has attended to their symptoms; but
what it is that particularly excites  this diseased irrita-
bility in the intestinal canal, it would probably be dif-
ficult for even  the most learned  and skilful of the
profession to determine.
  The foolish and dangerous custom of giving infants
medicine the moment they are born, in order to keep
them quiet, is a practice which ought always to be dis-
countenanced, as laying the foundations of many disor-
ders, sometimes destroying life itself, or entailing on
the constitution  maladies winch last for life.  Various
medicines are given  to  infants, for very foolish and
frivolous reasons, which had better be let alone entirely;
such, for instance, as Godfrey's cordial, Bateman's drops-
fee. &c, all of which contain opium, and do inconceiv-
able injury to infants.  I do not mean by these remarks,
that these medicines are not sometimes beneficial; but to
be constantly  administering them on all occasions, and
fornearly all possible purposes, must convince anyperson
of common sense that they are injurious both to  the
health and the constitution.  By suckling infants, then
                                          583 
584          DISEASES OF  CHILDREN.

feeding or rather stuffing them, and then following up
both by medicines, to  keep them  quiet, their tender
stomachs are kept constantly loaded;  and if they are
not fortunate enough to puke up  part of what they
have been compelled to sw7allow,  fermentation must
and will take place, the stomach being unable to mas-
ter such  a mass, followed by cholics and purgings.
The above remarks are made in terms thus plain, that
they may be distinctly  understood by my readers, and
that they may profit in the treatment of their  infant
children, by their true  meaning.
                  STILLBORN.
  When an infant is born apparently dead, or giving
no signs of life, it is said to be stillborn.  This appear-
ance, however, should not prevent the midwife from
making every possible exertion for the restoration of
the child : by patience and perseverance, thousands of
infants have been restored to life.  If no pulsation or
beating can be felt in the navel-cord, and if there be
marks of putrefaction and decay, I need  not tell  you
that all vour efforts will  be  fruitless.  The  infant in
this oase, where  there is hope, ought to be  separated
from the mother as early as possible, and wrapped  in a
blanket made warm by the  fire.  As soon as possible
after this, its breasts are to be bathed in warm spirits,
at the same  time that you gently apply to its nostrils
spirits of hartshorn.  If these remedies  fail  to restore
the circulation, put it in warm water, keeping its head
in such a position as to prevent suffocation.   You may
loosen the string on the navel-cord, so as to let it bleed-
about  a table-spoonful, when it  must be again tied. 
STILLBORN.
585
While these measures are in operation, you are to pre-
pare a glyster,  made of a table-spoonful of spirits of
any kind, and  three table-spoonsful of warm water;
and if the  child does not breathe, you are to give this
glyster up the bowels with a proper instrument:  look
under the head Glystering.  The lungs are to be filled
with  air, by means of a common syringe, the pipe of
which is to be  introduced  into one nostril, while the
other nostril and mouth are to  be carefully closed;
when you are then by gentle pressure on the breast of
the child to empty them: in this way the lungs are to
be frequently filled and compressed until  natural re-
spiration or breathing takes place.  Sometimes the ap-
plication of a little cold water to the chest will restore
children.  In many instances, when the slightest action
of the heart has been perceived, it would be advisable
to keep up a friction or  rubbing over the body, for at
least an hour.   Cases are stated, and many of them, of
infants stillborn being restored by warmth and gentle
rubbing, even when no signs of life had appeared for
an hour or more after the  birth.  This should, there-
fore,  encourage you  to  persevere,  by every  possible
method, for the restoration to life of a stillborn infant.
  There are instances in which the child is born of a
dark  purple cast, in which the breathing  is scarcely
perceptible, and where death ensues in a few moments.
When these  appearances take place,  the  infant has
generally some defect in the formation of the heart and
lungs.  Doctor Hosack advises, that a bath be made
of oakbark, four ounces of which is to be boiled for a
few minutes in about two gallons of water. When this
bath is prepared, add to it a pint of spirits of any kind,
permitting it to become pleasantly warm; bathe the
child up to the neck in this water.  If it is convenient, 
586
STILLBORN.
you may add to this bath occasionally a table-spoonful
of spirits of hartshorn, so as  to render it stimulating.
When the child shows symptoms of recovery, take it
out of the  bath, and wrap it in warm flannels; and
should the infant be taken in the same way again, you
must  immediately make use of the  bath, after again
warming it.
  TREATMENT OF NEW BORN INFANTS.
  According to the old custom, the moment the
child was separated from the mother, it was plunged
in warm water, or washed with spirits of some kind,
and well rubbed with a tow7el, to remove the mealy
matter which adhered to it, and to prevent  its taking
cold, or perhaps to harden its skin.  These foolish and
dangerous practices have caused the death of thou-
sands of infant children, or produced some other con-
sequences highly detrimental to  their  constitutions.
The  consequences always  are, that by washing and
rubbing the child, you irritate and inflame the skin,
which is at this time so tender, that nature in her wis-
dom has covered it with this mealy matter, to defend
it from injury in entering the world, and to  preserve it
from  irritability and inflammation afterward.
  An infant born in the winter season has more of this
mealy covering than  if born during the summer; it is
also more  thickly covered with it at the arm-pits, the
bends of the joints, and so on, which are more liable to
rubbing or frictional  injury during labour, than  other
parts  of the body : and in addition to these considera-
tions, this covering is intended to protect  the infant
against the action of  the atmospheric air. This cover- 
TREATMENT OF INFANTS.
587
ing is perfectly natural, and should always be permit-
ted to remain until nature herself removes it.  This
will be done in a day or two, without assistance or
artificial means; by which the skin will be left white,
soft, and beautiful, ana the child exempted  from in-
numerable diseases;  diseases which by the old custom
of washing and rubbing would almost invariably ensue.
By the  old custom,  the skin is greatly irritated and
inflamed, then becomes of a dark red  colour, and after-
wards  breaks out with  those  eruptions or pimples
which usually appear on children, called red gum.
   Every person of common sense must know that the
application of spirits of any kind, especially wiien rub-
bed  on  the head and  body of a grown person, will
produce smarting and  give pain.  Now, I ask what
must be the consequence to an infant, whose skin is so
delicately tender, that  nature herself has shielded it
from the  atmosphere,  until it  will bear the change
without injury.  In many cases of grown persons, the
application of brandy  to the head, and washing  the
body with  it, have been known to produce inflamma-
tion of the brain, or lungs, or  bowels; the evaporation
from the surface being so great, as to induce a degree
of cold  sufficient to stop the perspiration or sweat.  In
infants this evaporation produces inflammations of  the
bowels,  or of  the lungs, and  sometimes of the mem-
brane which  lines the  nostrils, by which the child is
afflicted with a disease called the snuffles.
  The proper plan, and the one now practised  in  the
different lying-in hospitals throughout Europe and the
United  States, is simply the  following.  Cleanse  the
face with tenderness and caution, with a little milk and
water made  pleasantly warm:  then cover the body
with thin muslin, over  which is to be put the flannel. 
  588         TREATMENT OF INFANTS.

  In a day or two the mealy covering will  entirely peel
  off, and nature in due time will exhibit a  healthy, deli-
  cate,  and beautiful skin,  free from any disease, and
v entirely exempt from  all  those  painful  and  eruptive
  diseases to which infants are usually subject, from the
  old method of treatment.
                  MECONIUM.
  When a child is first born, its bowels are filled with
a dark coloured greenish matter, called by physicians
meconium.  In a short time after its birth, or as soon
as it commences sucking the first milk from its mother,
(which milk seems by nature to be intended to remove
this dark coloured or greenish matter from the bowels,)
it is almost immediately discharged by a  stool.  This
is the reason, and I think an amply sufficient one. why
children should be put to the breast as early as possible
after their birth.  Sometimes the milk in the mother's
breast is rather slow in  coming: or  from some  parti-
cular cause, the child will not suck the breast, and con-
sequently  it will not discharge by  stool this matter
from the bowels which I have described.  It will then
be necessary to give it something to  open  the  bowels,
such as a  little molasses and water, which should be
given frequently until the bowels are properly opened.
Or you may  obtain  from any doctor's shop a  small
piece of manna, about the size of a walnut, and  dis-
solve it in>a gill of boiling water, and when it becomes
cool, give the infant a tea-spoonful frequently, or until
it operates freely.   Or you may, if these remedies fail,
give a tea-spoonful of the  best castor  oil, which will
remove the meconium immediately.  The two first 
s
                   meconium.                589

being the most simple remedies, should always be used
first.  Sometimes, but the cases are not  frequent, this
necessary discharge is prevented from passing, owing
to the fact  that the fundament, from some defect or
other cause, is stopped up.  Such cases require  the
immediate aid of an eminent physician, to examine and
remove such difficulties or obstructions.
MALFORMATIONS,  OR ORIGINAL IMPER-
                  FECTIONS.
  Immediately after the birth of an infant, examine
its body and limbs, and particularly its private parts:
because children are not  all born  perfect in these
respects.   The passages of infants are sometimes closed
up with slime or tough matter, which require  the aid
of surgical operations to open them, before they can
pass either their stools or their urine.  Great care and
attention,ought alwrays to be paid by parents to these
examinations.   Sometimes the  parts which decency
forbids me to name are entirely closed up by  malfor-
mation or deformity of those parts; these cases, how-
ever, are very rare  and unfrequent; and I need not tell
you, that in them no human  assistance  can afford
relief.
  Ruptures are very common among new-born  infants,
particularly about  the navel.   When these ruptures
are very early observed, they may speedily be removed
by bathing the body frequently  with cold  water, and
attending to the child's bowels: in other words keeping
them regularly open.  If the rupture should be at the
navel, apply a piece of adhesive plaster, so as  to give
support to the parts; but by no means apply a bandage,
  3D 
590              malformation.
which will do injury to the delicate and  tender parts
by the pressure.   The fact is, that the constant appli-
cation of cold bathing, as the infant advances in  age
and strength, will always remove these early ruptures.
  Tongue-tied.—In this case, the tongue is confined to
the roof of the mouth, by a small cord which prevents
its motion.  Sometimes, indeed, the tongue  is so con-
fined that the infant cannot suck.   But I have some-
times known children cut for it where it did not exist;
therefore great caution ought to be used in  this opera-
tion, although it may be a  very  simple  one.  If the
physician, or other  person who cuts  this small cord,
does not understand it properly, or does it carelessly, so
great a quantity of blood may be lost as to prove fatal
to the child.  As many women are very uneasy, re-
specting their children being tongue-tied, I will inform
them that they are often alarmed  unnecessarily, and
have their children operated on  when they are not
tongue-tied.  A very simple method of discovering its
situation is, by putting the end of your finger in the
child's mouth:  if it is able  to clasp it with the same
force it would the  nipple, or the end of the tongue
moves, it does not require cutting.
  Hare-lip.—There are different kinds of hare-lip, dis-
tinguished under  the names  of single and double hare-
lip : and not unfrequently both lips are disfigured by
the opening or space extending along the roof of the
mouth.  When this is the case, it has a very unsightly
appearance, and the operation of closing the lip cannot
be performed, how7ever skilful the physician, with any
probability of success.   But where  there  is only  a
single  opening, or even  double, provided it does not
extend to the roof of the mouth, as t have  described,
the cure or operation can be performed without much 
MALFORMATION.
591
difficulty.   You will bear in mind, that an operation
{which means endeavouring to close up the lip) ought
never to be performed on an infant, until it is a  year
old; for it requires strength to bear the operation by
which it is to be removed.   In  some cases (but  they
are very rare) the infant is unable to suck; if this is
the case, the operation may be performed; but at this
early stage, I should consider the success very doubtful.
The method used in the country of sewing  it up is
highly improper.  The operation to  be performed in
closing up the lip, where the fissure  or  opening  does
not extend beyond the upper part of the gum,  is as
follows:—At  any silversmith's shop have two silver
pins made, something longer than a common pin, and
without any heads to them.   With a  sharp knife  pare
well the edges of the opening; then with one of these
pins, pierce the lip at the upper side entirely through,
in a slanting direction: then pierce  through  on the
other side in the same way.   You will recollect to  take
a good hold, so that it will not easily tear out;  then
with your thumb and finger close together the edges
that have  been cut; now you are to wind tight around
these pins some silk, which has been  properly waxed,
so as to draw it together that it may heal.  In six or
seven days or perhaps earlier, it will heal or adhere
together;  then draw out the pins, and dress it with any
simple ointment or salve, and if properly performed,
the scar in a few days will scarcely be perceptible.
  The feet of infants are sometimes deformed by what
are called club-feet;  if this is permitted to go on with-
out immediate attention, the deformity will  be  very
great, and cannot be removed after the  infant is a few
months old; the  bones of the feet become hard and
firm: whereas, at an early  age, or immediately  after 
592
MALFORMATION.
birth, they are in  a soft gristly state, when, if proper
means are used, the foot or feet  by gradual compres-
sion may be reduced to their natural form in  a few
months, if  the deformity  is not great;  but in  some
cases, a longer time will be required.
EXERCISE OF CHILDREN AND PURE  AIR.
  If you  are  desirous of preserving your  children's
health, and giving them good constitutions, give them
exercise, and let them be frequently in the open air, so
as to accustom their bodies to the various changes of
the atmosphere.   By no  means keep them  in a close
room, or cooped  up as if you were  afraid they would
catch cold at every gentle breeze.  I have never seen
children thus confined whose  health and constitutions
were not through life extremely delicate, and subject
to colds and various  diseases, which, by a contrary
course, they would have entirely escaped.  As an evi-
dence, take two children, let one be clothed  in flannel
and  protected  from the slightest exposure  or change
of weather; feet constantly supplied with  stockings
and shoes, and  not suffered to go out in the least damp
or inclement weather: while  the other is moderately
clothed, perhaps  hardly enough  to cover it with  de-
cency ;  no shoes or stockings; and exposed to all kinds
of weather, even during our inclement winters.  The
first will be pale, thin, weakly, and of a delicate con-
stitution through life, subject to  colds on every change
of the weather;  perhaps not attaining the age of man-
hood, before a breast  complaint commences  its ra-
vages : while the other, full of strength and vigour, and
a cheek like a rose, with  healthy constitution, exempt 
             EXERCISE  OF CHILDREN.          593

from colds, and  free of every disorder, reaches a good
old age without an hour's sickness.  Are we not fur-
nished daily with evidences of this fact ?   Why then
take pains to throw obstacles in the wray ?  If children
were permitted to exercise freely, and not have so much
unnecessary care bestowed upon them after a certain
age ; or, in other words, when able to run about  them-
selves, parents would be blessed  with  a more healthy
and  vigorous offspring, and have very little necessity
for doctors and medicines.  By the use of cold bathing,
or, in other words, washing the  child in cold water,
you will, in a great measure, prevent  the galling and
excoriation which frequently occur about  the groins
and  privates, in the neck, behind the ears, &c, which
are produced by the sweat or urine.   The parts, after
being washed in cold water, should be suffered to dry,
and  a little fine  starch dusted  upon them; this will
very much relieve the child.
                THE SNUFFLES.
   This stoppage of the nose is quite common in young
children.   It frequently prevents them from breathing
freely ;  and they cannot suck or swallow without con-
siderable difficulty.  This is quite a simple complaint,
which will be speedily removed by giving the infant a
purge of castor oil, (about a  tea-spoonful is  a dose,)
and  bathing its feet or body in water made pleasantly
warm ;  and for a  few days keeping its head  a little
warm.  A little lard or sweet  oil may be rubbed upon
the nose and around the nostrils.
  3D 2                 1-5 
594
RED GUM.
                THE RED GUM.
'•  The red gum breaks out in small  pimples on the
 skin, generally  of a red, but not unfrequently of a
 yellow appearance.  This complaint appears princi-
 pally on the face and neck ; but it sometimes breaks
 out on the hands and legs, and the pimples contain not
 unfrequently a white clear matter.  It would be highly
 improper to use any means outwardly to remove it, for
 by so doing you might suddenly drive in the complaint,
 and thereby destroy the life of the infant.   The child,
 while labouring under this disorder, should be pre-
 vented from being exposed to the cold air.  The only
 danger in this disorder is in driving it in ; when this is
 the case, the infant is greatly distressed in the bowels,
 screams, and cries constantly; and  not unfrequently
 has fits.  In the management of  this disorder, you are
 to keep the infant's bowels open with a little magnesia
 and rhubarb,  (for the  dose of either of these medi-
 cines, see table,) or a tea-spoonful of castor oil may be
 given.  Should  the disorder suddenly disappear, and
 the child  become sick from it, put jt  immediately in
 warm water, and give it one or  two drops of  antimo-
 nial wine, in  a little sage tea.  This may be repeated
 every hour or tw7o, until  a moisture  on the skin is
 produced, and the pimples or eruptions brought out
 again on the body.
                YELLOW GUM.
  This is a disorder similar to the jaundice, and takes
place with some infants a  few days after their birth;
it is known by a yellow tinge of the skin, high coloured 
YELLOW GUM.
595
urine, and  a constant desire to sleep.  This simple
complaint can be removed by a gentle puke of one or
two grains  of ipecacuanha, mixed with a little warm
water, and  in a short time  followed  by  some mild
purge.
                    THRUSH.
   The thrush or sore mouth, is a very common dis-
ease in early infancy.  The child suffers a great deal
of pain in sucking, and frequently this complaint is at-
tended with some  fever.   This disorder appears in
small white spots on the tongue, corners of the lips, and
inside the cheeks, and by degrees spreading itself over
the whole inside of the mouth and throat; and in some
cases extending down through  the stomach and navel.
If the white spots on the tongue resemble coagulated
milk, or, in other words, look as if the child had been
eating curds, and that some of them remained sticking
on the tongue, you will know by this appearance, that
the thrush or sore mouth is commencing.  The thrush
is produced from acidities  in the stomach and bowels,
occasioned from some particular quality of the milk,
which disagrees with the infant, or from improper food.
Those children who are raised by hand are more sub-
ject to this  complaint, which shows plainly that it is
the food which disagrees with the stomach and bowels,
and  brings on the thrush or sore mouth.  The  reme-
dies  are  then  very plain  and  simple; attend to the
stomach and bow7els first, before you use any astringent
washes; after which it will be proper to use a wash
for the mouth,  made of a little borax, honey, and alum,
dissolved or  mixed  in a small  quantity of sage tea 
596
THRUSH.
Then, with a rag tied to a stick,rub or wash the mouth
with this preparation, two or three times a day;  regu-
larly persevering in washing, while any appearance of
the disease remains.   To regulate  the  stomach and
bowels, give equal quantities of magnesia and rhubarb:
for doses of either of these medicines, refer to the table.
               CONSTIPATION.
  Constipation means costiveness, or being bound in
the body, so that the infant cannot pass its stools.  This
complaint is sometimes hereditary, or natural to  the
child;  when this is the case, and it does not  exceed
proper bounds, it may not require the use of any re-
medy ; but should  the infant's health  begin to suffer
from frequent attacks of cholic,  flatulence,  &c, it
should  be strictly attended to, as it may  produce con-
vulsions or fits, inflammation of the bowels, or other
diseases of a  difficult and lingering nature,  thereby
establishing this costive habit of the body for life.
  If the predisposition descended from a mother of the
same habit, or, in other words, if the mother herself is
subject to being bound in her body, the  child may be
relieved  for a short  time, but it will again  return.
When  this is the case, the mother,  if possible, should
change the quality of the milk, by  being attentive to
her diet, and take occasionally some mild purge, which
will alter the  quality of her milk; for  this purpose
there is no medicine superior, or more innocent than
magnesia and Epsom  salts, of equal quantities, mixed
and ground very fine in a mortar.   Of this take a tea-
spoonful or two in a tumbler of cold water of a morn-
ing on an empty stomach.   When the constipation 
CONSTIPATION.
597
originates from the child's food, it must be changed, and
simple medicines given  occasionally, to act as a mild
purge, such as magnesia, rhubarb, manna, sweet oil, or
castor oil;  either of these  may be given; for doses of
either of these medicines, see  table.  But if the cos-
tiveness is obstinate, a  little aloes pounded  fine and
mixed with honey and molasses, will procure a passage
or stool.   Or you may give a laxative glyster, made of
a little warm water, in which put a tea-spoonful of
lard, and with a  glyster pipe or syringe throw or squirt
it up the fundament.  In administering glysters, you
are to recollect that they should not be given hot, but
milk-warm;  by giving them hot you increase the dis-
order, and do serious injury to the child; this is a mis-
take which is often made, and the consequence both to
children and grown persons, when glysters are given
hot, is extremely dangerous.   For directions  as to
glystering, look under that head.
           CHOLIC  IN CHILDREN.
  Whenever the child cries, the general practice is to
suckle it, or feed it, by which its stomach is kept con-
stantly loaded,  and being unable to digest the food,
cholical pains,  griping, and purging are the conse-
quences.  The suffering of the infant in such cases
beino- very acute or painful, recourse is had to Bate-
man's  drops or  Godfrey's cordial, and sometimes
laudanum, or paregoric, all of which contain  opium,
and relieve the little sufferer for a short  time; when
the cholic or griping again returns.
  " From my experience in the diseases of infants,"
says a distinguished writer  in the New York Medical
f-N 
598
CHOLIC  IN  CHILDREN.
Inquirer, " 1 am satisfied that these  complaints, if not
produced, are nevertheless  cherished  by the causes
already mentioned.  I have in my practice been in the
habit of administering ipecacuanha in the dose of one
grain, so as- to produce puking in  imitation of that
-excited by nature; and I am happy  in  saying that in
no instance did it fail to produce the desired effect; that
in some obstinate cases, it has acted like a  charm, and
that  the parents declared it must have  contained
opium.
   '• In cases of griping, or violent pain in the bowels of
infants, I have also found the application of the follow-
ing anodyne plaster to the abdomen or belly, highly
beneficial :-—
   "Take of gum plaster three drachms: camphor,
half a drachm ; opium, twenty grains; oil of anniseed,
ten drops;  to be made in a plaster and spread on  ' soft
leather.'
   " Professors Meyer and Reich, of Berlin, employ as
a  principal remedy  in cases of bowel complaints in
children, one drachm of the diluted muriatic acid, in
three ounces of simple syrup, of w7hich they direct a
tea-spoonful to be given about every two hours."
   Cholic generally takes place in  early infancy,  from
the first six weeks to the tenth or twelfth month; and
is  easily known by the infant's suddenly screaming or
crying, and at the same time  drawing up its legs ; if
the  complaint is  severe, the  child cannot urinate or
make water.   If the cholic is slight, and arises  from
'flatulence or wind, give one  or two drops of pepper-
mint, to which, if necessary, you may  add a  drop or
twro of laudanum ; at the same time expose the infant's
belly to a warm -fire, and rub it with the following
•mixture:—Tak£ thfree  table-spoonsful of spirits, in 
CHOLIC IN CHILDREN.           599
which camphor has been dissolved; add to this a tea-
spoonful of laudanum, and bathe the child's belly with
it.  You will also find the application of warm salt, or
bathing it in warm water, valuable remedies.
  *When the cholic originates from acidity, as may be
known by the bowels not being bound, and the stools
of a green colour and  sour  smell, in addition  to the
above means, you should give  occasionally a dose of
magnesia:  see table for  dose: this will  correct the
acidity,  and assist the  discharge of offending matter
from  the  bowels.  You will find the infusion  of
rhubarb, in small doses, given so as to keep  the bowels
gently open, whilst at the same time it communicates  \
tone to  the stomach and bowels,  and  increases the
peristaltic action.  The infant must be kept warm, and
a flannel be applied round the belly, which gives sup-
port to the muscles, and is a  valuable assistant in dis-
eased conditions of the intestinal canal.
         SORE EYES IN CHILDREN.
  Sore eyes are very apt to make  their appearance a
few days or weeks after the birth of the infant, which
occasions it to be fretful and uneasy, and sometimes, if
neglected, may produce blemishes or blindness.  It is
often  brought on by exposure of the infant to large
fires,  or  the  imprudent practice of holding it  to a
lighted candle to keep it quiet.   It  is also caused by
cold ;  and when the eyes are sore at a more advanced
age, it may be produced by cutting teeth.   The reme-
dies are to avoid cold, and exposure to too  much light,
particularly the fire; bathe the eyes three or four times
a day  in cold water, or make the following preparation, 
600         SORE EYES  IN  CHILDREN.
with which you are to bathe the infant's eyes frequently
through the day:  about the size of a common pea of
sugar of lead, dissolved  in a pint of cold  water.  If
this should not relieve it, give  it a purge of castor oil.
The application of lead water  as mentioned, is gene-
rally successful, and a valuable  remedy.
                    TEETHING.
    Children suffer a great many complaints during
  the time of cutting teeth.  Some infants suffer much
' less than others;  but all seem, during this necessary
  operation, to undergo pain and a disordered state of the
  system.
    The symptoms  which go before and accompany the
  cutting of teeth, are  more or less violent, according to
  the manner in which the teeth come through the gum,
  or in  other  words,  the  resistance  which  the  gum
  makes: and to the irritability of the infant's constitu-
  tion, &c.
    When the child cuts its teeth in the most easy man-
  ner, the pressure  of the gums,  however slight,  gives
  pain, and produces an increased  flow of the fluids fur-
  nished by the mouth; the child is fretful and  restless
  during the night; is constantly putting its hands, or any
  thing that it can get hold of, into its mouth.  The
  spittle, which it  is  constantly discharging or slobbering
  from the mouth, when swallowed produces sickness,
  gripes, and looseness; after a short time the corner of
  a tooth is perceived ; but the pain and uneasiness still
  continue for several days, when a second tooth is cut.
    During the time  between the cutting of the lower
  and upper teeth, the  child generally improves in health 
TEETHING.                 601
and strength;  but in a short time is again subjected to
the same uneasiness.  In strong, healthy, or fat child-
ren,  a fever  generally, and that sometimes violent,
comes on before or about  the time of cutting every
tooth; the gums are swelled and inflamed, the eyes
much  disordered, the belly round, the skin hot, and
the child cries constantly, and sucks with much pain;
sometimes it is  unable to  suck, and its sleep is very
much disturbed.  Weakly and delicate children, where
teething is painful and difficult, lose their colour, fret
constantly, vomit or puke  frequently, attended  with
looseness or purging, and become quite emaciated, or,
in other words,  reduced to great weakness.  I  have
discovered that  those children I have last mentioned,
pass  through  the painful  and dangerous  process of
teething much  easier, and with greater  safety than
those who are fat and robust; and have particularly
remarked, that  those children who slaver (vulgarly
called slobber) most, cut their teeth with  the greatest
ease.*
   The treatment during teething, should be a particu-
lar attention to the bowels, by keeping them sufficiently
open; always paying due  attention to  every circum-
stance likely  to promote  the general  health of the
child, such as pure air, exercise, strict cleanliness, food
easily  digested in the stomach, and  taken in small
quantities. As the difficulties sometimes are greatly les-
sened  and frequently entirely prevented by a looseness
coming on spontaneously,  or, more plainly speaking,
of its own accord, it must not be checked, particularly
in children of a fat or full habit, but permitted to go
on, unless  it weakens the  infant too much  or runs to
"excess, when it  may be stopped  by degrees.  But if
the child is bound  in its body, you will recollect that
      3E                76 
*i
602                 TEETHING.

it should take some  laxative  purge, so as to produce
tw7o or three stools daily: for this purpose give two
grains of calomel, to which add three or four grains of
rhubarb or magnesia.  If necessary the  operations of
this medicine  may be assisted by glysters: for direc-
tions. &c, as to glystering, look under that head.  When
fulness and quickness of the pulse, increase of heat,
flushed  face, frequent  startings, oppressed breathing,
immoderate fits of crying, &c, denote  fever, the irrita-
tion of the gums must be removed, w7hich is done by
cutting  or lancing the gum  down to the teeth, for
which purpose a gum lancet must be made use of.
           CONVULSIONS OR  FITS.
  Convulsions  or fits are at all times alarming and
dangerous, and require a very great  variety of treat-  /<
ment:  therefore  procure in such cases a skilful physi-
cian.  But as these fits are  freqently very  sudden, I   ;
shall direct the  means which may be used before a
physician can be obtained, and  I will make some ob-
servations as to the general causes which produce them.
It is not unfrequently the case  for convulsions or fits  *
to come on suddenly : in others the attack is gradual,
and the symptoms so.slight  aj$ to pass unobserved by
the mother or nurse,  In thetformer the child, from
being in the most perfect health, turns of a purple
colour; the features and  eyes  are changed, and the
whole frame is violently convulsed or agitated.   In a
short time  these symptoms are followred by faintim^-
or, medically speaking, by a suspension of the  vsial
pow7ers; after which the child gradually recovers; but.
for some  time  remains stupid  and drowsy.  In the 
                  CONVULSIONS OR  FITS.           603

    latter cases, the infant shows uneasiness, changes co-
    lour suddenly and frequently, the lips quiver, the eyes
    are turned upwards, and it stretches out, the hands
    become clenched, when the convulsion or fits comes
    on.
      Fits are apt to be produced by any thing which af-
    fects the whole  nervous system, or that winch pro-
    duces irritation of any particular nerve; and by the
    sudden striking in of any eruptive disease, such as the
    measles, or any complaint which breaks out on  the
    skin, from improper food, or irritating  substances ap-
    plied  to the stomach or bowels, will produce this  dis-
    order.   These convulsions  frequently  occur  during
    the period of teething; but I have found from parti-
    cular attention to the causes which produce convulsions
    or fits, that worms are  very often the cause  of this
ll   complaint.   But if they take place frequently, and
gj/   with great violence, occasioned from pressure on the
|y brain, or any cause in that  organ, they generally ter-
|r  minate fatally, or cause the child  as he  advances in
%■   years to become foolish.
      The treatment of convulsions or fits must depend
    on the cause which produces them.  If the sudden
    striking in of any complaint, as the  rash, measles, &c,
    or the drying up of any eruption or discharge on the
    body, it ought to be brought out by putting the child
    into a  warm  bath, then  giving  a  dose of Godfrey's
    cordial or Bateman's drops, so as to produce to the sur-
    face the complaint.  If  indigestion or improper food
    ))as occasioned it, give a gentle emetic or puke of ipe-
    cacuanha, or emetic tartar;  see table for dose.   If  the
    ■owels are stopped, or the  fits are supposed  to arise
    from irritating matter of any kind in the body, it must
    be removed by purgative medicines, as  tw7o grains of 
 604          CONVULSIONS OR FITS.

 calomel mixed with five grains of rhubarb or jalap,
 which, if necessary, assist with a glyster;  for the me-
 thod of preparing and administering a glyster, read
 under that head: but if  produced by teething, then
scarify the  gums, or, in other words, cut them down
with a lancet immediately over  the tooth ; this opera-
tion ought to be performed daily, until the tooth  is
through the gum, or the fits cease.
  When worms  are suspected  to be the  cause from
which  the convulsions or fits are produced, the reme-
dies recommended under that head must be employed.
                     CROUP.
   This is a very dangerous complaint, and the rapidity
 with which it  proceeds requires  prompt and imme-
 diate attention, or the disorder will prove fatal in a short
 time.  Of all the diseases to which children are liable,
 croup is certainly the most dangerous.   Every mother
 should understand the symptoms and treatment of this
 disease; as in many instances, before a physician can
 possibly be  obtained,  suffocation is  the consequence.
 The  croup  comes  on with  a difficulty in  breathing
 and wheezing, a short, dry cough, and a rattling in the
 throat when asleep.  In a short time the difficulty of
breathing increases; the face of the child is flushed, and
the veins in the neck are very full of blood, and throb
or beat very fast.   The voice and coughing has a
strange sharp sound, something like  the crowing of a
young cock; the child is very restless and uneasy, the
body is hot, and attended by great thirst, and the pulse
very quick.  Those in whom the face is much flushed,
seem overpowered by a heavy sleep, from which they 
CROUP.
605
are roused only by the violent fits  of coughing.  As
the disease continues, the fits of coughing return more
frequently, and are attended with an uncommon de-
gree of agitation throughout the whole frame ;  the
breathing becomes  more and more  noisy; and  unless
relief is speedily obtained, the infant will die by suffo-
cation.
  The remedy is an emetic, or puke.   The moment
the complaint is  discovered, put six grains of emetic
tartar into six table-spoonsful of warm water, and give
the child about a half table-spoonful every ten or fif-
teen minutes.   The intention is to keep  up a constant
sickness and vomiting or puking.  But if it is a  vio-
lent case, you are to bleed it from the arm, and put it
up to its neck in warm wrater.  But recollect you are
to keep up the sickness at the sj-pmach, and puke it
freely. I have frequently, wThen the croup was severe,
kept the child puking  occasionally through the whole
night, and using now and then the wrarm bath, before
relief could be given.  In this complaint you will find
the seneca snake root a valuable remedy; it must be
given to  the  child  frequently made into a strong  tea.
After using the  remedies I  have already described,
without success, and the disease is desperate, the best
remedy is  calomel, in doses  of forty or fifty grains.
Do not be alarmed at this dose.  I know by experience,
in a hundred instances of the lives  of children  being
preserved by large doses of calomel, which must other-
wise have proved fatal.  Then let me urge upon you
the necessity of laying aside  your prejudices against
this medicine, and not to  slacken your hand in this
trying moment, if you  wish to preserve the infant. So
powerful and  salutary is this medicine, that it fre-
quently relieves the complaint in  ten or fifteen  mi-
      3 E 2 
606
CROUP.
nutes, without recourse  to any other means.  It acts
on the stomach, bowels, and skin.  Smaller doses may
be given  where the complaint is not very alarming ;
when given in smaller doses, you may add a little ipe-
cacuanha, say two or three grains with the calomel,
from winch much benefit will be derived.
  The following simple remedy is highly recommend-
ed by Dr. John  D.  Goodman, an eminent physician
of Charlottesville, Virginia.   The simplicity of the
remedy, and the facility  of its application, entitle it to
a trial.
  " Whenever children are threatened with an attack
of croup, I direct [says the doctor] a plaster covered
with dry Scotch snuff, varying in size according to the
age of the patient, to be applied directly across the top
of the chest, and r^ained there until all  the symptoms
disappear.  The remedy is found to be always effect-
ual when applied to the first and second stages of the
malady.  This mode of treatment was from prejudice
neglected by me, and in one instance in which, with
very considerable difficulty, one of my children was
rescued by the  ordinary treatment. But  on being
urged to make a trial of the snuff plaster, I determined
to make the  experiment whenever opportunity pre-
sented.  This was not long wanted ; and when called
to a child labouring  under all the symptoms of the
early stage of croup, such a plaster, made  by greasing
a piece of linen, and  covering it well with snuff, was
directed to be applied to the chest.  The event was
most  happy; the symptoms of irritation, and  half
crouping cough, ceased  shortly after;  the child fell
into a profound sleep, with gentle perspiration, and by
the next morning was free from all distressing symp-
toms.  The plaster was  reapplied for a night  or two 
CROUP.
607
following, and then discontinued. Since that time my
family has been saved from a great deal of anxiety and
alarm, to which previously they were subject,  as we
were obliged to keep Coxe's hive syrup, tartar emetic,
and  all other articles resorted to, constantly ready to
meet the attacks of the croup, which were very sudden
and frequent in cold wet seasons.  Since then we have
found  nothing necessary but the snuff plaster.  If a
child is heard to breathe hoarsely, or cough with any
thing of a dreadful ringing sound of croup, it is only
necessary to apply  the snuff plaster, and we feel  under
no further anxiety.  Instead of being obliged to watch
with the child all the rest of the night, when once the
snuff is applied, we go to rest again, with a feeling of
entire  security, which wre have never had the least
cause to regret."
            FEVER IN CHILDREN
   The various complaints to winch children are sub-
 ject, being, as I have before mentioned, of an irritative
 nature, will generally produce  fevers, and  although
 severe while they continue, are not frequently produc-
 tive of danger if properly managed.
   A disordered state of the stomach and bowels, teeth-
 ing, exposure to cold, striking in  of any eruption, and,
 in short, every thing which can excite  an increased
Action in the heart and blood-vessels, will produce more
 or less fever.  The treatment of  these complaints has
 already been described.  When these fevers take place,
 cleansing the  stomach and bowels will be proper ; for
 which purpose, give an emetic,  or puke, followed by
 two or  three  grains of calomel, to which add  four, 
608
FEVER IN CHILDREN.
five, or six grains of rhubarb: for the dose of either of
these  medicines, see table; after which,  Bateman's
drops, Godfrey's cordial, or paregoric, at the same time
bathing the child in warm water, will greatly assist in
lessening the irritability of the system, and removing
the fever.
         SCALD HEAD IN  INFANTS.
  This complaint  begins in brownish  spots on the
head, and in a few days forms a scab, and discharges a
thick gluey matter, that sticks among the hair.  The
sores gradually increase, until  the whole head is co-
vered with a scab, discharging this matter,  which is very
offensive.  You are to cut off the hair as close as possi-
ble, and w7ash the  head well every night and morning
with fresh  lime-water.  This  is easily  prepared  by
slacking a piece of quick-lime, of the size  of a hen's
egg, in a quart of w7ater, and when settled, pour the
liquor into a bottle and keep it corked for use.
CHOLERA  INFANTUM,  OR  PUKING  AND
                   PURGING.
  This vomiting and purging of children, called  by
physicians cholera infantum, prevails during the heats
of summer; it is a dangerous and destructive  disorder1
throughout the United States.   Of all the complaints
with which childhood becomes afflicted in its earlier
stages, this is, at least amongst the infantile population
of the country, the most destructive.  When  this dis-
ease  commences,  it  is very rapid in  spreading itself 
               CHOLERA INFANTUM.            609

through  the section of country or neighbourhood in
which it first makes its appearance.  Its desolation or
fatal termination depends very much upon the season,
section of country, and state of the atmosphere.   The
disorder  generally shows itself before the middle of
June,  or about the commencement  of our summer
months, continuing its ravages through the warm sea-
son, gradually lessening in violence as the cool weather
approaches.  Its frequency and danger are always in
proportion to  the heat of the weather; children are
subject to it from the third week after birth, to the
second summer, at which period it is the most fatal to
them.
  Many  distinguished physicians have been disposed
to consider teething the cause of this complaint.  I am,
however, convinced, that this is not the cause of  cho-
lera infantum, or puking and purging.   Yet, in child-
ren labouring under the irritation of cutting  teeth, I
have no doubt this complaint is much more severe than
it otherwise would be; and that it is more easily taken
by them, and that the disorder is more apt to be fatal
in its consequences, I admit.  But that it is brought
about by the causes which I have before  mentioned,
will be admitted by every physician who has taken the
trouble to investigate, or, in other words, to search out
the  original causes of this disease.
  As I have before  told you, the  digestive organs in.
the  early stages of  childhood  are liable  to constant
irregularities and  irritations; but what excites  morbid
irritations in the intestinal canal, is perhaps difficult for
the  most learned of the profession, at the present  day,
to determine.  Yet, whatever influence the irregulari-
ties of diet, teething, or other complaints, may have in
producing this disorder, I am assured from long expe-
                        77 
610
CHOLERA INFANTUM.
rience, that the violent heats of summer, together with
sudden changes, or exposure to a moist and unhealthy
state of the atmosphere, are the usual  exciting causes
of cholera infantum, or puking and purging.

                   SYMPTOMS.
  This disorder commences generally with a purging,
but when severe, the child is seized with a puking and
purging at the same time, when a few moments before
it appeared in the enjoyment of good health.  The dis-
charge or stool is highly offensive, and coloured with a
dark or yellow hue;  the stools now become frequent,
attended  with severe griping; probably the  motions
will be as often as fifteen or twenty times  during the
twrenty-four hours.  So  soon as  the  operation com-
mences freely from the bowels, the vomiting or puking
begins to  cease; over the region  of the stomach the
slightest pressure will give pain, being very tender, and
probably swelled; tongue white, thirst great, a constant
craving for wrater between the times of purging, which
cannot be satisfied.  The skin becomes dry, and from
the child falling away, which it does with great rapidi-
ty, the skin is very much shrunk on the inside of the
thigh; and while the feet are  cold, the head and belly
are hot: pulse small and quick, sometimes full; gene-
rally towards evening the child  is better, but after a
short time the purging commences again.   Counte-
nance pale, wan, and languid ; eyes sunk and dull; the
child moans and sighs much; cannot  sleep; is exces-
sively irritable, sometimes attempting to bite its nurse,
or rolling about its head, or constantly putting up  its
hands to  its face;  the stools  become  bloody.  Even
water itself will produce purging.  The least jar  or
irregular motion gives it pain; noise and light cannot 
               CHOLERA  INFANTUM.           611

be endured.  It will scream on barely being touched*
The gums are black and swrelled; the lips on their
edges are filled with a dark scurf; the  inflammation
takes place;  the  breathing  becomes  hurried  and
laborious; the pulse quick,  weak, and  irregular, and
death closes the sufferings of one of the most painful
and distressing diseases.

                    REMEDIES.
  When this complaint is about to make its appear-
ance, which you will know  by a purging, a white
tongue, skin dry and hot, slight fever attended  with
gripings, and occasionally accompanied with cramps of
the abdominal and other muscled, nothing is of greater
service than a gentle emetic in the morning, followed
by a dose of calomel, mixed with a small quantity of
ipecacuanha at night.  For  medicine doses, see table.
The emetic not only cleanses the stomach, but pro-
duces a soft moist state of the skin.   The calomel and
the ipecacuanha, as I have described, will greatly lessen
the severity of the  disease, and  not unfrequently en-
tirely check it.  But should  there continue looseness
of the bowels, with a dry skin  and wakefulness, you
are to obtain at a doctor's shop, a phial of wine of ipe-
cacuanha, which is nothing more than the ipecacuanha
steeped or mixed in wine: of this medicine, give the
child aafew drops through the day, in a little'warm tea
of any "kind: this will produce  a gentle moisture, or,
in other words, a moist sweat.  At night give a dose
of paregoric.  For dose of this, or any other medicine,
refer to the table.   The warm bath, that is, bathing the
whole body of the child once or twice a day in warm
water, will be found a valuable remedy, and greatly
assist  in  the cure.   Many children  have entirely 
612            CHOLERA INFANTUM.
escaped this dangerous complaint by using daily the
warm bath.  By following the directions I have laid
down, in a great many cases the  complaint will be so
relieved as to render the further use of medicine unne-
cessary.
  When the  remedies which I have mentioned, fail,
which is sometimes the case, give occasionally a  dose
of calomel, to w'hich add a little ipecacuanha.   As soon
as the  medicine  has  purged the  child, or, in other
words, it has had three or four stools, you are to give a
little paregoric, in which put a few drops of the wine
of ipecacuanha.  This moderates the operation of the
purge, and brings on a gentle moisture or sweat of the
skin.  You will find great benefit  from covering the
child's belly with carded cotton, over which you are to
put a broad bandage, drawn moderately tight.  The
cotton thus borne  will check the purging.  Should the
child  be teething  when  it  takes  this complaint,
immediate attention ought  to be  paid  to the gums,
and cut,  if necessary, when the  teeth  cannot  pass
through them.  If the emetic or puke  which  I have
directed  should happen to act too severely, you can
easily stop it by giving a dose of paregoric or laudanum,
in a little  tea made of cinnamon.  So  distressing in
some cases are the effects of vomiting and puking, not
from the emetic, but from the disorder itself, that you
will be under the necessity of seeking means to check
it;  for this purpose there is nothing better than weak
lime wrater and new milk, in which put a few drops of
laudanum  or paregoric, or apply green peach  tree
leaves, beat up, over the stomach and the breast;  this
is a valuable application for  putting a stop  to  bilious
vomiting : sulphuric ether is also a good  remedy.   If
these, however, should fail in removing  the vomiting 
CHOLERA INFANTUM.
613
or puking, a blister applied over the pit of the stomach
will scarcely ever fail.  This last remedy should not
be applied until a fair trial is given those which pre-
cede it.
             WHOOPING  COUGH.
  This complaint occurs only once during life, and is
contagious or catching.  It prevails during the winter
and  spring months, and its being mild or severe  de-
pends  very much on the atmosphere.  When  the
winter  and spring are extremely  cold and wet,  the
whooping cough is generally severe, but on the con-
trary it appears under a much milder form.

                   SYMPTOMS
  Whooping cough commences like a common cold,
and  as it  gradually advances, the breathing becomes
more hurried and difficult, the voice hoarse, attend-
ed with cough,  and  great thirst; after a few days a
strange whooping  sound is made whenever the child
draws  a long breath, followed immediately  by  the
cough.  The agitation of the whole system is such
at this  moment that the  child lays hold of what-
ever is nearest, in order to support himself during  the
fit of coughing; after which  he pukes or spits up a
tough, frothy, slimy mucus, and is for a short time  re-
lieved.
  The treatment is quite simple: when  you  discover
the child to have taken it, give instantly an emetic, or
puke, of antimonial  wine: see table for  dose; and
should  this puke not lessen the  severity of the corn-
plaint,  you are to give a second, and if necessary, a
     3 F 
614
WHOOPING  COUGH.
third; and if bound in its body, a dose of castor oil.
To lessen the cough, give frequently of the juice of
garlic sweetened with honey, or a tea-spoonful of sweet
oil, to which you may add a few drops of paregoric or
laudanum.
  The whooping cough is generally most severe during
night:  to allay or ease the cough, the use of paregoric
or laudanum will be highly necessary: for doses see
table.  I have found great benefit  in my practice by
using in this complaint the  tincture of asafcetklft;
which is nothing more than a small lump of asafcetida
steeped for a few days in a little whisky, or any kind
of spirits; of this tincture you are to give a few drops
whenever the cough is severe, and you will find  it to
allay the irritation of the system, and mitigate or calm
the cough.
  Doctor  Robertson, in the  January number  of the
London Medical Repository,  states  that  of all the
remedies he  has  ever employed  in whooping cough,
friction—Which means rubbing—on the region of the
stomach with the tartarized  ointment, has  been the
most undeviatingly useful:  for as soon  as the pimples
begin to appear on the breast, the disorder  begins to
abate.   This ointment is nothing  more than emetic
tartar mixed with a little hog's lard. For a description
how to  prepare it, look under the head " Tartarized
Ointment."
                   MEASLES.

  The measles generally make their appearance in the
spring season.  It is a contagious or catching disorder, 
MEASLES.
615
 and, like the whooping cough, attacks but once during
 life.
                    SYMPTOMS.
   For a few days before they break out on the body,
 the child complains of sickness; seems dull and heavy;
 very great  thirst;  short, dry cough,  with frequent
 sneezing, as if labouring under a severe cold; the eyes
 look red and much inflamed.  On the fourth day, the
 eruptions, or red pimples, which resemble  flea-bites-,
 make their  appearance on  the  face and neck, which
 soon extend  to the breast, and then cover the whole
 body.  In three or four days they begin to go off; at
 the same time, the  fever which always accompanies
 the measles, begins  gradually  to decline.  In some
 cases, the fever and  cough  will continue without les-
 sening in their violence for several days or a week after
 the measles have entirely disappeared.

                    REMEDIES.
   As  soon as  the sickness or drowsiness is observed,  £
 and you have cause to apprehend, from the symptoms
 I have already described, that your  child is about to
 take the measles, open the bowels by castor oil, so as to
 procure two or three stools: the next evening (for it
 is at this time the fever is at the highest) give a gentle
 vomit, or puke of antimonial wine.  You will  find, by
 giving gentle  pukes, that the child will be greatly re-
 lieved, by lessening the fever and oppression; this
 being the cause of the  drowsiness and stupor.   If the
 vomit should both puke and purge, so much the better,
 for the child will be the sooner relieved. When fye
 fever and cough continue for a few days after the mea-
 sles have entirely disappeared, a dose of castor oil will
' be proper, and which  should be  occasionally given 
616
MEASLES.
during its continuance.  About this time  there is a
dark and offensive matter remaining in the bowels that
produces this fever, and which ought and must be re-
moved by means of these, gentle purges.   You  will
always know if the fever continues, by the dulness,
thirst, and want of appetite.  Sometimes the measles
and whooping cough attack the child at the same time;
when this is  the case, a physician should be imme-
diately called, as there  is considerable danger.
  The diet in this complaint ought to be low; such as
mush and boiled milk, chicken soup, &c.  Nothing to
be taken cold or hot, but moderately w7arm.  Exposure
to cold or damp must be avoided, or the disorder  may
strike in, which would be very dangerous.  Let the
child be kept in a room neither hot nor cold, but of a
pleasant temperature.  And you are to recollect that
spirituous  liquors of any kind,  administered in any
way, is highly improper.   Bleeding is  sometimes ne-
cessary when the inflamniatory symptoms  run  high,
or the cough is very severe; but it ought always to be
performed, if possible,  under the advice of a  physician.
Blisters applied between the shoulders or on the  sides
will abate the  cough, and may be safely used at any
time during the complaint.
                    WORMS.
  The worms which infest the human body are the
long round worm, the maw or  thread worm, the tape
or long joint worm, and  the fluke worm.   The  long
round worm is called by physicians the ascaris  lum-
bricoides, deriving its name from  slipperiness.  It has
three nipples at its  head, and a triangular mouth in its 
WORMS.                 617
middle.  Its length is from four to twelve inches, and
its thickness, when at its largest size, about that of a
common goose quill.  The body is furrowed on each
side, and the  tail  somewhat blunt.   This worm  is
quite common in children, and not unfrequently crawls
out at  the mouth.  It is generally of a  milky brown-
ish or  ash colour.
  The maw or thread worm, called by physicians as-
caris vermicularis, has a blunt head;  the  tail of the
male is blunt, but that of the female quite sharp and
winding.  It is generally from two to four inches long,
quite small, about the size of a small thread, of a white
colour, and very  elastic or springy.
  This worm  is generally found in the straight gut, or
fundament, most commonly in children, but not un-
frequently it is met with in grown persons also.  They
are frequently found in the intestines or guts, in the
form of a ball, so completely covered with a slimy mu-
cus as to prevent the  medicines winch are  usually
given  for worms  from acting;  or, in  other words,
causing their  discharge by  stool.   In  women they
sometimes escape into the vagina or womb, and thence
into the urethra or  canal, through which the  urine
passes; and they are also  found in the intestines of
children.
  The long thread worm, called, medically speaking,
tricocephalus dispar, is from an inch and  a half to two
inches long, of a clear white ; the head  is  sharp :  the
body of the male is constantly in  motion, in  a curved
or winding form.  The female is straight, with a blunt
head and sharp tail;  they contain a brown  matter, and
generally inhabit the large intestines.
  The long tape w7orm, called by medical  men lamia
solium, is from one to six hundred feet in length: it is
      3 v 2               78 
618*
WORMS.
gifted with the power to contract or enlarge its diame-
ter ;  that is to draw up or increase its size at pleasure.
It rolls itself into a round form, and falls from one side
of the stomach to the  other on turning, when in a re-
cumbent or lying position.   When cramped by  the
position of the  patient, or by hard pressure over the
belly, or disturbed by food which does not agree with it,
by medicine, or some disease proper to it, or tormented
by the approach of death, it leaves its hold, leaps about
and falls as it were into convulsions or fits.
   The broad tape wrorm, called medically bothrioce-
phalus  talus, the head  is  longer than  it is  broad;
scarcely any neck.  Its  body is  flat,  generally from
ten to twenty feet long, and at its  broadest part, from
a quarter to a half an inch across, and of a white colour.
   The fluke worm is about an inch long, and of a dirty
yellowish, greenish,  or  brownish colour; you  will
know it by  examining the worm w inch  infests  the
livers of animals, as the sheep, the hog, the goat. &c,
being the same  worm.
   It  is extremely difficult to say what are the original
causes which produce worms.  It  is therefore impos-
sible that any physician, however  learned he may be,
can determine with any kind of certainty the  origin.
That improper diet.and food assists in producing worms
is correct; but  it is only true so far as this improper
food  deranges the action of the stomach  and bowels,
and weakens their action : for worms seldom occur if
the action of the bowels is healthy, strong, and vigor-
ous.  '• Few infants have worms until they are weaned,
which is to be accounted  for on the principle,' that the
bowels are in better  order during suckling than af-
terwards, when the diet is more varied and indigesti-
ble." 
                     WORMS.                  619

  Tothe learned and distinguished RobleyDunglison,
Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the Universi-
ty of Virginia, I am indebted for the highly valuable
information on this subject.
  Climate, infancy, weakened state of the bowels, and
improper food, favour the production of worms.  That
climate has a particular influence, and  is favourable to
the origin of certain worms, is evident.  A fourth part
of the inhabitants of Grand Cairo have the tape worm;
and in Holland (according to Rosen) it is quite com-
mon.   In the United States it is quite rare.
                  " SYMPTOMS.
  The head is generally affected;  the face is pale, and
sometimes  of the colour of  beeswax: the lower eye-
lid becomes of a leaden colour: itching is felt in the
nose, occasionally picking it; the saliva or spittle runs
down over the pillow during sleep; the breath has a
remarkable bad fetor or bad smell; frightful dreams;
the child cries in its sleep, and awakes with great ter-
ror ; itching about the navel; creeping or tearing pain.
in  the  belly, or a pricking and gnawing about the
stomach ; constant hunger, and yet the system becomes
weak;  frequent itching of the fundament; frequent  #  "  fr
dry cough, with  tickling  in the throat, accompanied
with  slow  fever ; these  symptoms, singly or together,
denote the  presence of worms.
                    REMEDIES.
  A great  many  medicines are daily employed for   t
worms.  From long experience and an extensive prac-
tice, I have had a fair opportunity of testing their vir-
tues, at the head of which stands  calomel, wormseed
oil, Carolina  pink root, sometimes  called Indian pink
root,  or pink roots and  spirits of turpentine: all of 
620                  WORMS.
which, when properly given, are valuable medicines for
expelling worms.
  You are first to commence by giving the child  a
suitable dose of calomel;  for which see table of medi-
cines.  You are occasionally to repeat this  medicine
as long as  the stools have an  offensive smell, and look
unnatural.  On the days between the administering
the calomel, give the child a little aloes, pounded very
fine, and  mixed with honey.  For dose see table.  " I
have never known a case of failure," says a distinguish-
ed physician," when the patient or  child w7as  freely
purged with calomel, and then given either the worm-
seed oil, agreeably to the directions on the  phials in
which it is sold, or the  Indian pink root in tea.  For a
description of this root look under the head Carolina
pink root.  The oil should  be given on an empty
stomach in the morning on a  lump of sugar, and when
the pink root  is used  to make tea of it, by pouring a
quart of boiling wrater on a  handful of the roots, of
which you are to give a  cupful night and morning to
the child;  and to  cause him to take it more readily,
you may add milk and sugar: by this means children
will take it as soon as  any other tea.   Sometimes the
pink root will occasion  the eyes to become sore ;  when
this is the case you are to stop using it until  the eyes
are perfectly well;  this  is produced, as is supposed, from
some other root w7hich grows with the pink root, and
is frequently gathered  with it.  After using  the pink
root for a  week or ten days, give a dose of calomel or
castor oil.  In those species of worm which I have de-
scribed as uncommon  in our country, their expulsion
or discharge is produced by spirits of turpentine in
large doses, requiring the advice and  attendance of a
physician. 
WORMS.
621
   M. Cloquet, a distinguished physician of France,
affirms, that he has seen the  long worm, or the one to
which children are  most subject, evacuated, or dis-
charged by stool, after the belly had been rubbed with
a mixture of ox gall and common soap, oil of tansey or
of camomile,  mixed with spirits in  which camphor
has been dissolved, or garlic ; likewise by the applica-
tion of a plaster composed  of common yellow wax,
litharge, asafcetida,  and  galbanum, applied  to the
belly.
  , Pure air, simple digestible food, exercise, and the use
of all those means by  which the system is strength-
ened, should be attended to; otherwise, as soon as they
are expelled, they will again return.  For this purpose
occasionally administer to the child or person subject
to worms, a simple dose of charcoal in new milk.  Ac-
cording to the  latest and most  enlightened experience
of the  medical schools in Europe, charcoal is  highly
recommended.

    BOWEL  COMPLAINT IN CHILDREN.
  The following recipe may be considered a sovereign
remedy for  that disease which has carried so many
children to an  early grave.
       Prepared chalk               1 ounce.
       Tincture of kino   -    -    1 ounce.
       Epsom  salts   -    -    -    1 ounce.
       Water        ...    i pint.
      Loaf sugar    -     -    -     1  ounce.
Mix, and always be careful to shake it well when given
  Give to a child one year old—one table-spoonful in
the morning, one at noon, and one at night; and in-
crease or diminish the dose according to age. 
       MATERIA  MEDICA;
                     OR,

DESCRIPTION OF  MEDICINES
                  REMARKS.
  I have now given a full and general description of
the important diseases to which  the human body is
liable, and of the various remedies to be used in their
Cure.   I shall now proceed to describe, as far as prac-
ticable, all the valuable roots, plants, and so on, possible
to be included in the work.  I have observed in several
books, purporting to have been written for the use of
femilies, descriptions of many plants and roots, merely
calculated to fill up  and increase their  size; with-
out being of any benefit as medicines, or even afford-
ing any  useful information to the  reader.  I shall
therefore,  mention only such as  are truly useful as
medicines, and whose virtues are  highly important in
the cure of diseases.
           SENECA SNAKE ROOT.
  This root possesses more virtues than any one used
in medicine; and of all the roots used in medicine it is
by far the most valuable.  It is now more than eighty
years since its virtues were made known to physicians,
by Doctor John tenant, who learned its use from the
Scnagaroes  tribe of  Indians.  By rewarding  them
                                        622 
                materia medica.             623

liberally, he obtained their secret remedy against the
bite of the rattlesnake, which he called snake root on
that account.  According to their practice, it was ap-
plied  both outwardly and inwardly: either chewed
and applied to the wound, or in the form of poultice.
Doctor Tenant thought the seneca a  certain remedy
against the bite of the rattlesnake,  but it has since
been doubted.  A reward was given to the doctor for
this discovery, by the legislature of Pennsylvania. The
seneca was recommended by him to be used in pleu-
risy ;  and in this disease it is a truly valuable  remedy,
after the free use of the lancet and the warm bath. Sir
Francis Milliman, Doctor Percival,  and many other
distinguished  physicians  have  borne  testimony  in
favour of its powers as a diuretic in dropsies—diuretic
means whatever acts on the  urinary organs so as to
produce  an evacuation of the water from the bladder
freely.  In croup this is a valuable medicine: and the
discovery of it as such is due to Doctor Archer, of Har-
ford county, Maryland, who first discovered its great
efficacy in that frequently unmanageable disease. My
practice is, in the first instance to employ the lancet,
in the next the warm bath, and in the next  the seneca
snake root, as directed under the head of Croup. Given
in a strong decoction, which is made by pouring on
one or two ounces of the best root, coarsely pounded
with  a hammer, about a quart of boiling water, which
is to  be stewed down  to half a pint or less, in a close
vessel over a slow fire: a tea-spoonful every hour, or
indeed every twenty minutes to a child as  the case
may  be dangerous or otherwise, will answer the effect
in croup.  It is of infinite service if it pukes  the patient
when given in this way; because it brings on a dis-
charge of mucus or tough slime from the mouth and 
624
materia medica.
throat;-which almost always relieves the person afflict-
ed.  It is proper, if the case is a dangerous one, to give
a dose of calomel with the snake root, adding to  the
calomel a small portion of ipecacuanha; in fact, in
this  disease, when very dangerous, I give  large doses
of calomel when  I resort to this  remedy: in  simple
and  gentle cases of croup,  an emetic of ipecacuanha,.
and  the warm bath, will frequently give relief.   A
strong  tea made of this  root, and given as  in croup, is
an excellent remedy for the hives, or for rheumatism
of an inflammatory nature ; and in violent colds it is
an admirable  medicine  to promote perspiratidn or
sweating.  Used in these cases, the best  form is that of
a handful of the root to a quart of boiling water, giving
a wine-glassful of the decoction every two .hours,  if a
grown  person, and increasing or lessening the quantity
as may seem to be necessary.
 : The  virtues of this root, in obstructions, or stoppages
of the  menses or monthly discharges,  are absolutely
incalculable; and every woman should  return  thanks
to the Author of all good, for giving such virtues to this
root  as  are possessed, perhaps, by no other,  in relieving
this  diseased  state of the female system which, of all
others,  is probably the most dangerous.   When  the
menstrual discharge is looked for and does not appear,
four  ounces of the decoction above described ought to
be taken in the course of the day; indeed, as much
ought to be taken  as the stomach will bear  without in-
convenience.    When sickness  to puking  is induced,
which is sometimes  the case when the stomach is weak
or irritable, add in  the  tea or decoction some cinna-
mon, or calamus, or angelica, or a little ginger ; either
of.these, in addition, will cause  the stomach to retain
the decoction :  there is no danger in the seneca snake 
MATERIA MEDICA.            625
root, for I have frequently given it in very large doses
in croup.  The  only difficulty is,  that  it sometimes
passes off by stool, without being productive of its usual
benefits in female cases; the remedies for which will
be spoken of under the proper heads.  But in dropsy,
this purgative effect of the seneca snake root is of great
and important service, as well as its active and power-
ful influence on the urinary organs.  In all  dropsical
swellings it ought to be used very freely, and will al-
ways be found a medicine  of high and inestimable
value.   I will close the notice of this great root, by
observing that it has the confidence of the most distin-
guished physicians of the United States, as well as those
of Europe.  The discovery of its virtues in female
obstructions is due to Dr. Hartshorn, of  Philadelphia,
one of the best men, and whose heart is devoted to the
cause of suffering humanity.
                  SASSAFRAS.
  A particular description of sassafras is  unneces-
sary,  being  known and found in every part of the
country.  The root, bark, or flowers, made into a tea,
is used considerably by the people in the country.   It
cleanses any impurities of the blood, and  if distilled,
affords a valuable oil, which  is a good remedy in rheu-
matism.   It ought to be rubbed on the afflicted parts
in small quantities : and if taken inwardly, a few drops
are to be given on a lump of  sugar, being highly stimu-
lating.  The oil rubbed on wens is considered a good
remedy, and frequently removes them entirely. The
sassafras bark, mixed with sarsaparilla, makes a good
diet drink for cleansing impurities of the blood.
      3G               79 
626             MATERIA  MEDICA.
                SARSAPARILLA.
  This root w7as first brought into notice by the Spa-
niards  in the year 1563, and  was for some time after-
wards  considered a certain cure for venereal diseases ;
[see page 417. where you will see Venereal described.]
It, however, afterwards proved unsuccessful, either for
want of proper attention, or from want of knowledge
how7 to treat the complaint.
  This little root  has excited a great deal of inquiry
and discussion among medical men, throughout Europe
and the United States, as to  whether  it really is or is
not a cure for this  wretched  disease, the venereal.   It
has fallen several times into almost entire neglect, and
as often been again revived into use.  It has, however,
lately been brought forward, with much higher reputa-
tion than it ever held before, and if used in the manner
1 have described in venereal,  may be  relied  on as a
certain cure.   Years of practical experience have con-
vinced me of the fact, even in the worst of the com-
plaint.   I  will go still further, by asserting that the
virtues of this root are not yet fully  known and  duly
appreciated : and I sincerely regret that the limits of
my wrork will not  permit me to go more fully into the
great benefits I have witnessed from its use in chronic
affections of the liver: for a description of which  dis-
ease, see page 303.
  In scrofulous sores, in all  diseases of the skin, and
for cleansing the blood, it will be found valuable.   In
rheumatism, gout, and to stop the effect of mercury, or
to remove any bad consequences which have been pro-
duced  hy  its  use, the  sarsaparilla is  also good.   In
weakness  of the  stomach, called  dyspepsia, (see  that 
MATERIA MEDICA.
627
 head,) it is  an excellent  remedy, by giving tone and
 strength to  the bowels and stomach.  The method of
 preparing it is simply  boiling, after washing it clean,
 in the proportions of an ounce of the root, split and
 finely cut up, to two quarts of water, which must be
 boiled down to one quart, and suffered to get cold be-
 fore  it  is taken.  Take of it from a  pint to a quart
 daily, or as much as the stomach will bear.  The bark
 of the root contains the  virtues.  You must obtain it
 sound ; and  recollect always, that it loses its powers by
 being kept any length of time.  The tea should always
 be made fresh every day.  Sarsaparilla grows plenti-
 fully, and may be found generally along creeks, and on
 the banks of rivers.  It is a small running vine when
 torn from the ground, and extends some distance from
 the head, wmich is of a dark browm colour on the out-
 side, and a pale white within, and is bitter to the taste.
 When cut into short pieces it splits easily.  The main
 vine is about the size of a common goose-quill.  It is a
 native of the Spanish West Indies, from whence it was
 formerly imported, until discovered to be also a native
 of the United States.  The imported root is not quite
 as large as ours, and is of a darker  colour and much
 wrinkled on the outside.  It may be considered as one
 of the most valuable roots in the country, and although
 possessing great power, is entirely innocent.  It ought
 most certainly to be used in all cases in which mercury
 has had any  effects on the system, or in which there is
 the least doubt that any infection lurks  in  the  system
connected with venereal. 
 628             MATERIA  MEDICA.

             JAMESTOWN WEED.
   Sometimes called jimson, thorn-apple, stink-weed :
 and, by the learned, usually called datura stramonium.
 Whether this plant is a native of the United States or
 not, cannot at this late period be known ; nor is it ma-
 terial that the fact should be ascertained, because it is
 now found in every part of the American Union, from
 the state of Maine to the Mexican gulf, and from the
 Atlantic sea-board to the Rocky, or Oregon mountains.
 It was first noticed by the original settlers of Virginia,
 at Jamestowm, from  which  circumstance it took the
 name which  I have adopted.  Beverly, who in very
 early times wrote a  history of the first settlement of
 Virginia, thus speaks of its effects on a party of British
 soldiers, who  had eaten of the leaves of the Jamestown
 weed as boiled greens.  " One would blow up a feather
 into  the  air,  whilst another w7ould dart straws at it
 with great fury; another would sit stark naked in  a
 corner of the room, grinning like a monkey, and making
 mouths at the company;  w7hilst another w7ould caress
 and paw  his companions, and sneer in their faces.  In
 this frantic condition they were confined, under the
 apprehension  that  they might  destroy  themselves,
 though it was observed that all their actions were those
 of innocence and good-nature.   They were  by no
 means cleanly, and would have wallowed in their own
 excrements, had they not been prevented.   After the
lapse of ten or eleven days, their senses again returned,
without their  being able to remember any thing that
had occurred  in the interim."  I will give for the satis-
faction of my readers some account of the discovery of
the medical properties  of the  Jamestown weed, and
also adduce several cases in proof of those medical 
MATERIA MEDICA,             629
 properties,  abridged  from the  account  of  Doctor
 Storck, whose authority may be relied on.
   " In the months of June, July, and August,  I  ob-
 served in the neighbourhood of Schcenbrunn," says the
 doctor, " great quantities of the datura stramonium, or
 thorn-apple.   I  well knew  that this  plant was al-
 together  out of  use  as a  medicine, because  several
 authors had pronounced it  highly dangerous.  On  the
 23d of June, 1760,1  w7ent out very early in search of
 the weed, and gathered a large quantity of it, and re-
 solved to give it a fair trial, notwithstanding all I had
 heard and read respecting its  poisonous effects, and of
 its producing insanity  or  derangement  of mind.   I
 next cut off the roots  and threw them aside; then beat
 the leaves, branches, and stalks in a large marble mortar,
 and pressed out about one gallon of the juice.  This I
 evaporated to the consistence of an extract, over a slow
 fire, in a glazed vessel, often stirring it with a wooden
 spoon to prevent  its burning; and the extract, when it
 became cold, I found to be a black brittle mass.  I
 laid a grain and a half of this  extract on my tongue,
 dissolved  it against the  roof of my mouth, and  swal-
 lowed it down.   It neither produced disorder of my
 body,  nor the  least derangement in my intellectual
 faculties.   After  making several experiments on my-
 self, and perceiving no manner of disorder, I concluded
 that the extract  could be  safely given to patients in
•small doses.  We happened at that time to have a case
 in the hospital, in which  it night be presumed this
 extract of thorn-apple (vvhich  Use reader will please to
 remember we call Jamestown w7eed) w?ould be of ser-
 vice.   Before  using it, however, I consulted  both
ancient and  modern  writers,  and all to no purpose.
They had all laid  it down in explicit terms that it
      3 a2 
630
MATERIA MEDICA.
would disorder the mind, destroy the ideas and me-
mory, and produce convulsions.  These were all dread-
ful  effects: but  notwithstanding a query suggested
itself to my mind in the following form : ' If the thorn-
apple,  by disordering the mind, causes  madness in
sound persons, may we not try whether, by changing
and disturbing the ideas and common sensory, it might
not bring the insane, and persons bereft of their rea-
son, to sanity, or soundness of mind, and, by a contrary
motion, remove convulsions in the convulsed.'   This
notion, I confess, w7as far-fetched, yet it was not  with-
out some good  success.   The  experiments I  made
were as follows:—
  "Case 1st. A girl aged twelve years  had been dis-
ordered in her mind two months ; she answered con-
fusedly when asked any questions, and what words she
did utter were very imperfectly articulated.   She was
sullen and refractory, and could be prevailed on by no
means to do any thing.    All the medicines she had
taken had produced no effect.  I gave her half a grain
of the extract morning and night, and made her drink
after each dose a cup of tea, or some veal  broth.  On
the third w7eek she began to  be  less sullen; returned
more rational answers, and spoke distinctly.   In two
months' time, continuing the use of the same medicine,
and giving three  doses each day,  she began to  reason
extremely well,  and said her morning and evening
prayers with a clear and distinct  voice;  gained  a goo<J
memory, and gradually recovered her understanding.
  " Case 2d. A  woman over forty  years of age was
afflicted with  vertigo, or dizziness  of the head, and
could find no relief from  the me<!icines;  she became
gradually disordered in her mind, and finally a  degree
of madness accompanied her vertigo.  She was brought 
materia medica.            631
to our hospital.  The medicines  first prescribed gave
her no manner of relief.  She began to be raving and
furious;  rose out of bed during the night, and by her
bawling disturbed and  frightened the  other patients:
some of whom she would forcibly pull out of bed.  In
this  situation I gave her, says Dr. Storck, half a grain
of the extract of thorn-apple twice a day.   The first
day she became more composed, but in the night she
turned as furious as ever.  The third day I gave her
one grain of the extract morning and evening, and all
the symptoms became milder. She made some noise
indeed, in the night, but soon fell asleep  again.  On
the fourth  day she  began  to give more reasonable
answers, but soon fell  again into raving fits.  Her
days and nights then became calm and quiet.   On the
eighth day I gave her one grain  of the extract three
times, and continued these doses until the fourth week,
when all her fury was  laid.   Her madness went off;
soundness of mind, speech, and judgment returned, and
she slept as soundly as any of the other patients; yet
the vertigo frequently and suddenly returned upon her
as before, and at times with such violence as to make
her fall down as if in a fit, but she always retained her
presence of mind.  It was enough for the purpose of
my  experiment that the extract of the  thorn-apple
cured her madness;  and perceiving that the  vertigo
was not removed, I forbore its further use.  She lived
five months in the hospital.   All  the functions of her
mind were good and sound, but the  vertigo  turned
gradually stronger, and the fits of it became more fre-
quent, until at length a true fit of apoplexy carried her
off.  I dissected her, and found many of the blood-ves-
sels of the head distended or swelled, and one of them
turned bony, for the distance of  an  inch  and  a half: 
632
MATERIA MEDICA.
 besides which, says the doctor, I found the two anterior
 ventricles of the brain distended greatly, and filled with
 many hydatids of all shapes and sizes.   Hydatids are
 little animals, formed like bladders, and distended with
 a watery fluid.  All the viscera in the rest of the body
 were in a very sound  state.  From these discoveries
 made after her death, it appears that the vertigo of the
 patient w7as an incurable disease; and it  also appears
 that  the  extract of the thorn-apple, or Jamestown
 weed, not only allayed her rage, but cured her madness
 without any bad symptoms."  ,
  I have accompanied the discoveries of  the medical
 virtues of the Jamestown weed by Dr. Storck, with
 the two preceding cases, to prove clearly to m}' readers,
 that in the beneficence of his mercy, the great Father
 of  the universe has clothed  our soil with powerful re-
 medies for curing all  diseases,  and with the medical
 properties'of which it is our duty to become  familiar.
 There is, in my opinion, nearly as much folly and stu-
 pidity in importing costly drugs at enormous expenses
 from foreign parts, while we have their equals at home,
 as there would be in importing bricks and timber from
 Europe to construct  our habitations.   Industry and
science alone can develope the  immense resources of
this unrivalled country, and these we are personally,
morally, and politically bound to employ.
  Every part of the Jamestown weed, exclusive of the
root, (of which we know7 nothing by cxperimenf)when
taken in considerable  portions,  operates  as a strong
narcotic,  or  stupifying poison.   This is, however, no
valid objection to its medic:; 1 uses and properties; be-
cause some of  our  most powerful ?,;edicines, such for
instance as opium and  aee,Mortis, invariably destroy
life  when injudiciously taken.  I am not alone in con- 
materia  medica.             633
sidering this plant as possessing high and  invaluable
medicinal powers; it has been spoken of in terms of
high commendation by many of the most distinguished
physicians of the present age, among wrhom are Barton,
Fisher, Bigelow, and King, of Connecticut.
  Among the Indian nations, the leaves of this weed
are made much use of, especially in  cases of  wounds,
contusions or bruises, ulcerations, and  the bites of rep-
tiles.  The extract of this w7eed, procured in the man-
ner above stated by  Dr. Storck, is valuable  in various
cases  of the chronic  kind; by which I mean those
of long standing; also in all those kinds of epilepsy,
commonly  called  fits: those  especially which  give
warning of  their coming on, or those which  occur at
regular times.  It is also a better medicine than any
thing yet known, for lessening the pain in sciatica, or
hip gout.   The leaves of  the dried  plant,  smoked as
we do tobacco, are of great  use in attacks of spasmodic
asthma, which means phthisic  accompanied  with
cramp.  In making use of this  medicine  internally,
the dried and pounded leaves may be given in  doses of
a single grain.  If the first dose produces no  sickness
or vomiting, you may give a grain of the leaves three
times a day, and even increase the dose each time,
until  the effects are felt  by the patient, or relief pro-
duced.  The extract, however, is always to be prefer-
red, given as before described  by Dr. Storck, the real
discoverer of the medicine.  The bruised or wilted
leaves are valuable in painful tumours, and, indeed, in
most  swellings accompanied with pain.  They are in
these  cases to be applied externally, and in such quan-
tities  as to preserve  their  moisture against the  fever
of such tumours.   The   ointment  made  from the
bruised leaves  is also valuable, and is made by boiling
                       80 
634             materia medica.
them in lard or tallow, straining it well, and setting it
off to cool.
  In the abridged extract from Doctor Storck, I have
shown the value of this medicine in mania, madness,
or frenzy ; and I now say that the value of this disco-
very in  1760, notwithstanding  what  has been said
against it, has been amply substantiated by experiments
of many distinguished men of the present age, among
w7hom are Barton and Fisher; in fact, Barton's experi-
mental testimony alone would be quite  sufficient: and
here I wish it to be distinctly noticed by those afflicted
with epilepsy or fits, that his testimony is clearly in its
favour, as a most powerful remedy, even in deplorable
cases: he has proved the fact from actual experiment.
I wish  the reader also to bear in  mind the following
facts, with  regard  to the value of simple medicines:
the  most learned  sometimes decry their  use, because
there is  not scientific mystery enough about  them to
excite the astonishment of the common people;  and,
second, because they are often abused  by quacks and
pretenders, and men who have not perseverance and
resolution enough to give them a fair trial.
                   DOGWOOD.
  The dogwood is so common throughout the United
States as  to  require no description whatever; it is in
fact to be found in  every forest in our country.   The
dogw7ood bark is generally considered equal to the Pe-
ruvian bark; but I conceive it greatly superior,  not
only on account of our being always able to procure it
fresh  from the tree, but  because the Peruvian bark is
old before it reaches this  country, and nearly, if not 
                MATERIA MEDICA.             635

always, adulterated.  It is among the best tonic and
strengthening medicines to  be found in  this or any
other country.  The bark of the root of the dogwood
tree is the strongest; next in strength to which is the
bark of the body and smaller branches.  In all inter-
mittent fevers (by which I mean all fevers which go
off and return again) it is an excellent remedy; and
the only reason why it  cannot be given in other fevers
is, that when given in actual fever it increases the pulse,
and  by so doing does  mischief; hence you will see
the necessity of never giving it except when the fever
is  entirely off.   In cases where it produces pain  or
griping of the bowels,  a few drops  of laudanum will
remove the difficulty if given with the bark.   In most
cases the dose  in  powder (which is the best way of
giving this bark) is from thirty to  thirty-five  grains;
and  in  some particular cases,  mentioned under the
proper heads, an addition of snake root is to be made
in the proportions of thirty grains of the dogwood bark
to six grains of the snake-root, pounded to a powder.
The wood itself of the dogwood  tree is considerably
used by dentists,  by  w7hich  I  mean tooth-cleaners
and setters, in putting in artificial teeth.   The young
branches stripped of their bark, and rubbed with their
ends against the teeth, render them extremely white
and  beautiful.  These  are tooth-brushes  of  nature's
presenting, and are infinitely better  than those made
of hog's bristles, and filled with snuff, and such other
delightful aromatics!    The  negroes of the southern
states, and  those of the West India islands, who are
remarkable for  the whiteness of their teeth, are in the
constant  practice  of rubbing them with  the small
branches of the dogwood, or of some other tree which
will  answer the purpose. The ripe berries of the dog- 
636             MATERIA MEDICA.

wood, in spirits of any kind, make an excellent bitter
for  common  purposes, and  one well adapted to  per-
sons  of weak  stomachs, taken in the morning.  All
the Indian nations use the flowers at the proper season
in warm water,  or  in spirits, as a remedy  in windy
cholic.  The dogwood boiled strong as a tea or decoc-
tion  is  an  excellent remedy, for horses having  that
destructive disease, the  yellow water,  a  distemper
which carries  off thousands of  that useful and noble
animal every year.  Horses having  the yellow water
should be bled every day freely, and given nothing to
drink but strong dogwood tea.   The powrdered bark
of this tree  makes an excellent ink, and the process is
very simple:   Take half,an  ounce  of the powdered
bark, two drachms of copperas, two scruples of gum
arabic or cherry  tree gum, and  put them in one pint
of rain water; mix  them together, and in a few days
it will be fit for use.  The medical virtues of this bark
were discovered  as  early as the year 1787.  It is an
astringent, and also  a stimulant, and the internal use
of it renders the  pulse alwrays quicker, and often fuller
than it naturally  is.
                 ALUM ROOT.
  This is a native of all the North American forests,
from Georgia to Maine; and from the Atlantic ocean
to the Oregon or Rocky mountains.  It is a very strong
vegetable astringent; by which I mean that when ap-
plied to the human  body it makes the solids harder
and firmer, by contracting their fibres.   As a power-
ful  astringent, it is usually employed in all  cases of
weakness and irritability, and report speaks favourably 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
637
of its virtues.  It is generally used in external appli-
cations more than as an internal remedy, in piles for
instance, or hemorrhages from any part of the system;
by which I mean spontaneous bleedings.
                    GINSENG.
  This root is called by the people in the country
generally, for shortness, 'sang.  'It is found in great
plenty among the hills and mountains of the wTest, and
collected daily for sale.  Some  few years back it was
used as an article of commerce, and  sent to the east-
ward in wragons as a commodity of foreign export, and
afforded considerable employment and profit  to the
gatherers of it who resided near and among the  moun-
tains.  It  has  latterly, however, fallen in price and
value, as an article of exportation, and  therefore but
little of it is brought in for sale.
  This root was exported to China, and afforded to the
shipper a handsome profit; generally selling it  in the
Chinese  dominions  for its weight  in  silver.   The
Chinese attributed great virtues to this root;  so many
indeed, that at one period, 1784, the price at Pekin is
said to have been eight or nine times its weight in pure
silver.   They considered it  as a sovereign remedy in
all diseases incidental to their climate and country, and
had no confidence in any medicine that was not com-
bined with it: and such was its astonishing reputation,
that it  was rarely, if ever, administered to the poor, on
account of the  highness of its price.   They chew it,
and take it in strong decoction, so as to get all the vir-
tue from this precious drug. These people are remark-
able for their superstitious prejudices, civil, moral, and
   3H 
638             materia  medica.

religious:  as a proof of which, they set a higher value
on those roots which have a resemblance to the human
form, and  ascribe greater powers to them than to those
of a different shape.
  The ginseng has been fully tested by the best phy-
sicians in  the United States, and they ascribe to it no-
thing more than its being a pleasant bitter, and a gentle
stimulant  for strengthening the stomach.  It  gives all
its strength and virtues by being steeped in whisky, or
any other  kind of spirits.
              TOBACCO PLANT.
  Called by the learned nicotiana tobacum.  This
very common  plant was found in cultivation  by the
Indian nations, when the continents of North and
South America were first discovered : these, however,
are not the only regions of the  globe  in which it is
found  to flourish : the  East Indies have  long been
known to produce it.  To describe the tobacco plant
would be entirely useless; it would answer as little
purpose as to describe on paper the countenance of an
old friend, with  whom w7e had  long  before shaken
hands, and become  perfectly familiar.  I shall there-
fore  consider it in no other light than as  a medical
drug.
  I shall first  notice tobacco as a remedy for worms.
I do not recollect ever to have tried it myself, but Doc-
tor Barton expressly says—and his authority can in all
cases be relied on—that  " tobacco leaves pounded and
mixed with vinegar, and applied  as a poultice  to  the
breast and belly, will frequently expel worms, in cases
where very powerful remedies have been resorted t 
materia medica.
639
in vain.  In cases, also, where poisons of any kind have
been taken into the stomach, and emetics given inter-
nally, and prove deficient in their operation, the tobacco
poultice, as  just  described, if applied  to  the  stomach
will act powerfully, and force it to discharge  the con-
tents.  In cases where the bowels are  obstinately con-
stipated, in other words, where great costiveness exists,
the leaves of the tobacco plant, cured in the usual man-
ner, stew7ed in vinegar, and  applied to the  belly, will
be attended with signal success, when the most power-
ful purges internally taken have failed. The last men-
tioned application  (tobacco  leaves  stewed in  vinegar)
is  a good remedy in what  physicians call ascites, or
dropsy of the belly, of which there are two kinds:  one
kind  is, where the dropsical water is lodged in the
great  cavity enclosing the intestines  or guts,  &c.—
this is called ascites abdominalis by medical men. The
other  is,  where the  water  is lodged in a membrane,
sack, or tube, about the womb, and is called ascites sac-
catus by physicians.   I will, for the satisfaction of the
reader, abridge a case of the latter kind  from a letter
of Dr. Cutbush, physician  of the American Marine
hospital at Syracuse.  The subject of the disease pre-
sumed by Dr. Cutbush to be dropsy, was a  young wo-
man brought  to him by her  parents.  Some of her
former physicians—thirty-three of whom had been
consulted in her case—were of opinion that her disease
was a collection of water in the womb; others, that it
w7as dropsy of the  ovaria; (these are the parts taken
out of female swine when spaying;) others, that it w7as
an enlarged liver;  and others still,  that it was  an extra-
uterine fetus, which is a case of conception, in which
the child is not in the womb where it should be, but
in the cavity of the  belly, outside  of the womb.  On 
640
MATERIA MEDICA.
examination, Dr. Cutbush discovered a large tumour, or
swelling in the abdomen, or belly,  which extended
diagonally across  it from the left to the  right.   The
swelling, or tumour, which was unusually great, had a
number of inequalities on its surface, which could be
easily felt, and which, when pressed upon, produced
extreme pain ; no fluctuation or movement of water,
how7ever, could be discovered on such pressure.   The
case was new to him; and in addition greatly perplex-
ing, because the first physicians of Naples had given
contrary opinions respecting it, and had also disagreed
in their practice.  She had been under the free use of
mercury twice; once at Naples, and once at Syracuse:
at the latter place mercury had been given  in large
quantities  by  a surgeon belonging to Lord  Nelson's
fleet, without  any beneficial effect.  " From  this his-
tory and examination,"  says the doctor, " I entertained
no hopes of relieving her;  but the solemn entreaties
of her parents determined  me  to make trial of a re-
medy which I had found useful in obstinate tumours,
and w7hich finally proved the disease to be a dropsical
affection of the womb itself, or  of the right fallopian
tube."   [These tubes  extend from  the  sides  of the
womb  towards the ovaria,  which I have before ex-
plained, and are supposed to grasp them in sexual com-
munication.]  "I directed  the  leaves of the tobacco
plant, recently collected, to be stewed in vinegar, and
applied to  the  abdominal tumour."   The first applica-
tion produced sickness at the stomach, puking, vertigo,
or swimming in the head, great depression of muscular
strength, copious  sweating,  and a  loose state  of the
bowels.  Her pulse became low; and the violence of
the symptoms induced  the doctor not to continue the
application long.  On the succeeding day it was re- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.             641
peated twice, morning and evening, and produced the
same symptoms, but less violent; and attended with an
immoderate flow of w7ater from the vagina and womb.
This remedy was continued twenty days, and the pa-
tient was completely cured. No medicines were given,
except a little opium, and some wine occasionally.
  In cases of dropsy generally, the tobacco plant has
been found  very serviceable.   When  given in proper
quantities, it acts as a powerful diuretic; or. in other
words, it produces a great flow of urine ; entirely dis-
proportioned to the quantity of liquor taken into the
stomach.  This is a conclusive proof that it acts upon
and dislodges the dropsical fluid from  the system.   In
cramps or spasms it is also productive of much benefit:
being well known to produce great relaxations of the
muscular powers, and unusual prostration of strength;
on which account it may also be given with advantage
in cases of tetanus,  or  locked-jaw, and, in fact, in  all
cases where there appears to be a derangement of the
muscular energies, local, or relating to a particular part,
or general, and involving the whole system.  When
tobacco is to be taken internally, by the stomach, it
ought  either to be  in the extract, as described hy Dr.
Storck, or in infusion.  The infusion is made  by steep-
ing an ounce of tobacco leaves in a pint of boiling
water, and give it by the tea-spoonful with much cau-
tion.   One, two, or three table-spoonsful, in half a pint
of warm  milk, or  thin gruel, will generally produce
relief,  if given in glysters, in cases of cholic or very
obstinate costiveness, where all other medicines have
proved ineffectual.   If these  quantities produce no
relief,  and there is no sickness of the  stomach, the
glysters must be repeated every half hour, gradually
increasing; the infusion until one or the other of these
       3 h2                Si 
642
MATERIA MEDICA.
effects be produced.  In this way the dangerous effects
of tobacco  may  always be avoided.  I will record a
case in which obstinate constipation of the bow els was
relieved by an infusion of tobacco when all  other  re-
medies had utterly failed: In the  city of Charleston.
South Carolina,  some years since, and before reading
medicine, I was  attacked at night with severe cholic.
which terminated in obstinate constipation of the bow-
els.  The pain was so excruciating that I was com-
pelled to send for a physician :  it was Dr. Whitterage?
a gentleman equally celebrated for his philanthropy
and his profound knowledge of medical science.  Du-
ring a period often days, apprehending an inflamma-
tion, and consequent mortification of the bowels, this
gentleman  resorted to almost every known and power-
ful remedy, without effect.  As a last resort, of which
he candidly informed me, recourse was had to glysters
made of tobacco.  The first, which w7as a weak infu-
sion, had no effect;  and the doctor directed my nurse
to give a strong one at midnight.   Her fatigue caused
her to fall asleep, and it was  neglected till morning.
By this time, the tobacco having remained in the wa-
ter all night, the infusion had become unusually strong,
in which state a  glyster of it w7as given.  The imme-
diate  derangement of my feelings and sensations, and
the horrible  nausea and  sickness of  the stomach I
suffered,  are absolutely indescribable.   I  perspired at
every pore, and  so entire  was the prostration of my
muscular powers, that I had to be held on the close-
stool.  It was with difficulty  that  I could draw my
breath.   In a few minutes, by an almost  unconscious
effort, an extremely fetid discharge took  place from
the bowels, of the colour and consistence of  molasses,
when I was entirely relieved.   Subsequent experience 
MATERIA MEDICA.
643
has taught me to believe that, had this great and good
man applied  tobacco leaves, stewed in vinegar, to the
abdomen, whilst I was under the operation of medi-
cines  taken by the stomach, I  would  much sooner
have been relieved from my miseries.  In concluding
this subject, it can scarcely be necessary to advise  my
readers  that the tobacco plant is an active and power-
ful medicine, and dangerous when used to injudicious
excess.
                THE UVA URSI.
  Sometimes called the bear-berry, the bear's whor-
tleberry, and the wild cranberry.
  The uva ursi—sometimes designated by the names
I have noted above—-is a native of the mountains and
cold regions of Europe, and it is said, of the  northern
parts of the United States.  It is  presumed, from nu-
merous and well authenticated experiments,  to be the
best remedy ever yet discovered in all diseases of the
urinary organs,  whether of the  kidneys, ureters,  or
bladder, and is therefore entitled to no ordinary consi-
deration as  a medicine.  The dose usually given, of
the powdered leaves of the uva ursi, in  any kind of
syrup, is from twenty to thirty grains, three or four
times a day, which may be  doubled in  quantity,  in
cases of extreme urgency and danger.   The  descrip-
tion of this plant, given by the celebrated Galen, which
is considered the most accurate one on record, is  in
substance  as  follows: it is a low shrub, which grows
and spreads itself near the surface of the ground, and
has pensile, or hanging branches;  bark of a reddish or
pink colour, and is thickly set with oblong, oval, and 
644
MATERIA MEDICA.
entire fleshy leaves.  The  flower is oval shaped, and
broader  near the base than the mouth, which has an
edge scolloped into five divisions, with small, blunt, and
curled points.   The fruit is a  roundish, red coloured
berry, similar in appearance to the small wild cherry,
and contains five hard bony seeds, with plain sides, and
no more.  It is an  evergreen, and produces fruit every
two years.   Every part of this shrub, particularly the
bark  and  leaves, has a bitter and astringent taste.  I
am thus particular in the description of it, because the
bilberry, or  red myrtle,  is often mistaken by good bo-
tanists for the uva ursi;  they being  so nearly alike as
scarcely to be  distinguishable  from  each other.  The
only distinguishing characteristics which can be de-
pended on are these : the flower of the uva ursi has ten
stamina, more commonly known by the name of ant-
lers,  or  uprights, and the berries contain  five seeds
only; while the other, the bilberry,  or red myrtle, has
only eight stamina in the flower, and sometimes twen-
ty seeds in  the berry.   I have some doubts, notwith-
standing the opinion of the celebrated Doctors Bigelow
and Chapman,  for both of whom I entertain  a  high
respect, that the real and genuine uva ursi of Galen is
not a native of any known and  inhabited part of the
North American continent; and that its having been
measurably  brought into disrepute, like many other
medicines, has been owing  to the fact of other plants
having been mistaken for it, and  used medically in its
stead.  Galen says  that it is a rare plant, and is only to
be found  in the coldest countries,  and in the neigh-
bourhood of mountains  covered  with eternal snow7s;
and  that he never  met  with it but upon  two of the
highest  mountains  in Europe, one  of  which was an
Austrian Alp, cal^d Gans, and the other  a Styrian 
MATERIA MEDICA.
645
Alp, called the snowy mountain, six leagues from Ma-
rianstein.   We  have no such  mountains in  North
America, unless the Oregon or Rocky mountains, west
of the Mississippi, of whose botanical productions we
know little ; perhaps nothing.  But whether the uva
ursi be an American plant or not, it can always be had
genuine in the shops; and my principal  motive for
mentioning any doubts respecting its being a native of
this  country, is to guard those afflicted  with diseases
of the urinary organs against the  use of spurious or
worthless  plants  in its  stead.  The following  cases,
abridged from a work of high authority, will show the
genuine uva ursi in its true light.
  Case 1st.  "A man about sixty years of  age had
been about twenty years afflicted at times with a dif-
ficulty of making water, which was usually voided by
single drops, accompanied  with exquisite torture, a
fetid smell, and a mucus  mixed with blood.   Some-
times there was a total suppression  of  urine,  which
could only be relieved by the catheter.  He first took
proper laxatives for the relief of the bowels, and then
commenced taking half a drachm of the uva ursi every
morning.   This prescription was continued for seven
complete  months; by which time his urine became
more frequent and full of mucus, but not so fetid as
before; and the pain which had tortured him so many
years, was quite gone; he slept well; had a good appe-
tite ; grew strong; walked well; and made water with-
out any pain.
   Case 2d. ;c This was also a man about  sixty years
of age,  who had for a long time  been afflicted with
exquisite pains, and a suppression of urine to so great a
degree, that for seven weeks he had  never passed his
water but by the help of a  catheter.   Half a drachm 
646
MATERIA MEDICA.
of the powdered leaves of the uva ursi was given him
every morning, and a gentle dose of paregoric at night;
and  after six days he had  no  further  need of the
catheter.  Having persevered in the use of the medi-
cine for fourteen weeks, he  was restored to  perfect
health.
   Case  3d. "A  man  came  to us,  whose name was
Christian: he was afflicted with  hydrocele, or dropsy
of the scrotum, or bag,  for winch he had taken medi-
cines usually given in such cases.   When this course
was finished, a  defect in  the  urinary system began to
threaten: insomuch that in a short time his urine be-
came of a white colour: was passed with great diffi-
culty and pain : and as soon  as discharged had a very
bad and offensive smell.   The catheter being intro-
duced repeatedly, evidently  proved that there was a
calculus, or stone in  the bladder.  The uva ursi was
therefore given in the quantities before noticed; by
which in a short time so great relief was obtained, that
not only a due retention of urine took place, but it was
also passed without pain, and  in smell and colour w7as
perfectly natural; and I assert it, (says the writer,) that
by continuing the use of this medicine for two months,
every calculus sign and symptom was entirely removed;
although by sounding him again, the calculus or stone
was still found in the bladder.  This  is the first, and
the only person, among all I have seen, wiio frequently
made water of a healthy appearance, whilst a stone re-
mained  in the bladder.   How it came to  pass, and by
what means  the  patient should obtain  such  benefit
from this plant as to be entirely exempt from pain, and
other inconveniences, when a stone still existed in the
bladder, is what I must confess myself entirely unable
to explain," 
MATERIA MEDICA.
647
                SLIPPERY ELM.
   This tree deserves great attention, as being among
 the best remedies in our  country.  I have  mentioned
 frequently, that in many diseases it should be used as a
 poultice, and in many others as a glyster.  I shall now
 describe  the valuable properties of this tree  more  at
 large.  The inner bark must be used :  and  that of the
 young tree is preferable.   As a poultice, nothing is su-
 perior, particularly in old gun-shot  wounds.  During
 the revolutionary war  our surgeons used it with the
 happiest effects.  They applied poultices of it to fresh
 wounds, and always produced immediate suppuration,
 in other words, discharge of matter, and a quick dispo-
 sition to heal.   When any appearance of mortification
 was evident, the bark was pounded and boiled in water,
 and made into a poultice.   When applied, it produced
 immediately a surprising change for the better.   In
 dysentery and consumptions,  the inner bark boiled in
 water and drank  freely will be found  a valuable me-
 dicine.  It is cooling and soothing to  the bowels.   It
 may be made into a fine jelly, which, if taken freely, is
 a  certain  and astonishing  remedy in  all bowel and
 breast complaints, and may be freely  administered to
 children.  This mucilaginous bark is so nutritive, that
 it supplies the Indians with food in times of scarcity.
 It  is one of the most cooling and pleasant remedies,
 and I  may  add,  that it is not only one of the most
 valuable articles we have, but deserves  the confidence
of every person wiio practises or administers medicine. 
648
MATERIA  MEDICA.
              JERUSALEM OAK.
  From this plant (which grows plentifully in most
parts of our country, and too well known by almost
every person to require a description) the oil called
worm-seed oil is made. This oil has for some time attract-
ed a considerable share of popular favour, as an antidote
against wTorms in children.  It is sold in  almost every
store, under the name of " worm-seed oil;" and persons
who purchase this oil or  medicine, should be careful
that they  are not imposed upon;  because it is very
often adulterated with spirits of turpentine, by which
they are always  disappointed in their expectation of
benefit.
   In its pure and unadulterated state there is  no me-
dicine preferable to the oil made from the Jerusalem
oak for expelling worms from children; but it  must
never be given when the child has fever, because it will
increase the fever, the oil being highly stimulating and
inflammatory.   When this oil is administered, from
eight to ten drops must be given to a child  twTo  years
old, on a lump of sugar:  it ought to be given three
times a day, for three days in succession; after which
you must give a good dose of calomel, say five or six
grains, or a dose of castor oil: the calomel, however, is
the most certain to produce a full discharge of worms.
If no worms are discharged, and they are still suspected
to exist in the system, repeat the dose again, and again,
until you bring them from the child.  A wine-glassful
of a decoction of the Jerusalem oak, made by boiling
it in milk, in the proportion of a handful  of  the leaves
to a quart of milk, is a dose for a child :  but the pure
oil is by far the best. 
MATERIA MEDICA.             649
                   DITTANY.
   This handsome little plant belongs exclusively to
America, and is known by almost every farmer and
his family in the country.   The dittany is always
found in dry soils, and in shady and hilly places; it is
used in slight fevers as a tea: every old lady in the
country has more or less used dittany tea in colds.   It
is excellent to relieve nervous headaches, and is a good
remedy in  the hysterical affections of women.   In
South Carolina and Georgia the dittany is given fre-
quently by infusing the leaves in hot water and ad-
ministering  it as a tea, drank as warm as  possible,  to
produce sweating.   The medicinal virtues of dittany
are much the same  as pennyroyal, mint, and sage:
it is a perfectly innocent plant.
                  MAY-APPLE,
   Sometimes called wild lemon, duck's foot, ipecacu-
anha, and by the learned podophyllum peltatum.
   This plant, which possesses very important medicinal
virtues, is presumed to be an exclusive production of
the  North  American continent: it  is everywhere
found  in abundance on congenial soils, from the state
of Maine to the Mexican gulf, and from the Atlantic
sea coast to the Oregon  mountains.  In the language
of the learned, it is a perennial herbaceous plant; in
other words, the roots do  not perish by the frosts  and
snows of the winter.  The May-apple is well known
to almost every citizen in the United States: it has a
plain upright stem, of a yellowish green  colour, about
twelve or fourteen inches  in height; two large horizon-
      3 T                82 
65(1             MATERIA MEDICA.
 tal leaves at the top, between which, and  in  the  fork
 when in bloom, there is a white flower, which is  suc-
 ceeded by  a  yellow acid fruit.  Respecting the dif-
 ferent properties of this plant, the reader is desired to
 recollect that  the fruit is good for food : the leaves poi-
 sonous : and that its medicinal virtues are wholly  con-
 fined to the root.   The season proper for gathering the
 root, is late in the fall, when the leaves begin to drop:
 if gathered in the spring, it is comparatively good for
 nothing.  The Indians dry it in the shade, and use it
 in powders.
   The American  May-apple  root is  an  excellent,
 gentle, and  effective purge, and is presumed by  many
 celebrated practical physicians  to be greatly  superior
 to the jalap obtained in the  shops.   Practical experi-
 ment has proven that this root operates more gently as
 a purge than  jalap; that it operates a much longer
 time; and that it is by no means so drastic and griping
 as jalap.   It is also preferable to jalap in other respects:
 it is less nauseous, and more easily taken; less irritating
 to the stomach and bowels, and  may  be  more easily
 used by delicate females and persons having weak and
 sensitive stomachs.   It may be  given with much  ad-
 vantage in what physicians call cholica pictoneum, or
 dry bellyache, sometimes a  dangerous complaint; in
 intermittent fevers ;  and particularly in dropsy, on  ac-
 count of its producing continued and large evacuations.
 Taken in a small dose, say of ten or twelve grains in
 pow7der, it  is  a gentle  and easy laxative:  twenty,
twenty-five, or thirty grains  usually  operate  with
activity and  power; and where griping is apprehended,
the mixture of eight or ten  grains of calomel will bo
of advantage. 
MATERIA medica.
651
       CANCER-ROOT, BEECH-DROPS,
  Called  by the  learned,  Orabanche  Virginiana.
This plant is the  natural growth of every part of the
United States : is  usually found under the beech tree,
and is of a sickly yellow, or pale pink colour, and en-
tirely without leaves.  The root, which appears blunt
and round at the bottom, and  is covered with  twisted
and matted fibres on its lower  end, is of a yellow
colour;  the stems and branches are finely furrowed;
and on the ridges  formed by these furrows, there will
be found dark, purple, white, and yellow stripes.  Be-
tween the root and the first divisions of the stalk, there
are blunt-pointed  and bud-like scales winch  stand out
from the surface; and similar ones, but more resembling
buds, are scattered along the branches nearly to their
tops.  The  plant  grows from eight  to fifteen inches
high.  The  reasons for my being thus particular in the
description of this plant, will be presently  seen.
  From the best information I can collect respecting
the history  of cancer-root, it  appears to have been
originally a cure for cancers, used by  the Indians, and
communicated by them to a surgeon of one of the
Pennsylvania regiments  many years  ago  stationed at
what was then called Fort Pitt.   The physician to
whom the secret  was communicated by the Indians,
afterwards came to Philadelphia, and advertised for the
cure of cancers.   He had been the student of Doctor
Rush, who speaks thus of  the application.  " It gave
me great satisfaction  to witness  the efficacy of the
doctor's applications: in several cancerous ulcers the
cures he  performed were complete.  But when the
cancers were much connected with the lymphatic sys-
tem, or accompanied with a scrofulous habit of body, 
652            materia  medica.

his medicine always failed,  and in some instances did
evident injury."  The word  ■' scrofula" is derived from
scrofa, a hog: because this animal is subject to a similar
disorder, which means king's-evil.  The ph}7sician who
had the secret from the Indians  died in  1784, and it
was supposed the secret had died with him ; but Doctor
Rush procured from one of his administrators some of
the powders, and found them compounded of the dried
and pounded cancer-root and arsenic; the proportion
of arsenic, of the pure  white kind, was not more than
one-fortieth part of the whole compound.  Most of the
cures effected by these powders  were situated about
the nose, forehead  and cheeks, and upon  the surface
and extremities of the body.  Cancerous taints of the
fluids of  the body, or  those which  affect the whole
lymphatic system, must be cured by  diet and internal
medicinal remedies. Doctor Rush says that the powder
compounded of cancer-root and arsenic, in  the propor-
tions I have mentioned, and applied in the proper cases
of cancer, produced inflammation, which separated the
sound flesh from  the cancerous ulcer  and its roots, and
that he therefore preferred the  applications  of  those
powders to the use of  the knife, in all such  cases.   I
will conclude  these remarks by observing,  that the
cancer-root is a valuable remedy  in old  and  obstinate
ulcers,  in which  it has often been known to succeed
when all other applications had  failed.   It  must  be
gathered in the month  of September.
                  BONE-SET
  Sometimes called thorough-w7ort, cross-wort, Indian
sage, and perhaps more properly, by the Indians, ague 
MATERIA MEDICA.
653
 weed.  The learned name of it is eupatorium perfolia-
 tum.
   The bone-set is a valuable plant, and cannot  be too
 highly prized  as a medicine.  I regret to say, that at
 this time most of its medical virtues remain unknown.
 It has been used in the hospitals  in New York with
 great success, given either as a tea or in powder.  The
 limited size of my book prevents  me from writing at
 large on the great virtues it possesses: but I will merely
 make this remark, that it is endowed with more real
 and genuine virtues than any plant now known.  The
 stalk is heavy, and rises from two to four feet, perforat-
 ing or bearing the leaves at  each  joint.  The flowers
 are  white, and  appear in  July  and  August.    The
 leaves at each  joint are horizontal, teethed and  rough,
 from three to four inches long, about an inch broad at
 their base, gradually lessening  to an acute point, of a
 dark green colour,  and covered with short hairs.  It is
 a native of the United States, and is everywhere to be
 found.   It  is  generally  found in abundance on the
 edges of ponds which  are surrounded by thickets of
 brushwood; in low and damp woodlands; on the banks
 of small water courses, creeks, and rivulets which are
 deeply shaded by the  close foliage of the trees; and
 sometimes in open meadows, and  waste low lands.  I
 do not know what the name of bone-set was derived
 from; nor do I think it very material that the  reader
 should be informed; because real wisdom and  useful
 intelligence  have much more relation to the nature of
things than the mere names of things.   The medical
properties of this plant are various and powerful; nor
do I believe there is one which is a native of the soil of
 our country, more entitled to the attention and experi-
 ments of medical men.  The whole plant is extremely
      3 I 2 
654
MATERIA  MEDICA
 bitter to the taste, and in some  degree astringent; by
 wilich I mean, that when it is applied to the  tongue,
 or any other part of the body, it contracts the fibres
 and surface, without any  voluntary  exertion of the
 muscular pow7er.  It is a very strong tonic or strength-
 ener to the stomach; and always, when used internally,
 produces an increased discharge from the skin, which.
 when condensed on  the surface, is called sweat: in
 these respects, from well attested experiments, its  me-
 dical  virtues are unequivocal as well as powerful.  It
 can always  be given successfully, and without danger,
 in violent catarrhs or colds, even w7hen attended with
 some fever; because its stimulating  effects  are  too
 slight to increase the fever, while the  other qualities
 of imparting strength and causing perspiration, are in
 active operation.  I wish the reader particularly to no-
 tice, that I mention the beneficial effects of the bone-set
 plant, in cases of violent catarrh or cold, because it is a
 dangerous forerunner of phthisis, or pulmonary  con-
 sumption, in very many instances, and ought always
 to be  removed immediately  if possible.   This  plant is
 also an excellent remedy in  ague and  fever, which is
 the reason of its being called by the Indians, by a name
 which in their language signified ague-wreed.  It is also
 a valuable remedy in all intermittent and remittent
 fevers, always acting as  powerfully and beneficially as
 Peruvian bark.  In fact, I think it in many cases pre-
 ferable to the bark;  because it can be given  where
 there  is considerable  fever;  in which  condition  of  a
 patient, the bark cannot be administered without great
danger.  For this reason also (I mean because it never
increases fever) it can always be given, and has been
repeatedly administered successful!}', not only in re-
 mitting bilious fever, but in  typhus and yellow  fevers. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
655
Dr. S. G. Hopkins of New Jersey, a physician of much
celebrity, in an  extensive practice of several  years,
during which the intermittent  and remittent  fevers
w7ere very prevalent, gave the bone-set freely, in warm
decoction, with great success.  By giving the bone-set
very copiously, he always produced sweating to allay
the fever; and in dangerous cases, pushed the remedy
so far as to produce vomiting, and also purging.  He
related to several of his friends, that many  of the
farmers in his vicinity, without calling in a physician,
had, by the liberal use  of bone-set tea, given warm,
entirely  succeeded in  curing themselves  and  their
families of both intermittent and typhus fevers.   The
truth is, that in low typhus, which is very dangerous,
and always attended with an unusually hot skin, the
bone-set is an inestimable remedy.   It  is always used
with the best effect in a  warm decoction of the flowers
and leaves, which ought to be dried  in  the shade, and
kept for Use; the warm decoction is generally pre-
ferable to the plant in substance; and from one to two
table-spoonsful, given every  half hour, will in  most
Cases produce  sweating  without  causing  so  much
nausea of the stomach as to induce vomiting.  If the
fever is broken, and you wish to give strength to your
patient, give the bone-set in the  powdered leaves and
flowers, from twenty grains to a drachm, from three to
six times in the lapse of twenty-four hours.  Used in
decoction as above stated, it is also a valuable remedy
in yellow fever, as has been proven by repeated and
well attested experiments.  The bone-set is  also very
efficacious in removing active rheumatism : for descrip-
tion of which, look under that head:  but  it ought to
be employed in this case after blood-letting to reduce
the inflammatory action. 
656
MATERIA MEDICA.
  With the above commentary on the important  uses
of this plant in medicine, I recommend it to the serious
attention of my readers.  It affords another proof that
Providence has given us the means of curing many of
our diseases without resorting to the adulterated drugs
of foreign lands.
         COMMON BLACKBERRY BUSH,
    Called by  botanists rubus villosus.  This  root is
  everywhere known, and therefore requires no descrip-
  tion.   It is eminently useful in all such diseases as are
  to be treated with astringent medicines:  the root par-
  ticularly is powerfully astringent, and when used me-
  dicinally, is generally made  into a tea.   When  the
  ripe fruit itself is employed, it ought to be given in the
  juice, or made into a syrup or jelly.   The tea  or  de-
  coction is made by  boiling a handful of the bruised
  roots in a pint and  a half of water, until it is reduced
  to a pint;  thus prepared, it is given  with success in
  diarrhoeas and dysenteries:  a small tea-cupful every
  two hours: and has often been knowm to effect cures
  when many other remedies had failed.  In the  disease
  called  by  physicians  cholera infantum,  known by
  painful gripings and purgings of children, a weak  de-
# coction of the blackberry root may be  given with good
  effects; but as these purgings may in  many cases  be
  considered as the efforts of nature to remove the causes
  of disease, it ought  to be given with much caution, and
  not until proper evacuations have been  made to re-
  move offensive matter from the stomach and bowels.
  In fact, it ought to  be given in no case  of dysentery or
  cholera infantum, until all offending matter (if any is 
MATERIA MEDICA.
657
presumed to exist) be removed by gentle pukes and
purges.   Blackberry syrup, made from the ripe fruit,
ought to be kept prepared in all families, and given
freely in all cases of derangement of the bowels.  .
           BUTTON  SNAKE-ROOT.
  This is a native of all the Southern states, from the
sea-board to  the Mississippi;  the root has a sharp,
aromatic, and very bitter taste, and whenever chewed,
it produces a considerable flow of saliva or spittle.  A
tea or decoction of it, taken internally, produces a dis-
charge from the skin, and expectoration from the throat
and lungs.   By  many  physicians of reputation it is
held in higher estimation than the Seneca snake-root,
which it very much resembles in its effects.
                  CAMOMILE.
  The tame species is a native of Europe, but may be
cultivated in most parts of the  United States.  It is
perennial: that is to say, its roots do not die by the
frosts of winter, but shoot forth  and blossom through
succeeding years.   The flowers are generally used for
medical purposes, and sold in the shops: the single ones
are the best, because they are the strongest.  Infusion
in water extracts the  medicinal  properties of the ca-
momile flower, which,  drank cold, is highly  useful as
a tonic: in other  words, it will give tone and strength
to an irritable  and weak stomach, repair a debilitated
or lost appetite, and operate favourably on such young
females as labour  under what is called green  sickness:
                       83 
658
MATERIA MEDICA.
winch mean the retention or suppression of the menses.
It also operates as an antispasmodic :  that is to say, it
relaxes the involuntary contractions of the muscles of
all parts of the body, and particularly of the stomach,
in what is commonly called cramp: it is also of service
in all nervous weaknesses of females.  When taken
warm, and in considerable quantities, it aids materially
in the operation of emetics, or pukes, &c.  The camo-
mile flower, when steeped in old whisky, or in any
good spirits, and taken two or three  times a day, in
moderate  quantities, is an excellent medicine to give
tone or strength to a weak stomach  apd restore the
appetite.  For women, given in hysterical complaints,
this is a valuable remedy.
  Wild camomile is the may-weed.
                IPECACUANHA.
  This root  is a native of Spanish America; and in
the Spanish  language it means vomiting or puking
root.   The w7ord ipecacuanha is applied to several
other roots which produce vomiting or puking to any
extent.  The proper or botanical name of this root  is
the raicilla:  I have, however, adopted the name ipe-
cacuanha,  by winch it is most commonly known to
physicians.  This root was first brought into Europe
about the middle of the last century, but did not come
into general use until about the year 1786,  wiien  it
w7as introduced into the practice of medicine by Hel-
vetius, under the patronage of Louis XIV. The ipe-
cacuanha is one of the mildest and safest emetics, or
pukes, with which we are acquainted, and  has this
great advantage: that if it should fail to puke, it passes 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
659
off by purging or sweating; and further, if by accident
an over dose is taken, it is attended with no danger; as
the whole of it is vomited with the contents of the sto-
mach, as soon as it operates.  The vomiting or puking
is promoted by drinking  freely of warm water.
  The genuine ipecacuanha, in its dry state, is a small
wrinkled root, about the size of a hen's quill, variously
twisted, and marked with projecting parts, apparently
like rings; ash coloured.  Its taste is  sickening, and
slightly  bitter, with  little smell, and covering the
tongue with a kind of  mucilage.  On breaking the
root, the outer bark is very brittle; and it  is in this
brittle part that the activity and power of the root as
a puke resides—the centre of the  root being nearly
destitute of medicinal virtues.  This root is  generally
sold in the shops in a powder, that being the form in
which it is used as a vomit  or puke: the powder is the
colour of common ashes.
  I have now described to you the imported ipecacu-
anha, or the medicine which is now used throughout
all  the world  under that name; and I may justly re-
mark, that it stands at the  head of vegetable emetics,
for the  promptness, efficacy, and safety of  its opera-
tions.
   In powder, which is the  manner in winch it is  gene-
rally given, full vomiting or puking will  be produced
in  a grown  person by a dose of a scruple, or half a
drachm: or  you  may put a drachm  into  six   table-
spoonsful of warm water, and give a table-spoonful
occasionally, until it operates : or you  may  steep it in
 wine, and give it in small doses, until the effect you
 desire is produced.
   The medicinal  uses of this powder, when properly
applied,  ara very great and valuable. In addition to its 
660
MATERIA MEDICA.
acting as a vomit or puke, when  given in small doses, -
so as to produce nausea, (which means sickness of the j
stomach,) it generally produces moisture of the  skin,
or sweat; evacuation of the bowrels; and in still smaller
doses, it  generally stimulates  the  stomach, increases
the appetite, and assists  digestion.   In small doses, it
acts not only as a diaphoretic, which means sweating ;
but as an expectorant; wilich means  a free discharge
of tough  mucus and spittle from the mouth and throat.
It is also a  valuable  medicine when  given in small
doses, to  stop spontaneous bleeding from  the lungs and
wromb.   These bleedings are called hemorrhages.  In
intermittent fevers it  has generally succeeded in stop-
ping them, especially when given about an hour before
the coming on of the fever; and also when  given so
as to produce vomiting at the time of the fever, or end
of the cold  stage.  Great  benefits are  often derived
from this medicine  in continued fevers, and particu-
larly in the commencement of typhus  fevers; an  eme-
tic or puke of ipecacuanha, followed with a sufficiency
of this medicine in very small doses, to keep up a gen-
tle moisture or sweat, will, if attended to in the  early
stage of this complaint, probably  at once cut short the
disease, or greatly lessen the severity and symptoms of
the fever.
  Wine  of ipecacuanha is  sometimes substituted for
the powder:  it is, how7ever, better suited to children.
As an emetic or puke, the dose for a grown person, is
one  fluid ounce, which  is about half  a large wine or
stem-glassful.   For a description of this wine of ipe-
cacuanha, look under  that head. 
                MATERIA MEDICA.             661


               COMMON TANSY.
  Tansy is perennial, or perpetual, and grows wild by
the sides  of  roads, and the borders of fields, but is
most frequently cultivated in gardens, both for culinary
and medicinal purposes: it flow7ers in July, and fre-
quently in June.  The leaves  are generally used as a
medicine, and w7hen steeped in whisky, or any kind of
spirits, make a moderately warm, and highly valuable
bitter for weak stomachs, very beneficial to children in
preventing worms.  It should be given to them in the
morning, on empty stomachs.   Some physicians have
spoken highly of its virtues in  hysteric disorders, par-
ticularly those proceeding from  a deficiency or  sup-
pression of the menses or courses.  An infusion or tea
made of tansy, and drank  freely, has been strongly
recommended as a preventive of the return of gout.
                      SAGE.
  This valuable  garden herb was once supposed by
the ancients to prolong the lives of those who would
frequently use it.   They dedicated to it the following
maxim: " How can a man die, in whose garden there
grows sage ?" in allusion to its many virtues.  It is too
well known, and  too much used to require a descrip-
tion.  It makes an excellent tea to produce sweat or
moisture of the skin; and by adding a little  lemon
juice or vinegar so as to  make it pleasantly sour, is a
good remedy in fevers.
      3K 
662             materia  medica.


               RUE  AND BALM.
  Rue is also a garden herb; the leaves of which, made
into tea. will produce perspiration, or sweating, quicken
the circulation, and remove obstructions of the blood.
It is valuable to weak  and hysterical constitutions.
  Balm is also a garden herb, and affords a pleasant tea
to  be drank in fevers.  When drank  freely, it  will
produce perspiration or sweat, and of course is  good in
slight fevers.
           AMERICAN COLUMBO.
  This stately  and elegant plant is  a  native of the
United States, and is found in abundance in both Ken-
tucky and Tennessee.   It has various names :  such as
Columbia, Indian lettuce, columbo root, Marietta  co-
lumbo, and wild  columbo.  The stalk grows  from
eight  to  ten feet  in  height;  it is strong, juicy, and
fleshy, nearly square, and  furrowed  at the sides, and
sends off its leaves, which are of a deep green colour,
at intervals of six or eight  inches,  to something  more
than half its length, and smaller leaves and flowering
branches to the top,.   The root is biennial: that is, it
lives two years—it is large, full of knots, plump and
full, and of a yellow colour: the leaves are occasionally
opposite to each other ; and usually grow7 from four to
eight together:  they are sometimes  sharp, and some-
times oblong: or, in other words,  oval,  or egg-shaped,
and sharp at the points.  The flowers grow in clusters,
and are of a greenish yellow7, or cream colour.
  The columbo root, which is the  only part to be used, 
MATERIA medica.
663
is a mild,  pleasant, and* highly valuable bitter,  acting
as a powerful tonic, or strengthening medicine.  It is
valuable in dyspepsia, or indigestion, and in diarrhoea,
or looseness of the bowels, arising from a redundancy
of bile.  It will generally check vomiting  or puking,
and  will  always  be  found beneficial  in  cholic, or
cramps of the stomach, want of appetite, and cholera
morbus, which means puking and purging : it may be
taken in substance, powdered; a tea-spoonful  every
three or four  hours:  or in  decoction or tea, a wine-
glassful three  or four times a day: or you may steep
the root  (say two  ounces)  in a quart  of old whisky,
winch  must stand for a few days, that the spirits may
extract the virtues from the root. This valuable bitter
may be used three or four times a day, in doses of a
table-spoonful or more; and by adding a few drops of
peppermint to this preparation, it is a good remedy to
moderate  the  puking which sometimes occurs with
pregnant women.   All persons who  are  subject to
lowness or depression of spirits, instead of resorting to
more dangerous stimulants, should use this columbo
bitter freely.
        BLOOD, OR PUCCOON ROOT,
  Sometimes called Indian paint, and red root, but
learnedly denominated sanguinaria canadensis.
  This plant is a native of North America, from the
Canadian provinces to the Gulf of Mexico, and per-
haps of no other region of the globe.  It is not only a
plant peculiar to the continent of North America, the
virtues of which are so well knowrn to the Indian
nations, but  its  root is perennial: in other words, it is 
 664             MATERIA MEDICA.

 not  destroyed by the frosts  and snows of winter.  It
 generally grows about a foot high in  rich woodlands,
 and varies in thickness from a quarter to three quarters
 of an inch  in diameter—which means across.  It is
 generally about the size and  length of a finger; fleshy
 and round, and the end of the root has the appearance
 of having been cut off by a dull instrument, or as if it
 had been broken off in removing it from the ground.
 The outside colour of the root is brownish, but on be-
 ing cut, the juice flows of a blood-red colour.
   The puccoon flowers early in April, bearing but sin-
 gle flowers on each stem. The blossoms are wiiite, the
 stems perfectly naked ; the upper side of the leaf of a
 pale, sickly green, and the veins which pass through it,
 of an orange colour.  The flower bud is  of a faint, or
 delicate rose colour: the  seeds, which  are round and
 pointed, are very numerous.
  The leaves and seeds of the puccoon plant,—which
 is the name  I have adopted,—like the seeds of the stra-
 monium, or Jamestown weed, are poisonous, and must •
 never be used.  The root seems to contain all its medi-
 cinal qualities ; and is closely allied in its effects on the
 human system to the  Seneca  snake root, and in some
 of its  effects to the digitalis purpurea, or fox-glove.
 A decoction or tea, as it is usually called, made of the
puccoon root, is highly recommended in the treatment
of old and indolent ulcers,—which  simply means old
sores that do not seem inclined to heal,—and the dried
and pounded root, applied a  few times, in some cases
of ill-conditioned  ulcers,  with callous  edges, and an
ichorous or itching discharge, seldom  fails to produce
a healthy state of  the sores.  It is an excellent  remedy
in croup, and must be given in doses sufficient to pro-
duce vomiting or puking;  some physicians rely on it 
                 MATERIA  MEDICA.             ' 665

 wholly in croup.  It is  also an  excellent remedy in
 dropsy of the chest, called by physicians hydrothorax;
 given in doses of sixty drops of the juice  three  times
 a day, and increased  until nausea or sickness of the
 stomach follows each dose.  This root in powder, from
 twenty to thirty grains, is  an  active emetic or  puke.
 Dr. Barton, one of the professors in the Philadelphia
 medical college, thinks it nearly  equal to  the Seneca,
 or rattlesnake  root, in cases of ulcerous  sore throat,
 croup, and hives, and diseases of  this nature. It is a
 valuable  medicine to produce a determination to-th"
 surface, by which I mean sweating;  and also in  colds,
 pleurisies, rheumatism, and other inflammatory  disor-
 ders.  When used for these last  diseases, it should be
 given as a tincture, which is the root steeped for seve-
 ral days in spirits of any kind; and given in doses of
 ten drops every two or three hours, until a  moisture or
 sweat is produced on the skin.  This tincture is als>
 valuable in jaundice, in  torpor of the  liver, attended
 with cholic and yellowmess of the skin, a disease  com-
 mon to southern climates.  The  puccoon root, made
 into a tincture, and gradually and  cautiously used, will
 be found a valuable medicine in stoppages  of the  men-
 ses or courses in women.   I have used it with  great
 success in my practice, when every other  medicine
 usually resorted to had failed.   My usual  method of
 preparing  it  is, to  steep about a  handful  of  the root
 sliced, in half a pint of old whisky, letting  it stand live
 or eight  days, when the tincture is fit for  use; begin-
 ning with  ten drops, and gradually increasing the dose.
as circumstances may require.   But  you  may give it
in a decoction or tea,—a handful of it to a quart of boil-
ing water,—a table-spoonful every two or three hours,
as the situation of the patient niaj' require.
      3x2             -84 
666
MATERIA MEDICA.
  This root, powdered very fine, and snuffed  up the
nose, is said to be a certain cure for  polypus, a fleshy
teat, or gristly substance, which grows  in the  nostril.
gradually increasing in size, until breathing becomes
difficult, and  which sometimes, unless  removed, ends
in suffocation.  I have lately made experiments with
this root in  a  disorder called tetter-worm, and  in
several instances succeeded in curing  it when other
valuable remedies  had failed.   Steep the sliced  roots
in strong vinegar ten days, and wash  the part affected
two or three times a day.  I shall conclude my remarks
on  this  valuable root by observing that it possesses a
great  many valuable qualities w7hich are probably yet
unknown.    The  best time to collect it for medical
purposes is when  the seeds are ripe, which is about
the beginning of May.
               FOREIGN SENNA.
  I shall first describe to you the foreign, or imported
senna, generally used in the practice of medicine; after
which I shall describe the American plant senna, which,
on almost numberless trials, has proved to be but very
little, if any, inferior to the imported, or that sold in the
shops, and mostly used by physicians.   I have used
them both and can discover no difference.  This affords
another proof of a bountiful Providence, in bestowing
on  this people a plant  of  so much  value, and  one
which, before its discovery here, we w7ere compelled to
import from Egypt.   Here I again repeat what I have
frequently said in this work, that all that is required of
us are industry and attention, and we will discover in
a few years, thousands of medical plants in our country 
MATERIA MEDICA.
667
superior in every respect to the foreign, by which we
will have this further advantage : we will always have
them fresh, and in full possession of their virtues.
  The leaves of the senna are alone used in medicine.
The imported plant grows in Turkey, Syria, and  Per-
sia.  It is commonly called Alexandria senna, because
it was once imported exclusively from the city of Alex-
andria in Egypt. This medicine was originally received
from the Arabians, and large quantities of it are  now
brought from Nubia, which is known in Egypt by the
name of the valley or country of Barabras; it is a nar-
row valley through which the Nile flows, where the
view is confined on two sides alternately, by a lofty
chain of mountains.  Senna is the chief production or
commodity of this country. It is not cultivated, but
grows naturally on  the sides of the hills and ravines.
Each person has the right of gathering what grows in
his district.  Two  crops  are annually made, the  pro-
ductiveness of which  depends on the  duration of the
rains, which fall periodically every year.  The first, and
most fruitful crop, is that gathered at the termination
of the rains: the second crop is small.  No expense
attends the  preparation of the plants, which merely
consists in cutting and spreading  them on the rocks to
dry.  This process in that warm climate only occupies
a single day.  The senna is then put up in bales of one
hundred pounds, and the slave merchants convey them
by camels to Sienne and Darao, where they are  sold
for eleven or twelve francs a bale, which is about two
dollars and twenty-eight cents.  They are then carried
to the farmer-general at Cairo—an officer appointed
by  the government to examine and  purchase them.
The sum fixed by him is from thirty to thirty-three
francs: which is about eight dollars and  twenty-seven 
668
MATERIA MEDICA.
cents.  They are then sold by them to the European
factors or merchants, for  one hundred and six francs
each bale, which is equal to twenty dollars and four-
teen cents,  and by  them exported to  the different
quarters of the w7orld.  American citizens ! why will
you pay such accumulated and enormous  expenses to
foreign  governments  and  merchants, for an  article
which is furnished plentifully by the soil of your own
country ?
  The demand for this article from Europe every crop
is generally from about fourteen  to fifteen hundred
quintals, of one hundred pounds each.  The great de-
mand for this medicine, both in Europe and the United
States, has induced the Egyptian merchants to mix with
it senna of an inferior quality, which sometimes occa-
sions it to fail in producing the  immediate effect in-
tended.   Although this fraud, when practised, does no
serious injury, it frequently disappoints us in the active
operation of  the medicine: the inferior senna, although
producing eventually the same effects, is  much slower
and weaker  in its operation.
              AMERICAN SENNA.

  Having  given you the history of the European, I
shall now proceed to describe to you our own senna,
which grows abundantly in the United States, and par-
ticularly in the western and southern country.   I have
told you that I had used both, and could perceive no
difference in their operation :  and I now  repeat the
fact, that it may be the more  forcibly impressed on
your mind.  Notwithstanding  this, those who prefer
the foreign senna to our own, may easily gratify their 
                 MATERIA MEDICA.            669
                       •
preference, as the imported kind is now cultivated in
North Carolina, and is found to flourish abundantly.
It is evident that we do not obtain the pure plant from
abroad:  I  have show7n the manner of adulteration:
why, then, should we not cultivate the foreign plant
sufficiently for our own consumption, if we must and
Will have it ?  The  wild  senna of America is a most
beautiful plant.  I will describe it in as plain terms as
possible, knowing at the same time, that it is very dif-
ficult, if not  utterly impossible, to delineate in mere
language what can only be known to the eye.   It has
frequently several stems  from the same  root; these
stems are generally either entirely smooth, or furnished
with a few straggling hairs.  The larger sized leaves, I
believe, are mostly confined to the larger branches, and
are disposed in pairs opposite  to each  other, on the
sides of those branches which run out in a  nearly hori-
zontal direction from the stem.   The flowers are of a
bright orange colour, and are  usually found on small
sprays or sprigs, which shoot out in the angles formed
by the stems and larger branches.  Near the  top the
flowers are attached to the main stems.  The  stems
rise from two to four feet  in height.   The leaves are
rather long, green  above, and pale underneath; they
should be  gathered  about the  last of August for
use.
   Doctor Barton, an eminent physician, and professor
of Botany in the University of Philadelphia, informs us
that  he had some experience with the American senna
during a term  of practice in the Marine  Hospital of
that  city.  " I have," says the doctor," for some months
past  substituted the American  for  the Alexandrian
senna, and very frequently employed it.  I have, also,
in a single instance, used it in my own family.   I have 
  670             MATERIA MEDICA.

  had reason to confirm the  high character which the
  American plant has long maintained."
    But, reader, whether }rou may  prefer the imported
  or the American senna, which I consider equal in their
  medicinal powers: the following remarks are applicable
  to both or either of them.
    The senna is a valuable purge, and  when  good, is
  active in its operation, and at the same  time quite in-
  nocent.   Senna is seldom given by itself, but is always
  mixed with manna: a description of which will imme-
  diately follow this.  When you inquire for senna as a
  medicine at a doctor's shop, always ask  for a dose of
  senna and  manna, because these tw7o  medicines are
  always given tpgether.   Sometimes a little  salts is
•  mixed with the senna and manna, especially if you
  wish to make the operation sure and active.  In fevers,
  first giving a good dose of calomel, follow7 it up with
  the senna, manna, and salts : senna has but one fault;
  it is apt to gripe during the operation : this can always
  be prevented, however, by adding a little ginger.  But,
  I believe, from an  extensive experience, that after
  calomel to  remove bile, if the following  mixture  be
  made up and given, it is superior and  more innocent
  than any medicine now known as a purge :—Take of
  senna and manna, each half an ounce;  of ginger, one
  drachm ; of salts one ounce;—pour on these medicines
  a pint of boiling water; cover over the vessel in which
  you  make  this tea, so as  to  prevent the  steam from
  escaping.  This tea is to stand until it  becomes  cool.
  You are to give of it  to grown persons,  one  gill every
  hour or two until  it operates freely.  According to the
  age of the person, you are to give this  tea in  smaller
  doses, and as it is  quite innocent, it may  be given to
  children  occasionally in small doses, until the desired 
MATERIA MEDICA.
671
effect is produced, which is a free operation as a purge.
If you wish it to act as a very mild and gentle purge,
you may leave out the salts.  I repeat, in order that
you may remember it, that whenever the bow7els are
obstructed, or whenever you require an  active and
searching purge, senna, manna, and salts, in the propor-
tions I have just mentioned, adding thereto  a  little
ginger, are superior to any means of operating on the
bowels now in use.
                    MANNA.
  The word manna  means a gift;  it comes from the
Syrian word mano, being the food supplied  by the
Almighty to the children of Israel in the  wilderness:
or it comes from the  word mahna, what is it ? an ex-
clamation used by the Israelites on its appearance.  So
say the best authorities.
  The manna, or medicine so called, and  that which
is mostly used  by physicians, comes from Naples on
the Mediterranean sea.   The best manna is in long
flakes, moderately dry, brittle, and crumbling, of a pale
yellowish colour,  and considerably transparent; in
other  words, you can partially see through it.  If it is
moist, very sickly, and dark coloured, it is considered
of an  inferior  quality,  although  not less purgative.
The manna is principally collected in Calabria, Apulia,
and Sicily, in the warmest season of the year, from the
middle of June to the  end of July.   Various trees
afford it: particularly a kind of ash, called manna ash.
It flows  from  the trunk of the tree  when  tapped,
similar to the juice or sap of our sugar tree when used
in the same manner.   The liquor first flows from the 
672             MATERIA MEDICA.
tree  like a white froth, extremely light, and of an
agreeable taste.  The heat of the  sun in a few days
hardens it to the consistence w7e  find it.  Manna has
something the taste of sugar, and  is  sickish and search-
ing on the tongue.   Its great resemblance to sugar,
both in appearance and taste, induces children readily
to eat it; in its effects, it acts on them as a mild purge.
Manna is, however, a very feeble  purgative jnedicine,
requiring large doses for a grown  person, say an ounce
or two: for this reason, as I have  before told you, and
so directed, it must always be  mixed with senna and
salts.   It  ought never to  be given alone, except to
small children, as a mild and opening medicine.  See
table of doses.
               WHITE WALNUT.

   During our revolutionary war, when medicines be
 came scarce, the physicians of the army employed the
 inner bark of the  white walnut as a purge.   In the
 dose of from ten to twenty grains, it operated well, by
 evacuating the bowels thoroughly, and  was much
 resorted to by them as a purgative, in all  bilious cases
 of fever.  By the  addition of eight or ten grains of
 calomel,  the efficacy of the  white walnut may be
 greatly and beneficially increased.  As I have stated to
 you, the medicinal  virtues of this bark are confined to
 the inner bark; and the proper  time for  getting it in
 the full possession of its  virtues is about the month of
June, because the  bark  is at this  time considerably
more powerful tjian at other periods.
  I have  used the  white w7alnut in my practice, and
always found  it among the best purgative medicines 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
673
possessed in the country, and have very often been sur-
prised that the article is not kept in the family of every
farmer.  The manner of extracting the virtues of this
bark is very simple:  It is merely to be boiled-in water
several hours, then strained and boiled again, until it
becomes about as thick as honey.   Two, three, or four
pills, which it can be  made  into  with  a little flour,
make a do'se of  this extract.  One or two of these pills,
taken at bedtime, is a valuable remedy in the removal
of costive habits  of body, which occasions headachs,
cholics, &c.  By increasing the dose, these  pills are
good in  dysenteries  and bilious  fevers,  and will  be
doubly beneficial if combined or mixed with a little
calomel.
                   RHUBARB.
  Rhubarb, properly so called, is  the root of a plant
designated by the  learned, rheum palmatum.  It  is a
native of various  countries  of Europe and Asia, and
might be cultivated with perfect ease, perhaps, in every
part of the United States.  Attempts have been  suc-
cessfully made to introduce the culture of this valuable
drug into England:  and it  appears  from  authentic
accounts, not only that immense quantities of it may
be produced there, but that the English  root  is fully
equal to  the  best  rhubarb obtained from  Turkey or
China.   The greatest difficulty seems to be in drying
it properly.  Its cultivation is by no means difficult: it
is merely to sow the seed in a light  soil in the  spring;
to transplant the smaller  roots the next spring, into a
light soil, well trenched, and set them about three or
four feet  apart. The third year the plants will produce
      3 L                85 
674
MATERIA MEDICA.
the flowers ;  but the roots are not to be raised for use
until the fall of the sixth year.  This is the whole pro-
cess of rearing the rhubarb:  a process which I am
convinced every American farmer is fully equal to.
  The cultivation  of this valuable medicine in the
United States ought to be considered an object of hij^h
individual and national importance.  That our climate
throughout the  different states, particularly the west-
ern'and southern states, is fully equal to its production,
there can be no doubt, as it has been fully ascertained
by actual experiment.
  There are three varieties of rhubarb found in the
drug shops; the  Russian, the Turkish, and  the East
Indian rhubarb.   The first two, the Russian  and the
Turkish, resemble each other in quality and appear-
ance, whilst the East Indian is of a somewhat  different
character.  The best Russian  and Turkey rhubarb is
in roundish pieces, with a large hole in the  middle of
them.  The East Indian or Chinese rhubarb comes to
this country in long, flatfish pieces, seldom, if ever, hav-
ing holes in them.  The  Turkish rhubarb is  the best,
and is generally used in this country.
  The marks of rhubarb  of  a good  quality are, the
liveliness  of  its  colour,  w7hen cut;   its being firm
and solid, but not flinty or hard ; its being  easily pul-
verable, which means reducible to powder; and its
appearing, when pow dered, of a fine high yellow co-
lour ; and, when chewed, by its imparting to the spittle
and tongue a deep saffron colour.
  Rhubarb is one of the mildest, best,  and pleasantest
purgatives now in use in this or in any other country;
because, with its purgative powrers, it is also  astringent
and strengthening:  and in this it certainly differs from
almost every other purgative of the same  class known 
MATERIA MEDICA.             675
in medicine.   It is superior to nearly all other purges
for another reason; it may be taken with opium, and
act on the bowels as well as if taken without it.  This
is a vast advantage ; because where purging would be
connected with great pain, its being combined with
opium relieves the pairi, while the rhubarb is left free
to do its duty.  The operation of rhubarb is slower
and milder than  any other purge ;  but it is very cer-
tain in its effects, when given in proper doses.  It may
always be given with innocence and safety, in all cases
of extreme weakness, where a purge to open the bow-
els becomes necessary, and where violent  and severe
purging would be highly improper.  You will find this
medicine very valuable and safe, as it always acts with
much gentleness in relieving the bowels.  It is a com-
mon and proper purge for  children, even at a very
early period of life, and in every situation where their
bowels become disordered; particularly in dysentery
or lax; because it leaves the  bowels in a favourable
state, after removing  the offensive matter from them.
It is also an excellent purge for grown persons, labour-
ing under this complaint. In small  doses, say from
two to six grains,  it is excellent for the  stomach when
labouring under  indigestion, generally called  dyspep-
sia ; and  must be given in such small doses as not to
purge, but to act as a tonic, or strengthening medicine.
   There are  various ways of giving rhubarb; such as
giving it in tincture,  which means steeping it in any
kind of spirits; but the best and most certain method
of giving this medicine, and obtaining the virtues of it
fully, is to give it in fine powder.  A dose for a grown
person is from about a scruple, or twenty grains, to
half a  drachm, mixed with honey, molasses, or any
kind of syrup.  The root chewed as tobacco, swallow- 
676
MATERIA MEDICA.
ing the saliva or spittle, is an  innocent and efficient
way of taking it, for keeping the bowels gently open,
particularly  with those  persons who are  subject to
habitual costiveness, indigestion, and those long trains
of nervous diseases which afflict men and women who
are subject to derangements of their systems from cos-
tiveness.   In such cases, if they will chew the root of
the rhubarb, it will act as a moderate purge, and gently
open the bowels: at the same  time, it will act as a
tonic, or  strengthening medicine to the stomach, by
which they will always obtain relief.
              INDIAN PHYSIC.
  This'plant is a native of the United States;  and, as
its name imports, was a great favourite among  the In-
dian nations.  It is almost  everywhere found in the
western country, inhabiting shady woods, and the rich
sides of hills and mountains, from the lakes of  Canada
to the Floridas.   The  number  of stems proceeding
from the root of this plant varies considerably; some-
times there  is but a single one, and occasionally there
are many.  The stems  are  branched above, say about
two or three feet from  the ground; they are round,
and commonly of a reddish  colour.  The leaves are of
a deep green, long and  pointed, and the flower nearly
white.  The root of this plant, which is  all  that  is
used in medicine, is perennial: that is to say, it is not
destroyed by the frosts of winter.  It  is composed of
several long, brown, slender shoots, which run out
from the bottom of  the stem  to some distance under
the ground.  This root  possesses many of  the virtues
of the ipecacuanha, and is much used by the country 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
677
people, as an emetic  or  puke.   Given in the dose of
thirty or thirty-five grains in the powder, for a grown
person, it is an easy, safe, and certain emetic ; and if
you give it in what are called broken doses, of six or
seven grains about every  two hours, it will act as a su-
dorific : in other words, it will produce sweating.  If
you give it in infusion, or weak tea, a handful to a pint
of boiling water, of which  you may take a small tea-
cupful every fifteen or twenty minutes, it will produce
vomiting.  The active power of  this root seems to
reside exclusively in  its bark, which, in addition  to its
emetic qualities, probably possesses considerable  tonic
powers.
         AMERICAN IPECACUANHA.
  This singular and very useful plant is exclusively a
native of the United States, and may be found in great
plenty in the middle, southern, and western states.  If
nearly always grows in loose, moist, and  sandy soils,
and is very often found flourishing in beds of almost
pure sand.  The leaves vary so much in shape and
colour,  and, in  fact, the whole plant itself varies so
much in its different states, that it is often mistaken  by
those unacquainted with its variations for  several dis-
tinct species of plants.  The stems are numerous; they
are nearly white below the  surface of the earth 01
sand, and  of  a reddish colour, or a pale green  or yel-
lowish hue, above it.  The leaves are opposite to each
other, and generally of  an oval form ;  I say generally,
because they are sometimes of a long cval, sometimes
pointed, and, unfrequently, linear.   In the month  of
May, while the  plant is in flower, the  haves are very
      3 l 2 
678
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 small;  but as it advances in age, they become greatly
 increased in  size.  The seeds of the flower are only
 three in number, enclosed  in a triangular, or  three
 square capsule, or case.  I mention these things  parti-
 cularly, because they afford the best possible means of
 knowing the plant.   The  root is perennial; in other
 wrords, it is  not  killed by the frosts of winter.   It is
 from three to seven feet in height,  and  from half an
 inch to an inch and a half in  diameter, or across, and
 6f a yellowish colour; sending off  towards its  upper
 part many smaller roots, about the size of small quills.
   I believe, and am sustained  in the opinion by several
 high authorities, that the American ipecacuanha, the
 plant just described to you,  is  superior in its medicinal
 properties to any other species known.   The root of
 this plant alone is to  be used; if the stems and leaves
 possess  any medical virtues, they are yet to be  disco-
 vered by experiment.  It is a powerful emetic, both
.safe and certain in its operation, and is  applicable to
 nearly  all cases  in which  emetics are required.   In
 small doses of from five to ten or fifteen grains, it is an
 excellent emetic  or  puke;  but if given in doses  of
 twenty grains, it operates  downwards,  as  an  active
 purge.  Larger doses produce, in addition to the above
 effects, heat,  vertigo, (which means  swimming in  the
 head,) and great prostration  or loss of strength.
   Dr. Barton gives us the following experiments on
 the American ipecacuanha, which I transcribe for the
 contemplation of the reader.  " A portion of the  dried
 root w7as finely pulverized, powdered,] and adminis-
 tered with caution to several patients.  I at  first  com-
 menced with small doses, of three, four, and five grains.
 In these quantities, the powder produced nausea, [sick-
 ness of  the stomach,] and determination to the  skin, 
MATERIA MEDICA.
679
[sweating,]  as  small doses of ipecacuanha  do.   On
increasing the number of grains to ten, vomiting was
produced, with occasionally an operation on the bow-
els.  Fifteen grains I found sufficient to produce full
vomiting in most cases; and in a single instance, hav-
ing given the powder to an extent of twenty-five grains,
I had reason to be alarmed at the cathartic [purgative]
effect which ensued and continued for fourteen hours,
attended with distressing sickness at the stomach.  I
have tried the American root in various combinations,
and can confidently assert, that in  all the instances it
has proved equal if not superior to the imported ipe-
cacuanha.  It has some advantages which the foreign
article does not possess.  Its occasional purgative effect
is no more than what  follows the foreign medicine.
This view of the subject derives peculiar importance
from the well known fact, that the imported ipecacu-
anha is rarely  if  ever  good, and  perhaps  seldom
genuine."
  In this  plant, or rather root, for that alone is to be
used, we see another instance of the bounty of Provi-
dence in furnishing us with an article possessed of great
medical virtue, the production of our own soil.  And
here again I repeat, that we have only to develope the
resources of our own country, to become completely
independent of foreign  lands for  our useful medical
drugs.  Even opium, as I shall show you in the proper
place, can be made here in sufficient quantities for our
own consumption.   We are, in fact, paying enormous
sums annually for wohat  nature and our own exertions
would furnish us.   Foreign ipecacuanha, adulterated,
and inferior to our own, is costing us three dollars the
pound, while we can have our own for nothing. 
680
MATERIA MEDICA.
BUTTERFLY  WEED, OR  PLEURISY' ROOT.
  The butterfly weed, or pleurisy root, called by the
learned, asclepias tuberosa, is a native of every state
in the American Union, and abounds, particularly, in
the southern and western states. It flourishes best, and
grows to the greatest perfection, in  light, sandy soils,
and is frequently found under fences,  and near old
stumps in grain fields.  From twenty to  thirty stalks,
the size of a pipe stem, frequently rise from the  same
root, and stand in almost every direction.  These stalks
are round and woolly, and of a reddish brown colour
on the sun  side.  The leaves are placed very irregu-
larly, and are spear or tongue shaped, and covered with
a fine down on the lower side.  The stalks rise  from
one to two feet in height, and spread to a considerable
extent; and  at the  extremities of the  branches are
found clusters of small shoots, on which are found the
flowers, when in bloom, which is about the month
of July or August.   The clusters of shoots from the
ends of the  branches, as also  the  flow7ers, resemble
those of the common silk weed, for w7hich the plant is
sometimes  mistaken. There is, however, this differ-
ence between them, and it ought to be  particularly
noticed: the flow7ers of the silk  weed are of a pale pur-
ple hue, while those of the butterfly w7eed are of a beau-
tiful bright orange colour, and  are succeeded by long
slender pods, which contain the seeds. The seeds have
a delicate kind of down or silk  attached  to them.
  The root of the butterfly-weed is  spindle or carrot
shaped, of a  light brown colour on the outside, and
white and coarse within.  It lias long been celebrated
in  the  southern Atlantic  states, and particularly  in
 Virginia and the Caroliuas, not only  as a powerful re- 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
681
medy in pleurisy, but in pneumonic diseases generally:
by which I mean diseases of the lungs.  This root pos-
sesses one remarkable power:  given in proper quanti-
ties, it affects the skin, and produces copious  perspira-
tion or sweating, without heating the body.   Given in
the simple form of a decoction or tea, it often produces
sweating, when all other remedies have  failed in their
effects.  The powdered  root sometimes acts as a mild
purgative on the bowels; but it  is  more  particularly
and inestimably valuable in producing  expectoration,
or the throwing off of  mucus  from the throat and
lungs; in causing perspiration  or sweating w7hen other
remedies fail, and finally, in reducing obstinate feverish
affections.   Its  efficiency and power in  fevers have
been attested by many of the best physicians in the
United States.   In feverish affections, proceeding from
an inflammation of the lungs,  in colds recently taken,
and in diseases of the chest generally, this root is an
excellent remedy.  It is to be  given in a strong infu-
sion or tea;  say a small  tea-cupful every two  or three
hours.  Many families have long resorted  to  this root
as a domestic medicine, to relieve pains in the stomach,
indigestion, cholic, and  so on: and  for  these reasons,
call it wind-root.   Doctors Chapman  and Bigelow,
whose testimonials alone in its favour would  be suffi-
cient to establish its reputation for the virtues I have
ascribed to it, speak in very high terms of the medicinal
powers of this root.
  '• As a diaphoretic," [or medicine  which  sweats,]
says Dr. Chapman, " I think this root  is distinguished
by great certainty and  permanency of  operation, and
has this  inestimable property,  that  it produces its
effects, sweating, without much  increasing the force
of the circulation, raising the heat of the surface, or
                        86 
682
MATERIA  MEDICA.
creating inquietude or restlessness.   On these accounts
k is well suited to  excite perspiration in  the forming
stages of most of the inflammatory diseases of winter,
and is not less useful  in the same cases, at more ad-
vanced  periods, after  the  reduction  of  the  feverish
action by bleeding.  The common notion of its having
a peculiar efficacy  in pleurisy, I am inclined to believe
is not without foundation; for certain it is, that it very
much relieves  the oppression  of the chest in recent
catarrh, cold in the head and throat, and promotes per-
spiration in protracted iiiflammations of the lungs."
                     JALAP.
  This plant was originally found native  in Mexico,
near the celebrated city of Xalapa, from whence  it
derived its present name, jalapa.  It has since  been
discovered growing plentifully near Vera Cruz, and in
our own country  of Florida.  And on  the authority
of Dr. W. P. C. Barton, I take upon myself to assert,
that it is also certainly a native of the state of Georgia.
The root of this plant alone is used for medicinal pur-
poses ; and when of good quality, comes to us in  slices
which are solid and heavy, and of a dark gray colour,
having  little smell, and scarcely any  taste.   When
swallowred, however, it affects the throat with a warm
and pungent sensation.
  This  root is a powerful laxative medicine or purge;
its activity resides principally, if not wholly, in the
resinous part, which, even when taken  in  small  doses
and alone, will sometimes gripe  severely.  The  great
activity of jalap as a purge causes it to be  much used
in the  onset  or  commencement of bilious  fevers. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
683
Combined with  calomel, in the  proportions of ten
grains each, was the purge generally given in yellow7
fever  by the great Dr.  Rush  of Philadelphia, and
which caused his students to give him the ludicrous
nick-name of " Old Ten-in-ten."  Used as what physi-
cians call a hydragogue, by which they mean any me-
dicine which will expel water from the cavities of the
body, the jalap root is entitled to all the praise that has
ever been bestowed on it by the medical profession:
yet I am induced  to believe, from actual experience,
and the practice of other physicians, that it produces a
better  effect in  all dropsical cases when combined
with cream of tartar.   Ten grains of  jalap with one
drachm of cream of tartar constitute, probably, one of
the best medical  prescriptions ever  known,  wiiere
long continued puflging is  required in the cure of a
complaint.   The dose of jalap, when  combined with
any other medicine, is from twenty to  thirty and even
up to forty grains.   Our common May-apple root has
sometimes been called the jalap of the United  States.
But I am of the  opinion noticed above;  that the
genuine jalap of Mexico is a native  of the state of
Georgia, and probably of all the southern states.
  PRICKLY ASH OR TOOTHACHE TREE.
  The prickly ash is a native of the United  States,
and also of the West India islands, w7here it sometimes
grows to  the height of sixteen  feet.  There are two
kinds of the prickly ash in the United States, which I
believe possess  the same  medicinal  powers:  one is
called the ash-leaved  zanthoxylum, which grows in
the northern states, and  particularly in the states ofj 
684
MATERIA
MEDICA.
Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the other is known
by the name  of  the  prickly yellow  wood, growing
abundantly to the south and south-west of the states I
have mentioned.  The fresh juice obtained from the
root of the prickly ash is an excellent remedy in that
painful complaint called  dry bellyache.   This dis-
covery, like most  others of importance, was the result
of accident: it was made by watching a female slave
in one of the West India islands, who collected the
root in the woods, and gave two spoonsful of its juice
every two hours to a  negro suffering  severely under
this cholic.   The medicine caused a profound and
composed sleep for twelve hours, when all sense of
pain and  other distressing symptoms  had vanished.
The cure was rendered final by giving an infusion of
the juice  as a diet drink.         ,
  The most important discovery, however, relating to
the prickly ash, or yellow wood, is  the following:—
The juice of the root preserved in spirits of any kind,
given in doses of about a wine-glassful, has "repeatedly
removed  the most obstinate epileptic  fits.   I do not
know precisely the manner in which this preparation
ought to  be managed,  but would give it in the dose of
a wine-glassful morning and evening.  The leaves and
rind of the prickly ash or yellow wood, in their taste
and smell, resemble those of the  lemon, and possess a
similar volatile oil.  The bark has a  separate acrid, or
hot and biting principle, which it will communicate
either to  water or spirits  of any  kind; this acrid  or
biting principle, however,  is not  perceived  when the
bark or liquid is first taken into the mouth: it gradually
makes itself known   by a burning sensation on  the
tongue and fauces, sometimes called  the palatine arch,
or cavity  at the root of the tongue.  Chewing a small 
■0
                MATERIA MEDICA.             685

quantity of the bark, produces a great flow of saliva, or
spittle, and is very often used in this way to cure the
toothache.
  The bark of the prickly ash has also acquired a con-
siderable name as a remedy in chronic rheumatism, by
which I mean rheumatism of long standing.  Taken
in full doses, it produces a sense of heat  in the sto-
mach, and a strong tendency to perspiration, or sweat-
ing, and consequently much relief in  rheumatism.
The dose is twenty  grains of the pounded bark, to be
taken three times a  day; or you may boil an ounce of
the bark in a quart of water, and take this tea or  de-
coction in the course of the twenty-four hours.  In the
West India islands this strong decoction of  the bark is
used,  with great success, as a wash  for  old and foul
ulcers, which it always greatly cleanses, and disposes
them  to heal up.  The West India people also mix the
pounded bark with  what  are  called dressings of such
old sores.   The value of this remedy for old ulcers is
attested by numerous  instances of its success, to be
found in the London Medical and Physical Journal.
               INDIAN TURNIP.
  The Indian turnip is a native of every part of the
United States; it  grows, in low  rich meadows and
woodlands, to the height of from two to three feet, and
is too well known to require a very particular descrip-
tion. The leaves are but three in number, of a roundish
or oval form; the stalk  of a purple colour, and the
berries of a bright and beautiful scarlet.  In its recent
state, that is, when first dug up, the root is exceedingly
hot,  sharp,  and biting  to the  tongue.; and  on being
      3 M 
  686            MATERIA MEDICA.

  swallowed, a sharp acrimony is sensibly felt about the
  fauces, or cavity at the root of the tongue.
    Of all the American roots, the Indian turnip has the
  highest reputation in country practice  as a remedy in
  pulmonary or consumptive complaints: it is also given
  with considerable success in asthma, and in coughs of
  long standing.'  My own experience has convinced me
  that it is among the most valuable of our expectorants,
  or medicines which cause a dislodgment of mucus from
  the throat and lungs, and  that it is a good remedy in
  croup and wiiooping cough.  The green  or fresh root,
  boiled in hog's lard to the consistence of an ointment,
  has been found  very useful in tinea capitis, or  scald
  hjead, in which I would  always recommend its use.
  When given in consumptive complaints, the fresh root
  should be boiled in sw7eet milk.  When the dried root
  is to be  given, it must be  finely grated in  the sweet
  milk: one root in half a pint of milk, and well boiled
  before it is taken.  Some acrimony or sharpness should
  be perceptible to the throat and tongue, or the root has
  probably lost its powers.   The  ointment I have  men-
  tioned above is valuable  also in some  diseases of the
, skin: such as ring-worm, tetter-worm, and so on.



             WILD CHERRY TREE.
   This tree is so very common as to require no de-
 scription.  The  bark of this tree, or the bark of the
 root, which is still better, combined with the  bark of
 the dogwood, when employed in the cure of ague and
 fever, bilious fever, and other diseases where  tonic or
 strengthening medicines are proper, is by  no means
 inferior to the best Peruvian bark.   Combined  with 
MATERIA MEDICA.
687
Virginia snake-root, in the proportion of one part of
snake-root to four parts of this bark, it is an excellent
remedy in intermittent fevers of an obstinate character,
and long standing.  You may either give it in powder,
in the same dose that  you would Peruvian bark, (see
table of doses,) or you may give it as  a  tea, or decoc-
tion.  It has also been found very useful in dyspepsia,
or indigestion, and in  consumption of the lungs.   In-
fused plentifully in strong sound cider, it will in most
cases remove jaundice, especially if preceded by a dose
or two of calomel: and a strong decoction of  the bark
is an excellent wash for old and ill-conditioned ulcers.
It is a singular fact, that the leaves of the wild cherry
tree will poison cattle: nor is it less singular than true,
that the distilled water of the leaves is  a  powerful
poison to  most animals.   This effect seems  to be
dependent on  the presence of the  same poisonous
principle which exists in peach kernels, and other sub-
stances of a  similar kind, lately shown to be prussic
acid, the strongest poison known to us.
           AMERICAN  CENTAURY.
  This is a very elegant little plant, a native of the
United States; and is no less valued for its medicinal
virtues than admired for its simple beauty.  The root,
consisting of a few thick  yellowish fibres, generally
sends up but a single stem, which grows from a  foot
to eighteen inches high: the stem is smooth and four-
sided, and where the branches shoot off, it has gene-
rally two  leaves which  grow opposite  to each other:
indeed, the leaves of every part of the plant grow op-
posite  to  each other, and are oval and sharp at the 
688
MATERIA MEDICA.
 points.   The flowers are very numerous; growing at
 the points of the branches, from two to five in number,
 and are generally of a beautiful pale rose colour.  This
 plant is in full flower in the month of July.
   Every part of this little plant is a pure strong bitter,
 and parts with its medicinal qualities to both water and
 spirits: it has no astringent powers.   On the stomachs
 that are w7eak, it exerts a strengthening  influence, and
 is considerably used in the southern states in intermit-
 tent fevers.  In fact, by the best practitioners in the
 Union, it is generally administered in fevers: Dr. Bar-
 ton says, " it was often employed  with much benefit in
 the city of Philadelphia in  1793, in certain stages of
 the yellow fever."  On the whole, centaury may be
 confidently recommended for its pure bitter, tonic and
 strengthening virtues.   It ought  to be  taken as a de-
 coction or tea, and always taken cold: it may be given
 in powder, in doses of from  ten to twenty grains, but I
think not with the same advantage.  In relaxations of
the stomach, and general debility of the system, mixed
with calamus or  angelica-root, it forms an excellent
and strengthening bitter.  This root is  called  by the
country people centry.
LOBELIA INFLATA, OR INDIAN TOBACCO.
  It has been affected that the discovery of the medi-
cinal virtues of this plant is involved in unexplainable
mystery; but it long since has constituted a portion of
the standard materia medica:  it is an annual or bien-
nial indigenous plant, usually a foot or more in height,
with a fibrous root, and a solitary, eroct. angular, and
very hairy stem, much branched about midway, but 
MATERIA MEDICA.
689
rising considerably above the summits of the highest
branches.
   The leaves are scattered, sessile, oval, acute, serrate,
and hairy. The flowers are numerous, disposed in leafy
terminal racemes, and supported on short axillary foot
stalks.  The segments of the calyx are lined and point-
ed : the corolla, which is a delicate blue colour, has a
labiate border, with the upper lip divided into two, the
lower into three acute segments.
   The united anthers are curved, and enclose the stig-
 ma:  the  fruit  is an  oval,  striated, inflated capsule,
 crowned  with the perristent calyx, and containing in
 two cells numerous very small, Drown seeds.
   This species of lobelia is a very common weed, grow-
 ing on the road sides, and in neglected fields, through-
 out the United States.   Its flowers begin  to appear
 towards the end of July, and continue to expand in suc-
 cession till the occurrence of  frost.  The plant,  when
 wounded or broken, exudes a milky juice.   All parts
 of it are  possessed of medicinal activity ; but, accord-
 ing to Dr. Eberle,  the root and inflated capsules are
 most powerful.  The plant should be collected in Au-
 gust or September, when the capsules are numerous,
 and should  be  carefully dried : it may be kept whole
 or in a state of powder.
    Dried  lobelia has a slight irritating odour, and when
 chewed,  though at first without taste, soon produces  a
 burning, acrid impression upon the posterior parts of
 the  tongue and palate, very closely  resembling that
 produced by tobacco, and attended  in like manner
 with a flow of saliva, and a nauseating effect upon the
 stomach.  The powder is of a greenish colour: the
\ plant yields its active  properties readily to water or
       3m2              87 
690
MATERIA MEDICA.
alcohol, and water  distilled from  it retains its  acrid
taste : it has not been accurately analyzed.
•  Medical properties and uses.—'Lobelia is eme-
tic, and, like other medicines of the same class, is occa-
sionally cathartic, and in small doses, diaphoretic and
expectorant; it is also possessed of narcotic properties.
The leaves or capsules, chewed for a short time, occa-
sion giddiness,  headach,  general  tremors,  and ulti-
mately  nausea and vomiting;  when swallowed in the
full dose, the medicine  produces speedy and severe
sweating and great  relaxation; its effects in doses too
large or too frequently repeated, are  extreme  prostra-
tion, great anxiety and distress,  and ultimately death
preceded by convulsions:  fatal results have been expe-
rienced from its empirical use.
  These are more  apt to occur, when the poison, as
sometimes happens, is not rejected by vomiting:  in its
operation  upon the  system, therefore, as well  as in its
sensible properties,  lobelia bears a  strong resemblance
to  tobacco.  It  is among the medicines which  were
employed by the aborigines of this country, and was
long in the hands of empirics, before it was introduced
into regular practice. The Rev. Doctor  Cutler, of
Massachusetts, first  called to it the  attention of  the pro-
fession.   As an emetic it is too powerful and too dis-
tressing, as well as  too hazardous  in its operation,  for
ordinary use. The disease in which it has proved most
useful is spasmodic  asthma, the paroxysms of which it
often greatly mitigates, and sometimes wholly relieves,
even when not given in doses sufficiently large to pro-
mote active vomiting: it was from the relief obtained
from an attack of this complaint, that Doctor Cutler
was induced to recommend this medicine.  It  has also 
                 MATERIA MEDICA.            691

 been used in catarrh, croup, pertussis, and  other pec-
 toral affections, but generally with no better effect than
 may be obtained from less unpleasant and safer medi-
 cines.   Administered  by  injections  it produces  the
 same distressing sickness of stomach, profuse perspira-
 tion, and  universal relaxation as result from a similar
 use of tobacco.   Dr. Eberle administered a strong de-
 coction of it successfully by the rectum, as a substitute
 for this narcotic  in a case  of strangulated hernia.   It
 may be given in substance, tincture, or infusion ;  the
 dose of the powder, as an emetic, is from five to twenty
 grains, to  be repeated if necessary: the tincture is most
 frequently given.  The full dose of the preparation for  ,
 an adult is half a fluid ounce, though in asthmatic cases
 it is better administered in the quantity of one or two
 fluid drachms, repeated every two or three hours, until
 its effects  are experienced.
  The following is extracted from a very late London
 publication:—
  "This  most  important remedy must, ere long, be
 introduced into the pharmacopoeia;  for the united tes-
 timony of some of the most distinguished physicians
 bear witness to its specific effects in  spasmodic asthma.
 Dr. Ellison, Dr. Sigmond,  Dr.  Kinglake,  Dr. Barton
 of America, have pronounced it to be the most effica-
 cious remedy for this disease  that has yet been em-
 ployed.  In the Gazette of Health, in the Lancet, and
 in the Medical and Surgical Journal, will be found a
series of important facts upon this subject, to which I
can refer  the  reader.   The* ethereal tincture allays
almost instantaneously the most violent  asthmatic
paroxysm. The celebrated Dr. Drury gave  it a trial
during a most severe fit, in which the breathing was
distressingly oppressive: it  instantly relieved him, and 
692
MATERIA MEDICA.
he has ever since remained free from this malady.  The
following extract from an admirable chymical lecture
of Professor Elliotson, gives some useful observations on
this important plant. ' It is an American plant: and is
used by the Indians for smoking, as a sort of tobacco;
and it resembles tobacco in many of its properties.  It
causes sickness, headach, giddiness, faintness, and it is
very acrid as well as very  narcotic.   There are two
sorts  of tinctures in the drug or apothecaries shops,
where medicines are sold; the one is made with spirits,
the other with ether.  They commonly may be given
in doses of half a drachm, which is about half a tea-
spoonful : some people will bear a drachm; but I
should say that half a drachm is the common dose that
people can bear.
  "' As for the tincture made of ether, called the ethereal
tincture, such as I have  seen, seven drops answer ex-
ceedingly well.  It  may be prepared by some persons
weaker  than it should be, but that which medical
gentlemen  use may be  given  from seven drops to
twenty.  Ten  drops in many persons produce sick-
ness.  With  many  constitutions it acts as  a charm;
and in twenty minutes they will  be perfectly relieved;
so that all the other remedies in asthma are nothing
to be compared with it.  It is not in the pharmacopoeia,
nor do I know whether it will be in the new pharma-
copoeia ; but it will be introduced into practice at some
future day, and will be considered one of the most im-
portant articles in the whole materia  medica.   It has
been  recommended in  other spasmodic diseases; in
tetanus, hydrophobia, and other diseases of the nervous
system; and it certainly deserves a fair and impartial
trial ;for this is the fault of our profession, if any thing
is brought forward new, instead of investigating it pro- 
materia medica.
693
perly, and free from all selfish motives, four or five, or
perhaps more jack-puddings of the profession, who
before were never knowm, commence scribbling in the
different newspapers of the day about what they know
less than nothing; and this  is one of the  reasons that
many valuable roots, herbs, and remedies, are  at this
advanced period of medical knowledge unknown, or
not appreciated fully by physicians; and I now tell
you honestly, and what I am confident time will fully
establish, that there  are  in this  country thousands of
plants  of  whose value we  know nothing.   For the
fact is, in spasmodic diseases,  in tetanus, hydrophobia,
and other diseases of the nervous system, our  power
over them is next to nothing;  and over  many other
diseases very slight: and as this plant has been recom-
mended very highly in complaints of this kind, I think
it a duty we owe to mankind and to ourselves to fully
investigate the properties of this medicine, and give it
in cases where we have no remedies, or our remedies
now in use are not  at all  satisfactory.   The Indians
smoke it, and that is a very good form of exhibiting it.
It may, by means of a pipe, be smoked just  like tobacco.
Many persons afflicted with asthma  or diseases of the
chest from shortness of breathing, &c, find great relief
from smoking stramonium or Jamestown weed: see
page 628.  Many persons cannot take a single drop of
this medicine, and are altogether unable to bear it; nor
can they take a single whiff from  the pipe without
feeling sick from it, while others again smoke  it and
find general relief, as it  is as  mild and as pleasant as
tobacco.  Of the stramonium you will find a particular
description at the page I referred you to above.  In spas-
modic asthma, and in  difficult breathing or oppres-
sions of the chest from colds of long standing, particu- 
694
MATERIA  MEDICA.
larly in aged persons, a small portion or a pipe or so of
the lobelia inflata mixed with the sumach leaves  is
much used by the Indians, and with very great benefit,
particularly when used at night previous to bed-time.
This vapour inhaled during smoking effectually allays
irritation in the windpipe, and promotes expectoration,
so as to prevent a paroxysm of asthma, and wonderfully
to facilitate breathing.   In addition to this testimony
we give the practical opinions of that excellent  physi-
cian, Doctor Kinglake, which appeared in  the Gazette
of Health.  "This  medicinal article, for which the
medical practitioner and the public at large are chiefly
indebted to the unremitted and laudable exertions of
the late Dr. Reece  for  the improvement  of practical
medicine, has strong claims to preference for its effi-
cacy in asthmatic  affections  of the spasmodic  kind.
When exhibited in  doses of a common sized tea-spoon-
ful, or one drachm in an ounce of pure water, and re-
peated every half hour pending or during the paroxysm,
or until nausea  or  vomiting  be produced, it will be
found to afford more effectual  relief than  is derivable
from  any other  known  remedy.  It appears that its
efficacy is much enhanced and insured by its sickening
agency.   In some  instances of difficult respiration it
proves  beneficial without  occasioning  nausea; but
when sickness results from use, so far  from that occur-
rence being a reason for discontinuing it; an additional
inducement is afforded for  continuing its use, and
persisting in it,  until full vomiting or puking  takes
place, when relief is obtained.
  " No apprehension or fear need be entertained of its
acting deleteriously or dangerously.  It, therefore, in all
cases  of oppressed  respiratinn  or  difficult breathing,
especially when  of the spasmodic  character, may be 
                MATERIA MEDICA.             695

fearlessly administered until full vomiting be produced,
when the  desired benefit is usually effected.  Squill,
ether, ipecacuanha, ammoniacum, asafcetida, stramo-
nium, &c, appear to be vastly inferior in direct and last-
ing efficacy to the ethereal tincture of the lobelia inflata;
and, in  these cases of asthma,  is in its salutary in-
fluence the best remedy or medical agent at this time
known."
                PEPPERMINT.
  Peppermint is originally a native of Europe, but it
is now cultivated in almost every garden of the United
States.   The roots of the peppermint, should be trans-
planted every three years, otherwise the plant is apt to
degenerate  into  the flavour  of the spearmint.  This
plant is certainly so common, that a description would
be entirely unnecessary.  From  it the  oil is distilled
which, when mixed with alcohol or proof spirits, makes
the essence of peppermint sold in the shops.
  Peppermint is a warm stimulant to the stomach,
and through that medium to the rest of the body, hold-
ing a first rank  in the list of medicines called carmi-
natives: which means those medicines which dispel
or scatter the  wind from the stomach  and bowels.  It
is also beneficial in allaying spasmodic affections of the
stomach and  bowels;  removing sickness of the sto-
mach ; dispelling flatulence, or wind, and in removing
all cholicy pains.   It is very often  beneficial when
cramp takes place during the operation of an emetic,
or puke.   The  green leaves stewed in spirits, or hot
water, and  applied to the pit of the stomach as warm
as they can be  borne, will often stop  puking when
some of the best remedies fail. 
696
MATERIA  MEDICA.
                      GINGER.
    Ginger is a perennial plant, originally found in the
  East Indies, but  at present  cultivated in all the West
  India Islands.  I think it highly probable that the gin-
  ger would grow7 wrell in all the southern and western
  states, particularly in Louisiana,  Alabama, Georgia.
  and South Carolina.   In  the West India Islands it  is
  cultivated very much in the manner that we cultivate
  potatoes in this country, and is fit for digging once in
  every year.  There are two sorts of ginger, the black
  and the white-,  The black ginger  consists of thick
  and knotty roots, of a yellowish gray colour on the out-
  side, and an orange or browm colour in the inside. The
  white ginger is not so thick and knotty as the black,
  and is internally of a whitish gray or bright  yellow
  colour. The white is firm and resinous, more pungent
  or sharp in its taste than the black, and consequently
  a higher price.  Pieces which are worm-eaten, soft,
  light, and easily broken, you are always to reject.
    Ginger has  a  fragrant  smell, and a hot, biting, aro-
  matic taste, and  is very useful  in  flatulent  or windy
  cholics, and in all cases of looseness  and weakness of
  the bowels and intestines; it does not heat the system
  so much as the different kinds of pepper, but is much
  more durable in its effects.  Some time since the pow-
  der of ginger, taken in very large doses in sweet milk,
  wras considered a very valuable remedy in gout.  I
  have never tried  it myself, and therefore cannot say as
  to its correctness, but the  experiment would be an in-
  nocent one, and is very easily tried.  I think it unne-
.  cessary to say any thing more on  the subject of this
  root: every old lady in the country is acquainted with
  its general character and medical virtues. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
697
                     OPIUM.
  Without this  valuable and  essential  medicine it
would be next to impossible for a physician to practise
his profession with any considerable degree of success:
It may not be improperly called the monarch of me-
dicinal powers, the soothing angel of moral  and phy-
sical pain.
       " Charmed with this potent drug, the exalted mind,
        All sense of woe delivers to the wind:
        It clears the cloudy front from wrinkled care,
        And soothes the wounded bosom of despair!"
  There are two  kinds of this drug  known in com-
merce, distinguished by the names of the Turkish and
East India opium.  The Turkish opium is the best: it
is considerably solid and compact, possesses some de-
gree of tenacity or stickiness, and when broken leaves
a shining fracture.  It is of a dark brown colour; and
when first taken into the mouth produces a nauseous
bitter taste, which soon  becomes acrid, with some de-
gree of warmth.   The best kind of Turkish opium is
in flat pieces, and  generally  covered with leaves used
in packing it, and  has nearly double the  strength of
that brought from  the East Indies.
  The East Indian opium is not so solid as the Turkish,
being sometimes not much thicker than tar, its colour
much darker, and  its taste more nauseous  and less bit-
ter.  By these distinctions, which are obvious to even
tolerable  judges, you will easily  know the Turkish
opium from that of the East Indies.
  Opium is combined, or, in  other wrords, mixed with
more medicines for the  cure of diseases than any other
drug known to  or used by medical men.  In every
patent medieine sold in the shops, especially for  the
      3N                 88 
698
MATERIA MEDICA.
relief of pain in diseases, opium forms  the  principal
portion.  Bateman's drops and Godfrey's cordial, both
of which  have sustained their character  for  near a
century, have opium for their bases or principal parts,
and they are certainly valuable medicines.  Were I to
trace back the use of opium as a medicine among man-
kind, it would probably be found among the Greeks:
but the limits of my book will not permit me to go
minutely into its history: suffice it  to  say,  that this
valuable, singular, and astonishing drug seems capable
of changing our very nature  to a more exalted state of
being, at the same time that  it holds in due and proper
subjection, without impairing it, the rationality of  the
mind.
  Opium is made from the white poppy, which is or
can be cultivated in all our  gardens; it  is  probably a
native of the warmer parts of Asia.  Some  attempts
have been made to cultivate it extensively in England,
but the climate  of that country seems to present an in-
superable obstacle to its being cultivated as a produc-
tive article of commerce.  The United States, how-
ever, and particularly the more southern and w7estern
portions of the Union, on the score of climate and soil,
present  no difficulties in  the cultivation of opium in
sufficient abundance for the consumption of all our
citizens.  This is  another proof, among several others
which I have adduced, evincive of the independence
of our country i'ti the production of important medical
drugs, if we will only employ industry and  enterprise ;
the fact is. that enornious sums of money are yearly
expended for opium, which go into the pockets of fo-
reigners, that we could very easily produce from our
own soil.   The leaves, stalks, and  capsules of  the
poppy, which capsules mean   the cases containing the 
MATERIA MEDICA.             699
seeds, abound with a milky juice which must be ga-
thered when the seeds are nearly ripe.
  The manner of collecting this juice is as follows:
After the sun has gone down, or about the twilight of
evening, make several incisions or cuts, lengthways, on
the surface of the capsules or poppy pods.   As I have
just told you, this is to be done when they are not quite
ripe;  and is best performed with a knife made  for the
purpose, having four or five blades.   The milky juice .
which flows out from these cuts during the night, must
be collected the following day, after a sufficient time
has been allowed  for the milky fluid to become inspis-
sated or thickened by the heat of the sun.  It  is now
to be collected by a thin iron  scraper, made for the
purpose, and put  into an earthen vessel.   This is the
whole secret of opium making, a secret which every
man in this country ought to know and profit by, and
the ignorance of which has already cost our  citizens
millions of money ; the price of foreign  opium in our
eastern cities, much of  which is of an inferior quality,
is about four dollars the pound.  The  operation of
cutting  or scarifying the poppy pods, in the  manner I
have mentioned, may be repeated every  evening, or as
long as the pods will furnish the milky juice.   When
a considerable quantity of this juice is collected, you
have nothing to do but to work it with a wooden knife
or spoon, until it becomes of a proper consistency or
thickness, and to  enclose it  in the leaves of the plant
itself, or in tobacco leaves.
  " A paper  has  been lately read in the Harrisburgh
Medical Society," says the Medical Recorder,  "on the
cultivation of the poppy, and the manufacture of opi-
um.  The author, who is Doctor Webster Lewis, of
Lewisburg, York county, Pennsylvania, has transmit- 
700
MATERIA MEDICA.
  ted a specimen of his manufacture of opium, equal  to
  the best foreign opium of the shops.   After many un-
  successful experiments, he has fallen on a mode of cul-
  tivation and preparation, both easy and profitable.  The
  plan will be put into operation in the ensuing season
  by several other members of the society, to whom he
  has presented some of his best seed."  And, with re-
  gard to the cultivation of opium  in the United States,
•  the following extract of  a letter  from a gentleman  in
  England, to a citizen of the United States, will throw
  much light on the subject.   " Let me entreat you  to
  make an experiment on the cultivation of opium.  I
  caused a great increase of this article at Patna ; it  used
  to sell at two hundred and twenty-five rupees the cake,
  of one hundred and sixty pounds: and has  been  sold
  for three hundred lately.  The Company sells to the
  amount," annually, I presume, " of fifteen  millions of
  rupees, tw7o and sixpence sterling, amounting to one
  million eight  hundred  and  seventy-five   thousand
  pounds sterling.  I know it can easily be produced in
  America, and is the best article of commerce that can
  be sent to China." If these representations be correct,
  of which there can be no doubt, the cultivation of the
  white poppy, and  the  manufacture of opium, are not
  only easily practicable in the United States,  but would
  afford an immense revenue to the  citizens, as an arti-
  cle of commercial exportation : and the fact is, if the
  real state  of the case w7ere truly known, that we yet
  remain in comparative ignorance  of the multiplied and
  inexhaustible resources of our own  country.
    There is a  considerable difference between the ef-
  fects produced by wine or spirituous liquors, and those
  produced on the system  by opium.   The excitement
  of pleasurable sensations, produced by wine or spirits, 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
701
  is acute and powerful, while these sensations last:  but
  they are  of extremely short duration.  The one is a
  flame which soon subsides, and leaves nothing but the
  ashes of self-reprehension and bitter reflection behind
  it; while the other affords a steady, agreeable, and per-
  manent glow of pleasure, physical and  intellectual,
  which lasts from ten to twelve hours.  But the princi-
  pal distinction between these stimulants of the human
 system lies in this: that wines or spirits  disorder and
 confuse the intellectual faculties, while opium in all its
 forms, if taken in proper quantities, introduces order,
 harmony, and pleasurable serenity among them. Wines
 or spirits unsettle and cloud the judgment, and deprive
 us of our intellectual self-possession ; while opium, on
 the contrary, produces  a just equipoise between our
 intellectual strength and sensibilities;  arouses all our
 dormant faculties; and disposes  them  to harmonious
 and pleasurable activity; and with regard to the  tem-
 per, moral energies, and physical sensations in general
 opium produces that sort of simple and vital animation.
 that cordial warmth of feeling and sensibility which
 we would almost suppose to have accompanied man in
 his primeval and unfallen state.  Wine or  spirits, it
 taken to any excess, always lead men to the  brink of
 absurdity; and beyond a certain point, invariably pro-
 duce  a distraction of the mental faculties; while opium,
 on the contrary, soothes our irritations of feeling, con-
 centrates our intellectual energies, and  robs  pain and
 misfortune of their stings.   This, however, is but one
 side of the picture.    Opium, as Fhave already told
 you, although a very valuable medicine in many dis-
 eases, and always producing those agreeable sensations
 I have attempted to describe, wiien used to any  con-
siderable excess, has many disadvantages and miseries
      3 N 2 
702
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 attending it.  It is used by the Turks to great excess,
 because all wines and spirituous liquors are prohibited
 by the Mohammedan  creed.   Opium, if habitually
 taken, or in other wrords, when it is made use of as a
 stimulant or luxury, and not as a medicine, affects the
 physical system in a terrible manner, and produces the
 same sufferings as those which  arise from  intoxicating
 liquors.  When the  pleasurable effects I have before
 described begin to cease, or  the effects of the opium
 begin to die in the system, the feelings are as agonizing
 and dreadful as can possibly be  conceived; the mind
 becomes weak, irresolute, heavy, dull and languid ; and
 the body, averse to activity or motion  of  any kind, is
 not only disposed to sleep, but seems little affected by
 objects of pursuit which usually put it in motion.  If
 the dose of opium has been very considerable, all these
 symptoms continue to increase, until tremors, convul-
 sions, vertigo, stupor, insensibility, and total deprivation
 of muscular strength  succeed,  when  death  usually
 closes the scene.  All these symptoms appear singly
 or combined, in proportion to the comparative modera-
 tion or excess of the dose, and the peculiarities of the
 constitution of the person.   Therefore use  not this
 drug, but as intended by the  great Father of  the uni-
 verse  ; because, used as a medicine  alone, it is an  in-
 valuable blessing in the relief of pain and suffering, and
 in soothing and tranquillizing the system with balmy
 and refreshing slumber.
  Having under the  head of  each disease mentioned
 particularly, when it was necessary to make use  of
 opium or laudanum, which is nothing more than opium
 dissolved or steeped in any kind of spirits, (for which,
J#ok under the head  Laudanum;) I shall now close
these remarks.  Opium and laudanum,  which  are the 
MATERIA MEDICA.
703
same things in substance and effect, are always efficient
in mitigating or  subduing pain,  and in overcoming
spasm or cramp; in fact, they are the chief means em-
ployed by physicians in these cases.   I  have now, as
fully as the limits of my book will allow, described to
you this great and effective medicine, which is valuable,
powerful, and, if properly used, innocent.  In a small
dose, it acts as a stimulant; in a moderate dose, it eases
pain and  procures sleep; and in an over dose, when the
person is not in the habit of using it, the consequences
will always be fatal.   It is therefore evident, that this
medicine should be used with great judgment and dis-
cretion.   The  average dose of  opium  is about one
grain: and the dose of laudanum for a grown person,
from  twenty-five to thirty-five drops, in a little cold
water.  For a child about the period of birth, the dose
of laudanum is half a drop; but the table of medicines,
to which you will please refer, will explain the doses
of both opium and laudanum for all ages.
                 HORSE MINT.
  Horse mint grows very abundantly in all parts of
the United States, and is so extremely common as to
require  no description.   A tea made  either  of the
green or dried leaves, will stop vomiting, or puking—
especially in bilious fevers.  It will also act, in  simple
cases, as a valuable remedy for promoting, or bringing
on the menses, or courses of women, when they are
obstructed.  In this instance, it may be placed on a
footing with  rosemary, pennyroyal, and many other
simple herbs.   All this, however, is well known to
every old lady in the country. 
704
materia medica.
  CASTOR  OIL—AND HOW TO  MAKE  IT.
  This oil, which  is essential to  the preservation of
health  in every  family, is made  from the seed of a
plant called palma christi, which is a native of most
countries lying within the tropics, and will grow and
flourish in all temperate latitudes.  In the process of
manufacturing this oil, the outer  coat or covering of
the seed or bean must first be taken off; in the  next
place, you must bruise them in considerable quantities,
and afterwards subject what may be called the pumice,
to a pressure sufficient to throw out  the oil.  The oil
thus extracted is called cold expressed oil, and  is by
far  the best.  That extracted  by  boiling the bruised
seeds in  water—another  process  of preparing it—is
more nauseous, of a much darker  colour, more easily
becoming rancid or stinking, much more disagreeable
to take, and much more active in its  operation on the
system.
  The palma christi will  grow in  any climate or soil
in the United States; it rises  to about ten or twelve
feet in  height, and is usually about the size of a com-
mon corn stalk, having very large and beautiful spread-
ing leaves.    Whether  you  extract  the oil cold, or
employ boiling  wrater in  the  process,  you must first
collect the branches having the ripe seed on them, and
expose  them to the sun until perfectly dry.  Then lay
them  on the scaffold or  floor, and beat them with a
light flail to separate the hull'or shell from the seed—
after which,  to dislodge  every particle of shell, you
may pound them gently  in a  wooden  mortar.   Take
care that you get all the covering off the seeds, because
there  is an acrid skin, which, if intermixed with the
oil, sometimes makes it operate as a  puke, and always 
                 materia medica.            705

as a drastic or griping purge. It is not improbable that
the oil obtained by boiling is saturated or filled with
the properties of this skin, which forms another of my
objections to boiling the seed.  If you prefer, however,
to extract the  oil by boiling, you  must put the seed,
divested of their covering, in a vessel of boiling water:
in about twenty minutes a dirty scum will rise, which
must be taken entirely off.  The clear oil will then
rise,  which must be put into a vessel without water,
kept warm by a slow fire—taking care that it does not
arrive at a boiling heat.  As soon as it becomes clear
and transparent from taking off the scum wnich arises,
and which will make an inferior kind of oil, you must
put  the clear, oil, when cold, into clean bottles, and
cork them well.   The kind of palma christi which
produces the finest oil, is the species of which the stalk
is of a pink colour.  I neglected to  mention in the
proper place, that the  quantity of water in the first
vessel used, should be three measures to one of seed,
which should be frequently stirred, to prevent any por-
tion  from sticking to the sides and bottom of the ves-
sel, which would give^he oil a burnt taste: you must
also  be careful that it does not boil over.  The dose
for a grown person is two table-spoonsful, and for an
infant a tea-spoonful, even at birth.
          WHITE MUSTARD SEED.
  The white mustard seed is one of the most valuable
medicines and certain remedies that can be presented
in the disordered  functions of the  stomach, liver, and
bowels.   In twenty years' practice I may with great
certainty say, that I have performed some of the most 
706
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 astonishing cures with this apparently simple remedy;
 particularly in cases of intemperate persons, and appa-
 rently worn-out constitutions, or  general  debility of
 the system.  My first attention to this article occurred
 in London in 18-2-1, when I confess I had little or no
 confidence  in  it: but after my return to the United
 States I determined to make a fair trial of it; and, much
 to my astonishment, it proved to be one of the  most
 invaluable medicines I ever used, and as such it affords
 me great pleasure to recommend its use, in addition to
 the above  diseases, in asthma and shortness of breath,
 wheezing cough, and other distressing affections of the
 chest and particularly in indigestion, or sense of weight
 after eating; heart-burn, sickness or  pain  at the pit of
 the stomach, cramp, pain in the sides  and lower  part
 of the body ; in obstructions that may lead to scirrhous
 liver, torpor, and other morbid affections of that organ;
 in deficient perspiration, gravel, and  unhealthy state
 of the urine ; disorders of the skin and kidneys; in re-
 laxed bowels, flatulence, cramp, and habitual costive-
 ness, severe colds, and numbness of the limbs,  loss of
 appetite, failure of sleep, weakness of nerves,  depres-
 sion  of spirits, and in general debility of the whole
 system.
  The mustard seed, if persevered in long enough, will
restore the tone of the stomach and bowels; and, as a
striking proof  of its extraordinary remedial powers, I
have restored to health many persons on whom every
other  remedy had failed.
  The white mustard seed is as valuable for the  pre-
vention as for the cure of disease, and  particularly
adapted to the case of those  whose  habits, situations,
and conditions of life render  them more  particularly
liable  to disordered functions of the  stomach, liver, 
                 MATERIA MEDICA.             707

 and  bowels,  with the endless variety of distressing
 complaints flowing from that cause; and the principal
 persons who are subject to these disorders are the stu-
 dious,  the  sedentary, and persons who have suffered
 from a long residence in hot climates; sailors, mecha-
 nics, steamboat men of every description; arid  more
 particularly those who have  been intemperate; and
 persons advanced  in years who labour under chronic
 diseases, such as  rheumatism, gout,  &c.  And even
 children from the age of tw7elve months are highly be-
 nefited by its  use as a means of obviating the extreme
 debility of the stomach and bowels.   In  children the
 seed is apt to produce an eruption of the skin, a result
 Which has never failed to promote their general health.
 It is, likewise, particularly applicable to females after
 their confinement: and where the mother is the nurse,
 it is also through her of great benefit to the infant, as it
 corrects all irregularities of the stomach and bowels,
 and thereby improves its general health'.   This seed
 combines a valuable tonic and aperient, and thus, while
 it affords the  most salutary and comfortable relief to
 the bowels, it  never weakens, but on the contrary al-
 ways strengthens  in a  very remarkable degree,  both
 those  organs  and the  stomach,  and  ultimately the
 whole system.  Its efficacy,, probably, consists in a
 communication of energy and activity to those move-
 ments of the canal by which the aliment is propelled,
 and in this way, perhaps, it operates in animating and
 improving  those secretions of the stomach, pancreas, *
 and liver, by which digestion and chylification (those
 most important functions in the animal economy) are
 effected: inrpther words, the efficacy of the seed in the
removal and prevention  of diseases does not arise from
any specific power over each particular  disease, but 
 708             MATERIA MEDICA.

 from the vigour and health which it imparts to  the
 general system through the medium of a greatly im-
 proved  state of the stomach, liver, and bowels, and by
 which the constitution is enabled to  throw off and
 prevent the several diseases before detailed. This view
 of the subject, coupled with the well-known  fact, that
 the great majority of disorders originate in a  depraved
 state of those organs, satisfactorily accounts for the ex-
 traordinary success of the mustard seed in diseases so
 very various and opposite.  The seed passes through
 the body whole, and very little, if at all, enlarged; and
 thus, while it imparts its medicinal virtues to the sys-
 tem generally, by means  of the  mucilage constantly
 flowing from it in its passage  through  the alimentary
 canal, it probably at the same time, by its stimulating
 properties, assists  in propelling  the contents  of  the
 bowels.  It has frequently succeeded when all other
 medicines  have failed: it never loses its effect by use ;
 it requires  neither confinement to  the  house, nor  any
 particular attention to diet; and, in the absence of  de-*
 cidedly inflammatory symptoms, is always safe.
  My impression is, if persons of consumptive and deli-
 cate habits, or otherwise constitutionally susceptible of
 cold, would avail  themselves of this hint; and if all
 persons indiscriminately, on the first attack of disease,
 unaccompanied by any decidedly inflammatory  symp-
 toms, would have  recourse to  the mustard seed for a
 few  weeks, the extent to which  many might  he  re-
 lieved w7oul4 exceed all calculation.
  The white mustard seed will always,  be  found a
 valuable remedy for the irregularities of the system in
 young females, as well as to  a change which takes
 place in more advanced life.   In all debilitating dis-
eases : indeed w herever an efficient and safe  stimulus 
MATERIA MEDICA.            709
is wanted to act upon the whole system, I know of
none  preferable to  the mustard seed.  It is, as I have
before told  you, a tonic, an aperient of the first order,
and a sedative of the most soothing and salutary kind.
And  in this way it is that it produces  its threefold
kindly office.  1 st. By yielding a considerable quantity
of a mild, assimilating mucilage, most friendly to an
irritable state of the stomach and bowels.   2d.  By its
gradually  and gratefully stimulating effects upon the
whole interior surface of  both;   and,  3d.  By its
slightly mechanical action, assisting in the  evacuation
of their contents, which, if  necessary, may always be
increased by a dose  of Epsom salts, to be used after the
seed,  (say two or three hours,) so as to afford the  seed
a sufficient time before you take the salts, to act upon
the stomach and liver.   At the same time this  seed
strengthens and invigorates in a very remarkable degree
the whole line  of  the alimentary  canal, and  conse-
quently improves the digestion and assimilation of
food; and with  these  the appetite,  sleep, and  general
health.  To the poor it is invaluable in every point of
view; to them it is both food and medicine; and is on
this  account peculiarly  calculated to meet the nu-
merous formidable  physical evils with  which they
have to contend, and to which they  are peculiarly ex-
posed.  It is a remedy adapted at once to infancy and
to old age.   It enables the young to struggle against
the  morbid debility  frequently attendant on  their
tender years; and it supports the aged under the pres-
sure of those infirmities generally annexed to declining
life;  whilst in every stage of  existence, and in every
scale of being, it would seem to impart the power of
resisting the effects of sudden  changes of atmosphere,
and thus to obviate that host of evils which flow from
      3 0 
710             MATERIA MEDICA.

frequent and sudden changes of climate, producing in
females and elderly persons  sudden and  often  dan-
gerous diseases.  In many instances I have heard per-
sons of truth declare that they never knew7  what it
was to enjoy comfortable health for many years,  until
they became acquainted  with the efficacy of this re-
medy, and took the white mustard seed.   And all
it requires is a fair trial to prove beyond the possibility
of doubt, an evidence of its intrinsic virtues as a me-
dicine.
  The white mustard seed exercises powerful influence
over the stomach and liver, particularly in the cases of
persons in the habit of  drinking spirituous and fer-
mented liquors to excess: thereby destroying  the
coats of the stomach, deranging its  functions, and
ultimately its structure, as well as the liver and intes-
tines, both of which suffer remarkably from this cause.
It is well known that the liver of animals fed on the
grains left after distillation and fermentation, are found
indurated  and enlarged. It is just so with hard drinkers.
The constant irritation in the line of the digestive or-
gans keeps up a determination of blood to these viscera,
ending in congestion,  chronic inflammation, or ob-
struction : and  in  the United States, where such an
enormous quantity of spirits is daily consumed, (in a
great measure the cause of so many stomach and  liver
complaints,) that tuberculated states of the liver are
most commonly found among people addicted to strong
drink, is hourly known and noticed by every medical
man who has any pretensions to  discrimination.   To
this we must add,'in general terms, every sort of intem-
perance in food.                                    *
  The manifestations of the mind correspond with the
derangement of the corporeal organs  and functions. 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
711
Thus the drunkard is incapable of attention;  fails in
his memory and judgment;  becomes irresolute, timid,
nay, even cowardly.   The morning hours hang heavily
upon his hands, and he is miserable till he is again under
the influence of  that stimulus which habit and disease
have now rendered necessary to his comfort.  Finally,
he sinks into sottishness and stupidity, and commonly
dies paralytic, apoplectic, dropsical, or becomes a con-
firmed maniac.                            .       i
  That the white mustard seed exercises a powerful
effect over the nervous system I am fully satisfied ; it
acts as an efficient and safe stimulus, and as a sedative
of the most soothing and salutary kind; and in this
way it is that it produces its threefold  kindly office;
first,  by yielding a considerable quantity of  a  mild,
assimilating  mucilage,  most friendly  to an irritable
state of the stomach and bowels; secondly, by its gradu-
ally and gratefully stimulating effects upon the whole
interior surface of both ; and, thirdly, by its slightly me-
chanical action, assisting in the propulsion of their con-
tents.   Hence, it at the same time  strengthens and
invigorates in a very remarkable degree, the whole line
of  the alimentary canal, and consequently improves
the digestion and assimilation of food; and with these,
appetite, sleep, and general health.
   All that is required is a fair trial of the white mus-
tard  seed for some  time, and in due season a gradual
restoration to health will be the result, when it is pru-
dently used; for, like all other valuable medicines, it is
 liable to be abused by carelessness or ignorance.  And
 I am thoroughly persuaded, that neither its powers
 nor its worth are as yet otherwise  than very imper-
 fectly  understood.   As far  as my experience of its
 effects has gone, I feel bound to say, as an honest man, 
712
MATERIA  MEDICA.
that it deserves to be hailed as one of the most decided
discoveries of general usefulness and benefit wilich has
ever been made known, and one of the greatest bless-
ings that has ever been dispensed to suffering man.
  The' white  mustard seed is unlike almost all other
means of relief to those who stand in need of constant
medical assistance.   It may be taken without a single
sensation of disgust, under any  circumstances which
are not such as to render its use obviously iniproper—
and for any length of time.  It accomplishes the pur-
pose of its administration without occasioning that dis-
turbance to, or exciting that unnatural action in the
system, which is almost invariably the case when ordi-
nary medicines are given; in other words, without in
anywise interfering with nature's ow7n operation ; and
it seldom, if ever, disagrees with the stomach : never, as
far as I have been  able  to learn, except from caprice
of the patient, and as seldom fails  to  be  a source of
transcendant benefit to him.  The dose of white mus-
tard seed  must be  regulated by the effects produced,
and should be taken in equal proportions three times
in the course  of the four-and-twenty hours.  One or
two stools  should be procured each day by it, and no
more.  And it should be persevered in for a sufficient
length of time; and such will be the alleviation of un-
comfortable feeling, that the patient will be at length
anxious  to continue its use.  In  many of the cases of
female complaints of long standing and great debility.
I have no hesitation in saying that its use might pro-
duce  much good, and such soothing effects on many
poor  dyspeptics  as  w7ould  perhaps  be  the means of
finally restoring them to he-alth. 
MATERIA MEDICA.            713
 ."   DIRECTIONS TO BE CAREFULLY OBSERVED.
i   The white mustard seed is always to be swallowed
 whole—{and not to be broken or masticated,) and swal-
 lowed with a little cold  water, or any other  liquid,
 warm or cold as you please; but for children, or persons
 who  find difficulty in  swallowing it, the following
 mode is recommended : each dose as it is wanted for
 use, should be washed in boiling water for one or two
 minutes, after which it may be  taken in a little gruel.
 barley water, or any other mild liquid, and (if  neces-
 sary) a small quantity of sugar may be added, to ren-
 der it more agreeable.  Generally speaking, three doses
 should be  taken every day without intermission; the
 first about an hour  before breakfast, the second about
 an hour after dinner, and the third either at bedtime
 or an hour before.  When taken after dinner the seed
 will, in some instances, excite a sense of  fulness and
 distension  in the stomach;  and where the inconve-
 nience is considerable, the second dose should be taken
 about an hour before that meal.  The quantity in each
 dose must always be regulated by the  effect produced
 on the bowels,  which are not  to be purged, but in
 every  instance must be uniformly maintained  in  a
 perfectly free and open  state.  Each  dose, therefore,
 should contain such a quantity, that the whole  taken
 will be sufficient to produce a complete and healthy
 evacuation of the bowels  every day; an effect to which
 the patient should always pay particular attention, and
 in securing which the whole art in the use of the me-
 dicine  consists.  The quantity, therefore, in each dose
 is, in all cases, to be ascertained by trial, and must be
 determined by the  observation and judgment of the
patient.  Generally speaking, tw7o or three large tea-
      3 02               90 
714
MATERIA  MEDICA.
spoonsful in each dose will produce the desired effect,
and with some constitutions much smaller doses, say a
tea-spoonful or  less, will answer the purpose; but
should that quantity fail, each dose may  be increased
to a table-spoonful, and in some instances, a fourth
table-spoonful may safely be added between breakfast
and  dinner.  When  this increased quantity  fails to
produce the desired effect on the bowels, (a circum-
stance which very rarely occurs,) it will be  proper
to assist the operation  of  the seed with a  little  Epsom
salts, or  other mild aperient  medicine,  taken every
second or third morning, as occasion may require, (in-
stead of the first dose  of  the seed,) for the space of ten
days or a fortnight, or such longer period  as may be
found necessary, and if the patient be troubled with
piles, it will be  advisable to  relieve  the  bowels occa-
sionally with a small  tea-spoonful of  sulphur, and an
equal quantity of magnesia, mixed together in a little
milk or water, taken  at bedtime, either  with  or after
the last dose of the seed.
   The following  case will serve to  show the great
benefit which, under some circumstances, may be  de-
rived from the judicious use of an aperient medicine.
A friend of mine whose bowels were remarkably slug-
gish, and who was otherwise  much afflicted with dis-
ease, took three  and sometimes four table-spoonsful of
the seed every day, without experiencing any  sensible
effect on the bowels.   After  persevering in this plan
for several successive days, with considerable inconve-
nience to himself, he altered his plan, and took a small
dose of Epsom salts before breakfast; a dessert spoon-
ful of the mustard seed about an hour after dinner, and
a similar dose of it at bedtime, every day for about ten
days; when he  found that three moderate doses of the
v 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
715
seed every day (each dose consisting  only  of a small
dessert-spoonful)  became amply sufficient  to produce
the desired effect on the bowels,  without any farther
recourse to Epsom salts.  It may be proper to add that
a few7 roasted apples or stewed prunes, taken at night
about a quarter of an hour  before  the last  dose of the
seed, will, in some cases, supply the place of  an aperient
medicine.
  In palsy, asthma, ague, disorder of the liver, rheu-
matism, and worms, the seed  should  be taken some-
what more freely than in other cases, and in instances
of long standing and great obstinacy,  to the extent of
four or five table-spoonsful in  the  course of each day,
if the bowels will bear that quantity without much in-
convenience ; and in these as in other cases, the patient
must have recourse to Epsom salts, or other mild  ape-
rient medicines,  or, if necessary from piles, use the
mixture of sulphur  and magnesia.   In asthma, the
patient  should always  take the first dose of the seed
before he  leaves his bedroom.
  When the  mustard seed is taken as a preventive, by
persons of consumptive and delicate habits, or, other-
wise constitutionally susceptible of cold, or by others
for the purpose of preventing the recurrence of dis-
ease of any kind,  or as a remedy for costiveness, or any
slight attack of disease, a single dose taken  every day,
about an hour before breakfast, or (which is generally
to be preferred) about  an hour after dinner, will very
frequently accomplish  the proposed object,  provided it
be sufficient in quantity to keep the bowels in an uni-
formly open and comfortable state.
   I  will only add that a steady daily perseverance in
the use of the mustard seed, according to the directions
above recommended, for the space of  two, three, four, 
716
MATERIA  MEDICA.
or  six months, and in many  instances, for a much
shorter period, will seldom fail  to convince the patient
of its extraordinary efficacy and singular value, either
by effecting a complete cure, or, at least, affording very
solid and substantial relief.  The remedy is indeed so
perfect, and the advantage derived from it so gene-
rally certain, and so very considerable, that  should a
trial of one or two months fail to  produce any sensible
benefit, he has, nevertheless, ample  encouragement to
persevere ; and he is not to be dismayed by occasional
returns of the disorder, (which  are to be expected.
when  it is obstinate or of long standing,) since each
succeeding attack will be less severe than the former,
and the intervals  between them will  be successively
enlarged, until by degrees the disorder  will, in all pro-
bability, be  finally subdued and health ultimately re-
stored.
  The following cases will bear testimony to the truth
of the importance  and value of the  white  mustard
seed.
                      Case 1.
  A lad of twelve years of age,  who  had  been long
subject to a regular epileptic seizure once a week, and
who had the advantage of medical advice in  London,
for about two years to no purpose, took the white mus-
tard seed with so much advantage, as to cause the  fits
to cease for six weeks. They have now returned, but
not so severe;  and I am wrell satisfied that perseverance
in the use of a remedy by which they have been so much
interfered with, will effect an ultimate cure; and upon
the abqve principle, the habits of  disorder,  like the
habits of the  man, being  once  materially broken  in
upon, are not easily re-established. 
•
                 MATERIA MEDICA.            717

                      Case 2.
  A very respectable  young man whom I met the
other day in Naples, told me that he came here about
five  years ago from  a large manufacturing town in
England, where his father lives, to take the manage-
ment of a  great mercantile house.   On coming to
Naples his health declined, and so much so, as to oblige
him  to return to England  after some stay here.  On
reaching his native air he became perfectly well, and
after a time returned  to Naples, which he had no
sooner reached, than  he became as ill as before; his
stomach, he said, had wholly lost its power. In that
miserable state  he received a letter from his father,
strongly  recommending the mustard seed.   This he
took, a tablejspoonful  three times a day.  He  began
this plan about  three  months ago, and is now  better
than he ever was, and to use his own  expression: he
said his stomach  would now digest marble.

                      Case 3.
  A confirmed invalid of more than thirty years' stand-
ing writes the following letter.   He used for a time
the mustard seed; but, like a great many persons in
the world, finds fault with a remedy because it does not
effect a cure in a few days.
                              February 7, 1826.
  •' I am sorry  to tell you, that  the good hope with
which vou inspired me, as to the efficacy of the mus-
tard  seed, in my more than melancholy  case,  has
entirely died away;  I have been in almost constant
misery, partly from its exciting effects, ever since I
left Cheltenham.   I fear I must give it up, unless you
can put me in the way of managing myself better." 
718
MATERIA  MEDICA.
  And then in a second letter the following week:
  •• You will be pleased to hear  that I am reaping the
fruits of my obedience to your directions;  that I have
pot ceased  to continue the use of the mustard seed;
that the stimulating effect of it has  entirelv subsided
since I took the aperient medicine in combination with
the seed ; and that I, am now really feeling a very con-
siderable improvement in my general sensations."

                      Case 4.
  •• I have now passed the best autumn I ever remem-
ber to have passed ; no headaches; no cramps; no gout
to any extent, not enough to make me have recourse
to a large shoe.   I used to be in the habit frequently
of taking  calomel and blue pills; for  many months
before July, I had taken them sparingly; since then.
not  once.    I occasionally aid the seed with  a little
salts, or a couple of small pills of the compound  rhu-
barb pill;  and when I do so, I experience wiiat Mr.
Abernethy means by its  supplying  the place of blue
pill; indeed, it produces such an evacuation in point of
healthiness of colour, as blue pill never obtained for me,
although it was intended specifically to have this effect.
My feet when up, were in the habit of being cold;
when iu bed, so dry and  hot, that I was obliged fre-
quently to  put them out of bed, in order that the reac-
tion might gain a moisture and sleep.  I am now not
so chilly when  up, and almost  always in bed  I  have
a slight perspiration on my feet; a luxury which I did
not often enjoy before I took the mustard seed.   My
appetite and digestion are good; and I now expect to
go through the winter and spring without my usual
gouty attack." 
•
                MATERIA  MEDICA.             719

                      Case 5.
  A letter from the above gentleman respecting his
son, dated February 18, 1826.
  •' My boy had a return of his cough, which has now7
lasted about three weeks three days ago.   I ventured,
with a pulse at one hundred, and a constant tiresome
cough, to give him  the mustard seed, telling his me-
dical attendant what I was going to do, and begging
that  his febrifuge  draught might be  made gently
aperient.  Three  days he has been under this disci-
pline ;  his pulse was at seventy-four this morning be-
fore he got up ; and not more than seventy-six by the
medical attendant's account, and improving daily ; and
his cough is infinitely better."

                      Case 6.
       A letter from a distinguished nobleman.
                            - February 28, 1826.
  " My dear Sir,—I have much pleasure  in replying
to your inquiries respecting the past and present state
of my  daughter's health; and will, for your more par-
ticular information,  give you as correct an  account of
it as I can,  from the time at which I first spoke to you
respecting her. It was, as  you remember, about this
time last year.  She was at that period suffering from
many symptoms calculated to excite my anxiety and
alarm;  her whole frame w7as in a state  of debility,
which  rendered her incapable of either bodily or men-
tal exertion.  She was constantly  susceptible of cold,
and severe cough, accompanied by a considerable de-
gree of expectoration every morning on rising, and had
such frequent pain in the chest, as to make it necessary
several times to apply  a blister to its seat.  I cannot 
720     •        MATERIA MEDICA.

recollect more minutely the state of her pulse  and re-
spiration, than that it was usually quick and hurried.
The consequent general irritability of her system was
great; she likewise laboured under such constant pain
in her back, that she was never easy unless in a recum-
bent position : as you know, my first apprehension was,
that she laboured under an affection of the spine.  She
had likewise a total loss of appetite—but it is unneces-
sary to add more; she bore about her every indication
of the existence of that state of system which I know
you  consider only preparatory  to the appearance of  a
certain disease.   I need not tell you to what  point she
was  relieved of many of these uneasy sensations by the
means which  w7ere  primarily used; it is rather my
duty and my wish  to speak of what has since  been
done for her by the  simple remedy upon which you
put  her, as soon as you yourself  first became sensible
of its power in correcting such a condition  of frame.
Were I disposed to hurry over my present statement
of her case, I should simply  say, that from the first
week of her taking  the white mustard seed, she has
been gradually advancing towards that  aspect and en-
joyment of perfect health  which she  now  has; but
knowing your anxiety on the subject, I must bear this
farther testimony  to  the  value of the  mustard  seed,
under circumstances of constitution so appropriately to
be denominated delicate, by adding, that she  has never
once had other than a slight cold, or been distressed by
her cough during the winter: nor had  any  return of
pain in the chest or back ; that her strength and appe-
tite are quite restored, and that she does not now mani-
fest in the smallest degree that irritability of system,
which I was so  glad to be told by you formerly, was
only symptomatic of the affection under which she 
MATERIA MEDICA.
721
 was struggling ; her bowels are kept in a healthy state:
 and I cannot omit to mention that she is (I firmly be-
 lieve from the use  of the seed)  restored to  that regu-
 larity of habit, the interruption of which no doubt
 added much to her  former sufferings.  I  must con-
 clude my account of her, by stating that I  am really
 myself surprised at the very astonishing increase of
 flesh, which her late almost emaciated body has in so
 short a time acquired.  This I  must attribute to the
 renovating effects which it appears to me this  remedy
 has had upon her general constitution.
   " It is not in her case alone that I  am enabled  to
 bear  testimony to  the  very beneficial effects of this
 valuable medicine.   I  have another daughter and a
 son, who have, together with myself, been very essen-
 tially benefited by its use.   I cannot help intruding a
 little longer on your time, just to say  a few words
 relative to my little boy, who has for some  time past
 been  the subject of unceasing anxiety to me, in conse-
 quence of very frequent attacks of headach and giddi-
 ness,  occasioned, I have  every reason to believe, from a
 fall he had some years since; the recurrence of these
 attacks became of late  more frequent, and  evidently
 interfered with his capability of attention to  his usual
 course of study, and affected his general health and
 appearance.   In consequence of  your telling me that
 you felt assured he would  be benefited by  the mus-
 tard seed, I immediately  put him under a  regular
 course of it,  now about three months ago; from which
 time to the present, he has not had the slightest return
 of his unpleasant attacks; and he assured me  the other
 day, on quitting me to return to school, that he found
 too  much benefit from the seed  to neglect taking it a
single day.   Thus you see I have full reason  to speak,
      3P                 91 
~,OQ
MATERIA MEDICA.
 as I most certainly think, highly of the great value and
 many beneficial effects of this astonishing, simple, yet
 powerful remedy.  I am, my dear sir, yours, &c."

                      Case 7.
                            "December 26, 1830.
   '• Dear Sir.—When we parted you fixed the  period
 of my writing to you in March.  What progress I may
 then  have  to report to you,  time will show.  I can
 hardly be more free from ailment than I  now am.   I "
 may be stronger, and I hope  to be so, and my hopes
 are grounded on what I have  experienced since I took
 the -simple  remedy you recommended to me, daily, and
 cannot but think it is in a great measure resulting from
 it.  My mind is made up on this subject,  never to dis-
 continue the mustard seed but with my  life.  I have
 never tasted medicine since  I left Cheltenham, and
 never been a single day but in the most  perfect state
 of natural functions that I can conceive, and have con-
 tinually, and most sensibly improved in strength.  My
 case has attracted some degree of general notice: my
 looks, as I am almost daily told, corresponding entirely
 with my feelings.
                 " Respectfully your obt. servant."

                     Case 8.
                            "November  10, 1831.
  ■• I promised you that I would take two tea-spoonsful'
of the seed thrice, instead of twice a day ; this I did for
a month: the second daily dose at first after dinner;
but finding that it occasioned inconvenience during
digestion, I took  it an hour  before  dinner, and soon
afterwards found  that the  superadded quantity  was
more than enough for my purpose.  I reverted to my 
MATERIA MEDICA.             723
morning and evening dose of two tea-spoonsful  each :
and now find it necessary only to persist in this, which
I do with perfect regularity ; and it does for me all that
my system requires, producing its effects without oc-
casioning the slightest uneasiness in the bowels, or any
of that nausea and disturbance of stomach, which I have
hitherto invariably experienced from each of the multi-
tude of remedies which I have tried with the view  of
accomplishing wiiat has always been (I speak of fifty
years, at least) so great a desideratum with me.   I may
say then to you, I have obtained in the  white mustard
seed every thing I could expect or desire, and shall
continue to avail myself of its many and great advan-
tages.
  '• I have of course  recommended it to others more
frequently than was  my  former practice,  and I have
had no reason to repent having done so; if it has failed
to produce all the  good effects that w7ere anticipated
from it in some instances, it has done harm in none.
My son's report to me of the advantage  that he has de-
rived from  its use,  has always been very flattering, and
he continues to think highly of its excellence.
            " I have  the honour to be yours, &c."

                      Case 9.
                            "February 26, 1832.
  " Sir,—It is now a month since I commenced to use
the white mustard seed;  and though I  feel myself un-    «
able to describe with any degree of precision, the spe-
cific effects that have been produced upon my system
by  it, I am quite  sensible, that both my  bodily and
moral sensations are improved; that the whole of my
system is improved—so much so, that I feel an invo-
luntary encouragement to  persevere in  its use, and 
724            MATERIA MEDICA.

alwrays anxious for the arrival of the time of taking
each dose:  and such is the agreeable effect which it
afterwards  produces  upon me,  that  language  cannot
express my feelings. Permit me to express my gratitude
for this invaluable, simple, but yet astonishing remedy.
                   " Yours, most affectionately."
                                   "June, 1836.
  "Dear sir,—My boy takes the mustard seed now once
a day to guard  him from future cold and pain of his
breast: he omitted his dose yesterday  after dinner, and
I made  hirn take it  at bedtime last  night; his pulse
wTas only at sixty-eight this morning before he got up.
The seed does  not heat  him ; a fear wrhich so many
people  seem to have.  This effect, I believe, is produced
only in those cases where it binds  the body; when it
keeps the bowels open it certainly cools the system.  I
have not the slightest objection to  our cases being re-
ferred to, with the exception of our names; and you
may add, if you please, that I have grown fat under  a
course of the mustard seed."

                     Case 10.
                            "February 25, 1837.
  " Dear Doctor,—I continue to do credit to your kind
advice; and both Mrs.-----and myself have realized
a very material benefit from your remedy, in entire
freedom, (we believe for the first time in our lives)
from winter colds.  We  have  had this exemption in
point of fact, and we are disposed to assign it to the
mustard seed as the  cause, and shall probably have
your ready concurrence in this opinion." 
MATERIA MEDICA.
725
                     Case 11.
           From a physician of eminence.
                           "February 25, 1826.
  " It is now a month since I commenced the mustard
seed, and I am enabled to confirm, up to this day, every
particle of the report, occasionally communicated to
you, of the effects of the mustard seed in my own case,
with the important addition, that, in my seventy-ninth
year, I have passed the winter  much more  free from
catarrhal symptoms than I remember for twTenty years
past.
  " As I perceive the minute accuracy of the extracts
of my letters to you, I can have no possible objection
that the truth should be told in print; on the contrary
my hope is that it may prove more generally useful.
  " In one of the other cases you send for my perusal.
I see the heating effects of the mustard seed are men-
tioned, and the same fears and observation have often
been made to myself.  I believe the idea to be a fanci-
ful one, and always discountenance it."

                     Case  12.
             A letter from a physician.
                              "March 31, 1826.
  " I visited a  man (a very old man) this morning,
who  had  suffered for many years from asthma and
repeated inflammatory affections of his chest.  I ad-
vised him a month ago to take a table-spoonful of mus-
tard seed every morning, an hour before his breakfast;
he has continued this plan for  the above period.   He
cannot now be in better health at his time of life.  Be-
fore  I left him I inquired  in what  way he took the
mustard seed; he  told  me in roasted apple, and
3 P 2 
726
MATERIA MEDICA.
that it  produced the  n"ypst salutary effect  upon his
health, and his hitherto constipated bowels.   Previous
to the above period he was  in the constant habit of
taking expectorants, aperients, or medicines to open
his bowels, &c.; and now he takes no medicine what-
ever.
                      Case 13.
   The following case is a striking proof of  the value
of the white mustard seed, both as a medicine strictly
speaking, and as a means of restoring strength, because
the person from whom it comes  for a long  while  re-
fused to take it, saying it could not be of any advantage
to her in her deplorable case.
                                 " April 7, 1826.
   "My  dear Sir,—Grateful  feelings  ought to have
moved my pen sooner ; perhaps you will not give me
credit for having any ;  but  individuals, as well as the
public in general, owe  much to your exertions in mak-
ing known the wonderful efficacy of the white mus-
tard seed.  For my own part, I can only say  that after
repeated severe illness,  artd  corresponding dreadful
weakness and nervousness, rendering the continuance
of my life doubtful  and almost  undesirable,  after a
great deal of persuasion, I resorted at last to the mus-
tard seed, and now want nothing  else.   I hope  others
will profit, and be convinced that  complaints originate
more often than is imagined in the stomach,  and in its
dependencies, and  that the mustard seed is a most as-
tonishing remedy  for regulating  thef whole passage
from the throat to the extremity of the body.
   " My stomach, before I took the mustard seed, would
bear little more than gruel, and I  was reduced to the
last extremity; but I  can  now take food like othc 
MATERIA MEDICA.            727
 people, and frequently wine ; and I wish it w7as in my
 power to proportion my gratitude to the benefit I have
 derived.                        Yours sincerely."

                      Case 14.
   The evidence of  this case bears strong testimony to
 the  transcendent worth of this  simple remedy, the
 white mustard seed.
                                "April 13, 1826.
   "I promised to write to you, and  I should be un-
 worthy of  the  kind attention which  you paid me at
 Cheltenham, and ungrateful for the  comfort wilich I
 have since  experienced from the adoption of your ad-
 vice, if I was for a moment unmindful of my engage-
 ment.  I have waited  only to give you a more satisfac-
 tory account of my experience of the effects  of your
 recommendation.
   " When  I had the pleasure of seeing you, I informed
 you  in what state of health I had been for the last six
 or seven years, and how I suffered from the  inactivity
 of my stomach and  bowels.  During my stay at Chel-
 tenham, my evacuations were not more frequent than
 every other day, and always scanty, indurated, and of
 an unhealthy colour.  Your representations convinced
 me that mustard seed would be of service to  me.  I
 bt|gan therefore to take it on the evening of my arrival
 at home, (Saturday, the 1st instant,) and have since
 taken it thrice a day, tw7o  large tea-spoonsful at each
 dose, at  intervals of six hours.   The effect has  been
almost miraculous.  I have had a regular daily evacua-
tion ever since ; my appetite has been good;  my sleep
undisturbed ; and not  only my bodily but my mental
energies materially improved.  In short I have not ex-
perienced an uncomfortable sensation throughout the 
728             MATERIA  MEDICA.
interval.  Need I add how infinitely obliged to you I
consider myself  for this invaluable change in my sen-
sations ?
  " I shall not, I  cannot fail to promote your benevo-
lent wishes by every exertion in my power,  to extend
to others that improvement of health and  increased
comfort which I am now in the enjoyment  of, and
which I  have no doubt  may be obtained  by others
from  their adoption of your advice.  May God bless
you in your great  exertions  to benefit and assist the
human family."

                     Case 15.
'  " I can only add,  in addition to what I have stated,
that I continue to take the seed, and  that it has made
a new man of me.   My body is in a regular state, and
my health good; my appetite and digestion good; my
sleep composed and refreshing; and all the powers of
my mind, as well as of my body, restored  and  reno-
vated."
                     Case 16.
  " To enter into the details of my owrn case to the full
extent of the desires which have been  expressed to me,
would be to relate a series of miseries that would be
as tedious in their relation, as they must be uninterest-
ing to the generality of those before w7honi  so length-
ened a statement might chance to come :  in few words
my history is amply told.  In my life I never  knew
what  it was to have a single action of  the bowels with-
out the aid of medicine, or to be free  for many hours,
from  all the wretchedness of  disorder, and of  remedy
in  conjunction,  until I took the mustard seed; nor
was I ever able, until now7, to say there is in life that
which is w7orth living for; or. in other and  more pro- 
MATERIA MEDICA.
729
per words, I did not know what it was to wish to live:
and all this, whilst I was exercising the functions of
an anxious and arduous, and, to me, most interesting
profession; until I used this remedy, when life exhi-
bited to me (worn down by disease) a new hope, which
has been fully realized by the blessings of health."
  But now let me render unto Cesar the things which
are Cesar's.   This great remedy and its established
reputation, and deservedly so, belongs to Charles Tur-
ner Cook, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons,
London; nor should I have ever profited by this inva- *
luable remedy had it  not been for the communications
of this great philanthropist and  distinguished medical
gentleman, arid I have  no doubt time, and a fair and
impartial trial  of this medicine, will fully establish it
as one of the best remedies in affections of the liver,
internal organs, and nervous system.
               RHATANY ROOT,
  Medically called Krameria  Triandria.  The in-
troduction  of  this valuable  root into the  practice of
medicine is an evidence that many of the most valua-
ble remedies  have to encounter, when  first brought
into notice, great opposition, and not unfrequently are
entirely laid aside altogether.
  This root (the produce of Peru) was first introduced
into the practice of medicine by Dr. Reece, and is now
very generally employed throughout Europe as a tonic
medicine;  and in consequence of being more grateful
to the palate  and stomach  than the Peruvian  bark,
many patients have been able to persevere in its use,
who could  not take the bark in any form. In the cure
                        92 
730
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 of intermittents it has been very successful.  It pos-
 sesses  an astringent and bitter  quality, so grateful to
 the  palate, that  the wine manufacturers  in  Portugal
 have long used it for the purpose of  enriching Port
 wine : and, from the quantity used by them, it is not
 improbable that the astringent  property of that wine
 is principally derived from it.  From the great success
 that has uniformly attended the  exhibition of this me-
 dicine, Dr. Reece confidently asserts that it is a most
 valuable restorative, and very superior to any other of
* the class of vegetable tonics in a variety of diseases of
 debility.  In all diseases that require the use of tonic
 medicines, the rhatany root may be used in the same
 manner as directed for the  Peruvian bark; but as it is
 somewhat stronger, a less  dose will  suffice; fifteen
 grains  of  the  powder may be  considered  equal to
 twenty of the best Peruvian bark.  Of  this root  the
 same  preparations are kept as of the Peruvian bark;
 viz. the powder, the extract, and the simple aromatic
 and compound tinctures.
    The extract of this root is made  by inspissating the
  expressed juice of the root in the heat of the sun, (by
  the  natives of South America.)   It possesses  in great
 perfection the medicinal properties of the root,  and
  may be taken in the form of pills, to the extent of five
 or ten grains twice a day.  The powder may be taken
  from ten to thirty grains.  The compound or aromatic
  tincture of rhatany, is a pleasant land efficacious  sto-
  machic :  and,  in  the  dose  of two tea-spoonsful in a
  little water, three or four  times a  day, will prove an
  admirable remed}' for indigestion and its consequences,
  as flatulency, heartburn, cramp in the  stomach, ner-
  vous irritability.  The simple tincture  of  rhatany is
  much recommended by the most eminent dentists in 
MATERIA  MEDICA.
731
England and France, as a lotion (with an .equal quan-
tity of  rose water) for  constringing the  gums, and
thereby preserves them  from  caries, and  renders the
loose ones more firm in their sockets.  The following
prescription has been found very successful in cases of
indigestion of elderly people, attended with  general
debility and oedematous  swelling of the legs, and also
fluor albus, or, in plainer language, the whites in fe-
males.
   Prescription.—Take of
Foreign extract of rhatany root, one drachm and a half.
Sweet spirit of nitre,  -    -   three drachms;
Tincture of cardamom seeds,    six drachms;
Infusion of buchu leaves,   -   seven ounces.—Mix.
   Dose.—Three table-spoonsful  to be  taken  three
times a day.
           THE CHIRAYITA HERB.
  It is a matter of surprise  that this herb, chirayita,
which has been held from time  immemorial  in great
estimation by the natives of Bengal and the European
residents, especially the medical officers, should not
have been made known to the world.
  By the natives of Bengal  this herb  is considered a
most valuable stomachic medicine; and in cases of in-
digestion considered a specific, and particularly when
it is accompanied by an indolent, or overloaded state
of the liver.
  The effects of the chirayita are not, like stomachics
in general use, confined to the  stomach; but are ex-
tended to the abdominal viscera, particularly  the liver,
which it deterges ; or  as  Doctor Currie  observes
« emul-es the hepatic ducts."  Although not aperient 
732
MATERIA  MEDICA.
 or opening, it evidently prevents an accumulation of
 fceces in the lower portion of the intestinal canal, w hich
 is a common cause of various  affections of the  head,
 lungs, and stomach;  and at the same time promotes
 digestion.  The medicinal virtues of this herb are  im-
 parted  to boiling w7ater, and  the  infusion  is a very
 grateful bitter.   But the  natives prefer a  decoction
 made by gently boiling half an  ounce of the cut dried
 herb in a pint of wrater for about fifteen  to twenty
 minutes.  Of this decoction  they take a small wine-
 glassful two or three times a day.  The extract, which
 also contains the virtue of the herb in great perfection,
 is taken in form of  pills.  It is likewise administered
 with great success by the Indian practitioners in cases
 of pulmonary consumption and scrofula.  The emi-
 nent practitioners of medicine  w7ho have given  it  an
 extensive trial, highly extol it.   Amongst whom may
 be  noticed Dr. Fleming, Dr. Dick,  Dr.  Ainslie, and
 Dr.  Hamilton, late of the Bengal Presidency ; and Dr.
 Blundell, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Reece, and Dr. Sigmond
 of London ; Dr. Kinglake of Taunton ; Dr. Sully  of
 Wivilscombe; Mr.  Churchill,  and Mr. Baker; most
 of whom are distinguished medical men noW living in
 Europe, and  all of  whom speak of it  as a great and
 valuable medicine.
  There can be no  question as to its value as a sto-
 machic medicine, and that it  evidently deterges the
 liver and the other  viscera  as effectually as the blue
pill,  or any other preparation of mercury ; and on this
account its beneficial effects on the general health are
permanent.   That it promotes a healthy  secretion of
bile, is evident from the appearance of the fceces.  It
also prevents that accumulation of fceces in the colon,
which so frequently gives rise to a variety of distressing 
                 MATERIA  MEDICA.             733

maladies; particularly headach, giddiness, indigestion,,
flatulence, piles, glandular obstruction, &c.   On the
liver, &c, it acts more effectually by removing ob-
struction, and the causes of sluggishness or vitiated bile,
than any mercurial preparation: and is entirely exempt
from the serious  objections to  the  employment  of
mercury in weak  persons, or on those whose constitu-
tions are naturally opposed to all and every preparation
of this mineral.  The chirayita herb is therefore a most
valuable addition to the materia medica of this country,
and will no doubt, as a remedy for the variety of indi-
gestion arising from  morbid sensibility or  nervous ex-
citement, render the use of  mercury  in cases of indi-
gestion accompanied with,  or dependent on an over-
loaded  or sluggish state  of the liver, as  well as  in
scrofula, unnecessary.
  The tincture which contains all its virtues m great
perfection, is a strong, but very grateful bitter; and sits
pleasantly on the stomach.  The dose of this tincture
is from two to three  tea-spoonsful tw7o or three times a
day in a small  wine-glass of w7ater.  But  those who
may object to the  form of a tincture, or to  medicines
in a liquid form, may take the extract of it, which con-
tains all the virtue of the  herb in great perfection, in
the form  of pills.  The pills made according to the
following prescription! have proved very beneficial in
the variety  of indigestion* named above, and restored
many a stomach.
     Take of extract of the chirayita, one drachm;
     Rhubarb,     -      -    -    one drachm;
     Dried subcarbonate of soda,    one scruple; .
     Ginger powder,      -     -    fifteen grains.
  Mix, and divide into thirty-six pills; two to be taken
twice a day.
      3Q 
734
MATERIA MEDICA.
  For correcting scrofulous habits and dispersing scro*
fulous tumefactions of the glands, the infusion of the
herb, with the subcarbonate of soda, is preferred, as the
following:—
  Take  of infusion of the chirayita (made by infusing
half an ounce of the herb in a pint of boiling water for
two hours) eight ounces: of subcarbonate of soda, tw7o
drachms. Mix.  Doses from two to three table-spoons-
ful three 4imes a day.
               BUCHU LEAVES.
  Medically, Diosma Crenata.—The leaves of the
buchu have been  held in great estimation  among
the natives  of the Cape of  Good Hope, as a re-
medy for irritative affections of the kidneys, blad-
der, and urethra:  for  gravel, chronic inflammation
of the mucous membrane of the bladder  and of the
urethra, (the  former generally accompanied with a
mucous discharge in the urine, often to a considerable
extent:  and the latter with.a mucous discharge from
the  urethra, termed gleet,)  generally attended with
great irritation, or inflammatory excitement; irritability
of the bladder and  urethra ;  the formep occasioning a
constant desire to make water,ffhd the latter with par-
tial contraction of the urethra, termed spasmodic stric-
ture.  For the last six years the buchu leaves have been
much employed in the practice of medicine, under an
extensive experience of several  physicians of  great
eminence, who have proved that as a remedy in those
complaints  I  have  mentioned, it is far superior to
cubebs : and fully entitled to the high character noticed
above.  Drs. MvDowal  and Cumming: and Surgeon 
MATERIA  MEDICA.             735
Carmichael  of Dublin; and Dr. Reece of London,
(who has published a treatise on their medicinal pro-
perties.) have communicated to the medical profession
through the  medium  of the  periodical press, many
cases  of distressing irritative affections of the bladder
and urethra, some of which were of long standing, in
which the essence of  the  buchu leaves proved suc-
cessful.
  Many are the instances in which excessive debility
of the generative system, produced by various distress-
ing causes,  has been  entirely  removed by a proper
course of  this medicine; it has restored to a healthy
and  due  enjoyment of the  pleasures of life, many
whose constitutions had appeared completely wrornout,
and destroyed by affections which equaHy  harass the
body  and the mind.
  The dose is from one to two tea-spoonsful three or
four times a day, in a wine-glassful of the decoction of
marshmallow root; made by gently boiling two ounces
of the sliced dried root (foreign) in a pint and a quarter
of water, till reduced to a pint.
  Inquire at the drug stores or shops where medicines
are sold for the essence of buchu leaves, (as this is the
manner in which it is prepared,) or for Carpenter's
compound fluid extract of buchu ; which is a valuable
concentrated preparation, and in the most convenient
form  in which it can be  exhibited, and which will
obviate the necessity of preparing the decoction.
  Should you think proper to prepare  the decoction
from  the  leaves by infusion; it  is made by pouring
half a pint of boiling  water on half an ounce  of the
leaves, and allowing them to stand for four hours in a
closely covered vessel; then  straining through linen.
The  dose  is  about a wine-glassful of this  infusion 
736
MATERIA MEDICA.
twice or thrice a day.  I have omitted to state that this
is a valuable  medicine in rheumatism, fluor albus, or
Whites in women, gleet, obstructions of urine, chronic
gonorrhea, or, in plain language, clap of long standing
or associated  with gleet;  in all of which it will be
found a most  valuable remedy.
  DIRECTIONS FOR PRESERVING ROOTS,
      HERBS,  FLOWERS, AND BARKS.
  Roots which  are  annual, or  grow and die yearly,
should be collected before {hey shoot on their stocks or
flowers: roots which are biennial, or which live and
grow two years, should be collected in the harvest of
the first year, or in  the spring of the second year:
perennial roots, or those which  survive the frosts of
winter should be gathered before the sap has begun to
rise, or after it has returned to the root.  When a root
is wormeaten, or otherwise decayed, you are always
to reject or refuse it; the medicinal  virtues of such a
root are destroyed.
  You are now, with a brush and some cold water, to
cleanse the roots newly dug up, and to let them remain
in the water as short a time as  possible;  after which
you are to cut the small and useless fibres  or strings
from  them, if there be any, and  carefully to dry them
in a moderate heat.   Roots  which  consist wholly of
fibres or strings, of which  there are  several  kinds, the
black  or Virginia snake-root, for instance, are  to be
dried as soon as possible,  by a regular and moderate
heat.  But should the  root be aromatic, which means
spicy and fragrant, like ginger, for instance, you are to
dry it in a cool, airy, dry situation, turning it frequently, 
MATERIA MEDICA.
737
in order that you may retain its virtues and fragrance.
If roots that you obtain are thick and strong, you are
to split them in thin pieces, and string them on a cord
or twine, so as to admit the air freely to them in dry-
ing : if they are  covered, which is sometimes the case,
with a thick tough bark, peel them while fresh and dry
them.   Some roots are apt to lose their virtues by dry-
ing ; when this is the case, you have nothing to do hut
to keep them buried in dry sand, winch will  preserve
them in such a manner that they will always be fit'.for
use.
  Herbs and flowers are always to be gathered in dry
weather, and not until  the dew is off.   They  are then
to be dried in as short a time as possible, by the gentle
heat of a  stove or fire; for by this speedy method of
drying, the herbs and flowers retain their virtues, which
are usually destroyed by the common method of dry-
ing them in the open air and in the  shade.  When
herbs and flowers retain their virtues, they generally
also retain much of their natural colour.
  Barks and woods, for  medicinal uses, are to  be ga-
thered in spring or in autumn, and from the youngest
and most vigorous trees, because their most active and
powerful  virtues are at those periods residing  in them.
If they are of the resinous kind, by which I mean ro-
sinous merely, they are to be gathered in the spring ;
but if they are of a gummy nature, you must always
gather them in the fall, or autumn.   You  are to recol-
lect distinctly, that all decayed  and  injured  parts of
any of the articles I have mentioned, are to be entirely
rejected.   Persons are very frequently disappointed in
the medicinal effects of roots, herbs, barks, &c.: this
is generally owing to the want of due care  in obtaining
      3q2               93 
738
MATERIA MEDICA.
and preparing such  vegetable substances in due time.
and in a proper manner.
               BLOOD-LETTING.
  Every person should not only know how to open a
vein with a lancet, but should also be acquainted with
the cautions that are necessary to be known for avoid-
ing danger; because many cases may, and do occur.
where medical  assistance cannot be had in time, and
wiiere actual loss of life occurs for want of bleeding.
  To  bleed in the arm, you are to apply a riband, or
other  broad ligature, an inch or two above the elbow
joint,  and to draw it so tight as to compress  the veins
of the arm  immediately under the bandage, and to fill
and swell them immediately below  it.  As soon as
the vein rises in which you  intend to  bleed, place the
thumb of your left hand about an inch below the place
you intend  to pierce, or open with the lancet; and then
with  your  right hand, holding  the lancet firmly be-
tween your thumb and forefinger, making the incision
obliquely, or slanting in the vein, without changing the
direction of the lancet;  because, by raising the handle
the point of the lancet w7ould be so much low7ered as to
cut the under part of the vein, and  perhaps danger-
ously  wound an artery.
  When you have drawn the quantity of blood intend-
ed, untie the ligature, or bandage, and  close the orifice,
or hole.  To  do this properly, you must place  your
thumb on the orifice, and press with a moderate force.
so as to bring its sides or edges together.  The flowing
of the blood will now be stopped, and you must next 
BLOOD-LETTING.
739
 apply a compress, made by twice doubling a piece of
 linen, about two inches square, and placing it between
 the thumb and the orifice: over this you are to place
 another compress, or thick folding of linen, about four
 inches square, so as to fill up the hollow or bend of the
 arm.   When this is done, you are to confine the folds
 of the linen, by passing over them, crosswise, both
 above and below the  elbow joint, a riband or broad
 tape in the form of the figure eight, and to finish with
 making a knot over the linen.  If the bleeding should
 continue,  the bandages are to be taken off for a few
 moments, and  while  the thumb of the operator  is
 pressed firmly on the  orifice or hole, so as to bring its
 sides" or edges  together,  the coldest water is to be
 poured on the arm, or the orifice or  hole itself washed
 with sharp vinegar.   If it is convenient, a piece of ad-
 hesive or sticking plaster, placed over the orifice, will
 generally stop the flow of blood.
   To bleed in the foot,  a  moderately tight bandage
 must be placed above the ankle joint: after which you
 are to open the fullest and largest vein  with a lancet,
 observing the same conduct I have laid dowm for you
 in bleeding  in the arm.  If the blood does not  flow
 sufficiently, you will easily remove  the difficulty by
 placing the foot in warm water.   On removing the
 bandage above the ankle, the blood will cease to flow;
 and if it should not, the bandage I  have described for
 the arm, a piece of court or any other sticking plaster
 will generally stop it.

                  TOPICAL BLEEDING.
   To bleed topically : that is to say, to bleed from
' some particular part of the surface of the body, you are
 to proceed in the following manner.  If you employ 
740              blood-letting.

leeches,—the part is to be scarified or slightly cut in
shallow gashes with the point of a sharp lancet, or by
a scarificator, which is an instrument with a number
of lancets, acted on by a spring.   The  leeches are to
be previously prepared  by allowing them  to creep
over a  dry cloth, or  by drying them.   In order to
attract them, the scarified part should  be moistened
with a little cream or sugar; and if the blood about
the surface should not induce them to fix themselves,
you are to confine them  to the place by applying a
wine-glass  over  them:   they  will  then soon take
hold.
,  If you bleed topically by cupping, you are to proceed
in the following manner:—You are, in the first in-
stance, to scarify the part in the way I have just told
you, with the point of a sharp lancet, or with a scarifi-
cator,  such as I have described  to you.   When this
is done, you must take a cup, and exhaust the atmo-
spheric air it contains.  This is done by burning in and
over it, some soft paper dipped in spirits of wine, or any
other kind of proof spirits.  When the flame is nearly
or quite exhausted, and the air in the cup consequently
destroyed, you  are to  place the mouth of the cup  over
the scarified part.  As the cup cools, it will stick fast,
and, as it were, suck the little scarifications or gashes,
and fill itself with the blood, in place of the air, which
cannot get in.  When the cup is full, it will easily be
removed by raising one side of it.  Burning  the  air as
I have told you, and applying the cup  as I have  de-
scribed, may be repeated as often as you may think
necessary: or dipping the cup in hot water and imme-
diately applying it over  the scarified part, will cause-
it to take hold or draw7. ' This is  the  whole secret of
cupping, about which so.much  has been said by me- 
BLOOD-LETTING.
741
dical men, and  so  little understood by  the  general
community.
   After bleeding in the arm, or  opening  a  vein any-
where else, there is sometimes a  swelling of the part,
called by physicians ecchymosis.  Whenever this takes
place, you must shift the  position of the  limb fre-
quently, so as to produce a free discharge of blood from
the tumour or rising.  If this will not do, you are to
double pieces of linen: dip  them in brandy or other
spirits, and compress them on the tumour by bandages.
If neither of these measures will answer, the tumour or
swelling must be opened with a lancet, the coagulated
blood let out, and the sore treated as a common wound.
   There is another  effect  which sometimes  follows
blood-letting: which is an acute  pain  felt on  the first
introduction of the lancet,  and immediately commu-
nicated to the extremity of the  hand  or  foot.  Here
you  must apply cloths wrung out of sugar  of lead
water, to the whole limb, and renew them frequently.
You must also resort to bleeding, cooling purges, and
very  simple food,  for the  purpose of preventing  in-
flammation.  If these measures do not  answer, you are
to give laudanum in considerable doses: and if lauda-
num  also fails in producing  good  effects, you must
divide or cut the nerve or  tendon which  was pricked
by the lancet.
   Sometimes an artery is wounded in bleeding. You
will  know this by the tremulous, or pulsatory motion
with which the blood flows, and  by the blood being of
a lighter and richer colour than that which flows from
the veins ; and besides you will be unable  to stop the
blood by the  usual pressure.  The cure  may be  at-
tempted, however,  in the early stage, by compressions
and bandages in the usual way, and by living on very 
742
BLOOD-LETTING.
low diet:  but should these  fail, a surgical operation
must be performed, by taking up the ends of the artery,
and securing them with ligatures, or ties, until they re-
unite, or grow together again, or until the  circulation
of the blood can be again restored.
                  GLYSTERS.
  Language almost fails  to express the great  value
of this innocent and powerful remedy, in very  many
diseases to which mankind are  daily, and even hourly
subject; and I most sincerely regret to say, that it is a
remedy not only too little known, but too seldom used
both by physicians and in families.   This disregard for
the great virtues of glystering must either arise from
the supposition that the operation is too troublesome,
or from a false and foolish  delicacy, which forbids the
use of an instrument by which thousands of lives have
been preserved in extremely critical circumstances, and
with which every mistress of a family should be per-
fectly acquainted, so  as  to  be able to administer a
glyster when required in sickness.  And I do here
most positively  assert, and that  too from my own ex-
perience, that hundreds to whom I have  been called in
cases of cholic, must have died, had it not been for the
immediate relief given by glysters.  I  will mention
one strong instance,  to prove  the correctness of my
assertion, to which many others might be added, if the
limits of my work  would permit.  While practising in
the state of Virginia, I was called on at midnight to at-
tend a stranger, w7ho had arrived  but a  few moments
before in the mail stage.   The  gentleman was one of
the judges of the Supreme Court, in the state of New 
GLYSTERS.
743
York.   He stated to me that the cholic had been
coming on him for a considerable time before the stage
stopped.  By the time I arrived, his misery was so ex-
treme, that he  repeatedly exclaimed, " I must die,
unless immediate relief be given me."  After adminis-
tering all the usual remedies, which are enumerated
under  the  head Cholic, without  giving him much
relief;  I  commenced  administering glysters of water
pleasantly warm; and on the first being thrown up the
bowels, he received more relief than had been pro-
duced by all other remedies I had  tried.   He  felt an
immediate exemption from pain, and after two or three
more had been given, a copious discharge by  the stool
followed, and he wTas entirely restored.
  Glysters principally act by exciting the lower por-
tion  of the intestinal  tube, and sometimes from the
effects  of sympathy.  In the latter  case the discharges
are generally copious, or, in other words, of large quan-
tity ; and to produce these full discharges by stool, you
are frequently to repeat  the glysters of warm water, so
tempered as to be pleasant to the feelings of the patient,
and  in such quantities as the bowels will  bear.  I have
continued to  give these injections  of warm water for
an hour or more in  many instances, before I could
overcome or subdue spasm or cholic; and in cases of
great constipation, (which means that the bowels are
so bound up that the patient cannot have a  stool,) the
water  is  to be  thrown  up as far as possible, and the
edges of  the fundament pressed together as you draw7
out the pipe of the instrument, so that the glyster may
be prevented from returning until  it has produced the
intended effect.   When I have had cases of the kind I
have mentioned, after throwing the warm water up the
bowels as far as possible, I have always closed the fun- 
744
GLYSTERS.
  dament on drawing out the pipe : because without this
  necessary precaution, in very many instances, the water
  would return with as much rapidity as  it was thrown
  up.  You will therefore see the necessity of following
  my example, and the directions I have just laid down;
  and you are in all cases of danger to repeat the glysters
'  of pleasantly warm water, as often, and in such quanti-
  ties as the bowels will admit.
     The  best method of  administering glysters in ex-
  treme cases, is first to give purgative  medicines in the
  usual manner, and  as directed  under the different com-
  plaints mentioned in this work ; and when it becomes
  necessary to use glysters, to give them so as to assist
  the medicines taken into the  stomach  in their opera-
  tion.   For instance, when  you give a purge in  the
  usual way, you know that it will require some time to
  operate: now, if you wish to  hasten  the operation of
  this  medicine, give a glyster  or  two of w7arm water,
  especially in spasm, croup, or costiveness, and you will
  find yourself speedily relieved of the spasm or cholic;
  because the water will soften the hardened excrements
  in the bowels, and assist in bringing off any undigested
  food which may have remained in them.  Whenever
  a purgative medicine has been given, and you adminis-
  ter a glyster in proper time to assist its operation, the
  alimentary  canal  is soon  completely  evacuated,  or
  cleared of its contents.   I have somewhere before told
  you, that there are  hard lumps of excrement in the
  lower bowels,  which require  to be  removed  by the
  finger of the physician, or by an instrument calculated
  for the purpose: now, your own good sense will always
  teach you, that these glysters  will always soften the
  concretions or lumps of excrement  alluded to, and give
  you  relief by a stool. 
                    GLYSTERS.                 745
i
  In fevers and inflammations, any man of common
judgment  must know, that glysters made of slippery
elm bark, which I have frequently directed and admi-
nistered, must and will tend to cool the whole system,
allay the heat and irritation of the bowels, and gently
assist the operation  of the medicine which had been
given.   They will also produce a determination to the
skin, which means a gentle moisture or sweat.  I have
told you that tepid or warm water always opens  the
bowels ; but the very reverse of this practice is some-
times resorted to, in desperate circumstances, and with
great advantages, by some of the most distinguished
physicians.  In some cases of very obstinate constipa-
tion, the meaning of which has been  sufficiently ex-
plained, relief has frequently been obtained, when all
other remedies had failed, by a glyster of the coldest
water,  even of iced water.   In such  extreme cases,
however, when all  other means have  failed, and  the
constipated state of  the bowels is likely to prove fatal,
the last resort is,  (and you are only to  adopt it in
such cases,) to dissolve from twenty to sixty grains of
the emetic tartar in water, and  give  it as a glyster:
ipecacuanha may be used in place of emetic tartar,
and is sometimes preferred for safety.  In the nume-
rous cases  of constipation  and cholic to which I have
been called, and some of them very dangerous, I have
never been compelled to use more than twenty grains
of emetic tartar in the glysters I have mentioned: and
even when  this  quantity is to be used, it ought to be
administered under the direction of a physician, and
never but in extreme cases, and as the last alternative.
I shall  here mention a remedy for the cholic, which
has lately been discovered, and which  is said  to give
immediate relief.   Give by the  mouth fifteen grains
      3 R               94 
746                 GLYSTERS.
of calomel and two grains of tartar emetic, which you
are to mix in honey, molasses, or any kind of syrup.
  In common cases of constipation, when the bowrels
are  not easily moved so  as to produce a stool; or in
cholic, arising from indigestion, or from having taken
some improper food into  the stomach, or from having
gone some time without a passage, if you wish to has-
ten the operation of a purge, or if the stomach  is too
weak to bear one,  all that is required is a simple laxa-
tive glyster,  made of two table-spoonsful of castor oil,
or sweet oil, mixed with the same quantity of molasses,
and put into about a pint of pleasantly warm water, to
which you  may add a table-spoonful of common salt,
if you wish  the glyster somew7hat stimulating.  This
is a simple and innocent glyster, requiring nothing for
its administration  but the instrument for injecting it
into the bowels, which will hereafter be described, with
the method of making glysters, either simple or more
active as the complaint may require.
  Glysters are frequently used in  dysentery or flux, to
soothe  and quiet the  bowels, relieve the pain, and re-
strain the too great frequency of the stools.   In these
cases, the glysters  are  to be mixed with some lauda-
num, and mucilage, such as slippery elm tea. I have
mentioned these things under their proper heads, and
in such complaints as require  their use.  See Cholic.
page 210 : Cholera Morbus, page 213 ; and Dysentery,
page 322. together with many other cases  in which
glysters are recommended.
  There are many persons, both men and women, who
are constitutionally subject to costiveness: by which I
mean, being bound in their bowels so that they cannot
have their regular stools.  This costiveness arises front
a variety of  causes: such as diseased liver, indigestion, 
GLYSTERS.
747
 torpor of the bowels, and from improper food being
 taken into the stomach  and bowels, which will always
 produce spasms  or  cholic pains;  for remember this,
 that whenever your stomach and bow7els are disorder-
 ed,  you will become costive, your head will be con-
 fused  and otherwise distressed, your spirits will become.
 low and dejected, and the whole  train of hypochon-
 driacal feelings  and sensations will haunt you.  All
 these last symptoms can easily be relieved by a simple
 glyster, made of equal  -quantities of milk and w7ater,
 and thrown up the bowels; for by this your bowels
 will be relieved  of their load, which always produces
 irritation, and your mind and feelings soon experience
 an agreeable change. You, who are always taking me-
 dicines to keep your bowels open, and whose stomachs
 are  becoming exhausted and worn out by medical
 drugs, let me advise and entreat you, as a friend and
 physician, who has witnessed throughout  France  the
 great and surprising  benefits  arising from this simple
 operation, to  abandon the idea of constantly  taking
 medicines.  Your good  sense must teach you, if you
 will give yourselves time for reflection, that they must
 and  will eventually destroy the coats of the  stomach,
 and  vitally impair its powers; and that when you do
 really require medicines to subdue disease, your system
 will have become so habituated  to them as to require
 tremendous doses; or so completely worn down by
 their constant use, as to  produce no effect.  In France
 there is  scarcely a family unprovided with an instru-
 ment for glystering, which is always used when there
 is the slightest obstruction or costiveness of the bowels.
(These  people mostly use a simple glyster of milk and
 water, and sometimes water  alone; in summer they
 use cold  water, and in winter, water pleasantly warm. 
748
GLYSTERS.
 It is to the warm bath, and to the common use of glys-
 ters, that are to be attributed in a great degree, the
 cheerful dispositions, the uniform health, and the prac-
 tical  philosophy with which  these  people bear the
 hardships and misfortunes of life ; in fact, if you take
 from a French physician the warm bath, and the glys-
 ter pipe, he  cannot practise medicine with  any kind
 of success.   The importance of glysters, both in the
 hands of physicians and families, has become so well
 known, and  is now so highly valued, as to call forth
 the commendations of the most eminent physicians of
 both Europe and America.
   The old plan of administering  glysters was  by an
 assistant; it was both inconvenient and indelicate, and
 has been measurably superseded, except in cases of in-
 fancy and extreme  weakness, by a  new7  and valuable
 invention, called a self-pipe.  The common method of
 using the old glyster pipe, is as follows:—You  are to
 take a beef or hog's bladder which has been blown up
 and suffered to get dry; and after inserting or fastening
 a short hollow reed or quill in it, cut off at both ends
 of the  barrel, you are to put the glyster itself into the
 bladder.    The  end of the reed or  quill, or of  the
 glyster pipe of the shop, (if you use one,) is now to be
 covered with some  oil or lard, and gently put up the
 fundament about an inch, by an assistant, and the sides
 of the bladder  squeezed together gradually, so as to
 throw  its contents as far as possible up the bowels: but
a full description of the particular mode of glystering
in this way will be given in the sequel,, or conclusion.
  The new invention consists of a pewter syringe  or
pipe, called a self-pipe;  the meaning of which is, a
pipe that can be used without an assistant.   It is so
constructed as to be used by yourself, or by an assistant, 
GLYSTERS.                 749
 if you are so weak as to require one.   The  pewter
 syringe holds nearly a quart; and by a screw a long
 pipe is  connected to the syringe,  which  holds the
 glyster itself.  All that is required is to  put the small
 tube into the fundament, and gradually to bear on the
 handle of the syringe, which, as you bear down steadily,
 throws the glyster  up  the bowels.   The force  with
 which the glyster is thrown up the bowels depends
 on the pressure of the handle of the pipe.   You are
 to recollect that force, unless it be very gentle and
 steady, is never to be used;  all you have to do is to
 press gradually on the handle of the syringe, by which
 you will feel the distension of the bowels as the glyster
 is thrown up.  When a glyster is to be thrown  up by
 an assistant, the long pipe or tube is to be unscrewed,
 and  a shorter one made for the purpose, screwed on,
 which is to be used as a  common squirt, on  whicji
 principle it acts.  And I trust from the  great advan- -
 tages to be derived  from this  valuable  instrument,
 which in very many instances has even saved life, that
 no family in this country will long be without one.  I
 shall now state the manner of administering  a glyster,
 in such a way that it  may  be understood  by any per-
 son possessed of the least judgment.
   In giving a glyster by an assistant, the patient is to
 be laid on the edge of the bed, with the bottom a little
 over the edge, and the knees drawn up near the belly.
 The pipe is then to be taken, the finger placed before
 it  to  keep in the contents  until applied to the funda-
 ment.   The pipe is to be pushed up very  gently; the
 operator's hand near the  thighs, a  little backwards
towards the backbone, and then the contents are to be
forced out by gently pushing the handle of the syringe
with one hand, while with the  other the syringe is
      2 R 2 
\
750                 CLYSTERS.

firmly held ; or if the bladder and pipe are used, there
is nothing to do but to introduce the pipe to the funda-
ment as just described, and to gradually and  gently
squeeze the bladder, so as to empty the contents into
the bowels.  Glystering is one of the most powerful,
innocent, mild, and beneficial remedies known  in the
science and practice of medicine.
                    FRICTION.
   Friction, in medicine, means the act of rubbing a
 diseased part with a soft brush, a coarse linen cloth, or
 with flannel, or  by rubbing in the body  or diseased
 parts, oil, unguents, and other matters, in order to ease.
 relieve, and cure  them.  This exercise or rubbing con-
 tributes remarkably  to the  health,  particularly of
 sedentary persons;  for it excites and kindles the natural
 w:armth,  diverts  defluctions, promotes  perspiration.
 opens the pores, and  tends to  dissipate stagnant hu-
 mours.   This operation is also particularly beneficial
 to the nervous, debilitated, and studious, being a useful
 substitute for other exercises.  Hence, I recommend
 to such individuals to spend half an hour  every morn-
 ing and evening in  rubbing their  whole bodies, espe-
 cially their limbs, with the brush or flannel.  It ought,
 howrever, to be observed, that this practice will be of
 the greatest service  when the stomach and bow els are
 empty.   Lastly, I venture to assert, that the most im-
 portant  purposes  to which friction may  be rendered
 subservient in the animal economy, have hitherto been
 almost entirely neglected.  I am convinced from ex-
perience, that medicated frictions, or the  introduction
of the most active medicines into the human system. 
FRICTION.
751
by rubbing them in  properly on  the  surface of the
body, is attended with  the most happy effects, especially
in all chronic diseases.  Common sense appears to have
long since  pointed  out this excellent method of ad-
ministering medicines, even to the Indian  savages,
though it is little practised in the United States, where
the stomach is doomed to be the field of battle for de-
ciding  commotions and  irregularities  in  our com-
plicated frames.   But w7ho is hardy enough to main-
tain, that the digestive organ was by nature destined to
become the exclusive  vehicle of drugs, and to serve as
their common laboratory.
                     ISSUES.
   Issues are small ulcers or sores, formed by artificial
means, in various parts of the body, for the purpose of
procuring discharges  of  matter, considered beneficial
in many diseases.   They  were  formerly considered
merely as drains, to carry off noxious or foul humours
from the blood, and were therefore opened as near the
affected  part as practicable.   But,  as  it is now Well
known that they produce benefit, as well by sympathy
as by acting as a drain, they are  usually placed where
they will be the  least  dangerous and  inconvenient.
The most proper parts to place them in, are between
the ribs, on either  side of the back bone, in the hollow
above the inner side of the knee, in the  outer and fore-
part of the shoulder, in the nape of the  neck ; in fact,
wherever there  is cellular substance enough for the
entire protection of the parts underneath.  They must
never be, placed  near  any bloodvessel of a large  size,
nor over a tendon, or thinly covered bone, nor  over 
752
ISSUES.
what is called the belly of a muscle.   There are three
kinds of them ;  the seton or cord, the pea  or pepper
issue, and the blister issue.
  When you take off a blister, and wish to convert the
sore into an issue, a discharge of matter  can easily be
kept up for any length of time, by dressing the part
once a  day with any ointment  mixed  with a little
powdered Spanish flies.   If the discharge is too small,
put a little more of the Spanish flies into it;  and if too
large^ put a little less into the ointment, or desist from
using the  ointment  for a few days, until the discharge
be sufficiently diminished.  This is cafled  the blister
issue.
  When  you want what is  called the pea  or pepper
issue, you must make an incision, or cut with a lancet,
large enough to admit one or more peas  or grains of
pepper, or any thing else that will keep  the sore run-
ning.  When this  opening  is made  with a lancet, or
any  other sharp instrument, "the skin  must be pressed
or pinched up together, and  the cut made of sufficient
size  to admit the substance to be put  into it. The em-
ployment of caustic, however, is the best mode of open-
ing an issue:  this caustic is the lapis infernalis of the
drug shops.  The caustic must be made into a kind of
paste, with a little soft-soap or water.   You are then to
put on an adhesive  or  sticking plaster, with a hole in
the middle of it; and in this hole, on  the  skin, you are
to spread  the  caustic paste, and cover it with another
sticking plaster, to keep the paste from spreading.  In
four days the place  will become sore, and separate so
as to admit whatever you may choose to place in it,
for the purpose of keeping it running.
  The seton or cord issue is always made  when a  large
quantity of matter  is required to be  discharged ;  it is 
ISSUES.
753
frequently put in the back of the neck, for diseases of
the head and eyes, and between the ribs for complaints
of the breast.   The cord which is to be introduced,
ought to be of cotton and silk threads, either not twist-
ed together, or very loosely twisted.  A part of the
cord must then be besmeared and smoothed with some
kind of ointment, and passed through the skin and part
of the flesh, leaving a few inches of the  cord hanging
out on each side, to be moved backward every day  for
the purpose of keeping it running.
95 
DISPENSATORY;
                  OR,

CLASSIFICATION OF MEDICINES.
  The medicines  required for common and useful
purposes are very few in number, compared with the
hundreds you see displayed in doctors' shops for mere
show, or  because they possess some simple and inno-
cent virtues.  I assert, it without fear of contradiction,
that more than one-half of the medicines now in  use
could be  very easily dispensed  with, and  not the least
inconvenience be felt for  the want of them.   When
you see an extensive drug store filled with drugs, tinc-
tures, essences, &c.  &c. &c, it always ought to remind
you of a dinner table, covered with many unnecessary
dishes, where tw7o of the substantial ones, properly
cooked, would answer the  same purpose.  This hint
will be sufficient to apprize you that  there are many
different medicines which produce the same effects on
the human system, and consequently that there are a
great many which  are  absolutely useless: and  the
choice of which, even by  physicians, depends not so
much on  the characteristics or nature of  the diseases,
as on the particular caprice or partiality of the physi-
cian himself.
  Under  the  head of each disease I have mentioned
the principal  medicines now in use to effect the cure,
and also those which are held in the highest estimation
by the most distinguished medical men.   But, as  the
                                        754 
DISPENSATORY.
755
classification of several that may be useful to those who
have but a limited range of selection, I shall  proceed
to classify and describe them as minutely as my limits
will admit.
  You will recollect that when you are in the habit of
taking medicine often, or any particular medicine fre-
quently, your system will become so habituated to the
effects,  that large and more increased  doses  will be
required to produce the usual effects.   This doctrine
is proven to you by those who have long been accus-
tomed to  the use of opium, spirits, or even tobacco.
" Man is the creature of habit," and can easily bring his
system to  bear, by slow degrees, medical drugs which
would in  the first  instance produce death.  By this
rule you are to remember that, in giving medicine, you
are to vary it in  larger or  smaller doses, according to
the strength or weakness of  the patient, as your  good
sense  and  discretion  may dictate.   What would at
times act only as a good purge, would  in other cases,
and where the patient is weakly and delicate,  be  pro-
ductive of fatal consequences.  Therefore, always  take
the constitution, the state  or condition of the person,
and the particular character of the disease into consi-
deration, before you administer medicines.
             EMETICS OR PUKES.
  These are medicines which on being received into
the stomach produce vomiting or puking.  They are
called  emetics by physicians, and are given in a great
variety of cases, which you will see enumerated in the
body of this work.   Their operation will always be
increased and rendered much easier by drinking milk 
756               DISPENSATORY.

or blood-warm water in considerable  quantities, after
the first operation.
  Ipecacuanha.—This  is the mildest of pukes; the
dose for a grown person is from fifteen to twenty grains.
dissolved in warm water;  say, five or six  spoonsful;
give one spoonful every ten minutes until it operates.
   Tartar Emetic—This is my favourite puke.  You
will always find it of superior efficacy in bilious fevers.
It is the most generally used by physicians  in produc-
ing full and copious vomiting or puking.  A dose for a
grown person is from five to six grains, which you  are
to dissolve in five or six table-spoonsful of warm water,
and one table-Spoonful of which you are to  take every
ten minutes, until it operates.
   Antimonial  Wine.—This is nothing more than  tar-
tar emetic dissolved in wine.  This dose is two or three
tea-spoonsful given every ten or fifteen minutes, until
it operates.  Antimonial wine  is made as  follows:—
Just  dissolve forty grains  of emetic tartar in a large
 wine-glass of warm  water, (wThich is about two ounces
 of water.)  After the emetic tartar is dissolved, add to
 this water about half  a pint of Teneriffe wine: after
 standing a few hours it will be fit for  use.
   In cases where an emetic or puke is necessary for
 children, antimonial wine is nearly  always given to
 them, and that too at a very early age.  I  have  never
 hesitated, when necessary, to give it to children  when
 first born, to relieve difficult respiration or breathing,
 where there was an accumulation of phlegm.   The
 dose in such cases ought not to be more.than one or
 two  drops; this medicine, however,  is much oftener
 given  to  children of more  advanced age.   At  any
. period under one year of  age, and over  four  months,
 the dose, wiien intended to produce vomiting, is from 
DISPENSATORY.               7^7
five to ten drops, according  to the necessities of the
case, which is to be repeated  at short intervals of time,
until  the effect is produced.   But, in the dangerous
disease called croup, {and I wish you particularly to
recollect this,) a larger quantity of the  antimonial wine
should be given, because there is in this disease a great
insensibility to the operation of emetics.  In an attack
of croup, therefore, you need not be afraid  to give a
child six months old from twenty-five to thirty drops,
every fifteen  minutes.
   White Vitriol.—Of all the  emetics or pukes known
in medicine,  this is  the quickest in its operation, and
ought alw7ays to be given in cases which require an
immediate evacuation of the stomach: these  cases are
generally those in which poisons have  been swallowed.
The dose is from twenty to thirty grains, in a cup of
warm water: this medicine is called by physicians sul-
phate of zinc.
  The connexion of the stomach with  every part of
the body, and the great power it exercises over all por-
tions of the system,  and particularly  over  the brain,'
have been fully explained to you: the fact is, as I have
before stated, that I consider  the  brain as the father,
and the stomach as the mother of the system.   In con-
sequence of the very close connexion between the sto-
mach and head, emetics or pukes act as powerful and
valuable remedies, in all diseases  connected with  the
brain and its  dependencies.  They not only relieve the
stomach by  discharging its acrid, vitiated, and some-
times oppressive contents; but  they at the  same time
promote the secretion and evacuation of bile.  They
also powerfully  promote a determination to  the sur-
face, by which I mean perspiration or sweating: the
fact is, that a moisture  can  be produced on  the skin,
      3S 
758
DISPENSATORY.
either by vomiting or puking, or by the mere  nausea
or sickness of the stomach, arising from emetics given
in proper doses.  I have not space here to enumerate
all the advantages arising from emetics : they will be
found under the different heads of diseases, as  treated
in this work.
  I will now7 give you some directions as to the admi-
nistration of emetics in particular cases and states of the
system.   If the  person  to whom you  wish to give a
puke, is of  a full and fat habit of body, with a short
neck, a great determination of blood to the head, you
should draw some  blood from the arm before giving
the puke.   By doing this you will render the puking
easy and copious, and prevent  all danger of apoplexy
from too great a  determination of blood to the head of'
the patient.  Dr. Chapman, one of the professors of the
Medical School of Philadelphia, states  explicitly, and
in strong terms, that many lives have been endangered,
and some actually sacrificed for want of this necessary
precaution of bleeding.   In all cases where the neces-
sity of a puke is  urgent, and especially where poisons
have been sw7allow7ed, give a full dose of emetic medi-
cine at once; but in common cases you may give an
emetic in broken doses  as I have directed: this will
prevent too great violence in the operation.
  You should, if convenient, always give an emetic on
an empty stomach, and in the morning; because at this
time it will always act with greater certainty and effect,
and with much less distress to the patient.   When you
find that an emetic acts  too severely, and you  wish to
check the operation, give from twenty to thirty drops
of laudanum in a little toddy, and  apply cloths  wrung
out of warm water to the pit of the stomach: or you
ma3' aPP-v stewed  garden  mint to the stomach; or 
DISPENSATORY.
759
drink thin chicken soup with some salt in it, so as to
turn the operation downward.  If these measures fail,
give a glyster,  in  which you are to put double the
quantity  of laudanum usually given by the mouth;
and if this also fails, put a large blister  over the pit of
the stomach, and poultices to the feet, made of pounded
mustard seed, corn-meal, and  vinegar.  The quantity
of laudanum I have mentioned has reference to grown
persons, and not to children.  In all cases consult the
table of medicines.
            ACTIVE PURGATIVES.
  These are such medicines as purge freely.   When
you  use  them with  the intention  that they shall act
mildly on the bowels, and only keep them  gently
open, they are called laxatives by physicians: the me-
dicines are usually mixed with honey, molasses, or any
kind of syrup that is convenient; their operation is
always promoted by mild drinks, such as  thin gruel
pleasantly warm, or any kind of warm tea.   If at any
time you take a  purgative  medicine, such as calomel,
for instance, and it should not operate in due  time, it
will always be proper to assist  the  operation by some
one of the laxative medicines.
  Calomel.—A purgative; the  dose for a grown person
is from fifteen to twenty grains: and  I now again, for
the last time, tell you, that small doses of this medicine
act more unkindly than large  ones.  In a reasonable
dose, calomel will work off without  assistance, while
in a small dose, it is liable to remain in the system if
not removed by the assistance of laxative medicines. I
am now speaking of the calomel when given with the
intention of purging. 
760
DISPENSATORY.
   Calomel and jalap: purgative; ten grains of each,
mixed with honey, molasses, or any kind of syrup, is a
dose for a grown person.  This valuable preparation
was a favourite with the celebrated Dr. Rush ; he ge-
nerally gave it in fevers:  it both purges and  sweats
freely.  Twenty grains of each, mixed as above, is a
dose for a grown person.
   Calomel and  gamboge: purgative; ten  grains of
calomel, and  three  grains of  gamboge  mixed with
honey, molasses, or  any kind of syrup, is a dose for a
grown person: it is a valuable and active  purge, given
in bilious fevers.
   Lee's antibilious pills: purgative: they are made of
five grains of calomel, ten grains of jalap, twTo grains of
gamboge, and half a  grain of  tartar emetic.  This is a
valuable preparation, and very easily made; and the
information I have  given will  enable you to prepare
these pills yourself, and always to have them fresh for
use.  Those obtained from the stores are generally old
hard, and dry, and do not operate as if fresh and newly
made.
   Cook's pills: a valuable purge, particularly when
the liver is diseased, and in female complaints where
obstructions  and  irregularities take  place  in  the
monthly discharges.   These pills are made with equal
quantities of rhubarb, aloes, and calomel, ground fine,
well mixed together, and made  into pills of a common
size, with  a little honey or syrup.  A dose of these
pills for a grown person consists of three or four, which
operate freely as a  purge.  These  pills  may be  fre-
quently taken, until the desired effect is produced.
  Salts, senna and  manna: purgative; take of each
of these articles half an ounce, and put them into a
pint of hot water: after which you are  to cover the 
                  DISPENSATORY.               761

vessel in which you make the preparation.   For a
grown person, take of this a tea-cupful every hour until
it operates freely.
  Salts and  tartar emetic:  purgative; to a common
dose of salts, add one grain of emetic  tartar: this is a
very valuable purge to remove bile.
  May-apple, jalap, rhubarb: purgatives; the roots of
these plants  act, in  doses from thirty to fifty grains
each, taken separately, as an effective purge.   If either
of these roots are given with calomel, the dose  should
be from five to ten or fifteen grains of calomel, mixed
with about  twenty grains of the May-apple, jalap, or
rhubarb root well pounded.
                  LAXATIVES.
  These  are  medicines  which gently  open  the
bowels.
  Castor oil, an innocent and valuable medicine; the
dose for a grown person is from two to three table-
spoonsful.   The most agreeable way of taking  this
laxative oil is in coffee, or a little spirits of any kind.
  Sweet oil, generally called olive oil.  It acts on the
bowels the same as castor oil.   The dose for a grown
person is from tw7o to three table-spoonsful: like castor
oil, you may take it in a little spirits or coffee.
  Charcoal in powder.—This is  one  of the  most
valuable and innocent medicines w7e  possess, particu-
larly for persons labouring  under dyspepsia or indiges-
tion.   To persons of a costive habit of body, the use of
pounded charcoal  is invaluable, from its always keep-
ing the  bowels  open  and  regular.   The  dose for a
°;rown person is one table-spoonful mixed with honey.
       3 s 2                 °6 
0
 762               DISPENSATORY.

 milk, or cold water.  The preparation of charcoal  as
 a medicine is  very simple.  It consists  in  merely
j burning the charcoal used  by smiths, over again:
f to do which, you are to place it in an iron  vessel, and
; expose it to a hot fire until it becomes of a red heat;
 then suffer it to cool, pound it very  fine, and  put it in
 a dry bottle, which is to be tightly corked.   This is the
 whole secret of preparing charcoal for medicinal pur-
 poses.  It is an excellent medicine in all depraved
 conditions of the stomach, and it will also check the
 violent vomitings or puking which accompany bilious
 and yellow7 fevers; and I will now  disclose  to you a
 secret respecting the use of charcoal, which is probably
 unknown  to the  physicians of the United States.
 Whilst I was at Havana, a city in the island of Cuba*
 I discovered the secret by which the Spanish physicians
 check and relieve the approaching symptoms of black
 vomit in  yellow7 fever: the  medicinal  preparation is
 charcoal and oil of turpentine  mixed:  but I could
 never ascertain the  quantity  of each.  This matter.
 how7ever, can easily be ascertained by experiment.
   Magnesia, calcined.—Two tea-spoonsful of this me-
 dicine is a dose for a grown person ;  it must be taken
 in half a tumbler of cold water. If you take uncalcined
 magnesia, a table-spoonful will be required as a dose.
 This medicine corrects  acidity of the  stomach, and
 gently opens the bowels.  It is also well  adapted  to
 women in a family way, and to persons  afflicted with
 dyspepsia or indigestion.   A dose taken at bedtime
 will  generally  afford to  dyspeptic persons a pleasant
 night's rest, by aiding the digestive powers.
   Cream of tartar.—This is  a  cooling and innocent
 laxative medicine, and is  remarkably well adapted to
 the warm season.   It may be taken in cold water 
DISPENSATORY.
763T
sweetened with sugar.  The dose for a grown  person,
is a table-spoonful in a tumbler of water.
  Manna.—This is the ^aiost innocent  laxative medi-
cine made use of in the practice of physic.  On account
of its  extreme  mildness  in operation,  it is  better
adapted to infants than any purgative known.   Used
as a laxative, it is seldom given to grown persons alone,
but generally combined or mixed with senna: the com-
pound is called senna and manna.   If the manna be
given alone, the dose for a grown person is from one to
two ounces, dissolved  in hot water.  If you give it
combined with senna, half an ounce of manna, with
the same quantity of senna made into a tea, with about
a pint of boiling water, is the dose for a  grown person.
[See the heads Senna and Manna in the index.]
  Flour of sulphur.—This is nothing but brimstone,
purified and powdered very fine.  From one tea-spoon-
ful to ten, or about the same quantity given in broken
doses three times a day, will moderately  purge a grown
person.
  Whenever any of the above purgative or laxative
medicines purge too much, and the patient is becoming
weak, if you wish to check  the operation, you are to
give a dose of laudanum, from twenty to thirty drops:
or you may give a glyster, in which you are to  put
double the quantity of laudanum taken  by the mouth,
and at the same time apply hot cloths,  wrung out of
boiling water, as warm as they can be borne, to  the
stomach of the patient: either of these  measures will
stop tlje operation of these medicines.
   In i])me cases, from  the bowels being torpid, medi-
cines of a purgative nature will not  produce a passage.
In such cases, you are to w7ait a reasonable time for
their operation ; if they do not operate, you are to give 
764             DISPENSATORY.

glysters.   [For instructions, see head Glysters, in  in-
dex.]   If these  means  fail, as they  sometimes  do,
instead  of giving heavy  doses  of  medicine  by the
mouth, give glysters of warm water, and at  the same
time pour the coldest water over the  belly of the  pa-
tients.   Sailors, when at sea, and when they have no
medicine on board, frequently relieve themselves from
costiveness of  the bowels, by merely lying with their
bellies  over the butt of  the cannon,  the coldness  of
which  seldom fails to produce a strong disposition to
stool.  In severe constipation of  the bowels,  when the
common remedies fail to  procure a passage or stool,
give a mixture of castor oil and oil of turpentine, of
each half an  ounce at one dose,  and if it does not
operate in due time you are to repeat the same.  This
powerful and valuable discovery has been lately used
with great success in the  city of New York.
                 STIMULANTS.
  Stimulants are medicines which excite the whole
system into action; the best of w7hich are our common
spirituous liquors, intended by Divine Providence as
medicines, but which we abuse in their employment
as luxuries of  daily use, by which  they are converted
into poisons, pregnant with deadly mischief; destroy-
ing the reasoning faculties, and entailing upon t^ie un-
fortunate devotee a train of corporeal afflictions which
infallibly  eventuate  in  his  premature   dissolution.
They are, therefore, to  be regarded as a curse dither
than a blessing upon posterity and a nation.  Iff is a
fact certainly know7n to those who  are in the hatfit of
constantly using stimulants, that thewrequire to be fre- 
DISPENSATORY.
765
qnently administered, or else they lose  their power:
that when the system has for any length of time been
accustomed to those stimulants, it is necessary gradu-
ally to increase the quantity, to produce the same action
upon  the system which was excited by their early or
first use.  The stimulants generally considered medi-
cinal, or used in medicine, are as follows:
  Sulphuric Ether.—This is a  valuable stimulant in
cases4)f great debility or weakness, in hysterical cases,
in cramp of the stomach,  in checking vomiting or
puking, in allaying sea-sickness, and discharging wind
from  the stomach.  Externally applied to the head, it
will greatly assist in  relieving  headach.  Ether is to
be kept well corked,  or it will  lose its strength;  and
When it is taken, it must be  drank as quick as possible
after it is mixed with water, or it will lose  the power
or effect it is intended to produce.  Dose, from one to
three tea-spoonsful, mixed in a stem or wine-gla^s of
cold water.
  Spirits of Hartshorn.—This is a strong  and active
stimulant; it is generally used in hysterical complaints,
and nervous headach, and is  also a valuable remedy in
dyspepsia.   See page 280.   By the alkaline property
which it possesses, it neutralizes acid in the stomach, at
the same time communicating  strength to that organ.
In all extreme  cases of debility  of the stomach, attend-
ed with vomiting and spasms, as is frequently the  case
with  habitual  drunkards, hartshorn will be found a
most  valuable remedy.  It will relieve the sting of the
bee, wasp, and  other insects, by keeping the wounded
part wet with it.  Dose from  one  to two tea-spoons-
ful.
   Opium, and the preparation made from opium call-
ed laudanum, when given in small doses, act as stimu- 
766
DISPENSATORY.
lants: when  given in larger doses, produce sleep and
relieve pain.   For a full  description of both  these
articles, see head in index, and for doses, see table of
medicines.
  Spirit or Oil of Turpentine, when taken internally,
is one of the most active and diffusible stimulants, per-
vading the whole extent of the system, but with greater
force to certain parts;  and in cases where the bowels
are obstinately constipated  or bound; in puerperal, or
ehild-bed  fever, and in  epileptic fits, particularly where
these complaints are brought on by worms, it also acts
as an evacuant or purge.   The  dose  is from three to
four tea-spoonsful alone, or with a  small  portion of
water.
  Spirit of Lavender.—This is a mild  and pleasant
stimulant, and is generally administered  to females in
hysterical affections.   When mixed with  sulphuric
ether in equal quantities, it is valuable in  debility, or
weakness  of the system.   The  dose of lavender alone
is three tea-spoonsful.
   There  is nothing more  difficult  in the  practice of
medicine, than to determine when it is proper to pre-
scribe stimulants: nor is it possible for me here to point
out to you the exact time, or to give further light on
the subject, than  in advising you to be guided by the
state of the system ; and avoid their application during
fever, as they invariably increase it; and  never pre-
scribe them in any case, until proper evacuations have
been made.  It is only in the protracted  and feeble
stage of diseases, that they can be resorted to with any
hope of advantage.  By watching their operation, you
can readily perceive by the absence or presence of the
following  symptoms, whether  their  administration is
proper or  not: pain in the head : delirious wanderings. 
DISPENSATORY.
767
or,  in  other  words,  the patient talks wildly;  great
watchfulness; stricture, or tightness of  the  breast;
restlessness and anxiety, with a hot, dry skin, parched
tongue, and a quick, small, and corded pulse.  Upon
the appearance of any, or all of the above symptoms,
you are immediately to desist in the use of stimulants.
                  ANODYNES.
  Anodynes are those medicines which ease pain and
procure sleep.
  Opium is given in doses of from two to five grains.
See table of medicines ;  and also for a full description
of opium, see that head.
  Laudanum is made by dissolving an ounce of opium
in a pint of good  spirits of  any kind—it is generally
fit for use in five or six days. Fifty drops of laudanum
are equal to two grains of opium.   For doses  of this,
or any other medicine, refer to the table of medicines.
  Paregoric is made by adding half a drachm  of  opi-
um, or one ounce of laudanum to a pint of spirit of any
kind, and mixing with them half a drachm of  flowers
of benzoin, the same quantity of the oil of anise seed,
and one scruple of camphor.   The dose is three or
four tea-spoonsful.  For  the different ages refer to the
table of medicines.
              ANTISPASMODICS.
  Antispasmodics  are medicines which are  given
to remove .spasms or cramps,  and generally used by
physicians for this purpose. 
768               DISPENSATORY,
  Opium or Laudanum, in doses depending on the ex-
treme urgency or danger of the case.
  Hot Toddy is made with spirits,  hot  water, and
swreetened with sugar.
  Sulphuric Ether, dose from two tea-spoonsful to a
table-spoonful, in half a cup of cold water.
  Asafcetida, dose, a lump weighing from eight to ten,
or even twenty grains, according to circumstances ; or
if you use the tincture, which is  nothing  more than
asafcetida steeped in whisky, as follows: take of asa-
fcetida, tw7o ounces, and put it in a pint of old whisky,
or good spirits of any kind : let it stand for  ten days,
and the tincture is ready for use.  Dose from one tea-
spoonful to four, mixed in a little cold water.
   Essence  of Peppermint  is  given in a  large dose,
mixed with hot toddy.
   The best means for removing spasms are the warm
bath—see page  160—bleeding  freely, and applying
cloths wrung out of hot water,  or hot salt to the skin,
over the part where cramp or spasm is seated
                    TONICS.
  Medicines which increase the tone of the muscu-
lar fibres, and thereby strengthen the whole body.
  Peruvian Bark.—This bark is obtained from South
America: there are three kinds—the red, the yellow,
and the pale.  The red bark, when pure, is the best.
It has, however, been ascertained  that the medicinal
properties of  our common dogwood are equal, if  not
superior, to the imported bark.
  The dose, in substance, of the Peruvian hark, is from
tw7o to  four  tea-spoonsful, in a stem or wine-glass of 
DISPENSATORY.
769
water, taken every three or four hours, when there is
no fever.  If it should disagree with the stomach, it
may be given in decoction, by putting an ounce of the
bark in a quart of hot water, to which add a little Vir-
ginia snake root, frequently called black snake root,
also, a small portion of cinnamon or ginger.  When it
becomes cold, you are to mix with it half a pint of the
best Madeira or Teneriffe  wine.  Dose, a stem  or
wine-glassful every two or three hours.
   Dogwood Bark, or Wild  Cherry-tree Bark, pound-
ed fine and taken in doses  of thirty or forty grains, are
equal to the Peruvian bark.  I have been in the habit
of using in my practice, equal  quantities of the barks
of dogwood, wild cherry,  and  poplar, (I allude to the
poplar of the  forest.)  These  three barks steeped in
good spirits of any kind, and administered in moderate
doses, say three or four times a day, are superior in their
tonic effects to any medicines I have ever used.   The
bark of the poplar is  one of the most valuable  medi-
cines we possess; I can assert  from experience, that
there is not in all the materia medica a more valuable
and certain remedy for the dyspepsia or indigestion,
than poplar bark.  In hysterical complaints this bark,
combined with  a small quantity  of laudanum, is a
valuable remedy.  In worms it has been prescribed to
a child when convulsions or fits had taken place ; after
taking a few doses, several  dead worms were discharged
with the stools.   The dose of the powder, to a grown
person, is from twenty grains to tw7o drachms; or the
bark may be used in tincture: that is, steeped in spirits,
or as a tea; its virtues are  always greatest when given
in substance or pow7der.
   Columbo Root is a mild,  but powerful  tonic, com-
municating vigour to the%tomach: when properly ad-
      3 T                97 
770
DISPENSATORY.
ministered, it does not produce stricture, nausea,* or, in
other words, sickness of the stomach, and oppression J
and  is well adapted  to dyspeptics, or  those  persons
labouring under indigestion ; for the stomach will bear
this substance with advantage, while most other tonics
produce disagreeable symptoms.  This  medicine will
also  restrain or stop vomiting or puking:—it is fre-
quently substituted for Peruvian bark, in consequence
of its milder action on the system.  Dose from ten to
twenty, or thirty grains of the powder, in half a tea-
cupful of milk or cold water, three times a day.  In
dyspeptic cases, or enfeebled digestion, small doses an-
swer better than large ones.  The tincture is a useful
form of administering this medicine, which is prepared
as follows:—Take of columbo  root  three ounces;
bruise it with  a hammer;  put it in a quart of good
spirits .of any kind, or good wine; let it stand five days,
shflHjig it frequently; then strain it, and it is fit for use:
it should be taken occasionally  through  the  day,  as
pleasantly prepared as the stomach is capable of re-
ceiving it.
  Nitric acid.—Read Diseases of the Liver, wrhere you
will  find a full description of this medicine.
  It is a  most  powerful tonic, particularly in chronic
affections of the liver, and where the  constitution has
been  much  injured by the use of mercury, or vene-
real diseases.  The best method of taking it is, to make
a quart of cold w7ater  pleasantly sour  with the medi-
cine, and add to it sugar  or any kind of syrup, w7hich
renders it agreeable to the taste, when it may be drank
through  the day in  such  quantities as the stomach
will  bear. In taking this medicine, however, it is best
to take it through  a quill, as £e acid is apt  to injure
the teeth. 
DISPENSATORY.              771
   Gentian Root.—This makes a strong and valuable
bitter, and is much used in weakness of the stomach,
and to increase the appetite.  Take two ounces of gen-
tian root, one ounce of orange peel, and half an ounce
of canella  alba, put them  in a quart of good spirits
of any kind, or good Madeira or Teneriffe wine: after
eight  or ten days, shaking it frequently so as to extract
their  strength, it then  yields a pleasant and healthful
bitter, and may be used at  pleasure, or as the stomach
may require it.
   Virginia Snake  Root, sometimes called black snake
root, wormwood, tansy, camomile flowers, horehound,
wild centaury (commonly called centry,) and hops; all
of which  yield  a  pleasant  and innocent bitter when
made strong, by boiling, and then adding to the tea an
equal  quantity of  spirit: or as  a tincture  by steeping
them  for several days in good spirit of any kind; these
articles may be  used separately or mixed  together, as
you may have it in your power to procure them.
  Elixir Vitriol.—It is a very pleasant and useful  to-
nic ; it restores and strengthens the appetite, and gives
tone to the digestive organs, and restrains those sweats
which frequently  occur after severe  fevers, called by
medical men colliquative sweats, which means  those
sw7eats which melt down, as  it were, the strength  of
the body.  Elixir  vitriol is one of the most popular
and highly esteemed  medicines, for restraining he-
morrhage, which means flooding from the uterus or
womb, and in  haemoptysis, which means spitting  of
blood. The dose is from fifteen to twenty drops, every
two or three hours, mixed  in a stem or wine-glass  of
cold water, or in as much water as will make it plea-
santly sour.
  Iron in its operation t>n the system evinces all the 
772
DISPENSATORY.
effects of a powerful  and permanent tonic; no medi-
cine, perhaps,  leaving behind  it such lasting impres-
sions.   It increases the  activity  and volume of the
pulse, corrects the  state  of the blood and secretions,
and invigorates or strengthens the  whole system. The
numerous  advantages arising from the use of iron, as
a medicine, are embraced within the sphere of chronic
debility.
  The chalybeate w7aters  in which the western country
abounds, are springs impregnated with iron, and are
found upon almost every  branch and  creek.   The
water of these valuable springs should be used  by per-
sons labouring under the following complaints; chloro-
sis,  which means green sickness; in hypochondriasis,
commonly called vapours or low spirits; in hysterical
affections; the whites, (a  disease to which  women are
subject;) paralysis, or palsy; in scrofula, or king's-evil;
rickets in children ;  and in dyspepsia or indigestion: for
information respecting the foregoing  diseases, look
under the proper heads.  I have now enumerated the
various cases in which the chalybeate waters are bene-
ficial, as well as the  principal complaints in which iron
is employed.  When this  medicine is used in substance,
it is generally obtained from the apothecary or doctor's
shops, in the form of rust of iron, and given in doses of
five or ten grains three times a day, mixed  in syrup of
any kind.  By putting a  few grains of rust of iron in a
bottle filled with common soda  water, it makes  as
valuable a chalybeate drink as the water of any of the
springs which  are impregnated with iron.  I again, for
the last  time, tell you  that  tonics  must  not  be given
when they produce  fever. 
DISPENSATORY.
773
                 SUDORIFICS.
  Sudorifics are medicines which produce free and
copious sweating.  Diaphoretics are those which oc-
casion only gentle perspiration or moisture of the skin.
  Tartar emetic, called by physicians tartarized anti-
mony,  when given in small  doses, so as to produce
slight sickness at the stomach, is more  generally at-
tended with perspiration, and is proper in fevers.
  Nitrous Powders.—To sixty grains of nitre, which
is nothing more than saltpetre pounded very fine ; add
sixteen grains of  calomel, and  one grain of tartar
emetic: mix them well together, and then divide the
compound into eight equal portions, one  of which you
are to give every two or three hours, in a little syrup ol
any kind.  If these powders should purge, which they
sometimes do, you should omit or leave  out the calo-
mel.   The nitrous powders are considered a valuable
medicine in bilious fever.
   Dover's Powder.—-This powder is one of the most
certain sudorifics, where it is difficult by other means
to produce a copious sweat. The dose is from five to
twenty grains, according  as the  person's stomach and
 strength can bear it.   It is proper to avoid much drink
 immediately  after  taking this medicine;  for  by so
 doin- it is apt to be vomited or puked up before it has
 had due time to operate as a sweat. The manner of
 preparing them is as follows,  if  you  cannot obtain
 them  already prepared at any  apothecary or doctors
 sh0D —Take of ipecacuanha, in powder, and opium in
 finePpowder, each one drachm ; vitriolated tartar or salt-
 petre, (either will do,) one ounce finely powdered; you
 are to be very particular to grind al   these articles
 together into the finest powder: when thus ground as 
774
DISPENSATORY.
 fine as it is possible, you have prepared and ready for
 use this valuable medicine.   Opium intended to make
 these powders ought to be pounded in a mortar,  per-
 fectly fine, during the  coldest weather, and kept for
 this purpose in a bottle.  In warm weather, the opium
 becomes too soft to admit of being reduced to powder.
 Dover's powder is one of the most valuable remedies
 we have for quieting the bowels in dysentery or flux,
 after proper evacuations have been made.
   Antimonial Wine and Spirits of Nitre.—Take equal
 quantities of each and mix them together; the dose is
 one, two, and three tea-spoonsful: if it inclines to vomit,
 or puke, you are to lessen the quantity of antimonial
 wine one-half, to two of the spirits of nitre.  This is
 valuable in fevers to promote perspiration.
   Ipecacuanha  given  in  small  doses,  say  one or two
grains every two or three hours, mixed with a little
warm water or syrup, will excite perspiration.
   Seneca  snake-root,  Virginia  snake-root, butterfly-
weed ; sometimes called pleurisy-root, dittany, bone-set,
(called by some thoroughwort,) these roots or herbs
are all valuable for their sweating powers.   For a full
description of each, refer to their different heads.
                  OINTMENTS.
  Simple  Ointment.—This, as  its name expresses,  is
innocent, and merely intended to  keep the  parts soft?
and from  exposure to cold; made  by  melting four
ounces of beeswax with half a pint of sweet oil; or in
a less  quantity, observing the proportions.   Suet and
clear hog's lard will answer if the oil  ca-pnot be con-
veniently had. 
I
DISPENSATORY.
775
  Basilicum Ointment.—Healing and exciting; used
in dressing sores.  It is made by melting one ounce of
beeswax, one ounce of resin, and an ounce and a half
of clean hog's lard together.
  Lead Ointment.—For dressing sores of an inflam-
matory nature.  Pound very fine one drachm of sugar
of lead, and mix it well with six ounces of hog's lard.
  Red Precipitate  Ointment.—This ointment is gene-
rally used for curing the itch; it is also valuable  for
old sores on the legs, when applied in the dry powder,
after cleansing them well with Castile soap; it will also
destroy what is called proud flesh.  The way to make
this ointment, is to mix one drachm of the powdered
precipitate with an ounce of hog's lard, and rub them
well together.
  Tar Ointment.—Used in diseases of the  skin, par-
ticularly scald head ; made  by melting together equal
quantities of tar and  the best mutton suet.
  Jamestown Weed.—This valuable plant (of which I
have given a full description, under the proper head)
forms one of the best ointments for piles and old sores;
it is made by first bruising,  and then stewing the leaves
in hog's lard: and then straining it; the proportions in
which the leaves and lard are  to  be mixed, are about
one part of the leaf to one of lard.
  Turner's Cerate.—This ointment which is so  cele-
brated in burns,  [for a  full  description of its extraordi-
nary virtues, refer to that head,] is prepared as follows:
take of calamine in fine powder half a pound; beeswax
the same  quantity;  hog's  lard one pound; melt the
wax with  the lard, and put it out in the air: when it
begins to thicken, which it will do as it gets  cool, mix
with it the calamine, and stir it well until cold.
  When you inquire for  this article at an apothecary 
776               DISPENSATORY.

or doctor's shop, ask  for calamine in powder; it is a
mineral imported from  England  and Germany, and
found in mines intermingled with the ores of different
metals.
  Blistering Ointment.—Take of Spanish flies, called
medically cantharides, beeswax, resin and tallow, equal
quantities of each; melt first the wax, resin, and tallow
together; the flies are to be taken and pounded very
fine, and mixed with the composition a little before it
becomes entirely cold or firm.
  Tartar Emetic  Ointment.—Called by  physicians,
Ointment of tartarized Antimony.  This is a valuable
external or outward stimulant, and forms a most bene-
ficial  application in  all deep-seated  inflammations,
especially of the chest.  It  occasions a pustular erup-
tion on the skin, or, in other words, numerous pimples,
which discharge in a short  time;  these discharges or
runnings may be kept up by the occasional application
of the ointment, as expressed under that head.  The
method of making this ointment is as follows: take of
tartar emetic one drachm, or two, if you wish to make
it strong—mixed well with one  ounce of hog's lard,
and it is fit for use : or, if you prefer it, sprinkle it on a
piece  of leather, on  which an  adhesive (commonly
called a strengthening)  plaster, has  been previously
spread, taking care not to cover the edges of  the adhe-
sive plaster with the ointment, so as to prevent it from
touching and adhering, or sticking to the skin.
   Volatile Liniment.—This is a valuable preparation,
to be  rubbed on the skin as an external stimulant in
sore throats, rheumatism, spasms, pains,  &c.   After
rubbing it well in, which should be continued from
twenty minutes to half  an  hour, flannel  should be
wrapped around the afflicted  part.   Volatile liniment 
DISPENSATORY.
777
is made by mixing equal quantities of spirits of harts-
horn and swe*et oil; by adding  to this mixture a tea-
spoonful or two of laudanum, the  preparation will be
much improved in its efficacy in relieving pain.
                   MERCURY.
  I shall mention only such mercurial medicines as
are daily and commonly used.
  Calomel is considered the most valuable of mercurial
medicines, in every disease in which I have  directed
its use in this work. Full, plain, and explicit directions
have been given as to the doses, and the effect intended
to be produced  by this mineral, and the injuries which
frequently result from its improper use.
  Blue pill.—There is scarcely an indication to be ful-
filled, says Dr. Chapman, by mercury, the purgative
effect excepted, to which this preparation is not ade-
quate. It is much prescribed in cases where salivation
is demanded, and as an  alterative, which  you will see
fully described in Diseases of the Liver.  The blue
pill is made by triturating or  rubbing quicksilver with
the  conserve of roses, till the globules or little balls
of mercury are entirely extinguished or destroyed; the
pills should be so prepared as to contain about a grain
of the metal; the dose in general is, a pill in the morn-
ing, and one at night.   This is the mildest preparation
of mercury, but it is by no means an inactive medicine.
The dose may  be increased, if necessary, to as high as
six pills.
   Mercurial Ointment—generally known by the peo-
ple of the country as oil  of  baze.   The old plan of
preparing this  ointment required great labour.  The
                         98 
778
DISPENSATORY.
following is a quick and effectual method of preparing
it: take an ounce and  a half of balsam of Peru, to
every pound of mercury; triturate for ten minutes, and
the mercury will be not only extinguished, but appa-
rently oxydized.   Then add  the proper proportions
of suet and lard to make an ointment.  As soon as the
whole is. well  mixed, which  maybe done in three
minutes, the ointment has a fine blue colour, and pos-
sesses full activity.
             SWAIM'S PANACEA.
  Tins medicine,  on its first appearance before  the
public, excited great hopes of being an invaluable re-
medv 'for several complaints  supposed to be incurable,
particularly  scrofula.   The  high recommendations
which accompanied  it, by some  of the  most distin-
guished physicians of Philadelphia, entitled it to some
confidence ; and so much were its virtues appreciated,
that this medicine  sold for the extravagant price of five
dollars per bottle ; its immediate  and successful sales,
realized to Mr. Swaim a large fortune.  In due time,
however, like all patent medicines, it sunk into digni-
fied retirement, being nothing more than an old friend
with  a new7 face: its principal and component part
being the same as the French medicine called Rob Sy-
philitique,  which  is corrosive sublimate, one of the
most active preparations of mercury.
   Swaim's Medicine is  made from sarsaparilla, marsl
reed ©-rass, borage  flowers, senna, rose  leaves, sassafras,
and winter green ; these articles are boiled together in
water and strained off;  sugar and  honey are  then
added, so as to form the consistence of syrup, when 
DISPENSATORY.
779
the most active mercurial preparation, corrosive subli-
mate, is mixed with it.
  The rob, in its effects, is similar to Sw7aim's  medi-
cine : its preparation, however, is more simple, and the
addition of the  former adds  nothing to  its virtues.
Both these medicines are only valuable in the second-
ary stages  of that dreadful disease which I have so
plainly described under the head Venereal.
                 LIVERWORT.
  This plant grows so abundantly,  and is so well
known in our country, that a description would be un-
necessary.  The excitement produced throughout the
United States in consequence of its being a supposed
remedy or cure for  consumption, led to a full investi-
gation of its virtues, when, like thousands of its prede-
cessors, it has only proved to be an innocent palliative
remedy.  By using it as a tea, it assists expectoration,
or a discharge from  the  lungs; allays the irritation of
the cough; and, in  some instances,  lessens  the fre-
quency of the hectic symptoms.  See head Consump-
tion.
                  MORPHINE-
  This article is the natural alkali of opium, and is
one of the most valuable of all the new alkalies that
have been discovered.  The results of the experience
of many  eminent physicians of  France,  Germany,
Italy, and of this  country,  clearly prove  that it is a
direct sedative, and that its composing effects are  not 
780
DISPENSATORY.
succeeded by that disturbance of the brain and nervous
system, or general relaxation, which so frequently fol-
low7 the use of opium or laudanum.  It has been satis-
factorily ascertained that the bad effects of opium and
laudanum  are  produced  by a constituent  principle,
termed narcotin, which, by  irritating or disordering
the nervous system, counteracts, particularly in nervous
subjects, the  anodyne  operation  of  the constituent
termed morphine. The morphine being therefore freed
from  the  narcotin, acts immediately  as an  anodyne;
and after its influence has run its course, the nervous
system continues in a calm  state.  Its insolubility is
great in wTater; or, in other or plainer language, it pos-
sesses the quality of not being dissolved in a fluid; and
its medicinal effects are not quickly obtained ; but dis-
solved in acid it becomes a most powerful and  effica-
cious remedial agent.   The acetic acid and  the  citric
are the best.  .Indeed, many  preparations  of opium
have been recommended to the attention of the profes-
sion, as possessing the peculiar property of morphine;
as the black drop;  the sedative liquor of opium, &c.
But the acetate of morphine,  taken in the form of pill;
or in solution, (see solution of the acetate  of morphine,
page 782,) will produce the  desired  effect, after they
have  either totally failed or considerably aggravated
the malady, for the relief of which they had been given.
On analysis, all of them have been found to contain the
baneful principle termed narcotin.   Several salts of
morphine have been recommended  by physicians of
France and England.  The citrate of morphine is  ex-
tolled as an efficacious anodyne by Dr. Porter,  and is
most probably the black drop, as he  gives a formula
which approaches nearly to that preparation; and  the
sulphate of morphine is preferred by  others; but  the 
DISPENSATORY.
781
acetate of morphine seems, however, to be the favourite
preparation with the most eminent physicians of this
country.
   The acetate of morphine is unquestionably  a most
valuable  medicine for  allaying spasms, either in  the
chest, the stomach, or bowels; for diminishing pain at-
tendant on incurable local disease, particularly of the
uterus, mammary glands, prostate glands, and rectum,
and for  subduing sympathetic  fever  attendant on
serious injuries, as fractures, bruises,  lacerations,  or
after a formidable operation.
   Dr. Gairdner, a scientific physician of London, states,
that in a severe case of  spasmodic affection of the  sto-
mach and bowels, occasioned by an incautious use of
iodine, the patient's life was clearly saved by a quarter
of a  grain  of acetate  of morphine, given every half
hour, after other preparations of opium were tried with-
 out any beneficial effect, and were not retained an in-
stant on the stomach."   The experienced and scientific
Dr. Holme, late senior physician to  the Manchester
 Infirmary, says, that he has on several occasions found
 the acetate of morphine a remedy of great value ; and
 Dr. Bardesley has published numerous cases of pain in
 the stomach.;  diseases  of the  uterus, attended with
 symptoms of structural mischief, of tic douloureux, &c,
 in which it fully succeeded.  The results of the nu-
 merous trials the doctor has given the acetate of mor-
 phine, he says, fully establish its  remedial efficacy in
! several affections.  He states that he has never wit-
j nessed any pernicious consequences  from  a prudent
• use of it.  " I am led (says he) to  recommend the acetate
 of morphine in preference to opium, from a conviction
 that  its efficacy may be equally relied upon, whilst its
 administration will be  unattended by distressing head-
       3U 
782
DISPENSATORY.
ach. excessive constipation, and other unpleasant effect ••
which opium generally  induces.   It  appears," con-
tinues the doctor, - to be the chief advantage of the
acetate of morphine, that  it may be employed in those
cases  in which  it is desirable to obtain a sedative or
soothing  effect,  and at the  same  time of  the first
importance  to avoid Constipation."   The doctor ad-
vises  the bow7els to be  unloaded  previously to  its
adoption : to commence with a quarter of a grain, and
to increase the dose  gradually to half a  grain, a grain,
or two grains, according to the urgency of the symp-
toms, and the effect  it'"produces.
  The syrup of acetate of morphine  is.generally pre-
scribed in France, instead of the syrup of white poppies.
It is made by dissolving four grains of the acetate of
morphine in a  pound of  simple  syrup.  The dose is
from  one to  six  tea-spoonsful, according  to the age  of
the patient and  degree of irritation  or pain which it is
intended to subdue.
 SOLUTION OF ACETATE OF MORPHINE.
  This valuable preparation of opium was introduced
into the practice of physic by some physicians of Paris,
as a direct anodyne.  It is not only more certain in al-
laying nervoe.s irritation, and in procuring sleep, than
opium or the black drop, or any other preparation of
it: but its composing effects are not followed, like those
of opium or any of the  other preparations of it, by
headach, constipation, disorder of the stomach  or the
nervous system.  The sleep it produces is sound and
refreshing.   The disturbed sleep produced by  opium
or any other vegetable anodyne, and the disorder of the
stomach, brain, and  the whole nervous system, which 
DISPENSATORY.
783
almost uniformly follows the exhibition of opium and
its officinal and  empirical preparations, as laudanum,
the black drop, the sedative liquor of opium, &c, are
attributed to the constituent part of  opium termed
narcotin; from which the solution of the  acetate of
morphine is entirely free.  Of all new remedies, this
is  the  most valuable.    The dose of acetate of mor-
phine is from six to twelve drops.
  The solution of  the acetate of morphine has been
found to  act more speedily on the internal  surface of
the stomach than a pill containing the acetate of mor-
phine ; and admitting of  being administered with more
accuracy as to dose; it has a great advantage over the
acetate in substance.   Eight drops of this solution are
equal to  twenty of laudanum.
  VOLATILE TINCTURE OF COLCHICUM
                     SEED
  Ample experience has proved that this preparation
is the most speedy, effectual, and safe remedy for acute
rheumatism, and  for shortening the  paroxysm or di-
minishing the anguish of regular gout, that has been
discovered.  Dr. Williams, of Ipswich, has published
several cases of rheumatism of  long  standing, which
had resisted the most active remedies, in which a few-
doses of this preparation succeeded in effecting a cure.
In his reports of its efficacy, the doctor observes: " I
cannot  contemplate an extensive use of it in many
painful  diseases, besides chronic rheumatism, without
entertaining the hope and belief that we have at length
found the happy medicine,  although  powerful yet
mild, and capable of substituting calmness, tranquil- 
784
DISPENSATORY.
lity, and balmy sleep, in the place of pain, weariness,
and restless nights;—a renovation of long lost  limbs,
and comparatively robust health, in room of feebleness
and emaciation ; and, in a word, affording to the poor,
as well as the rich, the cheering prospect of prolonging
life, and, during  its continuance, an oblivion of many
distressing pains."  The dose is from one to two tea-
spoonsful* at bedtime, in a wine-glass of weak brandy
and water, cold, and one tea-spoonful between break-
fast and dinner, in a  wine-glassful of peppermint water.
When the complaint is attended with general debility
and symptoms of indigestion, as flatulence, loss  of ap-
petite, &c, two tea-spoonsful of the compound tincture
of rhatany root may be taken with each  dose.   If it
should disturb the bowels, five drops of laudanum may
be added to the night dose.
  In cases of irregular gout, and of the general ner-
vousness of gouty subjects, this tincture has been very
successfully administered in small doses at bedtime, in
a little weak  brandy and  water:' in such  cases the
quantity of fifteen to thirty drops has succeeded in pro-
curing refreshing sleep, after opium and  its officinal
and  empirical preparations, as laudanum, black drop,
sedative liquor of opium. &c, had totally failed.   The
late Sir Joseph Banks was in the habit of taking  twen-
ty-five drops every night at bedtime for several years ;
and he had no doubt of  its composing effects having
considerably prolonged his life.
  In  gouty subjects,  whose vital  powers have been
greatly impaired by  frequent or violent paroxysms; by
indulgence in spirituous liquors or wines, or in savoury
dishes, or by any other cause, and especially when the
stomach does  not perform its  office, and general de-
bility prevails (indicated by swelling of the legs, cold- 
DISPENSATORY.
785
ness of the extremities, pallid  skin, inability to retain
the urine, &c.,) this tincture and every other prepara-
tion of the colchicum seeds or root are improper.   In
such cases the tincture of the round  leaf cornel is a
valuable remedy.
  Dr. Bardsley, in his  Hospital Reports, speaking  of
colchicum, says, " Its utility in gout is  confirmed  by
the results of general experience." In most of the cases
of that disease in which the doctor prescribed this  re-
medy, he  says, " little or no advantage was evident  till
it acted on the bowels."  Mr.  Simmonds, an eminent
surgeon of Manchester, who has been a martyr to gout
for  several years, states that he has obtained from the
wine of the colchicum seeds a relief in the paroxysms
of this harassing malady, which he had in vain sought
for  in any other  remedy; and  he asserts that the be-
nefit he derived  from it seemed to him  greatly to de-
pend on its purgative effects. In some  cases, colchicum
has speedily terminated a paroxysm, without producing
any sensible operation.  As an instance of which may
be noticed the case of the late Sir Joseph Banks; and
Dr. Bardsley admits that he is acquainted with a cler-
gyman in whom it effectually allayed gouty inflamma-
tion and pain, without producing any sensible  effects,
either on  the stomach, the intestines, or the skin.
  The  vital powers in gouty subjects advanced in
years,  and  even in  young gouty  invalids who have
abused  their constitutions, by intemperance, are often
in so reduced a state, that life is only kept up by gene-
ral  or local irritation, or what  may be termed morbid
nervous excitement; and,  on subduing it by an ano-
dyne, death suddenly ensues.  Numerous instances
could be  given  of the fatal effects of the colchicum,
and also the preparations of it termed Eau Medicinale,
      3 U 2              99 
786
DISPENSATORY.
on debilitated gouty subjects. This preparation should
be used with great caution, as it purges sometimes vio-
lently ; but in moderate doses may be considered  as
an invaluable remedy.
  My venerable father suffered for many years under
the tortures»of this dreadful disease, gout.  Every re-
medy was tried, for  ten years,  with but little or no
effect, when the celebrated General Moreau, one of the
most distinguished officers of Napoleon, then on a visit
to the United States, presented to my father a phial of
the EauMedicinale D'Husson; the phial was about
the size of a peppermint phial, and as well as my re-
collection serves me, contained two doses, (the direc-
tions however accompany this medicine.)  My father's
confinement from this fit of the gout had been about
six weeks, and so great was the pain and  sensitiveness.
that the opening of the door of his chamber, or passing
across the floor, would make him cry out with the
most intense suffering; his feet and hands were swol-
len to double their usual size, and he often prayed for
death to relieve him from this dreadful torture.  From
the representations of the general of the many extraor-
dinary cures performed in France by this medicine.
he determined to give it a trial:  at the usual bedtime
a dose was  taken;  in two  hours the pains entirely
ceased, and he dropped into a quiet sleep: a blessing
he had not enjoyed from the first  attack of the gout:
the skin w7as quite moist, and the pulse, though full, yet
reduced to their  natural standard; in about six hours
he awoke entirely free from  pain ; when he had four
or five discharges  from the -bowels resembling coffee
grounds, after which  the inflammation or swelling be-
gan to subside, and in two or three days he was en-
tirely relieved.   Four  months afterwards, and about 
DISPENSATORY.
787
  his usual time for a fit of the gout, he  felt  the ap-
  proaching symptoms of a second attack, but milder
  than usual; dreading the consequence of a delay, he
  took the second dose of Eau Medicinale d'Husson, or,
  in English, medicine of Hudson, when all the symp-
  toms immediately vanished: the  relief ibtained  in-
  duced my father to import from France a dozen phials
  of this valuable medicine.  In ten years, or to the pe-
  riod of his dissolution, he had occasion to use but one
  phial, which produced upon him the same  salutary
  effect, and to several gentlemen he distributed  this in-
  valuable medicine, all of whom were instantly relieved.
  I have  no hesitation, from my experience since the
  death of my beloved and venerable father, that this
  great medicine (and I am sorry to add but little known)
  is a perfect and sovereign remedy in gout; and, I may
  further add, a valuable and yet imperfectly tried reme-
  dy in rheumatism.
    This medicine, bearing the name of its discoverer-
  Eau Medicinale  d'Husson,  was  discovered  by this
  French officer in the campaign of  Egypt under Napo-
  leon, and for its discovery and great value  he received
  from the  French government  five thousand  francs.
  This medicine is supposed to be^prepared from the
  colchicum seed.   On this subject I must  express my
  doubts as to  the medicinal  d'Husson being prepared
  from the colchicum seed; although the colchicum seed
  produces very nearly the same effects. I yet am induced
  to believe  that  this medicine  is  prepared from the ;
  white hellebore; be this so or not, the medicinal d'Hus- j
t son can be procured in any of the eastern cities as pre-
l pared iii Paris.   The tincture  generally sold in the
!  shops throughout the United States  is the wine  of
  meadow-saffron, producing tke same effects, in dosas 
788
DISPENSATORY.
of half a drachm three times a day, and continued for
one, two, or three weeks, as may be necessary.
TINCTUItf:  OF GINGER AND  CAMOMILE
                  FLOWERS.
  This tincture, which  contains in a  concentrated
state the volatile aromatic virtues of ginger, and the
bitter principle of camomile flowers, is a most valuable
stomachic medicine; and in cases of indigestion, cramp
in the stomach  or intestines, flatulence, and in  com-
plaints arising  from weakness of the digestive organs:
and as a general tonic or strengthening medicine to the
stomach and bowels, and particularly to those who have
injured their stomachs by the too free use of spirituous
liquors, or to aged and debilitated persons.   The tinc-
ture of ginger is made in the following manner:—Take
of Jamaica or white ginger-root, one-quarter of an ounce,
bruised;  to  which add a pint of proof  spirits;  let it
stand for ten days, shaking it well;  then add a table-
spoonful  of  camomile  flowers, and a pint of proof
spirits: and let it stand five days, shaking it occasionally,
when the tincture is fit for use ; the dose is from a tea-
spoonful  to  a  table-spoonful  for  an adult or grown
person, twice  or three  times  a  day,  diluted  with
water.  Or take  of the
Tincture of ginger of the shops,  half an ounce;
Camomile flowers,    -    -   half an ounce;
Tincture of musk seeds,    -   an ounce and a half.
  Mix.—Dose. A tea-spoonful to three tea-spoonsful, to
be taken  two or three times a day in a  glass of water.
  When indigestion, or weakness of the system is at-
tended with looseness, or  an irritable  state of the * 
DISPENSATORY.
789
bowels, the tincture of the round-leaf cornel is prefer-
able to this tincture.
TINCTURE OF THE ROUND-LEAF CORNEL.
  Medically,  Cornus  Circinata.—This  valuable
plant deserves a much greater reputation than  it has
yet obtained.   The  round-leaf, cornel has not as yet
been sufficiently tried by medical men; although from
those in whose hands it has been placed it has received
the highest praise; it has been for some time most suc-
cessfully employed  in  this  country as  a tonic; and
some of the most eminent physicians of New York and
Philadelphia bear testimony in its favour.  Dr. Robin-
son has published a  practical treatise on its peculiar
and superior tonic properties; has given, in the  medi-
cal journals of New York  and  Philadelphia, several
cases of extreme debility attended with dropsical affec-
tion, in which the tincture of the round-leaf cornel
completely  succeeded  in restoring the  patients  to
health, after the sulphate  of quinine, the  Peruvian
bark, and all the tonics had failed.   He  says that  he
never met with a case of debility of stomach  in which
it did no"t produce a very beneficial effect; and in con-
sequence of being very grateful to the  palate and  di-
gestive organs; he regards it as the natural tonic of the
human body.   " To  those," says  this eminent physi-
cian " wiio have impaired their constitutions  by exces-
sive indulgences; by great fatigue;  or by a  residence
in a warm climate;  I have no hesitation in asserting
positively that it will prove  a most excellent restora-
tive, as well as to those whose vital  powers are giving
way to age; or who  are threatened with  that general 
790
DISPENSATORY.
decay, termed breaking up of the constitution; or, as
technically denominated  by authors, the climacteric
disease."   It has also been prescribed in this  country
by several medical men of eminence, with great suc-
cess in cases of debility, local and general, particularly
in elderly people.  The following compound has been
found beneficial:—Take of the
  Essential salt of the round-leaf cornel, two drachms;
  Extract of rhubarb,    -     -      one scruple;
  Ginger powder,  -    -     -      one scruple.
  Mix, and divide into thirty-six pills; two or three to
be taken  twice a day, with a glass of water.
  Dr. Robinson  states that  this composition is  the
only tonic that agrees with children.   The proportion
of the essential salt is a drachm to half a pint of the
infusion ; the  dose of which is from a dessert to a table-
spoonful  twice a day.  When a little sugar is added,
children  take it as freely as wine.
ESSENTIAL  SALT  OF THE  ROUND-LEAF
                    CORNEL.
  This preparation contains, in  a  concentrated state?
all  the essential medicinal virtues of the round-ieaf
cornel.  The dose is from five to eight grains, (in the
form of pills.) two or three times a day.   It is perfectly
soluble in wine; and in any good sound Sherry or Ma-
deira, in the proportion of three drachms to a bottle;
it forms a most excellent tonic wine ; of which three
table-spoonsful may be taken two or three times a day.
This preparation is a more efficacious tonic than the
sulphate of quinine, or  any other  preparation  of the 
DISPENSATORY.
791
Peruvian bark, and much  more grateful to  the sto-
mach.
  One drachm of this essential salt dissolved in half a
pint of infusion of roses, with three drachms of simple
syrup, forms a very efficacious tonic remedy for rickety
Children, by whom it is in general preferred to wine.
  The dose of this mixture is from a dessert to a table-
spoonful twice a day.
     ARTIFICIAL HARROWGATE SALT.
  Half a drachm of this article (sold under the name
of Harrowgate salt) dissolved in half a pint of water,
operates very pleasantly on the bowels, and produces
the same beneficial effects on the skin, in gouty and
rheumatic habits, as are attributed to the  native sul-
phureous water of Harrowgate.  It has  been found
very beneficial in cases of inflammatory or irritative
piles, attended with constipation, and in expelling the
small thread-worms, termed ascarides.
CITRIC ACID, AND CARBONATE OF SODA.
  On dissolving a tea-spOonful of this composition in a
tumbler of water, an effervescence, with a considerable
evolution  of  carbonic  acid  gas  takes place, during
which state it should be drank.  It is more pleasant
and cooling than soda water, and being slightly aperient,
is more beneficial in cases of indigestion and torpidity -
of the* bowels and liver, and in those affections'of the
stomach which occur during a residence in a hot cli- 
792
DISPENSATORY.
mate, or from the too free  use of wine and spirituous
liquors.
          SULPHATE OF  QUININE.
  Among the valuable  and useful discoveries which
the science of chymistry has lately made, I know of
nothing more important than this article: sulphate of
quinine.   It is prescribed in the dose of from three to
ten grains three or four times a day, generally made
into pills, but frequently taken in powder in a little
wine  or  water.   Some physicians prefer giving the
wine of sulphate of quinine, and  others the tincture.
The wine is made  by dissolving  sixteen grains of the
sulphate of quinine in a pint of good Madeira  wine,
(the dose of which is, a wine-glassful two or three times
a day;) and the tincture is made by dissolving a drachm
of the sulphate of quinine in a pint of brandy; the dose
of which is, a table-spoonful three times a day, in about
two table-spoonsful of water. Some French physicians
prefer the syrup of sulphate of quinine  to the wine or
tincture;  which is made by dissolving thirty grains
in a pint of simple syrup.   The  dose of this syrup is
from one to two table-spoonsful two  or three times a
day.  The sulphate of quinine is much and deservedly
recommended in cases of remittent and intermittent
fever; and the tincture and wine by some physicians
in cases of indigestion of elderly people; dropsy, fluor
albus, or, in  plainer language, the whites in women:
and to support the system against the debilitating effects
of local diseases attended with copious discharges.
  In cases of intermittent fever after the stomach and
intestines have  been prepared for its exhibition by a
•dose of calomel and rhubarb.   Its curative effects have 
DISPENSATORY.              793
been so general, speedy, and permanent, that it may be
considered a specific for this disease.
                     IODINE
  Is a valuable  and successful remedy in scrofulous
affections, and in diseased  states of the glands.   It is
obtained from a great variety of sea plants.  Dr. Coin-
det, of Geneva, first prescribed it.  Supposing that the
medicinal virtues of calcined sponge reside in iodine,
he determined to give it a trial, in the disease for the
cure of which burnt sponge has been chiefly employ-
ed, viz. wen; and the results fully answered his ex-
pectation.   The trials have since been repeated by
several eminent physicians of France and England, and
from  their reports  it  appears, on  an  average, to have
succeeded in  ninety cases  out of every hundred.  In
young subjects, or females under thirty years of age, it
has almost uniformly been  successful in dispersing the
tumour; but in elderly people of rigid fibres, it seldom
has any influence on the disease.
  The  tincture of  iodine, made by dissolving forty--.
eight grains of iodine  in an ounce of alcohol, is gene-
rally prescribed  internally.  The dose is from twenty
to thirty drops,  two or three times a day,  in a wine-
oiassful of the decoction of marshmallow root, or of
infusion of  soap-wort  This tincture has also  been
very successfully administered in scrofulous affections.
In many cases of scrofulous tumours and ulcerations
it has proved very beneficial.   The celebrated Doctor
Hufeland, of Berlin; Dr. Gardiner, of London; Dr.
Coindet, of  Geneva; Dr. Dunglison, Sir Astley  Coo-
per, Mr. Brande, Mr. Calloway, all distinguished men
in their profession, together with other eminent prac-
      3 X                 100. 
794
DISPENSATORY.
titioners, who speak in high terms of commendation
of its anti-scrofulous property; and we have met with
numerous cases in which it has fully succeeded in re-
storing the patients to  perfect health, notwithstanding
the lungs appeared to be diseased.  In patients whose
stomachs are irritable,  or w7hose digestion is bad, it fre-
quently excites nausea (or sickness at the stomach) and
d i-orders the nervous sysfem ; and many cases of scro-
fula have been published, in which it failed even to
check  the  progress of the malady.  But those fail-
ures,  in  our  opinion,  only show the  necessity  of
preparing the  system  for the  remedy, by previously
correcting the stomach and bowels.   Many valuable
remedies have no doubt fallen  into disrepute, in con-
sequence of practitioners neglecting  to prepare the
stomach, bowels, and even the nervous system for their
exhibition.
                DROPS OF LIFE,
  Medically called Gutta Vila.   This valuable pre-
scription may be considered  by the reader as one of
the most important in this medical wrork, and will in
some dangerous hour, when all'hope has fled, and the
system is prostrate and racked with pain, be the soothing
balm which checks one of the most dangerous diseases
to which the human body is liable, viz.  dysentery.
  PRES(::*M»TioN..2^-Take  of
     Gum opium,     -    -    -    orie ounce;
     Gum kino.       -    -    -    one drachm;
     Gum camphor,       -    -    fortv grains:
     Nutmegs, (powdered,) -         half an ounce.
     Cochineal and s?tiron enough to colour.
     French brandy, or Jamaica spirits, one pint. 
DISPENSATORY.
795
  This tincture, if convenient, should stand for eight
or ten days before  using it, so as to have its  proper
strength.  Before this medicine is given,.a dose qf cas-
tor oil. should  be  administered, so as to cleanse or re-
move the irritating eause from the bowels.
  The dose of the Gutta Vita for a grown person is
from  twenty  to forty drops,  repeated three  or four
times a day;  for children  from four to six drops.
Whenever this medicine is prescribed, it should be
mixed with a small portion  of prepared chalk, say as
much as will lie on the handle of a tea-spoon; when
the gutta  vita and chalk are to be mixed in a little
warm mint tea.
  This  prescription wras received from Doctor J. R.
M-Conochie, a distinguished physician, and a gentle-
man of profound literary acquirements, whose kind-
ness and philanthropy induced him to make it known
for the benefit of mankind.
  The prescription was brought from London by Dr.
Robert Welford, and used by him with great success
in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
                  LIQUORICE.
  This shrub is a native of Syria and of the southern
parts of Europe:  and is cultivated in Great Britain.
The root is perennial;  but the stalks are annual, and
rise four or five feet in height.  It may be propagated
by fibres, which issue from the root near the surface ;
and.the whole root will bear transplantation.  An  ex-
tract from the root is ordered by the London College
of Physicians; but it is not prepared in this country.
The common liquorice of  the shops is  brought from 
796
DISPENSATORY.
Spain and Italy;  and that  which  is black,  shining,
brittle, and easily dissolved in the mouth, is  best es-
teemed. It is used in various preparations of medicines
for coughs, colds, &c, and when refined and sold under
the name of Refined Liquorice, it is a valuable expec-
torant, being combined with small portions of tartar
emetic.  The common article is much used by brew-
ers,  and the manufacturers of a spurious port wine,
which, I regret to say, is made  in  large quantities in
this country, together with many other spurious wines
and liquors, all of which, from these ingredients, are
deleterious and poisonous.
  I do not allude to the liquorice, for this is perfectly
irinocent, but to various articles, such as lead, sulphuric
acid, bitter almonds, cocculus indicus, &c; a full his-
tory and exposure of which will appear in my second
volume.
       TARTAR EMETIC OINTMENT.
  Take of lard  one ounce, to which add one drachm
of tartar emetic, which is to be well mixed.
             ALOETIC MIXTURE.
Take of aloes in pow7der,     -    three ounces;
      Saffron,         -    -    three ounces;
      Tincture of myrrh,    -    tw7o pints.
  Mix, and let them stand for fourteen days; then let
the mixture filter through paper.
  The dose  is from1 one to two fluid drachms, mixed
in wTater. 
DISPENSATORY.              797
  CAMPHORATED POWDER AND JULEP.
  This admirable preparation has lately been brought
into use to form quickly the camphorated  julep, for
which camphor is chiefly, if not solely, employed in
domestic practice.   This julep is made in the follow-
ing • manner:  rub one drachm of the camphorated
powder in a  mortar, and add to it by degrees one pint
of warm (not boiling) water, and when well mixed,
strain the liquor through fine linen.   It speedily im~ •
parts to water all the  efficacy and virtue of the cam-
phor.   It may be carried to any part of the globe with-
out losing the slightest portion of its  power, or  being
in any degree injured; so that any person may at  any
time prepare, at a moment's notice, that most valuable
remedy in the fevers of the different  climates, and be
armed against many of the maladies and accidents to
which human life is subjected.  It quite supersedes the
essence of camphor; for the spirit which forms a men-
struum for  the camphor, is a stimulant which  often
produces the worst possible effect upon the system,
during febrile excitement or fever.
                   EMETINE.
  This is the active principle of ipecacuanha root, and,
it is said,  has the great advantage  over the powder, of
not only being more active, but of being free from any
disagreeable taste or nauseous odour. The dose to excite
full vomiting is two grains; but on irritable stomachs
half a grain often operates.  It is highly recommended
by some French physicians as an  emetic,  and in small
 * 3^*2 
798
DISPENSATORY.
doses to create nausea or perspiration, in all the diseases
for which ipecacuanha is employed.         .
                   CROTON OIL.
    This oil, which may be obtained at any drug store
  or place where medicines are sold, is  one of the most
t  powerful purgatives we have, and is seldom used, ex-
  cept when every other medicine fails to  produce an
  operation on the bowels; and should be used with great
  caution.
    This oil, which is obtained by expression from the
  seeds of the croton tiglium, is  so powerful that one
  drop generally acts violently on the bowels.   It pro-
  duces immediately  a  burning in  the mouth,  in the
  foeces, and sometimes  even along the whole course of
  the oesophagus: an unusual heat in the stomach : oc-
  casionally nausea, but rarely vomiting; this heat passes
  away in a few minutes.  It is an hour, or an hour and
  a half after taking  the oil before the first evacuation
  occurs: preceded by flatulent  discharges, and  slight
  cholicky pains,  but without tenesmus, and  without
  animal heat.  The  stools are very liquid, come sud-
  denly away, and look sometimes like  clear wrater, and
  sometimes  have a  slight yellowish  hue;  commonly
  there are eight or ten evacuations in twenty-four hours.
  On the following day the  effects are over,  and the
  tongue has its natural appearance.   In obstinate cases
  of constipation, attendant on wiiat is termed the cholic
  of painters;  and, as I before mentioned, stubborn con-
  stipation of the bowels, it is a very valuable medicine.
  In cases of apoplexy,  when  the patient has not the 
DISPENSATORY.
799
power of swallowing, two drops rubbed on the tongue
have  produced copious  foecal evacuations:  and five
drops rubbed over the navel have had the same effect.
It is generally given with the almond emulsion, made
with  peppermint-water  in  lieu of common  water.
Some practitioners recommend it to be given combined
with  Castile soap, which, they contend, promotes its
purgative effects by rendering it miscible with the con-
tents of the stomach.
   The following formula is recommended by Dr. Coley
of Cheltenham, for the exhibition  of this active pur-
gative :—Take of
    Croton oil,    -     -    -      four drops;
    Dried Castile soap,   -    -      one scruple;
    Oil of cloves   -     -    -      two drops.
   Mix, and divide into eight pills:  two or three to be
taken  for a dose.  The dose of three drops of croton
oil has produced inflammation of the stomach.
   Dr.  Nimmo recommends  a  tincture of croton oil
made by dissolving eight drops in one ounce of alcohol,
as the best form of exhibiting it.  The following is a
copy of the doctor's favourite prescription:—Take of the
    Tincture of croton oil,    -    half a drachm;
    Simple syrup,    -       -    two drachms;
    Mucilage of gum arabic,   -    two drachms;
    Distilled or pure water,    -    half an ounce.
   Mix.—After swallowing  a little  milk, take  this
draught quickly, and wash it down likewise with a
little milk.  If you apply any of this oil on the skin it
produces a slight smarting; and in  a few hours after j
red pimples make their appearance, which  in time
have the appearance of small-pox pustules, or  those of
tartar emetic ointment;  and if five  drops is applied to
the hand, it inflames with pain. 
800
DISPENSATORY.
               OTTO OF ROSES.
  The Royal Society of Edinburgh received from Dr.
Monro the following account of the manner in which
this costly perfume is  prepared in the east.  Steep a
large quantity of the petals of roses, freed from any ex-
traneous matter, in pure water, in an earthen or wooden
vessel, which is to  be  exposed  daily to the sun,  and
housed at night till a scum rises to the surface; this is
the otto of roses: when it is carefully absorbed by a
very small piece of cotton tied to the end  of a stick.
The oil collected is squeezed out of the  cotton into a
very diminutive phial, and stopped for use.  The  col-
lection of it should be continued whilst  any scum is
produced.
              COLOGNE WATER.
  This lovely perfume, for which you pay three or
four hundred per cent, more than it is wrorth, is made
in the following manner:—To one quart of alcohol,
add sixty drops of lavender, sixty  drops of bergamot,
sixty drops of essence  of  lemon,  and  sixty drops of
orange water.   Now,  should you wish to make as
much as one gallon  of this delightful perfume, put
two hundred and forty drops of each of the above per-
fumes to one gallon of alcohol.  In France, whenever
you go to take the bath, it is usual to mix a few table-
spoonsful of this Cologne in the  water, which  gives a
delightful fragrance to the  w7hole body for twenty-four
hours afterwards, and in washing in a basin of water, a
tea-spoonful wijl produce  a delightful perfume, after
the use of good soap and wrater, which first purifies the
skin, and may be considered as nature's best restorative. 
EATING  SNUFF.
  Nothing is more difficult to be accounted for, even
by men of acute and profound observation, than  the
strong attachments of the human species to practices
which are absolutely at war with  nature, and hostile
to every principle of enjoyment and happiness.  How
the use of tobacco, under any form, could  ever have
become a luxury among mankind, especially consider-
ing its nauseous and disgusting qualities, is an enigma
not to be solved on common principles.  We can easily
account for our attachment to  food, and even to those
luxuries of life which have any thing tempting in their
use, by referring them to instinctive impulses to  the
preservation  of  life, and our native propensities to
heighten the enjoyments of existence : but to account
for our attachments to habits and practices, which  are
absolutely disgusting, offensive, and highly injurious
to health, and which almost invariably lead to immoral
and dangerous excesses;  we  are compelled to refer
them to the degeneracy of our species, and  the entire
corruption of their moral tastes and feelings.  The use
of tobacco in any way, unless as a medical application
to the system, (the instances of which will  be found
under the proper head,); is dangerous to health, to hap-
piness and morals.  In support of the truth of this doc-
trine, it would be idle to adduce proofs; those who  use
tobacco are  conscious  of its  destructive effects, and
                      101                801 
802
EATING SNUFF.
those who do not, may hourly witness its dreadful con-
sequences on the health and morals of society.  We
are all well acquainted with the effects of chewing and
smoking tobacco, and taking  snuff in  the  common
way: but we have something yet to learn and disclose
respecting the hitherto unheard of practice, among the
females of  our country,  of  regularly eating  Scotch
snuff!   It appears, as I have been  informed on verita-
ble authority, or I certainly would not believe  it, that
the practice among our ladies, of  daily eating consi-
derable  quantities of Scotch snuff, arose in the first
instance from their  using  it  as a  tooth powder—yes,
most courteous reader, a tooth powder!  If this is any
thing more than a mere pretext for the filthy and  dis-
gusting practice which taints the breath with  a fetor
ivorse than  asafcetida, deranges all  the physical sensa-
tions, and the whole  nervous system;  imparts to  the
very cheek of youthful beauty the loathsome com-
plexion  of  a cake  of beeswax! subverts, ruins, and
finally destroys the  digestive powers of the stomach;
and renders that stomach a filthy reservoir of dregs and
crudities, which taint and  corrupt the whole system;
the eaters of Scotch  snuff may be induced to abandon
the destructive practice, when I point  out to them a
much better tooth powder: which is nothing more nor
less than powdered charcoal  mixed with  Peruvian or
dogwood bark.
  In speaking of the evils which arise from eating snuff,
I have not enumerated half of  them: the fact  is, that
language itseli" would fail  in classing and giving them
names.   We all know perfectly well, that the stomach
is the work-shop of the whoje human machine,  and
that when its functions are deranged or impaired  the
whole system suffers in its  remotest extremities.. Hear 
r
                  EATING SNUFF.              803

what the celebrated Rush says respecting the practice
of eating snuff:—"I have known two  instances  of
death from eating snuff.   It  is a habit  which is  in-
creasing among the ladies of  our country with a  ra-
pidity only equalled by  the ravages of ardent spirits,
and which is no less ruinous to health and destructive
to life."
   The practice of eating snuff had its probable origin
in using the Scotch snuff as a tooth powder; a fondness
is soon acquired for it, and hundreds among us, espe-
cially among our females, get  drunk upon it every day.
Dr. Rush's views of this subject are undoubtedly cor-
rect : but he has not said all that might have been said
respecting the consequences of snuff eating.   He might
have said that those who are in the practice of eating
snuff may easily be distinguished from those who  are
not; he might have said, here is a snuff  eater: notice
this complexion ; it is a pallid, sickly yellow ; the skin
seems to be undercoated with a layer of snuff; there is
nothing of the rose's bloom of opening unsullied beauty
on this lank, faded, and hollow cheek; look at this eye;
 do you see any thing of that  healthful brilliancy, that
 sparkling fire of youthful beauty which enchants man-
 kind in that jaundiced, sunken,  hollow, dead,  and
 beamless eye ?  No: the vital  energies have been worn
 out and exhausted by snuff eating; the animations of
 youth have been overpowered  and killed by this excess;
■ this is but the shadow of a human  being!  Catch a
 scent of this breath; is it pure and  sweet, with youth-
 ful fragrance ?  does it remind  you of the gale of spring,
 that gently shakes the blossoms from the orange grove?
 does its healthful purity bespeak the paradise of sweets
 from which it comes?  No: like  the wind of night
 that has swept the sepulchral  shades of death, it comes 
804
EATING SNUFF.
with corruption and infection on its wings; it reminds
you of disease, debjlity,  decay and death—of every
thing but love!  Dr. Rush might have said all this of
the snnff eater, and forfeited none of his high claims to
professional honour, integrity, and truth.
  I am decidedly of opinion, and I record the allega-
tion without fear of contradiction, especially by those
who know7 any thing of  the  subject,  that of  the two
characters, the drunkard and the snuff  eater,  the
drunkard is  the  more  worthy personage, if conse-
quences  be  taken into consideration.   Snuff eating
invariably produces languor, extreme debility, aversion
to the performance of  the  common duties of life,
tremors of the nerves, capricious and disagreeable tem-
per, and  restless  melancholy and  lowmess of spirits,
unless the person  is immediately under the  disgusting
stimulant.   But  this is not all:  snuff eating always
produces want of appetite, nausea, inordinate thirst,
pains  and distension of the stomach, dyspepsia or indi-
gestion, tremors  of  the limbs and whole frame, dis-
turbed sleep, emaciation or wasting of the body and
limbs, epilepsy or fits, consumption and death.  Nor is
this all; tobacco is an absolute poison; a very moderate
quantity  introduced into  the system or even applied
moist to  the pit of  the stomach, has  been  known to
produce instant death.  The Indians of our owrn hemi-
sphere have  long  known  of its poisonous effects upon
the human system ; and formerly used to dip the points
of their arrows in an oil obtained  from the leaves, by
which faintness and death occurred from their wnunds.
I was once acquainted with a  young lady of  the first
respectability, whose kind and  affectionate heart was
possessed of  every noble and generous sentiment, who
was in the habit of eating snuff.  She  w7as taken dan- 
EATING SNUFF.              805
 gerously ill; and it became necessary to give her an
 emetic or puke: and the fact w7as, that in the operation
 of the medicine, she  threw up  nearly half a pint of
 snuff from the stomach.  How  young, blooming, and
.tender girls, can bear the use of  snuff in this way, or,
 indeed in  any other  way, after  experiencing the
 wretched sensations alwrays produced by  it, is  to me
 absolutely unaccountable, unless on  the  principles  I
 have mentioned; and I must also here confess myself
 unable to account for the fact, that the parents of these
 girls, knowing the evils of snuff eating, cannot merely
 overlook the practice in their blooming daughters, but
 absolutely encourage it by their examrfle.
   I really trust that  the preceding remarks, and they
 are founded in experience and  truth, will have some
 influence  in restraining the practice of snuff eating,
 and in restoring many of the fair of our country to the
 possession of their native charms and beauty.
     INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.
  An inflammation  of  the lungs, called  by medical
men peripneumony, is sometimes an original disease,
and sometimes derived from other maladies.  It is oc-
casioned by the causes which bring on the pleurisy, by
violent  exercise, wearing wet  clothes, obstructed per-
spiration, and ardent spirits.  In an  inflammation of
the lungs, the symptoms resemble those of pleurisy;
but the pain is  not so severe, and  the  pulse is not so
quick and hard, while  there is greater difficulty of
respiration, and greater  oppression of the  breast.   A
dull pain  is felt internally along the breast bone, or
      3Y 
 806      INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.

 between the shoulders, augmented by breathing: great
 solicitude near the heart; weariness and inquietude;
 loss of sleep and want of  appetite;  while a yellowish
 scurf overspreads the tongue.   The veins in the rteck
 are also  dilated; the face inflated, while  a dark red •
 discolouration prevails about "the eyes and cheeks.

                  TREATMENT.
   An inflammatory attack upon an organ so necessary
 to existence as the lungs, is always dangerous, and re-
 quires speedy relief.  The diet should be extraordina-
 rily slender and  thin.  Infusions of  fennel  roots in
 warm water, with milk decoctions of barley, and com-
 mon whey, are most  proper both for drink and nutri-
 ment ; the steam of warm water is also recommended
 as a kind of internal  fomentation, and a help to atten-
 uate the impacted humours.  If the  bowels  are in  a
 laxative state, if the patient thereby is not debilitated,
 no  effort  should  be  made to check the evacuations,
 which ought rather to be promoted by emollient glys-
 ters.  Bleeding and purging are generally necessary;
 but if the patient spit  freely, they may not be required:
 the quantity of blood taken at the commencement of
 the disease should be Ifrge.  The evacuating  plan
should be adopted early, but it should not be persevered
in too long.   The solution of gum ammoniac, with
oxymel of squills, will promote expectoration or spit-
ting ; it is from a free discharge of spittle that relief is
principally to be expected.  When the  counteracting
treatment does  not succeed, a suppuration  is formed,
more or less dangerous according to its situation :  if  it
occupies the pleura,  it may break outwardly,  and the
matter will be  discharged  without  danger: when  it
occurs w7ithin  the lungs, the  matter must be  ejected 
INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.       807
by spitting:  when it floats between the pleura and the
lungs, it is said an incision must be made between
the ribs to liberate the  confined matter.   The same
remedies and treatment are employed in this disease as
in pleurisy.   The patient's  bowels should be opened
by calomel or other purgatives. Blood should be taken
from the arm, and a blister applied over the pain. The
decoction of Seneca snake-root or butterfly root, should
be freely used.   If the patient should not^be relieved,
(as often happens,) and sinks into a state of general de-
bility, I then give the chalybeate pill night and morn-
ing : the patient should also take every morning a newT
laid egg, beat it up in as much old whisky as will cook
it; fill  up the glass with sweet milk, warm from  the
cow.   This preparation acts as a stimulus and an ex-
pectorant, and at the same time nourishes the  patient.
His drink should be buttermilk whey.
        FALLING OF THE PALATE.
  The falling of the palate is attended with a tickling
in the throat, and soreness of the tongue : it proceeds
generally from a foul stomach.
                  TREATMENT.
  Take of sage tea half a pint, vinegar and honey two
ounces of each, and half a drachm of alum, and  wash
the throat with it: alum water will answer the  same
purpose. Apply salt and pepper to the elongated palate
by means of the handle of a spoon.  If these measures
fail, give an emetic. 
808
JAUNDICE.
                   JAUNDICE.

  This disorder turns the white of the eye, as well as
the skin, yellow;  the  urine  is saffron coloured, and
will stain a white cloth.
  The causes are, obstruction of bile; purges or vo-
mits ; an obstinate  ague; or  the  premature stoppage
of it by astringent medicines: remoter causes are, the
bites of vipers or mad dogs or poisonous animals, and
violent passions: infants, when the first stools are not
sufficiently purged off, and pregnant women are subject
to it.   The symptoms  are, excessive weariness, great
aversion to  motion, a dry skin, an itching pain over the
body, the breathing difficult, oppression of the breast,
heat in the  nostrils, a bitter taste in the mouth, sickness
at the stomach, flatulency and vomiting.  Where the
disease is simple, it is not dangerous ; where it besets
the old and debilitated, and is complicated with other
maladies, it often proves fatal.
  Regimen.—The  food should be light  and cooling;
stewed  prunes,  boiled  or  roasted apples,  preserved
plums, boiled spinach, veal or chicken soup, with light
bread, are very proper.  A cure has  sometimes been
effected by living on raw eggs, or sucking a raw egg
every morning.  The drink may be buttermilk, whey
sweetened, or decoctions of cooling opening vegetables.
Where  there  are no symptoms of inflammation, as
much exercise as the patient  can bear will be benefi-
cial; walking, running, riding on horseback or in a
carriage, or a long journey, have great restorative effi-
cacy.   Such amusements as promote circulation, and
cheer the spirits, may be indulged in with advantage. 
JAUNDICE.
809
                    REMEDIES.
  The patient should first be bled, an emetic should
then be given, Castile soap may also be administered in
sufficient quantities to keep the intestines open; or the
salt of tartar may be taken in doses of twenty or thirty
grains three or four times a day, dissolved in the infu-
sion of columbo. The patient should  be bled  more
freely where  there is pain  about the  region  of the
liver; and the blue  pill  may be  given morning and
evening till a slight salivation is produced.  The warm
bath should be used, and a blister may be laid over the
pained part.   Three  or four spoonsful of olive oil may
be taken to alleviate the pain, or one or two tea-spoons-
ful of ether, or thirty drops of laudanum.  Bags of hot
salt may be laid on the right side, and after the ob-
structions are  removed, the tone of the system may be
restored  by the  use of columbo, nitric  acid, dogwood
or cherry tree bark, with porter and wine.
         SCROFULA OR KING'S EVIL.
  Symptoms.—Small tumours appear behind the ears
or under the chin.  The feet, hands, eyes, breast, and
armpits and groins are liable to its attacks.   These
knots in time break and become ulcers, from which a
thin watery humour is discharged.
  Regimen.—The food should be very low7, light, and
easy of digestion, as good light bread, soup of the flesh
of young animals, with  an occasional glass of wine.
The patient ought to take as much exercise as he can
bear, in dry open air. but it should net be too cold.
     3 y 2               105 
*I0
king's evil.
                   TREATMENT.
   Warm fomentations are injurious.  Bathing in cold
 water, or the sea where it is convenient, and keeping
 the bowels open with salt and water, by injection, will
 be highly salutary.   A tea-spoonful of salt dissolved in
 water should be taken every morning. Peruvian bark
 and steel alternately every two  weeks,  or  nitric acid
 will be of great service.   Muriate of  lime  in doses of
 from ten to eighty drops gradually increased, three  or
 four times a day, diluted with water  or tea, is said to
 be a very valuable remedy.   The solution of arsenic
 may be given twice or thrice a day after a suppuration
 has taken place.  Mix well together one pound of
 finely powdered bark and one ounce of wiiite lead
 pulverized; this powder applied  to scrofulous ulcers
 will act beneficially, or let an ounce  of sugar of lead
 be dissolved in  a pint of water; keep  on  the ulcers
 linen  cloths moistened in th'is  solution.
   The ulcers should also be washed  with salt  and wa-
 ter every morning.  Before a tumour breaks, it should
 be anointed with fresh butter  stewed to an oil twice a
 day, bathing it in with a hot shovel. When the tumours
 break, apply to them a plaster of molasses stewed down
 to such a degree of thickness, that when spread it will
 not run: if the  disease  is attended with general de-
 bility, chalybeate medicine should  be taken.  Time
and simple means are the surest  remedies: the  cure
 cannot be humoured.  The diet and  drink should be
of a light and cooling nature.  Cold should be  guarded
against,  and exercise should be taken: in this simple
 manner I have cured cases that have baffled  regular
practice. When the lumps are first coming, relief may
be obtained by anointing them with oil of fresh butter, 
>.
                   king's evil.                811

and warming it in with a hot shovel. I have given the
practice of other physicians as well as my own.
          NIGHTMARE, OR INCUBUS.
   The patient  in sleep feels an oppression or weight
 about  his stomach and breast; he groans; is in great
 distress, and dreads suffocation; he fancies himself in
 some imminent danger, and tries to escape, but finds
 he cannot move; he imagines himself about to  fall
 over a precipice; be drowned in a river; or consumed
 in a burning house.  Causes.—Indigestion, debility,
 repletion, late and heavy suppers, great fatigue, sleep-
 ing on the back, intoxication.
                    treatment.
   As the person afflicted generally moans or manifests
 distress, he should  be waked, as that brings immediate
 relief.  Those who are subject to this complaint should
 eat early and light suppers, and take a glass of pepper-
 mint w7ater after supper to assist digestion : windy food
 should be avoided.  A  hard bed  should be preferred.
 When the complaint proceeds from debility, the cha-
 lybeate pill may be taken : or steel, bark, or columbo,
 may be administered in ordinary doses: if it arises from
 a full habit, a spare diet will be proper, as well as vene-
 section and purging.  Severe study, anxiety, and what-
 ever will oppress the mind, should be carefully avoid-
 ed.  It will be  prudent in those  who are frequently
troubled with this  complaint, to have a companion to
sleep with them, lest at some time the stagnation of
blood should continue so long as to stop the functions
of life, and terminate in death. 
812              HYDROPHOBIA.
HYDROPHOBIA, OR  THE BITE OF A MAD
                     DOG.
  Whenever it can be done, the part that is injured
should be cut out immediately, and by this means the
poison will be hindered from entering into the system.
When this cannot be done, caustic should be applied
without delay, so as to change the nature of the wound;
or the part affected may be washed, then burnt with a
hot iron more extensively than the w7ound  itself, then
fill it with mercury and keep  it  open for some time.
Mercury also should be employed inwardly and out-
wardly, to produce salivation.   Large doses of opium,
it is said, have proved beneficial.   The caustic volatile
alkali may upon experiment be  discovered to be  an
antidote to the bite of a mad dog as well as to that of
poisonous serpents. Emetic weed, skull cap, and chick-
weed are deemed valuable remedies in hydrophobia.
                   RICKETS.
  This  disease  originates  from weakness, and  any
cause  that produces debility disposes to it.  The head ■
and abdomen are unnaturally enlarged;  the  face  is
flushed and florid.   It sometimes affects  the bones,
which become crooked, unnatural, and deformed. The
appetite is bad, the digestion imperfect, and the solids
relaxed.
                  treatment.
  Exercise is the most effectual remedy.  Much may
be accomplished by nutritious diet and wholesome air.
Gentle vomits and cathartics should be given to cleanse
and purify the system.   It should then be braced with 
HYDROPHOBIA.
813
tonics, as bark, steel, and columbo; but perhaps no-
thing will so effectually invigorate and renew the con-
stitution as the chalybeate pill.  Bandages will also be
useful in reducing the enlargement of the head.
              ST. VITUS' DANCE
  Is a  species of convulsions.   Its approaches are
evinced by languor and love of inaction, and long pro-
tracted constipation of the bowels.  Presently the face
is convulsed, and the limbs twitch and jerk, and many
strange gesticulations are exhibited.  As costiveness is
too commonly the cause of this disease, purgatives are
usually  necessary; if continued,  the symptoms will
gradually abate, and the patient, strange as it may
seem, will  gain  strength,  and show by his walk,
countenance, and  appearance, that  he is recovering.
Cathartics are  mainly to be  depended  on; though
sometimes tonics may be employed successfully.
              TO  CURE A WEN.
  Wash it with common salt dissolved in water every
day, and it will be removed in a short time.  Or make
a strong brine of alum salt; simmer  it over the fire.
When thus prepared, wet a piece of cloth in it every
day, and  apply it constantly for one  month, and the
protuberance will disappear.^ 
814
MORTIFICATION.
 11             MORTIFICATION,
  Medically  termed  gangrene or sphacelus, both
terms being employed by some  to express the same
disease, and not unfrequently by some to comprehend
different stages of the disease.  For instance, gangrene
is the term now used to denote that condition of a part
which immediately precedes its destruction; but the
term sphacelus  means the complete  death of a part,
thereby giving the general term mortification.
  When  an inflamed part, instead of terminating  by
adhesion, (by which I mean the growing of the parts
together,) or by suppuration, (by  which pus or matter
is deposited in inflammatory tumours,) or loses its sen-
sibility, heat, and  colour,  its vitality is extinguished
and mortification takes place.   Changes of this nature
seldom take place suddenly; but are generally pre-
ceded by an increase of pain, of  a pricking, sharp, or
burning kind.  The swelling increases, the blood how-
ever still circulates in  the larger vessels, the appear-
ance of the skin is of a dark red or purple colour and
soft, and vesicles (or small  bladders) form beneath the
cuticle or skin, obtaining  a transparent watery fluid.
  Accompanying these local symptoms there is con-
stitutional disturbance.   The pulse is quick and tre-
mulous, called medically, of a typhoid character; the
tongue is dry and of a brownish colour, the skin is
very hot, and the patient  restless and uneasy.   Deli-
rium {subsultus tendinum) or a jerking  of the  nerves
takes place, nausea or sickness of the stomach, and
followed  frequently by hiccup.  The part soon  be-
comes cold, and the sphacelus or mortification is
fully established.   Now, if a vital part has suffered, the
•t 
mortification.
815
patient often dies; and it so happens {sometimes) that.
the constitutional symptoms slowly or suddenly yield.
When you perceive a red line formed at the junction
of the living and dead parts, the latter are separated
by what is medically termed " ulcerative  absorption."
When granulations or grain-like fleshy bodies sprout
up or form on the surface of ulcers and wounds, it is
an effort of nature to bring the parts together, or unite
them in their original healthy state, where the disposi-
tion, action, or structure have been altered by accident.
The  colour of healthy granulations is a  deep florid
red; when they are livid or dark-coloured they are un-
healthy, and have no disposition to form a skin.  Un-
der such circumstances, when healthy, you will at once
perceive as well as I can, that, provided the constitution
has not been too much weakened by the violence of
the disease, the patient may with proper care recover.
  Mortification is said by some  distinguished men to
occur sometimes without previous inflammation, from
suspension of the circulation by ligatures, and  from
ossification of the arterial  trunks.  But here I differ
with them in opinion, for I am  confident from strict
observation that even  in  these cases there is more or
less  inflammation, and that the  inflammatory process
is present to a  certain extent, although the common
symptoms are not sufficiently observed, such as pain,
redness, swelling, &c.
  Almost every texture of the body is liable to mor-
tification; but mucous  membrane, the skin, and ab-
sorbent vessels are  particularly apt  to suffer, while
the  arteries,  tendons,  ligaments,  and fibrous  mem-
branes generally escape.
  You will then perceive, as well as I can tell you,
that the causes of mortification are innumerable.   But 
816*
mortification.
generally, and with but few exceptions, this disease re-
sults from inflammation.                           ,
  Gunshot  wounds,  fractures, dislocations,  simple
punctures, concentrated  acids, poisons,  stimulating
applications, lightning, burns, long-continued pressure,
intense cold, must all operate  more or less through the
medium  of inflammation, in  producing these  several
effects.

                  TREATMENT.
  The remedies of mortification are either constitu-
tional or local, and the treatment must be very differ-
ent under particular circumstances.   If, for instance.
there is high  inflammation and likely to terminate in
gangrene, you must pursue the antiphlogistic  course,
which is  bleeding, purging, and low diet, so as to dimi-
nish the activity of the vital power.  But if gangrene
has actually taken place, you are to pursue an opposite
course, by giving  bark, wine, and other tonics, soups
and any diet  calculated to give strength and support
to the patient.  Opium is a valuable  remedy, if given
in small doses and frequently repeated.
  Formerly greater reliance was placed upon Peruvian
bark than  any other  medicine; but of late years its
reputation in this particular  disease has  greatly  de-
clined ; so much so, that many physicians of the pre-
sent day have ceased entirely to use it.
  I  must, however, say to you, that I have found it
very useful in some cases, in  others,  useless if not in-
jurious.    Musk  and salts of  hartshorn, medically
called volatile alkali, is highly recommended and used
by the celebrated surgeon Mr. White, of Manchester,
England, in cases of mortification attended with spas-
modic twitchings.   The  latter medicine I have  fre-
i 
mortification.
817*
fluently used with much advantage; also camphor.
sometimes alone, and frequently combined with opium,
and have generally given the patient much relief by
this remedy.  For doses of each medicine see table.
  The mineral acids are occasionally used, but merely
act as  common tonics, and as such may be useful.  I
have given small doses of calomel (medically, submu-
ria hydrargyri) and have derived much benefit from
it.  And the liquor ammoniae acetatis, which in plain
English means the salts of hartshorn, dissolved in vine-
gar until it ceases  to effervesce, combined with lauda-
num, given internally,  is a valuable  remedy.  For
these refer to the table.
  As local remedies, numerous applications were for-
merly  made to mortified parts, under an  impression
that the progress of the disease might be checked, or
the vitality of the texture restored.  It is  now, how-
ever, well understood, that no such influence can be
exerted, and that local remedies  are chiefly useful in
assuaging pain, and keeping  the  diseased parts clean,
moist,  and free from smell.  Such applications indeed
may be useful during the height of the inflammatory
stage, and before gangrene has taken place.  The best
under  these circumstances are common poultices of
bread  and milk,  moderately  warm, and  kept  con-
stantly applied.    Fomentations  are sometimes  em-
ployed with the same view;  but they are not so useful
as poultices.  In the early stages  of gangrene, leeches
applied directly to  the part or its neighbourhood, often
prove  highly beneficial.  For description of Leeches,
see page 820.
  When mortification has commenced, and particularly
when the cuticle or skin is elevated in spots, containing
a serous fluid, solutions  of sugar of lead, or, in other
                        .69 
818*
MORTIFICATION.
 words, sugar of lead dissolved in water, say about the
 proportions of a  small  tea-spoonful, to a half pint of
♦water; or mild ointments of any kind, or a mixture of
 lime water  and sweet oil will be found very soothing.
 They should be applied by a camel's hair pencil, or by
 a feather, and  care taken to preserve the skin entire or
 whole.  When the skin separates and the surface dis-
 charges  an  offensive  matter, then  carrot poultices
 mixed with common yeast will be  found  useful, or
 warm fermenting poultices made of herbs.   In some
 instances the  carrot poultices give  pain;  and in such
 cases they should be removed, and poultices of milk and
 bread  applied  moderately  warm.  Carbon,  which in
 plain English  means charcoal, has  been used either
 alone or mixed with the poultices.  I have seldom de-
 rived much advantage from it, and I have of late years
 omitted its use, on account of its keeping  the  parts so
 black and dirty, that it was impossible to see the pro-
 per state or actual condition of the part diseased.  You
 will find the  pyroligneous  acid, (acid  extracted
 from wood,) w hich  can  be  obtained at any of the apo-
 thecary shops, a better article for use than  the charcoal
 in removing any offensive odour or smell, and particu-
 larly valuable  in sloughing ulcers and tumours.   Just
 before an operation {if used) it will immediately re-
 move all offensive odour.
  The older surgeons were in the habit of scarifying
 all  mortified parts,  under the idea that such a process
 would speedily promote  their separation.  Except in
 cases of extravasation of urine into the cellular texture
 of the scrotum, and some other analogous diseases which
 seldom occur, and require the attention of an eminent
 surgeon, an  operation of this kind at the  present day
 is seldom performed. These last observations are ex- 
MORTIFICATION.            819*
pressly for the surgeon or medical gentleman, showing
the late improvements, &c.  Now formerly stimulating
medicines were applied, such as turpentine, spirits, &c.
whereby in many instances great injury was the con-
sequence : particularly when the progress of the disease
had been stopped, and the sound parts were making
an effort, by the assistance of nature, to cast off the dead
or mortified portions of flesh, these remedies produced
severe pain, and no doubt in many instances re-establish-
ed the disease.  In all cases you will find emollient
poultices to be  the best application for stopping the
progress of mortification in this stage, of the disease.
  Doctor Physic, the celebrated surgeon of Philadel*-
phia, has employed, ever since the year 1803, blis-
ters, large enough to cover the affected part, and also
a considerable portion of the  adjoining sound parts,
and has in a great many instances been very successful.
For further information on this subject I refer you to
page 869, Mortification in Wounds.
  When patients are confined for a long time in one
posture, from fractures,  paralysis, typhus fever, and
other diseases, mortification is very apt to take place
in patches on the back and hips.   All that can be done
in such cases is to cover the sores by adhesive plaster,
and to place bolsters or cushions under the body, so as
to change the position of  the  patient, and restore cir-
culation to the injured part.
  Amputation is now seldom  performed to stop the
progress  of mortification,  for  experience sufficiently
proves that the disease is afterwards, liable to fall on
the stump.   When a red line has formed, at which
the dead separates from the living parts, an operation
will become necessary, in order to remove the bone
and form a proper stump.   But this should seldom be 
816
MORTIFICATION.
done, until the system has in some  degree  recovered
its tone and strength.  By a reference to page 862, (Am-
putation,) you will there see how difficult it is to know
when this operation should be performed; for it is
sometimes the case that the most skilful surgeon is mis-
taken, or at a stand whether he shall operate or not.
             WHITE SWELLINGS.
  There are two kinds of white swellings—the acute-
and scorbutic.  The acute is the  most common, and
will first occupy our attention.  There is no disease to
which the human family is liable that will, if not taken
in time, inflict more severe and lasting misery.  It does
not attack persons above the  age of twenty-five years:
children between five and fifteen are more likely to
experience its violence and severity,  No diversity of
soil nor salubrity of climate can ward off its assaults:
its ravages extend from the seashore to the mountains,
and are most frequent  in  the most temperate and
healthy atmosphere.  Children of the finest constitu-
tions and of the greatest activity are most liable to its
attacks.  If the patient survives the severity of the first
assault, he may for many years drag out a painful and
miserable existence; his macerated body filled with
sores  from the crown of his head to the soles of his
feet, and his sufferings so protracted, violent, and ago-
nizing, that when he dies, as he will of a hectic fever,
his friends, relations, and even parents, feel comfort in
the thought that  death has relieved  him  from his
miseries, and willingly consign to the tomb the mortal
remains of the unhappy victim.
'   Causes.—This disease is brought on  by suddenly 
WHITE SWELLING.
817
cooling the body after it has been overheated by violent
exercise.   It is often produced by working too hard, by
running or jumping, and then going immediately into
water; or lying down on the cold ground and going to
sleep: sometimes the first  symptom is a pain in  the
part infected, and continues for several days before the
patient is seized with the fever:  at other times, the first
notice of the disease is a violent attack, as of the bilious
fever, with loss of  appetite, and constant craving of
water.  In a few days the disease locates itself,  and
extreme pain is felt  in the part affected; but although
every part of the human frame  is liable to its assaults,
it most frequently  fastens  on the limbs.  The part
commences swelling  most commonly,  though  not
always, without changing its colour; for sometimes the
whole limb is highly inflamed.  The patient finds no
rest day nor night; the pain is augmented  on every
movement of the limb  affected, which  continues to
settle for five or six weeks  before it breaks.  By  this
time the patient is reduced  to a  skeleton by his excru-
ciating  pains.   After  the  abscess  breaks  and com-
mences running, -the  sufferer will  gradually gain
strength and begin to move about, although his wound
is still running, and the disease unconquered.

                  TREATMENT.
  Though this  disease has long  baffled the skill of the
most  eminent physicians of the world, its pathology
and treatment  are  but  imperfectly understood,  and
have, as yet, been imperfectly elucidated.  When  this
disease begins with a pain in the limbs without fever,
it may sometimes be relieved by making  an  ointment
of hog's fat, or, if it cannot be had, of fresh butter  and
red pepper, and rubbing the part affected twice a day,
      3Z                103 
818
WHITE SWELLING.
 drying it in with a hot shovel or iron.  If, after doing
 this, the pain should still increase, and the limb begin
 to sw7ell and puff, an incision should be  made with a
 lancet the wiiole length of the blade, nor is this opera-
 tion much felt or dreaded, so great  is the pain of the
 disease; on the contrary it gives relief.  This operation
 is only to be performed by a skilful  physician.  Place
 at the bottom of the wound a piece of vegetable caustic
 about the size of a pea; after waiting half an hour, put
 in as  much  more in the same way; continue to do so
 three or four times every day until you  get into the
 cavity which always contains an oily fluid.   The flesh
 also is always puffed up  from the bone.   After you
 have got to the bone, stop the use of the caustic, and
 make a decoction (not strong) of wild ivy leaves, a*nd
 throw it in on the bone with a  syringe three or four
 times a day.  After you  begin  to use the ivy decoc-
 tion, apply a poultice of sweet milk  and flour; under
 this treatment the wound  will  soon  commence  a
 healthy suppuration, and the patient will in a short
 time recover.  As the physician is seldom  called  in
 until the disease has damaged the bone, if the swelling
 is not opened in the  early stage, the oily fluid spoken
 of will not be found; for it is soon changed  into pus.
 Whenever the physician  is called in, he  must follow
 the directions given : if the bone is injured, it may be
known by the appearance of the matter discharged: it
 will be covered with specks or eyes  such  as  are often
seen in soup ; if many of these are visible, the bone is
 unquestionably injured, and a speedy cure is not to be
 expected.   Nature must work, and her  operations
 must  be watched and aided.   After the  abscess is-
opened, and  discharging a healthy matter, the system
 must  be strengthened and restored.  The  energy of 
WHITE SWELLING.            819
the patient must be renovated  before the cure of the
wound is undertaken.   The chalybeate pill will be the
proper medicine.   When the patient has gained suffi-
cient strength, which he will not do under  five or six
months;  if the running still continues, it will be  an
unerring proof that the bone is injured.  The wound
must then be gradually opened by  the application of
the caustic as before directed.
          BEER FOR CONSUMPTION.
   Take of spikenard  root,  if green, two  pounds:  if
dry, one pound ; of Seneca snake root, two ounces;  of
wild cherry bark, of the root of devilsbit, each half a
pound; Of the root of  wild sweet potato, the root  of
burdock and of the bark of white walnut,  each half a
pound; put these into ten gallons of water; boil it down
to three.  Pour it off the roots while boiling into a keg
or jug, and to  this quantity add one quart of honey :  in
a few days it will ferment, and be fit for use.
   Of this decoction the patient may drink two or three
tea-cupsful a day.  This beer is to be given to patients
affected with the liver  complaint or any kind of  con-
sumption : it is useful in cases of debility of long stand-
ing.  This medicine acts as a tonic, a cathartic, and a
stimulant.   The  white  walnut is intended  only  to
keep the bowels open:  the patient will therefore judge
and put in more or less of it, as he finds its operation
more or less powerful. If the patients are easily operated
on, a less quantity is to  be taken. 
820
LEECHES.
                   LEECHES.
  In France and Portugal the demand for the medi-
cinal leech is so great as to afford a handsome support
to many persons in catching and selling this animal-
It is a miserable trade, and gives evidence amidst large
populations, as in Europe, of the shifts men are often
forced  to resort  to, for a support for  themselves and
families.  The leech-gatherer is constantly more  or
less in the water ; in fact it may be  considered  as his
home;  for hourly  he is breathing fog, and mist, and
fetid smells from ponds and marshes.   There is a par-
ticular part of France called La Brenne : this section
of the  country is remarkable for its miserable aspect
and wretched population, poor soil, stock, and supplies
of every description; nothing to sustain  it but  the
leech, which is  abundant and  of a superior quality.
You  here behold hundreds of men, women, and child-
ren, and, not unfrequently, whole families employed in
fishing for them. The countenances of these poor peo-
ple bear indelible marks of their w7retched profession;
pale, haggard faces, more like a corpse than a human
being;  hollow deep sunken eyes of a sepulchral look;
livid lips,.and most horrible unearthly visage.
  When you  see  at first sight, as a stranger, at a dis-
tance, one of these  leechers, and see his strange gestures
in examining his legs as he raises them out of the wa-
ter every fewr moments, you would at once  take him
to be a fool; but, on the contrary, he is a well  experi-
enced leech-catcher.  The leeches attach themselves
to his legs and feet, as he wades  amongst their hiding
places: he at once feels them bite; as they attach them-
selves  to his legs  and feet,  which are bare, he alter-
nately lifts them up so as to pluck them off" and place 
LEECHES.
821
them in a small bag, which he carries under his arm
for this purpose; they are found likewise about  the
roots of bulrushes, or under stones which are covered
with mud and attached to green moss: frequently they
are found resting on the mud, while many of them are
swimming about slowly, so that they are easily ga-
thered by the hand.   At La Brenne, when tl^e  sea-
son is favourable, it is considered good fishing to catch
eight or ten dozen in four or five hours, and probably
out of this number not more than one-third are consi-
dered of the first class; the value of the leech depend-
ing entirely upon their size  and colour.  The leech-
fishers in their rounds generally deposit in places fre-
quented by them some decayed animal matter, where
they soon collect,  often  affording  the leecher at one
spot  many of them, which would  otherwise  require
some hours to collect.
  The  leech in summer retires into deep water, and
these poor creatures have to strip themselves naked
and  walk into the water up to their chins to obtain
them, and think themselves well rewarded if they catch
one  or two dozen during a long and  sultry day, the
wiiole of which are worth about twenty cents, if good.
During the summer season the supply in the pools is
very scanty.  The women and children have generally
small light rafts, made  of twigs and rushes, and on these
frail  supports take  those that get entangled in the raft,
as they push it. from  place to place, or take the  few
that swim within their reach.
  The wretched manner in which these poor misera-
ble leechers are exposed must excite the commisera-
tion  and sympathy of every traveller who may visit
this section of France. The poor things are constantly
more or less in the water amidst miasma very delete-
      3 z 2 
$-22
LEECHES.
rious to life, and subject constantly to ague, catarrhs,
inflammatory and  intermittent fevers,  rheumatism,
and diseases of every nature "attendant upon marsh mi-
asma.   Most of them indulge in strong liquors to ex-
cess, so as to ward off diseases, which shortens life, and
brings on other complaints equally fatal.  But with all
these miserable attendants, the leech fishery affords a
support for a great many poor families; for they supply
all the hospitals, druggists, and public medical institu-
tions throughout France, and other parts of Europe, in
addition to which large quantities are exported to the
United States.  Of  the French and Portuguese leech,
the latter is  preferable and better  adapted to this cli-
mate, being much better feeders and hardier than the
French  leech.
  There are many interesting circumstances related
at La Brenne  by the leech-fishers.  It is related that
one of the traders, with the assistance of his  five child
ren, together with  what he purchased from second-
hand traders, (for there are many of this description,)
collected twenty-one thousand six hundred leeches in
four months, all of which he sent to Paris.  His name
is Henri Chartier, an important merchant or speculator
in leeches,  and  in  this section of  country as distin-
guished a personage as may  be met with throughout
France.   This emperor of  the leechers  has  many
agents and sub-agents employed, and w7hen this  group
meet to deliver up their assortment of leeches for mar-
ket, the night previous to their departure becomes a
scene of merriment, in  character  similar to Burns's
Tarn O'Shanter witch scene.
  The leech will  bear generally very hard  treatment,
nor does the frost  kill them immediately, as they may
be thawed into life again.  The leechers pack them 
                       LEECHES.                 g£3

  closely together in damp bags, and slight pressure does
  not seem to injure them,and when unpacked, they are
  found  adhering closely to each other.  The leech  is
  valuable in proportion  to their size and colour; those
  of a green ground, with yellow stripes along the body,
  are the most valuable; the small, black, and dark stripes
  are considered of the second quality.   For medicinal
  purposes, they should be kept in large, unglazed stone
  jars, filled with pond or river water halfway to the
  brim, in order  that the  leeches may have room to as-
  cend above the surface.  Water which has stood for a
  fortnight or three w7eeks is preferable ;  because it con-
  tains  the  animalculx  requisite for the  food of the
  leeches, and of which fresh water is destitute.  It need
  not (unless  in very hot weather, or when leeches are
  diseased) be changed oftener  than  twice a month in
  summer, and once in winter.
    Blood is the substance which this most greedy ani-
  mal delights to  feed upon.   The appetite is so strong
  that when it fastens upon the skin it never voluntarily
  quits its hold before it is filled and glutted.  I have no
  doubt that if many of them were to attack at the same
  time a warm blooded animal, they would destroy him
  by loss of blood.   JMan,  who possesses the sagacity to
  turn almost every thing to some valuable  account, has
  discovered the art of converting the voracity of leeches
  to the removal of certain diseases which afflict him.
    The letting of blood  is one of the most safe and effi-
  cacious means of acting upon  the diseased  body.  It
  may be  done by general phlebotomy, as in the com-
  mon operation of  opening a principal vein in the arm,
;  or  it may  be partial, as by scarifications, &c.  Expe-
•  rience has proved that many local diseases are very little,
  if at all, affected by general blood-letting; while at the 
824                  LEECHES.
same time the drawing of a due quantity of blood im-
mediately from the diseased spot produces a powerful
effect: and  by availing themselves of the instinctive
relish of leeches for blood, practitioners of medicine
have learned the art of enlisting them in the capacity
of bleeders.  From the  small quantity of blood they
extract, and from the pow7er the operator has acquired
of making them bite the very spot which he chooses,
leeches have been found  to be very valuable assistants
to surgeons  in relieving their patients from great suf-
ferings ; and in such cases a long and ample experience
has proved their usefulness where local blood-letting
was necessary.
  Naturalists have  described fourteen species of the
hirudo or leech. The animal belongs to the sixth class
of animals, called intestina.  One of the species is de-
nominated  or called  medicinalis; and is the  one
made use of in the  practice of physic.  The medical
leech on the upper  sides  has  many annular w7rinkles,
which it can dilate or contract at pleasure.  On each
side of the back are  four lines, the first of which is red;
the next red, spotted with black; the third black; the
fourth yellow; and the belly is yellow, variegated with
black: and  no eyes can be seen.  They are  applied
with  great  advantage to hemorrhoidal tumours and
other local swellings, or wrherever blood is required to
be abstracted, as in inflammations of the  eyes, and
various diseases of children.
  Care should be taken not to confound or mistake for
it the iiorse-lei:ch, which is a long black leech, of an
ash-coloured green  beneath, with black spots.  Like
the medical leech, it lives in  ditches,  ponds, and
marshes; and is about four inches Lung; sometimes the
middle of the belly  is destitute of spots.   It has some- 
LEECHES.
825
times been used for the medicinal leech; but it is so
greedy of blood that nine have been known to bleed a
horse to death.  It is therefore unsafe to use them.
  There are plenty of leeches in the ponds and waters
of this  country; but  I have never as yet seen  the
genuine medicinal leech, although I have sought them
attentively.
  I regret to say, but little attention has  been paid to
this  important subject by physicians; nor is it  yet
known w7hether the true medicinal leech is a native of
the United States  or  not.   If it is a native of  our
country, (which  I  doubt very much,) I hope it will
soon be brought into practical use, or, if necessary,  im-
ported and kept in the shops for the use of physicians;
for these blood-suckers are of great assistance in reliev-
ing many diseases to which they are peculiarly adapted,
and are an important auxiliary in medical treatments,
particularly in recent injuries, such as bruises, sprains,
and all local inflammations ; in cases of determinations
of blood to the head, or severe headach, they are always
a safe remedy; or in affections of  the head, the applica-
tion of two or three leeches inside, or at the division of
the nostrils, will, by abstracting the blood at this point,
give immediate relief, as the  immediate connexion of
the vessels of that part with those of the brain are very
close and direct.
  The best mode of using them is first to allow them
to crawl upon a clean dry cloth until they are perfectly
dry, which causes them to be more eager to take hold
when put to the part, which should be well bathed or
cleansed with warm water, and then wiped perfectly
dry: and the leech or leeches applied.  If they refuse to
take  hold, which  is sometimes  the  case when  the
weather is very cold, wash the part with a little milk
                       104 
82€
LEECHES.
made sweet with  sugar, which induces them to bite
Always hold your leech by the tail, so as to permit the
head to be free: and after it has taken hold, support it
for a few seconds  until it becomes permanently fixed
to the part.  As soon as the leech is filled, he will drop
off, and the bleeding may be encouraged by sponging
the part with warm water.  When you have drawn suf-
ficient blood, and  wish to close the  wounds, apply a
piece of dry lint secured by a bandage.   If necessary to
apply several leeches to a particular  part, cover them
over with a tumbler  or  wine-glass  until they take
hold.  When you  are done with your leeches, and wish
to have them again fit for immediate use, put them in
weak salt and water for a few minutes, and they will
disgorge or puke up the blood, when they are to be
cleansed and placed in a jar filled with the water be-
fore described; and you should be careful to select such
leeches as have not been lately employed in venereal
swellings; in other words, I should always use  fresh
leeches.
    TRANSFERENCE OF  VITAL POWER.
  " A not uncommon cause of loss of vital powers is
the young sleeping with the aged.  This fact is well
known to every unprejudiced observer.   But it has
been entirely overlooked by medical writers.  I have
on several occasions met with the counterpart of the
following case:—I was a  few years since  consulted
about a pale, sickly, and thin boy, of about five or  six
years of age.   He appeared to have no specific ailment,
but there was a slow and remarkable decline of flesh
and strength, and of the energies of all the functions j 
        TRANSFERENCE of vital power.     827

what his mother very aptly termed a  gradual blight.
After inquiring into the history of the  case, it  came
out that he had been a robust and plethoric child up to
his third year, when his grandmother, a very aged per-
son, took him to  sleep with her;  that he soon  after-
wards lost his good looks; and he had  continued  to
decline ever since, notwithstanding medical treatment.
I directed  him to  sleep apart from his aged grand-
parent, and prescribed tonics, change of air, &c.   The
change and recovery was rapid. It is not with children
only that debility is induced by this mode of abstract-
ing vital power.   Young females married to very old
men suffer in a similar manner, though not to the same
extent.  These facts are often  well known to the aged
themselves, who consider the indulgence favourable to
longevity, and therefore often illustrate the  selfishness
which in some persons increase with their years." 
ACCIDENTS.
  When  an accident takes place by a  fall from a
horse, or a height, or being thrown from a carriage, or
receiving a blow from a stick, or any similar injury to
those I have mentioned, it will be proper, if possible,
to bleed from the arm, but from any other part, if these
parts are injured so as to prevent it.  The loss of blood
must be regulated  according to the situation and cir-
cumstances of the case :  for  frequently the injury has
been so severe as apparently to deprive the patient of
life:  in this situation you must await for the returning
symptoms of animation, using friction; or, in other
words, rubbing, so as to  restore the circulation; this
will  be proper over  the  region of the heart  and sto-
mach, temples,  and the extremities, and bathing the
temples with the spirits in which camphor has been
dissolved, or spirits of hartshorn, or strong vinegar, at
the same time applying it occasionally to the nose; and
should the person be able to swallow, or so soon as they
may be a little restored, it will be proper to give a little
wine and water, or water and spirits of any kind, or
any  other gentle  stimulant  that  may be convenient.
In all cases of suspended animation, it is highly essen-
tial  to continue friction for a length of time, and in
many difficult cases you will find the tepid  bath of
great service in restoring life; for I have frequently
witnessed the person restored, when all, and even the
most distant hope seemed at an end; therefore, let me
                                          828 
ACCIDENTS.               829
implore you in such cases to use gentle, and continued
friction on the body, for some vital spark may yet lin-
ger, and be warmed into animation; Providence may
bless your kind efforts, and what heart-felt gratification
will it afford you to be the humble  instrument of re-
storing  the  life  of a fellow7-creature, who, perhaps, in
an unprepared state, might have gone to an untimely
grave.  If I had space, and I regret I have not, I could
give you several interesting cases  that have fallen  un-
der my care, and many I have witnessed, particularly
in the cases of  drowning, in which the most happy
effects have been produced by perseverance.  But  on
this highly important subject, let  me refer  you to the
head, Suspended Animation.
  In  all cases, where the patient is unable from severe
injury to walk, it is necessary immediately to prepare
a conveyance;  and for  this purpose take  two boards
sufficiently  long and broad, and  then  nail two cross
pieces with the ends projecting  about a foot for han-
dles ; or make, if the plank is not convenient, a litter
formed of  the branches of trees.   On  either of these
convey your patient to  the nearest house.   If the per-
son should be bleeding,  you must  stop the blood before
moving him or her.   In remoying  him on and from
this  litter to the bed, be extremely careful, as many
serious  accidents occur by being  in too great a hurry
and alarm; frequently  there is considerable  pain  in-
flicted unnecessarily, by awkwardly stripping off the
coat or pantaloons; therefore rip  up the seams,  by
which you very often prevent much unnecessary pain :
recollect never to use the least force.   When the pa-
tient  is stripped, and the room cleared of all unneces-
sary lookers on, (which is generally the  case, much
to the annoyance of the patient and  his physician, par-
      4 A 
830                ACCIDENTS.
ticularly if a female,) then proceed to ascertain the in-
jury, if a male, with calmness and firmness, if a female,
with tenderness and delicacy, yet with certainty as to
the nature of the injury.   I would here remark in
plain language, as I have always done in all my advice
and writings, that false delicacy has in many instances
destroyed the lives of many  females, that might have
otherwise been easily preserved.  With these remarks
and directions, I shall, in as few words as possible, and
in plain language, proceed to give such directions in
surgery as may be easily performed by the most1 hum-
ble person who will attend to the directions.
  An injury may be simple  or  compound ; that is, it
may be a  contusion or bruise, a wound, fracture, or
dislocation, or it may be two, or all of them united in
one or several parts.
  A contusion is  of course the consequence of every
blow7, and is known by the swelling, and the skin being
bruised and discoloured. Wounds of course require no
explanation.
  Fractures, in other words,  broken  bones, are known
by the sudden and severe pain, and by the appearance
of the limb being out of shape ; sometimes by its being
shortened, and by the person being unable to  move it
without great pain.   But the most  certain way to as-
certain  it, is  to grasp the limb above and below the
spot supposed to be fractured, and by moving it gently
different ways, you hear a grating noise, occasioned by
the broken ends of the bone rubbing against each other.
Very often, however, before  you can arrive to render
assistance, the limbs become  much swollen.  In such
a case, always reduce first the swelling, as  by  twisting
the limb,  or other experiments, it will give the most
excruciating pain to the afflicted person. 
ACCIDENTS.
831
  Dislocations, or, in other words, bones out of joint,
are easily perceived by the deformity of the joint, which
you can compare with its fellow, and plainly observe
the difference, and from the person being in great pain,
and unable to move the limb, and by its being longer
or shorter than common, and from the impossibility of
moving it in any direction, without great misery.
           CONTUSION OR BLOW.
  If slight, you must bathe the part frequently with
cold applications, such as vinegar and water, ice water,
or cold spring Water; this will reduce  or  keep down
inflammation or fever, and must be occasionally used
for five or eight hours;  but if fever should come  on,
then bleed and purge well with salts, and diet the per-
son on the lightest food and cool drinks.  If the fever
should still continue, you must repeat the bleeding and
purging;  perhaps  a good active dose of calomel, fol-
lowed by a dose of salts, in this event would cut short
the fever.  Be particular as to the patient's passing his
water; as it frequently happens from a blow, that  the
nerves of the  bladder become palsied, and the patient
feels no desire to make water, although the bladder  is
full.  In this case, it is highly important to  attend to
drawing off the water by a cat(heter, an instrument for
this purpose.  See under the head Directions for Pass-
ing Catheter.
  The most serious effects, however,  resulting from
contusion, is when the blow is on the head, producing
either concussion  or compression  of the  brain.   See
those heads. 
832
ACCIDENTS.
                    SPRAINS.
   Sprains are to be treated with  the coldest applica-
 tions ; and for this purpose nature's remedy is fly far
 the best—cold water.  Plunge the sprained part into
-cold wrater, and hold it there as long as you can bear
 it; after which, dry it with a coarse towel, and rub on
 it spirits of camphor;  by which  I mean, spirits that
 camphor has been dissolved in; rub this well in, and
 bind  it with flannel, and  every  morning and  even-
 ing pour  cold water on it from  the spout  of  a tea
 kettle held up at a considerable  height.  This simple
 remedy will relieve you in  a short time, and to a wreak
 joint of any kind, this is an invaluable prescription. UI
 have removed the weakness of an ankle of long stand-
 ing by it,  when all other applications failed.
       CONCUSSION OF THE BRAIN.
  Symptoms.—The person stunned, the breathing is
slow; great drowsiness and stupidity; the pupil of the
eye rather contracted, or drawn up; frequently vomit-
ing or puking: after a time he recovers.
  Remedies.—Apply cloths  dipped in cold vinegar
and water to the head; and if you have ice, its applica-
tion will  be greatly beneficial.  So soon as the stupor
is off, bleed, and open the bowels with Epsom salts, or
any cooling purge; by all means confine the patient to
the bed,  and the lowest and most  cooling diet and
drinks: the room must be kept dark but cool, and no
noise  whatever.   In this quiet situation, you are to
endeavour to prevent inflammation of the brain, which,
if it comes on, must be met by free and copious bleed-
ing, blisters, and purging. 
accidents.
833
      COMPRESSION OF THE  BRAIN.
  Symptoms.—Loss of sense and motion; slow, noisy,
and difficult breathing; the pulse is quite slow and
irregular; the  muscles  relaxed as in a  person just
dead; the pupil of the eye enlarged, and will not con-
tract,  even for  a strong light; the person cannotrbe
roused, and bears a resemblance to one afflicted,with
an apoplectic fit.
  Remedies.—Bleed freely, and shave the head, and
apply cool applications to it until you can procure a
good surgeon; and this must be done  immediately, or
it will be too late, as there is nothing but an operation
in this case that will save life.
                     BURNS.
  To one  ounce  of  basilicon ointment,  add three
grains acetate of morphine; rub them well together In
a mortar, and apply to burns or scalds with the feather
end of a quill.  After the application, cover the part af-
fected with a linen rag to exclude the air.
4 A 2               105 
WOUNDS.
  Wounds are of three kinds: first, an incised wound,
which means a clean cut: second, a punctured wound,
which means a wound produced by sharp pointed in-
struments, as needles, awls, nails, &c.; third, a contused
wound, which means a  wound  occasioned by round
or blunt bodies, as musket balls, clubs, stones, and all
gunshot wounds are included in this last mentioned
term.
  Remedies.—In all  wounds,  the first thing to be
done is to endeavour to stop the flow of blood; should
this be but trifling, draw the edges of the wound to-
gether with your hand, and hold them in that position
for some time, when the blood will frequently stop. If
it still continues, and the quantity large, or of a bright
red colour, flowing in spirts, or with a sudden jerk.
then clap your finger on the  spot it springs from, and
press it with firmness, while  you request some  other
person to pass a handkerchief round the limb, (sup-
posing the wound to be in one,)  above the cut, and to
tie its two ends together in a  hard knot.  A stick of
any kind must now be passed  under the knot, (be-
tween the upper surface of the limb and the  handker-
chief,) and turned round and round until the stick is
brought down to the limb, so as to make the handker-
chief encircle it with considerable tightness;  you may
then  take  off your finger:  if  the blood still  flows,
tighten the handkerchief by a turn or two of the stick,
                                         834 
wounds.                 835
until the blood ceases.  The patient may now be re-
moved (taking great care to secure the stick in its posi-
tion) without running any risk of bleeding to death by
the way.  As this apparatus cannot be left on for any
length of time without destroying the life of the parte,
endeavour as quickly as you conveniently can to secure
the bleeding vessels; for I shall give you such ample
and plain directions, that any person of common sense
may take them up and secure them in a proper man-
ner, and perfectly  safe.   In the  first place, wax to-
gether three or four threads of a sufficient length, cut
it into as many pieces as you think there are vessels to
be taken up, each piece being about a foot long.  Now
wash the parts with warm water, and then  with a
sharp hook, similar to a crooked awl, or a slender  pair
of pincers in your hand, fix  your eye  steadfastly upon
the w7ound, and direct the handkerchief to be gently
loosed by a turn or two of the stick; you will now see
the mouth of the artery from which the blood springs;
seize it with your hook or pincers, draw it a little out,
while the person  who assists  you passes  the waxed
thread, called by medical men a ligature, round the
artery or bleeding vessel; now tie it  up tight with a
double knot.   In this way take up, one after the other,
each bleeding vessel you can see or get hold of
   Should the w7ound be too high up the limb to apply
the handkerchief, do not be alarmed, for the bleeding
can still be commanded.   If it is the thigh, press firmly
 in the groin ;  or, if in the  arm, with  the hand-end or
 ring of a common door key, make pressure above the
 collar bone, and about its middle, against the first rib
 which lies under it.   The pressure is to be continued
 until you  can  obtain  assistance, and  then  tie up the
 bleeding vessels as before directed. If the wound is on 
836
WOUNDS.
 the head, you must press your finger firmly on it until
 a compress, which means several folds of linen,  is fur-
 nished ; this is to be bound firmly over the artery by a
 bandage.  If the wound is  in the face, or so situated
 that pressures cannot be effectually made, or you can-
 not get hold of the vessel, and the blood flows fast, put
 a piece of ice, or a cloth wet with tanner's ooze, or flour,
 and let it remain on until the blood coagulates; you can
 then remove it, and apply a compress or bandage.   It
 is important that this simple  method I have described
 should be practised so as to enable any one to compress
 the great arteries in these situations, thereby preserving
 many a man who  would, for the want of this simple
assistance, bleed to  death before a surgeon  or medical
aid could be procured.
              INCISED WOUNDS.
  -•The meaning of an incised wound, is a clean or
fresh cut.  Wash away all the dirt that may be in the
wound with a sponge or linen rag and warm  water;
when the blood is stopped, draw the sides of the  wound
nicely together, then confine it in this situation by nar-
row strips of sticking plaster, placed at short distances
apart, and directly across the wound.  Now a fold, or
soft compress of old linen or lint, is to be laid over and
confined by a bandage.
  In many cases you will find inflammation follow.
If this  should be the case, then remove  the strips, and
bleed and purge the patient, and keep him on very low
diet, and as quiet and as  cool as possible ; in other  or
more plain language, endeavour to keep down  fever;
and  now recollect that matter must form before the 
WOUNDS.                 837
wound will heal; therefore it is best to encourage it
by applying a soft poultice of any kind, until the mat-
ter is produced; after which, you may use any simple
ointment.   The usual or common method of narrow
strips of linen, spread with sticking plaster, called by
physicians adhesive plaster, form the best means of
keeping the sides of a wound together when they can
be applied; yet if the wround is in the ear, nose, tongue,
lips, bag, by which I mean the privates, or the eyelids,
then use stitches, which are made in  the following
manner:  thread a  common needle with a  double
waxed thread, pass the point of  it through the skin, at
a little distance from the edge of the  cut, and bring it
out of the opposite one at the same distance.   Should
the wound be large, so as to require more than one
stitch, cut off the needle, thread it again, and proceed
on to take as many stitches as necessary; leave all the
threads loose until all the stitches are passed, when the
ends of each thread must be tied in a hard double knot,
drawing the thread in such a way that it bears a little
on each side of the cut. When the edges of the wound
are partly united by inflammation, cut then the knots,
and draw out carefully all the threads.   From  the
plain manner in which I have written  and explained
to you, you will easily perceive  that in all w7ounds,
after stopping the  flow of blood, and cleansing the
parts, the important point is to bring the  sides of the
wound even, and together, so that it may grow  toge-
ther as quick as possible, without  producing any mat-
ter ; this is called by physicians  healing  by the first
intention.  Now, to produce this desirable effect, in
addition  to what I have already mentioned, you must
recollect two things necessary to be attended to ;  first,
the  position of the patient; and, secondly,  the applica- 
 838                 wounds.

 tion of the bandage.  Let the position be such as will
 relax as much as possible the skin and muscles of the
 part wounded ;  by attending to this strictly, you will
 prevent, or in a great measure  lessen the tendency to
 separate or open.  My method  in such cases is as fol-
 lows : take a common bandage  of proper width and
 length, and pass it over the  compresses moderately
 tight, so as to keep them in their  proper place, and by
its pressure the  wound will heal  immediately, and
 keep it from separating or opening.  In many cases,
the wound is so large and severely painful, that the
limb or body of the patient cannot be raised or moved,
for the purpose of applying or removing it; then spread
the ends of one or two strips of linen or leather with
sticking plaster, which may be  applied in place of the
 bandage in the  following way: Stick one end of the
strip to  the sound skin, at a short distance from the
edge of the compress, over which it is to  be drawn
with moderate firmness, and secured in the same man-
ner on the opposite side; if you see that it is necessary
to secure it more fully, apply a second or third, or un-
til properly secured.  As I have before told you, if
violent inflammation comes on, in all  wounds the
proper practice is to reduce it by bleeding, purging, &c.;
but if you see any symptoms of approaching locked-
 jaw, give  your patient wine, brandy, opium, porter,
&c.; in other words, stimulate  him freely, and give a
generous diet.
           PUNCTURED WOUNDS.
  Those  wounds called  by  physicians punctured
wounds, are produced  by any sharp pointed  instiu-
ments as nails awls, needles, &*;c, 
WOUNDS.
839
  Treatment.   First stop the bleeding, then with-
draw the needle, splinters, glass, or any thing that may
be in a w7ound of this nature, provided it can be done
easily : and if enlarging the wound a little will enable
you to get any foreign  body out, it is best to  do so.
Though  it is not always necessary to enlarge wounds
of this nature; yet when the weather is very warm, I
advise you not to neglect doing so; because it is a pre-
caution against locked-jaw, w7hich occurs frequently in
wounds  of this description. I recollect a case in 1816
that occurred  at Savannah, Georgia.  A Miss D-----
L-------, a most amiable and accomplished lady, in
making  preparations for  a ball,  by accident stuck a
needle slightly in her heel. The puncture being slight,
she attended the ball. On  the following day symptoms
of locked-jaw  commenced ; and the second day, not-
withstanding the skill afforded her by several eminent
professional gentlemen, she died.  So soon as you en-
large a wound of this description, as  directed, pour a
little turpentine  into the wound, or touch it by caustic,
and then cover it with a poultice, moistened with lau-
danum ; the object of the poultice is to form matter.
When this is done, you must then treat it as a common
sore, with mild ointment of any kind.  Frequently in
such cases there is a great deal  of pain; if so,  give
laudanum in large  doses,—you need not fear  giving
laudanum in broken doses, until the patient gets ease;
for  I have often  given as  high as two hundred drops,
say thirty at each  dose, before partial ease could be
afforded. In warm weather inflammation often occurs;
in such  case bleed  in moderation, and purge freely:
^collect here to use the lancet with care and discre-
tion. 
840
WOUNDS.
                CONTUSED  WOUNDS.
     Wounds of this description are made by round or
   blunt bodies, as musket balls, clubs,  stones,  &c.  In
   such wounds you may have little  to fear of loss of
   blood, as they are attended generally by little bleeding;
   if any, it must be stopped.   If the wound is produced
   by a ball, and the ball can be felt, or easily got at, it is
   proper to extract it, or any piece of  the wad or cloth,
   or clothing; for instance, if the ball can be plainly felt
   immediately  under the skin, then  make an  incision
   across  it and take it out.   But remember well this
   salutary  counsel—never  allow   any  poking  in the
   w7ound to search for a ball or any articles  differently
   situated from what I have plainly described; for many
   deaths  occur, which, if properly managed, (or  in other
   words, so much unnecessary science dispensed with,)
   would  have been entirely cured.   The best extractor
   in such cases is a  soft bread and milk poultice.  In
   fact, by long experience and reflection, I should say
   that gunshot wounds, that have  formed a lodgment
   must not be  opened either lightly or  wantonly; nor
   under the idea of hunting for extraneous substances;
,   for the parts themselves  will bring these to the surface,
   and  such as cannot be thus extracted,  give little
   trouble, nor do  they prevent the healing of a wound.
   It is particularly vain to hunt for balls, because they
   take a wayward course, and often  find  a lodgment
   where the surgeon or physician would be least inclined
   to look for them.  Even if the ball can be felt, and yet
   the  skin is sound, some eminent surgeons think it will
   not be prudent to extract it before the original w7ound
   is healed, because, wiiere it rests it can do no harm, and
   it is better to  have only one wound at a time than tw7o. 
WOUNDS.
841
When a ball has wounded a cavity, as, for example, the
abdomen, which means the belly; if the ball has passed
with little velocity, the parts will  heal by the first in-
tention.  [You will recollect I explained  plainly to
you the meaning of healing by the first intention.]  If,
however, it has passed with such velocity or quickness
as to produce a slough, meaning an  inward  bruise, the
adhesive inflammation will take place on the perito-
neum, meaning the skin which  lines the  belly, and
covers the abdominal viscera: or, in other words, the
bowels, and the organs  in the belly and chest.  The
adhesive inflammation, as remarked, will take place on
this peritoneum all around the wound, which will pre-
vent the general cavity from  taking part in  the inflam-
mation, although  the ball shall have not only pene-
trated, but wounded those parts not immediately essen-
tial to life, in its passage  through  the body; for what-
ever solid viscus has been pierced, the surfaces in con-
tact, surrounding every orifice, will unite by the adhe-
sive inflammation, so as  to form one continual canal,
with  winch the general cavity has no communication.
If any extraneous  or outward body has been carried in
by the ball, it will be included in these adhesions, and,
with  the* slough,  will  be conducted  by one of the
orifices to the outward surface.
  If the ball has wounded the liver or surface, these
may soon acquire  the healing disposition;  if the sto-
mach, intestines, kidneys, ureters, or bladder, such in-
juries are generally mortal;  for their contents escape
into the cavity of  the abdomen or belly, and universal
inflammation of the peritoneum takes place, attended
by great pain and tension or swelling, which terminates
in death.  But if the wound is small and the bowels are
not full, adhesions may take place all round  the wound,
      4B                l06 
842
WOUNDS.
which will confine the matter, and make it go on in its
right channel.   When a ball has not penetrated any of
the viscera of the abdomen, but only by contusion pro-
duced death in a  part, whenever the  slough comes
away, the matter contained in that viscus will escape,
but as the adhesive inflammation takes place between
the surfaces in contact, the new channel will be pre-
served entire, and cut off the communication between
the external air and the cavity of the abdomen.  This
channel may, however, in time be closed, and the con-
tents may pass by their accustomed course.   A young
gentleman was shot through the body; the balls, three
in number, entered on the left side of the  navel, and
came out behind, just above the superior vertebrae of
the loins.  The first water he made was bloody; in
less than a fortnight, John Hunter, the  most eminent
surgeon of London, pronounced him out of danger,
being  persuaded that whatever cavities  the balls had
entered  were united by the adhesive inflammation, so
as to form one complete canal, and that neither the ex-
traneous matters carried  in  with  the balls, nor any
slough which  might separate  from  the sides of  the
canal, nor matter formed in it, could get into the cavity
of the abdomen, but must be conducted to the external
surface of the body, either through the wounds or from
an abscess forming for itself, which would work its
owrn exit somewhere.   Soon after this conclusion, some
foBces  (meaning that which should pass from  the fun-
dament) coming through  the wound, confirmed him
in his opinion respecting the efforts of nature, which
are great on such occasions to secure the cavity of the
abdomen: yet he feared this wound might in future
perform the functions  of the  fundament.   He saw
clearly, that an intestine had received a bruise sufficient 
WOUNDS.
843
to kill the part, and that till the separation of slough
had taken place, both the intestine and canal were still
complete, and  therefore did not communicate with
each other, but that when the slough was thrown off,
the two were laid into one at this part, and that there-
fore the contents of the intestine got into this wound.
This  symptom, however, gradually decreased by the
contraction of this opening, till  an entire stop to the
passage of the foecesby it took place, and the wounds
were  healed, and  the gentleman entirely restored  to
health.
   Having fully described to you the effects of gunshot
wounds, I sfyall conclude, by directing, that should the
inflammation be great, you are to bleed and purge.  If
your patient labours under great pain, give laudanum,
and if the parts assume a dark look, threatening a mor-
tification,  cover them with  a  blister.   Where the
wound is much torn, wash the parts very nicely with
warm water, and then, having secured every bleeding
vessel, lay them all down in as natural a position  as
possible,  drawing  their edges  gently together, or  as
much so  as possible, by strips of sticking plaster, or
stitches^ if necessary.   Now apply a soft bread and
milk poultice over the whole.
      WOUNDS  OF  THE EAR, NOSE, &c.
   Treatment.—Wash the parts w7ell, so as to cleanse
 them from all dirt, &c. and then draw the edges of the
 wound together, by as many stitches as are necessary.
 If the part is even completely separated, and  has. been
 trodden under foot, by washing it  in w7arm water, and
^placing it even,  and accurately, in  its proper place, by
 the same means it may still adhere or grow on. 
844
WOUNDS.
  i
         WOUNDS  OF THE SCALP.
  Treatment.—In wounds of  the scalp it is neces-
sary to shave off the hair.   After this operation is per-
formed, wash the parts well, and draw the edges of the
wound together with sticking plaster.  If it has been
torn up in several places, wash and lay them all down
on  the skull again, drawing their edges together  as
nearly as possible, by sticking plaster, or, if necessary,
by stitches.   Then cover the whole with a soft fold or
bandage, smeared with simple ointment of any kind.
         WOUNDS OF  THE  THROAT.
  Treatment.—Seize and tie up every bleeding ves-
sel you can get hold of.  If the windpipe is cut only
partly through, secure it with a sticking plaster.  If it
is  completely divided, bring  its edges  together by
stitches, taking  care to pass the needle  through the
loose membrane that  covers  the windpipe, and not
through the windpipe itself. The head should be bent
on the breast during this operation, and secured by bol-
sters and bandages in that  position,  to favour the  ap-
proximation of the wound.
         WOUNDS OF THE CHEST.
  If the wound in the chest is a simple incised wound,
draw the edges df it together by sticking plaster, cover
it by a fold  or compress  of  linCn, and pass a bandage
round the chest.  The patient is to be confined to his
bed, kept on very low diet,  and bled  and purged,  in 
WOUNDS.
845
order to prevent inflammation.  If, however, inflam-
mation should come on, you must reduce it by copious
and frequent bleedings.  Should the wound be occa-
sioned by a bullet, extract it, and any pieces of cloth,
&c, that may be lodged in it, if possible, and cover the
wound with a piece of linen, smeared with some sim-
ple ointment, taking great  care  that it is not drawn
into the chest.   If a portion of the lung protrudes or
projects out, return it to its place immediately, but  be
as gentle and cautious as possible.
          WOUNDS OF THE BELLY.
   In wounds of the belly, close it by strips of sticking
 plaster, and  stitches  passed through the skin, about
 half an inch from the edge of the wound, and cover
 the whole with a soft compress of linen, secured by a
 bandage.   Any inflammation  that may arise is to be
 reduced by bleeding, purging, and a blister over the
 whole belly.  Should any part of the bowels come
 out at the wound, if clean and uninjured, return it as
 quickly as possible; if covered with dirt, clots of blood,
 &c, wash it carefully in warm water previous to re-
 turning it.  If the gut is wounded, and only cut partly
 through, draw the two edges of it together by a stitch,
 and  return  it; if completely divided, you must con-
 nect the edges by four stitches, at equal distances, and
 replace it  in the belly, always  leaving the end of the
 ligature or thread projecting from the external wound,
 which must be  closed by sticking plaster.  In five or
 six days, if the threads are loose, withdraw them very
gently and carefully.
      4 B 2 
846
WOUNDS.
            WOUNDS  OF JOINTS.
  In wounds of this description, you are to bring the
edges of the wound together  by sticking plaster, with-
out any delay :  keep the  part perfectly at  rest, bleed,
purge, and  live very low, so  as  to prevent inflamma-
tion.  But  should it come on, it  must be met at its
first approach by bleeding to as great an extent as the
condition of the  patient will warrant, and by a blister
covering the whole joint.  If the  joint seems like  it
would  be a stiff one, keep the  limb in that position
which will  prove most  useful; that is,  the  leg should
be extended, and the arm bent at the elbow. Wounds
of the joints are alw7ays highly dangerous, and  fre-
quently terminate fatally.
          WOUNDS OF TENDONS.
  Tendons  or sinews are frequently w7ounded  and
ruptured.  They are to be treated precisely like any
other wound, by keeping their divided parts together.
The tendon which connects the great muscle forming
the calf of the leg with the heel, called the tendon of
Achilles, is frequently cut with the adze, and ruptured
in jumping  from  heights.  This accident is to be re-
medied by drawing up the heel, extending the foot,
and placing a splint on the fore part of the leg, extend-
ing from the knee to beyond the toes, which being se-
cured in that position by a bandage, keeps the foot in
the position just mentioned.  The hollows under the
splint must be filled with tow or cotton.   If the  skin 
WOUNDS.
847
falls  into the space between the ends of the tendon,
apply a piece of sticking plaster, so as to draw7 it out of
the wray.  It usually takes five or six weeks  to unite,
but no weight  should be laid on  the limb for several
months.
i 
SURGERY.
               OF FRACTURES.
  As  I have before plainly pointed out to you  how
fractures may  be known, it  will be unnecessary to
dwell on this subject.  It will, however, be advisable
for you to recollect this general  rule: in cases where,
from the accompanying circumstances and symptoms,
a strong suspicion exists that  the bone is fractured, it
will be proper for you to act as though it were  posi-
tively ascertained to be so.
    FRACTURES OF THE BONE OF THE
                     NOSE.
  Treatment.—From the exposed situation of the
bones of the nose, they are frequently forced in. When
this is the case, any smooth article that will pass into
the nostrils, should be immediately introduced with
one hand, so as to raise the depressed portions to the
proper level, while the other is employed in moulding
them into the required shape.  If violent inflamma-
tion follows, bleed, purge, and live on the lowest kind
of diet.
    FRACTURES OF THE LOWER JAW.
  Treatment.—There is no difficulty in discovering
this accident by looking into the mouth ; and it is to
                                       848 
                    SURGERY.                 849

be relieved by keeping the lower jaw firmly pressed
against the upper one, by means of a bandage passed
under the chin and over the head.  If it is broken near
the angle, or that part  nearest the ear, place a cushion
or roll of linen behind it, over which the bandage must
pass, so as to make it push that  part of the bone for-
ward.  The parts are then to be confined in this way
for twenty or  twenty-five days; during which time,
all the nourishment that is taken by the patient, should
be sucked  between the teeth.  If, in consequence of
the blow, a tooth is loosened, do not meddle with it,
for if let alone, it will grow fast again.
   FRACTURES OF THE COLLAR BONE.
  A fracture of the collar bone is of very common
occurrence, and is known at once by passing the fin-
ger along it, and by the swelling, &c.
  Treatment.—To reduce it, seat your patient in a
chair, with his shirt off, and place a stout compress of
linen, made in the shape of a wedge, under his arm;
the thick end of which should  press under the arm-
pit.  His arm, bent  to a right  angle at the elbow, is
now to be brought down to his side, and secured in
that position by a long bandage, which passes over the
arm of the affected side, and round the body.  The
fore arm—meaning  that which reaches from the el-
bow to the wrist,  is to be  supported across the breast
by a sling.  It then takes from  four to five weeks to
reunite.
                        107 
850                 SURGERY.
}         FRACTURES OF THE ARM.
   Treatment.—Seat your  patient on a chair, or the
 side of a bed; let some one assist you to hold the sound
 arm, while  another  person  grasps the  wrist of the
 broken one, and  steadily extends  it in an opposite di-
 rection, bending the forearm a little to serve as a lever.
 You must now place the bones in their  proper situa-
 tion.  Two  splints, made  of  shingle  or stout paste-
 board, long enough to reach from below the shoulder
 to near the elbow, must then be well covered with tow
 or cotton and laid along each side of the arm, and kept
 in that position by a bandage.  The forearm is to be
 supported in a sling.  Two smaller splints may, for
 better security, be laid between the first ones; that is,
 one on top, and the other underneath the arm, to be
 secured by the bandage in the same way as the others.
    FRACTURES OF THE BONE OF  THE
                  FOREARM.
  As I have before, and I again tell you, it is that part
which reaches from the elbow to the wrist, that is de-
signated or called the forearm.  When this is frac-
tured, they are to be reduced precisely  in  the same
way, with the exception of the mode of keeping the
upper portion of it steady; which is done by grasping
the arm  above  the  elbow.  When  the splints and
bandage, which I have directed  you how to make, are
applied, support it in a sling. 
SURGERY.                 851
        FRACTURES OF  THE WRIST.
  Fractures of the wrist  very seldom take place.
When this accident does happen, the injury is gene-
rally so great as to require amputation or taking it off.
If it is possible to save the hand, lay it on a splint,  well
covered with tow or cotton.  This is to extend beyond
the fingers: place then another splint opposite to it,
lined with the same soft materials, and secure them by
a bandage.   The hand is then to be carried in a sling.
The bones of the hand are frequently broken: in  such
a case, fill the palm of the hand with soft compress or
folds of linen or domestic cloth, or tow  or cotton, and
then lay a splinter on it long enough to extend from
the elbow to beyond the ends of the fingers, and secure
it by a  bandage.  If the finger is broken, extend the
end of it until it becomes straight.  Place the fractured
or broken bone in its place, and apply two small paste-
board splints, one below and the other  above, which
you  must secure by a narrow bandage. The upper
splint ought to extend from the end of the finger over
the back of the hand.  It may sometimes be proper to
add two additional splints for the sides of the finger.
         FRACTURES OF THE RIBS.
  When, after a fall or blow7, the patient complains of
a prickling  pain  in his side, we may suspect a rib is
broken.  The way to discover it,  is by placing the
ends of two or three of your fingers on the spot where
the pain is, and desiring the patient  to cough, when <
the grating sensation will be felt.   All that is neces-
sary, is to pass a broad bandage round the chest, so tight 
852                 SURGERY.

as to prevent the motion of the  ribs in breathing, and
to live on a light diet.
        FRACTURES OF THE THIGH.
  The thigh is perhaps, the most difficult fracture  to
manage; and to the ingenuity of one amongst the best
men who ever lived, (Dr. Hartshorn, of the city of
Philadelphia,)  the world is indebted for  an  apparatus
which does aw7ay the greatest impediments  that have
been found to exist in treating it, so as to leave' a straight
limb, without lameness or deformity; nor  is it the
least of its merits, that any man of common sense can
apply it nearly as well as a surgeon  or physician.
  It consists of two splints,  made of half or three-
quarter inch well seasoned stuff, from eight to ten in-
ches wide:  one of which  should reach  from a little
above the hip, to fifteen or sixteen inches beyond the
foot, while the other extends the same length from the
groin.  The upper end of the inner splint is hollowed
out, and well padded  or stuffed.  Their lowrer ends are
held together  by  a cross  piece, having two tenons,
wrhich enter two vertical  mortices, one in each splint,
and secured there by pins.  In the centre of this cross-
piece (winch should be very solid)  is a female screw.
Immediately above the vertical mortices, are two hori-
zontal ones,  of considerable length,  in which slide the
tenons of a second cross-piece,  to  the upper side of
which is fastened a foot block, shaped like the sole of
a shoe.: while in the other, is a round hole for the re-
ception of the head of the  male screw,  which passes
tjarough the female one just mentioned.   On the top
of this cross-piece to wilich the foot block is  attached, 
SURGERY.
853
are two pins which fall into the grooves at the head of
the screw, thereby firmly connecting them. The foot-
block, as before observed, is shaped like the sole of a
shoe.   Near the toe  is a slit, through which passes a
strap and buckle.  Near the heel are a couple of straps
with two rings, arranged precisely like those of a skate;
of which, in fact, the whole foot-block is an exact re-
semblance.  A long male screw, of wood or other ma-
terial, completes the apparatus.   To apply it, p^t a
slipper on the foot  of the broken limb, and lay the ap-
paratus over the leg.   By turning the screw, the foot-
block will be forced up to the foot in the slipper, which
is to be firmly strapped to it, as boys fasten their skates.
By turning the screw the contrary way, the  padded
extremity of the inner splint presses against the groin,
and the foot is gradually drawn down until the broken
limb becomes of its natural length  and appearance;
when any projection or little inequality that remains,
can be felt and reduced by a gentle pressure of the
hand.
   The great advantages of this invaluable apparatus, I
again tell you, are the ease with which it  is applied,
and the certainty with which it acts.  The foot  once
secured to the block, in a way that any man of  com-
mon sense understands, nothing more is  required than
to turn the screw until the broken  limb  is found  to be
of the same length as the sound one.  It is proper to
remark, that this should not be effected at once, it being
better to turn the  screw a little every  day until the
limb is extended.  As this apparatus may not  always
be at hand, it is proper to mention the next best plan
of treating the accident.  It is found in  the splints of
Desault, improved  by Dr. Physic, of the  city of Phila-
delphia,  consisting of four pieces.   The first has  a
      4 C 
854
SURGERY.
crutch head, and extends from the arm-pit to six or
eight inches beyond the foot. A little below the crutch,
are two holes; and near the lower end on the inside,
there is a block below7, in which there  is also a  hole.
The second reaches from  the  groin, the  same length
with the first, being about three inches wide above, and
two below.   Two pieces of stout pasteboard, as many
handkerchiefs or bands of muslin, with some tow, and
a fe|v pieces of tape, form the catalogue  of the appa-
ratus, which is to be applied as follows:—
  Four or five pieces of tape are to be laid across the
bed at equal distances from  each other.   Over the
upper two is placed one of the short pasteboard splints,
wrell covered with tow.  Then the patient is to be care-
fully and very gently placed on his back, so  that his
thigh may rest on the splints.  One of the  handker-
chiefs, or a strong soft band is to be passed between the
testicle and thigh of the affected side, and  its ends held
by some person standing  near the head of the bed.
The second handkerchief is to be passed round the
ankle, crossed on the instep, and tied under the sole of
the foot.   By steadily pulling these two handkerchiefs, -
the limb is to be  extended, while with the hand the
broken bones are replaced in their natural form. Then
the long splint is to be placed by the side of the patient,
the crutch in the arm-pit, (which  must b° defended
by tow or cotton,) while the short one is laid along
inside of the thigh or leg.  The ends of the first hand-
kerchief being passed  through  the upper holes, are to
be drawn tight and secured by a knot, while the  ends
of the second one pass over the block before mentioned,
to be fastened in like manner at the lower one.  All that
remains is  the short pasteboard splint, which, being
w7ell covered with tow, is to be laid on top of the thigh. 
SURGERY.
855
The tapes being tied so as to keep the four splints to-
gether, completes the operation.  Cotton or tow is to
be everywhere stuffed between the  splints and  the
limb, and a large handful of it placed  in the groin, to
prevent irritation from the upper or counter extending
band.   You must be careful while tying the two hand-
kerchiefs, that they are not relaxed, so that if the opera-
tion is properly performed, the two limbs will be nearly
of an equal length.
  The superior advantages of Hartshorn's apparatus
over this, as well as others, must be evident to every
one acquainted with the difficulty of keeping up that
constant extension which is so  absolutely necessary to
avoid  deformity and  lameness, and which is so com-
pletely effected by the screw. .  Next to that, however,
stands Dr. Physic's, which can be made by any car-
penter in a few, minutes: and  which, if carefully ap-
plied, will be found to answer a good purpose.   Frac-
tured thighs and legs  generally reunite in  from six to
eight weeks; depending, however, much upon the age
of the patient.  Old persons frequently require three
or four months.  You must recollect  in such  cases a
straw  bed is best for your patient, or a mattrass, or any
bed that will not yield, so as to keep  the limb in its
proper position.

                     -------                 *

  FRACTURES OF  THE  BONES  OF THE
                     FOOT.
  This  accident seldom occurs: the bone of the heel
is sometimes, though rarely broken.  It is known by a
crack  at the moment of the accident, a difficulty in
standing, by the quick swelling, and the grating noise 
856
SURGERY.
on moving the heel.  To reduce it, take a long bandage,
lay the end of it on the top of the foot; convey it over
the toes under the sole of the foot, and then by several
turns secure  it in that position.  The foot being ex-
tended as much as possible, carry the bandage along the
back of the leg above the knee, where it is to be secured
by several turns, and then brought down on the front
of the leg, to which it is secured by  circular turns.  In
this manner the broken pieces will be kept in contact,
and in the course of a month or six weeks will be
united.
  All fractures of the foot, toes, &c, are to be treated
like those of the hand and fingers.
OF DISLOCATIONS.
  The signs by which a dislocation may be known,
have been already explained to you.  But  remember
that the sooner the attempt is made to place it in its
proper place, the easier it will be done.  The strength
of one man, properly applied at the moment of the
accident, will often succeed in restoring the head of a
bone to its place, which in a few days, and even hours,
would have required the combined efforts of men and
pulleys.  After you have made  several trials with the
best apparatus that can be obtained, and  you find you
cannot succeed, make the patient stand up, having all
things in readiness, and bleed him in that position until
he faints; the moment  this  occurs the  muscles  will
relax, and a slight force will often be sufficient, where 
SURGERY.                 857
more  powerful ones have been  used  without  effect.
Also recollect to vary the direction of the extending
force.   A slight pull in one way, will often effect what
has been in vain attempted by great force in another.

       DISLOCATION OF THE LOWER JAW.
  Dislocation of the lower jaw is produced by  blows,
or yawning, usually called gaping.  It is known by an
inability to shut the mouth, and the projection  of the
chin.   To reduce it is quite simple.  Seat the patient
in a chair, with his head supported  by the breast of an
assistant who must stand behind him.  Your thumbs
being covered with leather, (or a glove) are then to be
pushed between the jaws, as far back as possible, while
with  the fingers outside, you  grasp the bone,  which
must  be pressed downwards at the  same time that the
chin is raised.   If this is properly done, the bone will
be found moving, when the chin is. to be pushed back-
wards, and the thumbs slipped  between the jaws and
the cheeks.  If this is not done, they will  be bitten by
the sudden snap of the teeth as they come together.
The jaws should be kept closed by  a bandage for a few
days, and the patient live upon soup.

               OF THE SHOULDER.
   This accident is quite common, (and the most so of
all the dislocations mentioned.)  You can easily dis-
cover it, by the deformity of the joint, and the head of
the bone being found in some unnatural position.  To
reduce it to its proper place, seat your patient in a chair:
place  one hand on the prominent part of the shoulder
blade, just above the spot where the head  of the bone
should be, while  with the other you grasp the arm
above the elbow and then pull it  outwards.
     4 c 2               10S 
858
SURGERY.
   Sometimes this will not succeed; if so, then lay the
 patient on the ground, place your heel in his arm-pit,
 and then steadily and forcibly extend the arm by grasp-
 ing it at the wrist.
             OF THE COLLAR BONE.
   The collar boric is seldom dislocated; but should it
 take place, the treatment is, to apply the bandages, &c,
 as you have been already directed for a fracture of the
 same part.
                 OF THE ELBOW.
   If this dislocation  has occurred by falling on the
 hands, which is most common, or holds the arm bent
 at the elbow, and every endeavour to straighten it gives
 great pain, it is dislocated backwards.  Seat the patient
 in a chair: let some one grasp the arm near the shoulder,
 and another the wrist, and forcibly extend it, while
 you interlock the fingers of both hands just above the
 elbow, and pull it'backwards, remembering that under
 those circumstances, whatever  degree of force is re-
 quired,  should  be  applied in  this direction.   The
 elbow  is sometimes dislocated  sideways or laterally.
 To reduce it,  make  extension by pulling at  the wrist,
 while some one secures the arm above; then push the
 bone into its place, either inwards or outwards, as may
be required.   After the reduction of a dislocated elbow,
keep the joint at perfect rest  for five or six days, and
then move it gently.  If inflammation should come on,
treat it as I have before told you in all inflammations
 —bleed freely, purge, &c.

         OF  THE WRIST, FINGERS,  ETC.
  Dislocations of this nature are common, and easily
known by the least examination; they are all to be 
SURGERY.                 859
reduced by  forcibly extending the  lower extremity
of the part, and pushing the bones into their places.  If
necessary, small bands may be secured to the fingers
by a narrow bandage to assist the extension.  These
accidents should be attended to without delay; for if
they  are  neglected for  a little  time, they become
irremediable or incurable.

                 OF THE THIGH.
  Notwithstanding the hip joint is the strongest one in
the  whole  body,  it is sometimes dislocated.   The
method of ascertaining this accident is by a careful ex-
amination of the part.  Comparing the length and ap-
pearance of the limb with its fellow sufficiently marks
the nature of the accident.  I will proceed to state the
remedy.
   Place the patient on his back, upon a table covered
with a  blanket.  Two sheets folded like  cravats, are
then to be passed between the thigh and the testicles
of each side,  and their ends (one-half of each  sheet
passing obliquely  over   the  belly to  the opposite
shoulder,  while the other half passes under the back in
the  same direction) given to several assistants, or what
is much better, tied very firmly to a hook, staple, post,
or some immovable body.   A large and very strong
towel, folded as before mentioned like a cravat, is now
to be laid along the top of the thigh, so that its middle
will be just above the  knee, where it is to be well se-
cured by many turns of a bandage.  Tbu two ends are
then to be knotted.  If you have no pulleys, a twisted
sheet or rope may be passed through the loop formed
by the towels.  If you can obtain the former, it is bet-
ter.   Cast the loop over the hook of the lower block,
and secure the upper one to the wall directly opposite 
860                  SURGERY.
to the hooks or men  that hold the sheets which pass
between the thighs.   A steadily increasing and forcible
extension of the thigh is then to be made by the men
who are stationed at the pulleys or sheet, while you are
turning and twisting  the limb to assist in  dislodging
it from its unnatural situation.   By these means, pro-
perly applied, the head of the bone will frequently slip
into the socket with considerable noise.
  Should you be unable to succeed, change the direc-
tion of the extending  force, recollecting always, that it
is not by sudden or violent jerks that it can be put in
place, but by a steady, increasing, and continued pull.
Should  all your efforts prove unavailing, (I would not
advise you to lose  much time before you resort to it,)
make your  patient, as before directed, submit in such
cases to loss of blood, by which means in those difficult
cases you are to succeed.

               OF THE KNEE PAN.
  If this  small bone is dislocated, you will perceive it
at once by the slightest glance.  Now, to reduce it, lay
your  patient on his back, straighten the leg, lift it up
to a right angle with his body, and  in that  position
push  the bone back  to its proper place.  Then keep
the knee at perfect rest on a pillow for a few days.

                   OF THE LEG.
  Accidents of this kind cannot happen without tear-
ing and  lacetfiting the soft  parts; but little  force is
required to  place the bones  in their proper situation.
Should the parts be so much torn  that  the bones slip
again out of place,  you had better apply Hartshorn's or
Desault's  apparatus, which I have fully described to
you for fractured thigh. 
SURGERY.
861
                  OF THE FOOT.
  Dislocation of the foot seldom takes place. It, how-
ever, may occur; therefore I will give you the treat-
ment.   Let one secure the leg, and another draw the
foot, while you push the bone in  the contrary way to
that in which it was forced out.   Then  you are to
cover it with folds of linen dipped in water in which
sugar of lead has been dissolved, and apply a splint on
each side of the leg, so that it reaches below the foot.
An accident of this nature is highly dangerous, requir-
ing the immediate assistance of a skilful physician; as,
even then, all that can be done to remedy them is in
the speedy reduction of the bone, keeping the parts on
a pillow at rest, and subduing inflammation by bleed-
ing, low diet, and all  such directions  as  are  already
given to subdue fever.

            OF COMPOUND ACCIDENTS.
   I have fully, and as plainly as I  could, before told
you how to treat accidents of this kind, and what plan
you are to pursue when single; it now  remains for
me to  state to you what is to be done when they are
compound.  For instance, an accident  happens  by
which a man is thrown from a height.  On examina-
tion a  wound is found in his thigh; it is bleeding pro-
fusely ; his ankle is out of joint, with a wound commu-
nicating with the cavity, and  his leg broken.  In the
first place stop the bleeding from the wound; then re-
duce the dislocation; then draw the edges of the wound
together with sticking plaster; and, lastly, apply to the
fracture Hartshorn's or Desault's apparatus, which I
have so fully explained before that any carpenter can
construct it for  you. 
862                 SURGERY.
AMPUTATION.
  This means the cutting off a limb, or other part of
the body.  How often do those accidents happen where
there is no physician, or regular surgical assistance,
(often at sea, or at a distance in the country,) and the
limb requiring immediate amputation, or cutting off!
The only difficulty, I confess to you, is to know when
this operation  ought to be performed ; for it is some-
times the case that the most skilful surgeon is mistaken,
or at a stand whether he shall operate or not.  I do
know several cases  that have  been  preserved by the
obstinacy of the patient, refusing to have the operation
performed.  But  this wTas running a great hazard of
life, and should in  all  such cases be ventured  upon
with due caution—and the  operation ought not to be
performed unless under  the  most careful and sound
judgment.  Now, to perform  this operation requires
nothing but firmness and common dexterity, for any
man, and that too, to perform it well.  Although, as I
have told you, there are many doubts whether an am-
putation should take place or not, yet in others all
difficulty vanishes;  as  for instance, when a ball has
carried  away an arm;  or during a storm, a tree hap-
pens to  fall and mash the knee, the leg, or ankle, so that
those parts are greatly lacerated or torn, and the blood-
vessels are severely lacerated, also nerves and tendons;
or the crushing or splintering of the bones, almost ne-
cessarily resulting from such accidents, render imme-
diate  amputation an unavoidable and imperious duty. 
                     SURGERY.                 863

Now, you will ask,  what shall I do for instruments
with which to perform this operation ? If it is difficult
to obtain surgical instruments, which is often the case
in the country or at sea, it is of no consequence.  The
instruments for this purpose are few, and easily ob-
tained, which in all cases will  answer as a valuable
substitute.   First, get a large carving knife,  with a
straight blade ; have the knife as sharp and smooth as
possible;  a penknife, a carpenter's tenon,  or mitre
saw; a slip of leather or linen, three inches wide, and
twenty inches long,  slit  up  the middle to the half of
its length; a dozen or more of ligatures, each about a
foot long, made of waxed thread or fine twine ; a hook
with a sharp point, or a shoemaker's crooked awl will
answer; a pair of  slender pincers;  several  narrow
strips of sticking plaster, called by physicians or sur-
geons  adhesive plaster,  or  adhesive strip; some dry
lint; a piece of old  linen, large enough to  cover the
end of the stump, spread with simple ointment or lard ;
a bandage three or four yards long, about tke width of
your hand; a piece of sponge, and some  warm water.
You are now  prepared  fully to perform amputation;
which I will so plainly explain, that any man, unless
he be  an  idiot or an absolute fool, can perform this
 operation.

           AMPUTATION OF THE ARM.
   How to perform the operation.—Give the pa-
 tient, about half an hour before you intend operating
 sixty  drops of laudanum;  now having all things in
 readiness, seat him on a narrow and firm table or chest,
 of a convenient height; he is now to ^ supported by
 an assistant, by clasping him round the body.  It tne
 handkerchief and stick  have not  been  previously ap- 
864                 SURGERY.
plied, place it as high up on the arm as possible, (the
stick being very short,) and so that the knot may pass
on the inner side of it.  Your instruments having been
placed regularly on a table, and within reach of your
hand, while some  one supports the lower end of the
arm, and at the same time draw7s down the skin, take
the large knife and make one straight cut all round the
limb through  the  skin  and fat only;  then with  the
pen-knife separate as much of the skin from the flesh
above the cut, and  all around it, as will form a flap to
cover the face or end of the stump; when you think
there is enough separated, turn it back,  where it must
be held by an assistant, while with the large knife you
make a second  straight incision  round the arm and
down to the bone, as close as you can  to the doubled
edge of the flap, but  taking  good care not to cut it.
The bone is now to be passed through  the slit in  the
piece  of  linen  before mentioned, and pressed by its
ends against the upper surface of the  wound by  the
person who holds the flap, while you saw through the
bone as near to it as you can.   With the hook or pin-
cers, you then seize and tie up every vessel that bleeds,
the largest  first and the smaller ones next, until they
are all  secured.  When this is done relax the stick a
little—if any artery spurt blood, tie it as before di-
rected.
  The wound is now to be gently and  very carefully
cleansed  with a sponge and warm water, and the stick
to be relaxed.  If it is evident that the arteries are all
tied, bring the flap  over  the end of the stump:  draw
then the  edges together with strips of sticking plaster,
leaving the ligatures hanging out at the angles.  Lay
the piece of linen, spread with  simple ointment or
hog's lard over the  straps, and a fold or pledget of lint 
SURGERY.
865
over that, and secure the whole by the bandage.  Then
put your patient to bed and rest the stump on a pillow.
The handkerchief and stick are to be left loosely round
the limb, so that if any bleeding happens  to come on,
it may be tightened at once by the person who watches
by the patient.   If this accident should take place, by
which I mean the bleeding, the dressings are to be
taken off, the flap raised, and the bleeding vessel sought
for and tied up ; after which, every thing is to be placed
as before.   I have mentioned a handkerchief and stick;
these are substitutes for the instrument  used by sur-
geons  called a  tourniquet.   Remember, in sawing
through the bone,  a long and free stroke should be
used to prevent any hitching; as an additional security
against which, the teeth  of the saw7 should be well
Sharpened and set wide.
  It is of the greatest importance to attend to this cir-
cumstance.  The ends of divided arteries cannot at
the time of operation be got hold of; or being in a dis-
eased  state, their coats give  wray under the hook; so
that it is impossible to draw them out, and not unfre-
quently they are found ossified; which means turned
into bone.  In all such cases, having threaded a needle
with a ligature well  waxed,  pass it through  the flesh
round  the  artery, so that  w7hen  tied, there will be  a
portion of  it included in the ligature along with the
artery.  The needle used by surgeons for this purpose
is a curved or crooked one; but a straight one will
answer.  When the ligature has  been made to encircle
the artery, cut off the needle and tie  it firmly  in the
ordinary way.
  The dressings should not be  removed for several
days, say from  five to seven,  if the weather is cool; but
if warm weather, it should be removed in three days.
      4 D              109 
866
9URGERY.
B it this you must do with great care, after soaking it
well with warm water, so that you can take it away
without it sticking to the stump, bleeding, or otherwise
producing pain.   Then apply a clean  plaster of lint,
over which put a bandage  as before directed; whicb
dressing is to be removed and a fresh one applied every
two days.  In about fourteen or sixteen days the liga-
tures will generally come away; and in from three to
five weeks (if all goes on as might be expected, without
any accident) the  wound is well.

                 OF THE THIGH.
  Amputation of  the thigh is to be performed in t)p$
same manner as that of the arm, with one exception,;
it being proper to  put a piece of lint between the edges
of the flap, to prevent them from uniting until the sur-
face of the stump  has adhered to it.

                  OF THE  LEG.
  There are two bones in the leg which have a thin
muscle between.  In such a case you must have an
additional knife to those I have before mentioned, to
divide it.  The knife required for this purpose  must
have a long narrow  blade, with a double cutting edge,
and a sharp point.  You can grind  down a carving or
case-knife to answer every purpose; the blade however
must be reduced  to less than half an inch in width.
The linen or leather slip should also have two slits in
it instead of one.  Having all your preparations in
order near you, your patient is to be laid on his  back,
on a table covered with a blanket, or  on a hard bed,
with as many persons as may be necessary to hold him.
The handkerchief and stick  are then to be applied on
the  upper part of the  thigh.  One person holds the 
SURGERY.
867
knee, and another the foot and legs, as firmly as  pos-
sible, while with the large knife the operator makes an
oblique incision round the limb, through the skin, and
beginning at five or six inches below the knee pan, ana
carrying it regularly  round in such a manner that the
cut will be lower down on the calf than in front of the
leg.  As much of the skin is then to be separated by
tjhe penknife  as will  cover the stump.  (It is here im-
portant for you to take the principal  part of the flap
from the hinder part of the leg; for the cut.being made
as directed, it should require only one inch of skin to
be raised in front, and of course you must take enough
from behind  to meet it.)   When this is turned back, a
second cut is to be made all round the limb and down
to the  bones; when  with the narrow-bladed knife be-
 fore mentioned, the flesh between them is to be divided.
 The middle piece of the  leather strip is now to  be
 pulled through between the bones, the whole being
 beld back by the assistant who supports the flap while
 the bones are sawed, which  should be so managed
 that the smaller  one is cut through  by the time the
 other  is only half off.  The arteries are then  to be
 taken  up, the flap brought down, and secured by  adhe-
 sive plaster  with bandages, as I have before plainly
 explained to  you.
                OF  THE FOREARM.
   The forearm  has two bones in it;  therefore you
 require in this operation the narrow-bladed knife, and
 tjie strip of linen with three tails.   Let the incision be
 made straight round the part, as in the arm; with this
 exception—complete as I  give  you  directions m  the
 case before this. 
868
SURGERY.
            OF THE FINGERS AND TOES.
    When amputations of this kind are made, you must
  draw the skin back, and make an  incision  round the
  finger a little below the joint it is intended to remove;
  turn  back a little flap to cover the stump, then cut
  down to the  joint, bleeding it  so that you can cut
  through the ligaments that connect the two bones—the
  under one first, then that on the side.   The head of
  the bone is to be turned out, while you cut through the
  remaining soft parts.  Should you see an artery spurt
  out the blood, immediately tie  it up;  if  not, bring
  down the flap, and secure it by a  strip of sticking plas-
  ter.   And then put a narrow bandage over the whole.

     CONCLUDING REMARKS ON AMPUTATION.
   It often  happens in cases of amputation, that  the
  wound is apt to bleed after you have dressed it, there-
  by giving you considerable trouble.  This is called by
  surgeons secondary bleeding.  Therefore, to  prevent
  this, if necessary, before the  strips  of plasters are  ap-
  plied to the edges of the flap, give a little wine-water,
  or a little spirit and water, and wait a few moments to
  see whether the increased force it gives to the circula-
  tion, will  occasion a flow of blood; if it does, secure
  the vessel it comes from.  But should  there be a con-
  siderable flow of blood from the hollow7 of the bone,
  make use  of  a  small plug of cedar; and  if  violent
  spasms of the  stump  take place, hold it carefully by
  your assistants, and immediately administer large doses
  of laudanum;  it may be understood as a general rule,
  that after every operation of the kind, laudanum must
  and ought to be given according to the sufferings of the
  patient.
> 
SURGERY.
'869
       MORTIFICATION IN  WOUNDS.
  In the general treatment of wounds, and in surgery.
remember  always  to  stop  excessive inflammation;
which, if allowed to go to a certain point, frequently
produces mortification, or the death  of the parts.
Therefore,  always  be  on your guard  against fever:
which you may easily know  by  heat, pain,  redness,
and  swelling.  Now, I again repeat, that you must
bleed and purge, as much as you think your patient
may be able  to bear, from his situation, constitution.
&c. &c. These matters are to be entirely regulated by
the appearances at  the time.   If the fever and  pain
should suddenly cease, and the part which before was
red, swollen and hard, becomes of a purple colour and
soft, you are to stop at once all reducing measures, put
a large blister over all  the parts, and give good wine,
porter, barks, and wine or quinine, or other generous
stimulants, so as to  support  the sinking condition of
the patient, for  mortification  has or is about  to com-
mence ; and  should you find the blisters should fail to
put a stop to  the disease, and the parts look dead and
become offensive, cover  them with charcoal, or fer-
menting poultices, until nature separates the dead part*-
from the living; during which time give a free, gene-
rous, and strengthening diet and good wine.
  In  mortification  of  the forearm, it frequently be-
comes necessary to amputate.  This ought never to be
done  until after blisters  have been fairly tried to the
sound parts above the mortified; as they often separate.
you should be careful to  examine strictly the  parts, so
as to discover in time that which may Ik- necessary.
4 d 2 
J
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Anatomical/ Plates 
 
A CATALOGUE OF  MEDICINES,  WITH THEIR  DOSES  AND PROPERTIES.
    The dose of  each article should be increased or diminished according to the strength of the  patient, and the  age, by
the following rule:—Two-thirds of the dose  from  the age of  14  to  16; one-half from 7 to 10; one-third from 4 to 6;
one-fourth to one of 3 years  old; one-eighth to one of a year old.  It is customary to repeat the dose of all purges every
two or three hours, till the medicine operates freely.
MEDICINES.
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
JEiher   -   -  -

iEthop's Mineral

Almonds,Emulsion of

Almonds, Oil of
Aloes, Socotrine
Aloes, Tincture
Aloes, watery Extract
Alum Powder -
Amber, Oil of, rec-
t tified   -   - -
 C 30 drops to 1 "j
 \  drachm.    [
15 to 30 grains.

A wine-glassful.

1 to 3 drachms.
10 to 20 grains.
3 to 6 drachms.
10 to 15 grains.
3 to 10 grains.

8 to 10 drops.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
8 to 10 drops.

5 to 10 grains.
C 1 to 2 table  >
\ spoonsful.  3
    to 2 table
   spoonsful
  30 drops to 1
   drachm.
2 to 6 grains.
1 to 2 drachms.
3 to 4 grains.
1 to 3 drops.
WHAT  TO BE TAKEN
IN,  AND HOW OFTEN.
Camphorated julep.

Honey, twice a day.

Every 2 or 3 hours.

Honey, every 3 hours
In pills or powder.
In water.
In pills.
In pills, 3 times a day,

In honey, twice a day,
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
Antispasmodic.

Alterative.

Demulcent.

Demulcent.
Purge, active.
Purgative.
Purgative.
Astringent.

Antispasmodic.
DISEASES PROPER FOR.
 C Asthma, Cramp,   .
 I  and Flatulence.
 C Scald Head, Foul-
 l  ness of Skin.
Strangury, Cough.

Strangury, Cough.
Obstinate  Costiveness.
Costiveness & Worms.
For Costiveness.
 C Flooding, Chronic
 l Dysentery.
 C Hysteric Fits,
 I Whooping Cough.
©
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■a 
A CATALOGUE  OF MEDICINES, WITH THEIR  DOSES  AND  PROPERTIES.
■3-jji.  MEDICINES.
Ammoniac Gum

Ammoniac, milk of

Antimonial Powder

Antimonial Wine   -

Antimonial Wine,
  as an alterative
Aromatic Confection  15 to 30 grains.

Aromatic Specific -  5  to 10 grains.

Asafcetida Emulsion  3  table-spoonsful.

Asafcetida,Tincture of|30 to 60 drops.

                    20 to 40 drops
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
10 to 15 grains.

A table-spoonful.

3 to  5 grains.

2 to  4 drachms.

12 to 20 drops.
Asafcetida, Volatile
  Spirit of -  -
Asafcetida Pill  -
10 to 15 grains.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
  A dessert-
    spoonful.

1 to 3 grains.

1 to 2 drachms.

4 to 8 drops.


4 to 8 grains.

2 to'3 grains.

A tea-spoonful.

8 to 12 drops.

4 to 8 drops.
WHAT  TO BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
  Made into pills,
   twice a day.
  In pills, 2 or 3
   times a day.

Mix in honey.

Mix in water.
  {In water, twice a* "j
   day, or every    I
   hour or two.    J
 ( In cinnamon water )
 I  2 or 3 times a day. 5
 C Water, 2 or3 times ?
 C  a day*         j

Every 3 or 4 hours.

 C In water,  every 3 ?
 I  or 4 hours.     $
 C In water,  every 3 >
 I  or 4 hours.     }
Ii*  pills, twice a day.
 PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
Expectorant.

Expectorant.

Sudorific.

Emetic.

Sudorific.

  Astringent   j
   & Cordial. [

Stomachic.

Antispasmodic.

Antispasmodic.

Antispasmodic.

Antispasmodic
DISEASES PROPER  FOR.
 C Chronic Cough,
 I Asthma, &c.
 C Chronic Cough,
 I Asthma.
 CSt. Anthony's Fire &
 I Foulness of the Skin.
Fevers & foul Stomach.
 f St. Anthony's Fire,&
<  to produce moisture
 (_ on the skin.
 C Purging, and Cramp
 I in the Stomach.
 ^ Indigestion and
 i Flatulence.
 C Hysterics, Asthma,
 l Whooping Cough.
 C Fainting, and Low
 £ Spirits.
 C Flatulence, and
 i Whooping Cough.
In Nerv-**---- Diseases.
00
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Balsam Copaiva
Balsam of Peru

Bark, Peruvian,
  Powder   -  -
20 to 60 drops.    6 to 8 drops.
 Bark, Decoction of

 Bark, Essential Salt of

 Bark, Tincture of

 Bark, Huxham's
   Tincture  -  -
 Bark, Tincture,
.,  Volatile   -  -

 Basilic Powder -

 Buchu  Leaves,
   Extract of

 Buchu  Leaves,
   Tincture of -
5 to 10 drops.


20 to 60 grains.

  3 to 4 table-  ?
    spoonsful.  )

5 to 10 grains.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to 4 drachms.

 1 to 2 drachms.

20  to 25 grains.

 10  to 15 grains.


 2 to 3 spoonsful.
6 to 10 grains.

  1 to 2 table-
   spoonsful.

2 to 3 grains.

40 to 60 drops.

40 to 60 drops.

10 to 20 drops.

6 to 8 grains.
 i On sugar or honey )
 '  or any liquid.   $


On sugar or honey.

  {In a little mint-   ~]
   water, 4 or 6   V-
   times a day.     J
3 or 4 times a day.

 C 3 or 4 times a day,
 I in good Port wine.
 C In water, 3 or 4
 I times a day.
 C In water, 3 or 4
 I times a day.
 C In water, 3 times
 l a day.
 C In honey, twice a
 l week.
 C In pills,  2 or 3
 I times a day.
  {3times a day, in de-
    coction of marsh-
    mallow root.
}
 f Diuretic,
 1  Balsamic
 }  and Ex
 v  pectorant

Stimulant.
lie, r

int. )
Tonic.


Tonic.

Tonic.

Tonic.

Tonic.

Tonic.

 C Vermifuge
 "l & Purgative
 C Diuretic &
 t Sedative.
   {Whites, Gleets,
    Clap,  Gravel,
    Cough.

 C Flatulence, Asthma,
 \  Gleets, old Coughs.
  {Ague, Indigestion,     O
    and general Weak-   ^
    ness.
 C Relaxation and
 I  Weakness.

In general Weakness.

Ague Hid  Weakness.

Ague and  Weakness.

 C Indigestion and        fc*j
 t  Heartburn.           fi
 C Worms,Costiveness,
 I  and Dropsy.
 C Irritation in Bladder,
 I  Frost Gland, &c.

 C Irritation in Bladder,   y.
 ?  Frost Gland, &c.     -a 
A CATALOGUE OF  MEDICINES, WITH THEIR  DOSES AND PROPERTIES.
MEDICINES.
Cajeput, Volatile,
  Liniment of -

Calomel  -  '-  -
Calomel
Canella Alva,     ?
  powdered- !'-'  5
Canella Alva
  Tincture

Camphor -
       ?
of  -   £
Camphor Julep -  -

Cardamom Seeds, ~)
  Tincture of  -  S
DOSES.
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PflKftONS.
{1 to 2 or 3   ")
 grains;  or,  I
2 to 5 grains. J
10 to 20 grains.
4 to 8 grains.

   1 to 2 tea-    >
   spoonsful.   )

2 to 4 grains. "m

 C 2 to 4 table-  >
 l spoonsful.   5

1 to 3 drachms.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
C 5 to 2 grains, }
I in syrup.    5
3 to 5 .grajns.
1 to 2 grains.


3 to 4 drachms.
WHAT TO  BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
To be rubbed over
 the part affected

In a pill, 2 or 3
 times a day.
:l
In powder**---mix )
 with molasses,  5
  In mint-water,
   3 times a day.
 C In water, 3 times ?
 I a day.          $

In a pill, twice a day.


3 times a day.

 C In water, 3 times
 I a day.
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
DISEASES  PROPER FOR.
Stimulating.


Alterative.




Purge.



Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Antispasmodic.
<  die and
 t Febrifuge

Stimulant.
 C Rheumatism, old
 I  Strains, &c.

 C Venereal Disease,
 I  Foul Ulcers, &c.

  Fevers;   Derange-
   ments of the Liver;
J  and a  general and
   active Purge, where
   the bodily  secre-
   tions are deranged.
 ^Indigestion and
 l  Flatulence.
 C Indigestion and
 I  Flatulence.
 C Whooping Cough,
 £  Convulsive Fits.
f"Antispasmo-"")   ("Nervous Fever
.11
   Whooping Cough,
   and Opiate.
5 Indigestion, Flatu-
l  lence, and Cramp.
3
£.
>
>
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W
o 
Cardamom Seeds,
  compound Tinc-
  ture   -   -   -
}
Castor, powdered  -


Castor, Tincture of


Castor Oil, common


Castor Oil, cold   }
   expressed -  -   3

Cascarilla Powder -

Cascarilla Tincture

Cascarilla, the vo->
   latile Tincture of 3

Catechu Tincture  -

Chalk, prepared

Camomile Flow-
   ers, powdered
2 to 4 drachms.


5 to 10 grains.


1 to 2 drachms.


 C From 2 to 3
 £ ounces.


Less quantity.


10 to 20  grains.

I to 3 drachms.

40 to 60  drops.



10 to  15  grains.

10 to 20 grains.
 to 2 tea-
spoonsful.
3 to 5 grains.
10 to 20 drops.
1 tea-spoon-
 ful to a table-
 spoonful.
1 tea-spoon-
 ful to a table-
 spoonful.
3 to 6 grains.

20 to 30 drops.



10 to 20 drops.

4 to 6 grains.

6 to 10 grains.
In water,  3 times }
 a day.          3

In camphorated ju
 lep, 3 times a day

In camphorated ju-7
 lep, 3 times a day. $
:}
fin any liquid ;  or"|
<  best given in    >
(_  mint-water.      J
Mint-water or coffee.

 C Mint-water,
 l 3 times a day.
 C In water, 3 times >
 I a day.          5
 5 In water, 3 times
 £ a day.
 C In mint-water,
 I 3 times a day.
 C In mint-water,
 l 4 times a day.
 C In mint-water, 2
 l or 3 times a day.
Stomachic.


Antispasmodic.


Antispasmodic.


Purgative.


Purge.


Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Astringent.

Astringent.

 C Stomachic& >
 £ Vermifuge. $
 C Flatulence, Cramp,
 I  and Indigestion.

 C Convulsive Fits, &
 \ Nervous Irritability.
   {Convulsive Fits,
    and all Nervous
    Irritability.
   {Cholic, Costiveness,
   or to assist other me-
    dicines to operate.
   {Cholic, Costiveness,
   or to assist other me-
   dicines  to operate.
 C Indigestion and
 I Wealt-ness.
 C Indigestion and
 I Weakness.
 C Gout, Flatulence,
 I Heartburn.
 C Chronic  Looseness
 l and Flooding.

Looseness or Acidity.

f Indigestion, Worms,
(Weakness of stomach- 
A CATALOGUE  OF MEDICINES,  WITH THEIR DOSES AND  PROPERTIES.
MEDICINES.
Camomile & Gin-
  ger, Tincture of
Chirayita Herb,
  Extract of
                    10 to 40 drops.

                    5 grains.

Chirayita, Infusion of 3 table-spoonsful.
Chirayita, Tinc-
  ture of
Cinnamon Powder

Cinnamon, Es-
  sence of  -  -   '
Cinnamon,Tinctureof
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
2 tea-spoonsful.

5 to 10 grains.

3 to 10 drops.

3 to 4 drachms.

10 to 20 grains.
Columbo Powder

Columbo, Tincture of|l  to 3 drachms.

                    15 to 20 grains.
Crab's Claws, pre-
  pared  -   - -
Cretaceous  Pow-
  der, combined
  with Opium -
5
10 to 20 grains.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
2 to 4 grains.

1 drop.

20 to 30 drops.

3 to 5 grains.

10 to 20 drops.

5 to 10 grains.


4 to 6 grains.
WHAT TO BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
5In
  In water,  3 or 4
   times a day.
 C In a pill, 2 or 3
 I times a day.
3 times a day.
 5 In water,  3 times }
 £ a day.          5
 C In water,  3 times }
 I a day.          $

In water.

In water.
  In mint-water,
   3 times a day.
  In mint-water,
   3 times a day.
  In mint-water, eve
   ry 3 or 4 hours.
     mint-water
   every 3 or 4
   hours.
1
fin mint-water,   *"]
<  every 3 or 4     I
1. hours.         J
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
DISEASES  PROPER FOR.
Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Stimulant.

Astringent.

Stomachic.

Stomachic.

Astringent.


Astringent.
 5 Gout, Cramp in the
 C Stomach.

Indigestion, &c.

Indigestion & Debility.

Indigestion, &c.

 C Indigestion,  Flatu-
 l lence, <fcc.
 C Flatulence, Cho-
 £ licky pains, <fec.
Looseness.
 C Indigestion, chronic
 £" Looseness, &c
 C Diseases of the
 (_ Stomach.
  Purging and Heart-
   burn.

 C Obstinate purging
 i and Dysentery.
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   Contrayerva Powder

,-i.  Contrayerva, com-?
£r*j   pound  -   -  -   $

   Cornel, round-leaf,
     Extract of

   Cornel, Alkaline of

   Cornel Essence,
     Salt of -   -   -

   Cornel, Tincture of

   Colchicum Seeds,  ~)
     Extract of   -   5

   Colchicum, Oxy-  ^
     mel of -  -  -  <
Colchicum Alkali,
  Tincture of  -
Colocyulh Pill,    ?
  Compound of   5
Colocynth Extract, £
  Compound of   $
Colocvnth Powder
20 to 40 grains.


30 to 40 grains.


5 to  10 grains.

5 to  10 grains.


5 to  8  grains.

 *; 2  to 3 tea-
 l spoonsful.

 I grain.


 2 tea-spoonsful.


 I  tea-spoonful.

 10 to 20 grains.

 10 to  15 grains.

 10 to  15 grains.
6 to 10 grains.


8 to 12 grains.


2 to 3 grains.
f Dissolved in
< Sherry wine
(^3 times ad
$ In water,     ?
I 3 times a day. $
ne, J>
ay. J
 C In water, every
 I  3 or 4 hours.
 fin mint-water,    "j
•<  every 3 or 4     >
 (_  hours.          J

In  pills, 3 times a day.

In  pills, 3 times a day.
fin water, 2 or 3  "J  f AntispasmoO
<  times during  the S-  <  die and Ex- >
[_  day.            J  (_ pectorant. J
4 to 8 grains.

4 to 6 grains.
In a pill, twice a day.

  In water, 2 or 3
    times during the
    day

In water, twice a day.

Occasionally, pills.

Occasionally, pills.

Occasionally.
Sudorific.

 C Sudorific  &'
 I Astringent.

Tonic.

Tonic.


Tonic.


Tonic.
 C Sedative &
 I Diuretic.
  Antispasmc
   die and E*
   pectorant.

Sedative.

Purgative.

Purgative.

Purgative.
 C Recent Colds and
 £ Rheumatism.

 C Recent Colds and
 I Rheumatism.

("Debility and Whites ;
|or called Fluor Albus.
("Debility and Whites;
tor called Fluor Albus.

Weakness and Whites.
Weakness and Whites.

 C Rheumatism, and in
 )  Gout.
Asthma.

 C Rheumatism and
 I Gout.

Costiveness.

Costiveness.

Costiveness
>
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b
B
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B
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B
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<1 
A  CATALOGUE  OF MEDICINES, WITH THEIR  DOSES  AND PROPERTIES.
MEDICINES.
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
Cream of Tartar  -  1 to 4 drachms.
 Cubebs, ground -  -

 Cubebs, Tincture of


 Dover's Powder



 Elixir of Vitriol



Epsom Salts   -   -

Foxglove Powder  -

Foxglove, Tincture
. of  -   -   *•   -
15 to 25 grains.

 C 2 to 3 tea-    }
 £ spoonsful.   3

10 to 20 grains.
10 to  12 drops.



4 to 8 drachms.

5 to 2 grains.


10 to 40 drops.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
20 to 30 grains.
3 to 6 grains.
3 to 5 drops.
1 drachm.
WHAT TO BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
{
Honey.everymor-"")  f Aperient,
 ning; or in warm I 4 Alterative
 water sweetened. J  [_ mild P
3 times  a day, in
 water.
3 times  a day, in?
 water.          3
In water.
 'In water;  say a"^
   wine-glass of wa-
   ter ; or mix so as >
   to just taste the
 ,_ acid.           J
C In water, or in
£  mint-water.
C Mint-water, twice )
I  a day.          3
f Decoction of liver-
<  wort, 3 or 4
(.  times a day.
)
 PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
nt,   "j   fin
ive,& I <  t;
urge. J   i a
Balsamic.

Balsamic.

  Sudorific &
   Anodyne.



Stomachic.
("Gentle Purge,")
\  and cooling. 3
 5 Diuretic &
 ^ Sedative.
Sedative.
DISEASES PROPER  FOR.
    flammations,Erup-
   tions  of  the Skin,
   and cooling Purge.
 C Whites, Gleet,  and
 I  Clap.
 C Whites, Gleet, and
 I  Clap.
 f Rheumatism,  recent
•< Colds, & to produce
 (_ Perspiration & sleep.
  Indigestion, Flatu-
   lence, Weakness of
   Stomach,  Night
   Sweats, Loss of
   Appetite,  &c.

Costiveness.

Dropsy.
Consumption, and
 Palpitation,
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Fumitory, Extract of

Ginger Powder -   -

Ginger Lozenges   -
Ginger, Tincture  of

Gum Guaiacum

Guaiacum, volatile >
  Tincture of  -   3

Hartshorn, Spirit of

Hartshorn, burnt
  Preparation of

Hedge Hyssop,
   Extract of-  -

Hedge Hyssop,
   Oxymel of  -
Hemlock, powdered

Hemlock, Extract of

Hiera Picra -   -   -
10 grains.

20 to 60 grains.

Three or four.
1 to 2 drachms.

5 to 15  grains.

1 to 3 drachms.

20 to 40 drops.

20 to 40 grains.


3 to 5 grains.


   2 to 3 tea-   }
    spoonsful.  3

2 to 3 grains.

2 to 3 grains.

 15 to 20 grains.
5 to 8 drops.

6 to 10 grains.


5 to 1 grain.
{'
5 tea-spoon-
 ful to 1 tea-
 spoonful.
1 grain.

1 grain.

4 to 8 grains.
In pills, twice a day.

Water, twice a day.

Twice a day.
Water, twice a day.

In pills, twice a day.

 C Honey and water, }
 I 3 times a day.   3
 C Honey and water,
 I 3 times a day.
 C Mint-water, twice
 £ a day.
  In mint-water or
   pill, twice a day

f Decoction of liver
<  wort, 3 or 4
(_ times a day.
C Mint-water, twice
"l a day.
C Mint-water, or in
I pills, twice a day.

Mint-water.
Stomachic.

Stimulant.

Stimulant.
Stimulant.
 C Stimulant & ?
 I Sudorific.  3
 C Stimulant & >
 I Sudorific.  3

Stimulant.

Astringent.


Sedative.


 C Sedative and")
 £ Expectorant, j

Sedative.

Sedative.

 C Purgative & 7
 I Stomachic. 3
Indigestion.
 CGout, Indigestion,
 I  and Flatulence.
Flatulence.
Flatulence.
 C Chronic Rheuma-
 l  tism and Gout.
 C Chronic Rheuma-
 "l  tism and Gout.
 C Hysterics, Conyul-
 l  sions, Heartburn.
 C Purging, Acidity,
 I  and Heartburn.
 f Pulmonary Con-
<  sumption, Asthma,
 L  and Cough.
 f Pulmonary Con-
<  sumption, Asthma,
 (_  and Cough.
 C Whooping Cough,
 I  and Cancer.
 C Whooping Cough,
 I  and Cancer.
 5 Costiveness and
 i  Flatulence.
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A CATALOGUE  OF MEDICINES, WITH THEIR DOSES AND  PROPERTIES.
MEDICINES.
Hiera Picra, Tinc-
  ture of -  -   -

Hoffman's Ano- .
  dyne Liquor  -

Iodine, Tincture of
Ipeoacuanha, Powder

Ipecacuanha, Wine of
Iron; see Steel.
Jalap Powder  -   -
Jalap, alkaline Ex- ^
  tract of   -  -   3
Jalap, Tincture of -
Kino, Gum, Tine
  ture of -  -   -
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
 2 to 4 drachms.


 30 to 40 drops.


 10 to 30 drops.


20 to 30 grains.

4 to  8 drachms.



20 to 30 grains.

10 to 15 grains.

2 to  4 drachms.

2 to  3 drachms.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
30 to 40 drops.
6 to 10 drops.
5 to 10 grains.

2 to 3 drachms.


4 to 6 grains.

3 to 5 grains.


15 to 20 drops.
WHAT TO  BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
:}
Water.


Water, twice a day.

 f Decoction of
•j marshmallowroot
 (^2 or 3 times a day

In water.

In water, warm.



In mint-water.

In pills, occasionally.

In mint-water.
  In mint-water, 3
   or 4 times a day
V
-I
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
   Purgative,  "
   Stomachic, (
   and Vermi- (
   fuge.

Antispasmodic.


Alterative.


Emetic.

Emetic.



Purgative.

Aperient.

Purgative.

Astringent.
DISEASES PROPER FOR.
 C Costiveness,  Flatu-
 C  lence, and Worms.

 Nervous Fever, Asth-
 . ma, and Hysterics.

Scrofula and Wen.

  If Ipecacuanha is gi-
   ven in small doses,
   it produces  sweat-
   ing ; and is valuable
 „_ in fevers


Costiveness.

Costiveness.

Costiveness.

Looseness.
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   Lavender,  com-   )
     pound Spirits of 3

*■ Jjobelia Inflata,
w    Extract  of   -
Lobelia, Tincture of
Lobelia, Ethereal
Tincture
lereal  >
of  -   S
  Lobelia-Inflata,
J""*    Oxysyrup of -

  Logwood, Decoc-
     tion of -   -. -
30 to 80 drops.


1 grain.
40 drops to 1 }
 tea-spoonful. 3

40 drops to a
 tea-spoonful.
1 to 3 tea-
 spoonsful.
            .}
A wine-glassful.
 to 2 tea-
spoonsful.
Logwood, Extract of ilO to 20 grains.

Lupuline, Tincture of <

Madder Powder.      10 to 60 grains.

Madder, Extract  of   10 to 20 grains.

Magnesia, compound 20 to 40 grains.
10 to 20 drops.
 C One-third of a
 £  tea-spoonful.

I table-spoonful.

3 to 4 grains.
4 to 10 grains.

5 to 10 grains.'
In water.
In a pill, twice a day.


 C In water, 2 or 3  >
 £ times a day.     3

 C In water, 2 or 3
 £ times a day.

 C In water, 2 or 3
 I tii
times a day.
I  hi
     water, 3 or 4
    times a day.
 ["In cinnamon-water,")
 [_ 3 times a day.     3
 C In water, 3 times }
 l  a day.*          3
 C Mint-water,  2  or
 £  3 times a day.
   Mint-water,  2  or
    3 times a day.
I C In common  or in
| £  mint-water.
Cordial.

 f Antispasmo
■j  die & Ex
 (_ pectorant
 f Antispasmo-
<  die ArEx
 (_ pectorant
 f Antispasmo
<  die & Ex-
 (_ pectorant.
 fAntispasmo-
-j  die & Ex
 (_ pectorant

Astringent.

Astringent.

Stomachic.

Deobstruent.

 C Deobstruent ">
 l and Tonic. 3

Absorbents
 :1
10-"]
t. J
  }
r}
 C Fainting, or Low-
 £ ness of Spirits.

 C Asthma, Winter
 (_ Cough.

 C Asthma*, Winter
 l Cough. .

 C Asthma, Winter
 £   Cough.

 C Whooping Cough &
 I Winter Cough.

 C Looseness and
 I Dysentery.
 C Looseness and
 I Dysentery.

Nervous Indigestion.

 C Chlorosis or Green
 "l Sickness.
 C Chlorosis and
 "l Scrofula.
 C Heartburn and
 I Acidity.
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A CATALOGUE OF MEDICINES,-WITH  THEIR DOSES AND  PROPERTIES.
MEDICINES.
 iMagnesia, calcined


 Manna   -  -  -  ■


 Mercurial  Pill,  or
   Blue Pill -  -

 Mistletpe  Powder  -

 Mithridate  -  -  -

 Musk.....
      *■
 Musk Seeds, Tinc-
   ture of - -  -

 Muriatic Acid  -   -
■A
 Myrrh Powder -   -

 Myrrh, Tincture of
DOSES.
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
 20 to 40 grains.


 3  to 6 drachms.


 6  to 12 grains.


 20 to 60 grains.

 15 to 20 grains.

 5 to 10 grains.

2 to 3 spoonsful.

 10 to 30  drops.

5 to 10 grains.

 1 to 2 drachms.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
WHAT  TO BE TAKEN
IN,  AND HOW OFTEN.
 5 to 10 grains.


 1 to 2 drachms.


 2 to 4 grains.


 8 to 12 grains.

 5 to 10 grains.

 2 to 5 grains.




3 to 6 drops.

2 to 4 grains.

 10 to 15 drops.
CIn common or in?
I  oiint-water.     3
Mint-water or tea.
In pills, twice a day.
  Mint-water,  *•>
   3 times a day.
  Mint-water,
   3 times a day.
  Mint-water,
   3 times a day.
C In camphorated
I julep.
C Well diluted in wa-")
l  ter, twice a day.  3
C Mint-water, twice >
l  a day.          3
C In water, 2 or 3
<f  times a day.
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
Absorbent.


Gentle Purge.


Alterative.


Tonic.

Astringent.

Antispasmodic.

Nervine.

Alterative.

Deobstruent.

Deobstruent.
DISEASES PROPER  FOR.
3 Heartburn and
I  Acidity.
   ostiveness; & smi-
    le medicine for
   children.
    Venereal Disease,
       in Diseases of
      Liver.
fCos
i  P*<
i  ch
fin Ven<
<  and ii
L  the Li
Epileptic Fits.

 C In Purging and
 (_ Dysentery.
 C Convulsions,Locked
 I Jaw, and Spasms.
 C Local or general
 I Nervousness.
 C Scrofula, Cutaneous
 I Eruptions.
 5 Green Sickness and
 I Weakness.
 C Green Sickness and
 l Weakness.
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Myrrh, Emulsion of


Natron, prepared  -

Natron, carbonated.

Nitre,  Powder,    ?
  purified   -  -  3


Nitre,  sweet Spirit of



Nitric Acid  -   -  -



Nutmeg, Spirit of  -

Opiate Confection  -

 Opium, purified

 Opium, Tincture   >
   of,  or Laudanum 3
M
  2 to 3 table-
   spoonsful

5 to  10 grains.

20 to 40 grains.


5 to 20 grains.


20 to 60 drops.



12 to 30 drops.



4 to 6 drachms.

10 to 20 grains.

 1 to 2 grains.

 10 to 35 drops.
2 to 3 drachms.


2 to 3 grains.

8 to 10 grains.


2 to 4 grains.


6 to 12 drops.



4 to 6 drops.



1 to 2 drachms.

3 to 6 grains.



3 to 5 drops.
In water, 2 or 3
 times a day.

In mint-water, 2
 or 3 times a day.
\
I  tn

<  tn
 times a day.
   water,  2 or 3
 times a day,  or
 oftener.
In water, at plea-
 sure,  or  2 or 3
 times a day.
Mix well in water,'
 so as  to make it
 pleasantly  acid;
 2  or  3 times a
 day.
   water, 2 or 3
 times a day.
i  ti
A bolus.

A pill.

In water.
{Deobutrucnt")   f
 and Ex-    I ^
 pectorant. J   ^
Alterative.

Alterative.

 C Diuretic and
 I Febrifuge.

 C Diuretic and?
 I Febrifuge. 3



Tonic.
  Carminative
   and Opiate.

Anodyne.

Anodyne.
  Green Sickness,
   Weakness, & long-
   standing Cough.
C Scrofula, and Heart-
£  burn.
Heartburn.

  {Strangury,  Heat of
   Urine, Fevers.—
   Cooling.
 f Strangury,  Heat of
<  Urine, Fevers.—
 L Cooling.
Diabetes and Scrofula.
C Flatulence, Cramp
l  in the Stomach.
Restlessness, acute
 Pains, & Asthma.
To produce sleep
 when in pain.
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A CATALOGUE  OF MEDICINES,  WITH  THEIR DOSES  AND PROPERTIES.
MEDICINES.
Oyster shells, pre-
  pared  -  -   -

Paregoric, Elixir

Peppermint,  Es-
  sence of  -   -
Poppies,  (white,)
  Extract of-   -

Poppies, Syrup of -

Quassia, Tincture of

Rhatany Powder  -

Rhatany Tincture -

Rhatany, Aromatic ?
  Tincture of  -  3
Rhatany,  Com-  ?
 pound Tincture of 3
Rhubarb Powder  -
DOSES.
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
10 to 20 grains.


1 to 2 drachms.


3 to 15 drops.

5 to 10 grains.

2 to 4 drachms.

30 to 60 drops.

10 to 40 grains.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to 4 drachms.

20 to 30 grains.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
5 to 8 grains.


15 to 20 drops.


1 to 2 drops.

1 to 2 grains.

1 tea-spoonful.

10 to 12 drops.

5 to 8 grains.

20 to 30 drops.

20 to 30 drops.

20 to 30 drops.

5 to 8 grains.
In mint water,  4
 times a day.
In water.
WHAT TO  BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
DISEASES  PROPER FOR.
In water.
In a pill.
In water.
In ginger tea, 2 or ~)
 3 times a day.  3
Mint-water, every }
   three hours.
  Mint-water,
   3 times a day.
  Mint-water,
   3 times a day.
 C Mint-water,
 \  3 times a day.
In  mint-water.
C Absorbent& >
I  Astringent. 5

Anodyne.
Carminative.

Anodyne.

Anodyne.

Stomachic.

Tonic.

Stomachic.

 C Stomachic   >
 I  & Cordial. 3
 C Stomachic   >
 I  & Cordial. 3
Gentle Purge.
C Looseness,  acid  in
£  the stomach, &c.
f Cough, Asthma, and
-<  Cramp,  or Weak-
ly  nessof the stomach.
C Cholicky pains and
I  Flatulence.
C Spasms, acute Pain,
£  and Cough.
C Spasms, acute Pain,
"l  and Cough.
 3 Indigestion and Fla-
 £  tulency.  , -  .

Ague and Diabetes.

 C Indigestion, Relaxa-
 \ tion, and Whites.
 C Indigestion, Relaxa-
 \ tion, and Whites.
 C Indigestion, Relaxa-
 \ tion, and Whites.
For Costiveness.
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Rhubarb Tincture
Rhubarb, Bitter
  Tincture of  -
Rhubarb Lozenges
  with ginger  -
Rochelle Salt   -   -
Roses, Infusion of -
Roses, Conserve of
Saffron, Tincture of
Saffron, Syrup of  -
Salts, Glauber's
Salts, Epsom, purified

Salts, Harrodsburg}
   (in Kentucky)   3
Salts, Cheltenham -
Salt Poly crest  -  -
Salts of Tartar -  -
Salts of Wormwood
4 to 8 drachms.

2 to 3 drachms.

Two to three.

6 to 12 drachms.
1 to 2 ounces.

1 to 2 drachms.
1 to 2 drachms.
2 to 3 drachms.
6 to 12 drachms.
6 to 8 drachms.

6 to 10 drachms.

6 to 12 drachms.
1 to 2 drachms.
5 to 8 grains.
5 to 8 grains.
1 to 2 drachms.
10 to 40 drops.

One.

2 to 4 drachms.
3 to 4 drachms.

5 drachm.
30 to 40 drops.
A tea-spoonful.
1 to 2 drachms.
1 to 2 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.
1 to 2 drachms.
30 to 40 grains.
1 to 4 grains.
1 to 4 grains.
In Mint-water.

Water, twice a day.

Twice a day.

In water.
2 or 3 times a day.

2 or 3 times a day.
tn water.
In water.
In mint-water.
 5 In  mint-water, or >
 (_ plain water.     3

In water.

In water.
In mint-water.
In mint-water.
In mint-water.
 C Purge  and
 £ Carminative
 C Aperient &
 I Stomachic

Stomachic.
3
 Aperient.
 C Stomachic &
 I  Astringent.
 C Stomachic &
 £  Pectoral.
 Cordial.
 Cordial.
 Purgative.
 Purgative.

 Purgative.

 Purgative.
 Cooling Purge.
Alkaline.
Alkaline.
  C Costiveness and
  I Cholic.
  C Indigestion and Fla-
  l tulence.
  f Indigestion, Flam-
 's  lence,  Weakness,
  I &?•
 Costiveness.
  C Indigestion,  Flood-
  £ ing, &c.
 Cough.
 Lowness of Spirits.
 Lowness of Spirits.
 Costiveness, &c.
 Costiveness, &c.
 ["Costiveness; Flush-
 -< ings of the  Face;
 (_ Female complaints.
Costiveness, &c.
Feverish Heat.
Heartburn & Rickets.
Heartburn & Rickets.
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MEDICINES.
Sarsaparilla Powder

Sarsaparilla, Com-}
 pound decoction of 3

Scammony Powder
Scammony,  Com-
  pound powder of
Scammony,  Com
  pound, with Ca
  lomel -  ■
   ADULTS OR   ,  CHILDREN FROM
GROWN PERSONS.   2 TO 4 YEARS.
:}
Senna, Infusion of -



Senna, Tincture of-
Soluble Tartar -  -
Spermaceti Powder
 20 to 60 grains.


 3  to 4 ounces.


 10 to 20 grains.


 15 to 30 grains.


 15 to 25 grains.




2 to 3 ounces.
6 to 12 drachms.
4 to 6 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.
5 to 10 grains.


I to 2 ounces.


2 to 4 grains.

5 to 6 grains.


5 to 6 grains.




2 to 3 drachms.
2 to 3 drachms.
1 to 2 drachms.
20 to 30 grains.
WHAT TO BE TAKEN
IN, AND  HOW OFTEN.
 3 In  mint-water, 2 }
 I or 3 times a day. 3

3 or 4 times a day.

 C In  mint-water, 3 >
 I or 4 times a day. 3
 C In  mint-water, 3 >
 £ or 4 times a day. 3

In honey.
Occasionally.
In water.
In mint-water.
 C Honey, 3  or  4
 I times a day.
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
Alterative.
Alterative.

 C Strong Pur-
 l gative.
 C Strong Pur-
 £ gative.
  {Strong PurO
   gative and  [■
   Vermifuge. J
  Purgative, "")
   but mostly
   used  with
   manna;
   alone,  apt
   to gripe.
Purgative.
Purgative.
Demulcent.
DISEASES  PROPER FOR.
 3 Scrofula and all irn-
 l purities of the blood.
 f Venereal diseases, &
-<  Scrofula, and all im-
 (_ purities of theblood.

Obstinate Costiveness.

Obstinate Costiveness.

 C Obstinate   Costive-
 l ness and Worms.
Costiveness   and
 Worms.
Costiveness & Cholic.
Costiveness and Piles.
Recent Cough. 
Spirit Minderenuss
Spirit  of  Vitriol, ^
  Sweet -  -   -   3
Spirit of Nitre, Sweet

Spirit Sal Ammoniac

Spirit Sal Volatile -

Spirit Sal Volatile,}
   Fetid -  -  -  3
Syrup  of  White >
   Poppies  -  -  3
Syrup Buckthorn -

Syrup of Ginger  -

Sponge, Burnt  -  -
Sponge, Lozenges  ofiOne to three

 Squill Powder  -  -  1 to 2 grains.

 Squill, Oxymel of  -  2 to 4 drachms
2 to 4 drachms.



20 to 40 drops.


20 to 60 drops.

15 to 30 drops.

20 to 40 drops.

20 to 40 drops.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to 3 drachms.

20 to 30 grains.
1 to 2 drachms.


6 to 12 drops.


6 to 12 drops.

4 to 8 drops.

6 to 10 drops.

6 to 10 drops.

1 tea-spoonful.

1 to 2 drachms.

1 drachm.

10 to  15 grains.
One to two.

5 to 1 grain.

I drachm.
C Mint-water,  3 or)
£  4 times a day.   3

  In  mint-water,  3 ~)
   or 4 times a day. 3
In water.

In water.

In water.

In water.

2 or 3 times a day.

In mint-water.

Water.

Honey, twice a day.
Twice a day.

In a pill, twice a day.

 C In  mint-water,   }
 I  twice a day.     3
1
C Sudorific  &
£  Cooling.
["Antispas-
   modic and
   Carmina-
   tive.
 Diuretic and
   Febrifuge.
Stimulant.

Stimulant.

Stimulant.

Anodyne.

Strong Cathartic.

Carminative.

Alterative.
Alterative.
 C Expectorant ")
 ( &, Diuretic, j
 3 Expectorant ")
 I & Diuretic, j
 f Recent Cough, In-
 }.  flammatory Fever,
 (^ Pleurisy.

 3 Nervous  Debility,
 £ Flatulence.

 C Strangury,  Gravel,
 £ and Fevers.
 C Hysterics and Faint-
 l ing Fits.
 C Hysterics and Faint-
 £ ing Fits.
 3 Hysterics and Faint-
 "l ing Fits.
 C Cough,Restlessness,
 l Irritation,and Fever.
Costiveness.
  Flatulence,  Cramp
   in the Stomach.
Scrofula.
Wen.
 C Dropsy,   Asthma,
 I Chronic Cough.
 C Dropsy,   Asthma,
 I  Chronic Cough.
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Squill, Tincture of-


Squill, Lozenges of

Steel,  Muriated
  Tincture of  -

Steel, Wine of -

Steel, Salt of  -

Steel, Prepared -
Steel, Red Sulphate of|3 to 12 drops
Strychnine  -   -  -


Sulphate of Quinine


Sulphur, Flowers of
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PEKSONS.
15 to 30 drops.


Three to six.


10 to 30 drops.

3 to 6 drachms.

1 to 3 grains.

10 to 40 grains.
| to | grain.


2 to 8 grains.

1 to 2 drachms.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
6 to 10 drops.


One to two.


3 to 6 drops.

1 to 2 drachms.

2 to 1 grain.

2 to 4 grains.

1 to 2 drops.
10 to 20 grains.
WHAT TO  BE TAKEN

IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
  Mint-water, twice ~)
   a day.          3

3 or 4 times a day.


Water, twice a day.

Water, twice a day.

Water, twice a day.

In honey, twice a  day,

In water, twice a day.


In pill, twice a day.

 CIn a pill,  3 or 4)
 £ times a day.    3

In honey, once a day.
PROPERTIES

OR EFFECTS.
3 Expectorant ")
£ &, Diuretic. 3
DISEASES  PROPER FOR.
3 Dropsy,  Asthma,
                  Chronic Cough.

                I ^"w- Astfh7' &
I  & Diuretic. M  °ouf.ha °f  lonS
  ■              I_ standing.
                3 Indigestion, Rickets,
                I Worms, &c.
                C Indigestion, Rickets,
                I Worms, &c.
                C Indigestion, Rickets,
                I Worms, &c.
                C Indigestion, Rickets,
                I Worms, &c.
                C Indigestion, Rickets,
                £ Worms, &c.
                3 Nerves,   Deafness,
                I Blindness, & Palsy!!
                C Ague, and  a general
                I debility.
                3 Diseases of the Skin,
                £ Piles and Worms.
Tonic.

Tonic.

Tonic.

Tonic.

Tonic.

 3 Nervous
 £  Stimulant.

Tonic.

 C Alterative &
 I  Purge. 
   Sulphur, Milk of


»tj Tartar Emetic  -


   Tiii PO\vder -  *

   Tincture of Aloes

   Tincture of Aloes,
     Compound  -
   Tincture  of  Asa-
i—   foetida -  -  -
to
   Tincture  of Peru-
     vian Bark -  -

   Tincture  of Hux-
     arn's Bark

   TiretureBark,Vo-;
     latile   ...

   Tincture  Benzoin
     Compound

   Tincture  Buchu
      Leaves   -  -
1 to 2 drachms.


1 to 6 grains.


20 to 40 grains.

3 to 6 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.

30 to 60 drops.


2 to 4 drachms.


2 to 4 drachms.

 I to 2 drachms.

 20 to 40 drops.


 2 to 3 tea-spoonsful-
10 to 20 grains.


I to i grain.


10 to 15 grains.

1 to 2 drachms.




8 to  12 drops.


40 to 60 drops


40 to 60 drops.

10 to 20 drops.

6 to 8 drops.
In honey, once a day.


In WaTm water.


Honey> every morning,

In water.

  Water,2 or 3 times £
   a day.          3

In water, twice a day.

 C In  mint-water, 3 ?
 I times a day.     3
 3 In  mint-water, 3 >
 I times a day.     3
 3 In  mint-water, 3?
 (_ times a day.     3

In honey.

  Tn  decoction  of"
   marshmallow
   root, 3  times a
   day.
 C Alterative &
 £ Purge.
 ["Emetic; and"*|
J  in a  small 1
 |  dose a Su- j
 l_ dorific.    J
Vermifuge.

Purgative.

Deobstruent.

Antispasmodic.


Stomachic.

 3 Stomachic   >
 I & Cordial. 3
 3 Stomachic   ?
 I & Cordial. 3

Stimulant, &c.
Anti-irritant, &'c,
C Diseases of the Skin,
{  Piles and Worms.

C Bilious Diseases, &
£ to produce sweating.
For Worms.
and
 3 Costiveness
 I  Worms.
 C Green Sickness and
 I  Weakness.
 C Hysterics, Asthma,
 I  Whooping Cough.
 C Indigestion,  Weak-
 l  ness, Sic.

 $ Indigestion,
 £  ness, Sic.
 C Indigestion,
 I  ness, &c.

Flatulence & Asthma.


 C Irritation of the blad-
 l  der,  Sic.
         ►
         B*
         >
         B
         O
         e
         B
         B
         O
         B

         B
Weak-   b
Weak-
oo
00 
A CATALOGUE OF  MEDICINES, WITH THEIR  DOSES AND  PROPERTIES.
or
o
>

►
B
O
B
B
B
O
B

B
0
MEDICINES.
Tincture of Can-
  tharides  -  -
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
ar-")
im- I 2 to
Tincture  of Car
   damoms  -   -
Tincture  of Car
   damoms,  Com
   pound -
Tincture of Casca-)
   rilla   ---   5

Tincture of Catechu


Tincture of Columbo
Tincture of  Gen-
i  tian, Compound

Tincture of  Gum
  Guaiacum -  -
Tincture of  Gum")
  Guaiacum, Vola- >
  tile ----  J
I 10 to 30 drops.


  2 to 3 drachms.


      4 drachms.
1 to 3 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.


1 to 3 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.


30 to 60 drops.


1 to 3 drachms.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
6 to 8 drops.


Half a drachm.


Half a drachm.


20 to 30 drops.

10 to 20 drops.

10 to 20 drops.

12 to 30 drops.


5 to 6 drops.



   - m ''■'*:
WHAT TO  BE TAKEN
IN, AND HOW OFTEN.
}
  {Barley water, or
   in gruel, twice a
   day.

In camomile tea.


In camomile tea.


In water.

 C Mint-water,   3
 \ times a day.
 C Mint-water,   3  £
 \ times a day.    3
 C In water,  3 times >
 \ a day.         3

 3 In honey, twice a \
 X day.           3

  In water,  twice a
   day.
 PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
Diuretic.


Stomachic.


Stomachic.


Stomachic.

 C Astringent &">
 \ Stomachic. 3

Stomachic.

Stomachic.


Stimulant.

 3 Stimulant Si
 \ Sudorific.
DISEASES  PROPER FOR.
Whooping Cough.

 C Indigestion and Fla-
 \ tulence.

 C Indigestion and Fla-
 \ tulence.

 C Indigestion and Fla-
 \ tulence.
 C Purging and Relaxa-
 \ tion.

 C Indigestion & Weak-
 \ ness.
 3 Indigestion and Fla-
 \ tulence.

 3 Indigestion, Gleets,
 I Whites, &c.

 C Indigestion,  Rheu-
 "l matism, &c. 
Tincture Henbane

Tincture of Hops

Tincture of Muria-
  ted Iron   -   -

Tincture of Jalap

Tincture of Lactu-
  carium -   -   -
Tincture Lavender,
  Compound

Tincture Myrrh

Tincture Opium

Tincture Opium,
  Acetic -   -   -
Tincture Rhatany,
  Root  -   -   -
Tincture Rhatany,
  Aromatic -   -
•Tincture Rhatany,
  Compound
Tolu, Tincture of
20 to 60 drops.

1 to 2 drachms.

10 to 30 drops.


2 to 4 drachms.


10 to 40 drops.

30 to 80 drops.

1 to 2 drachms.

10 to 30 drops.

20 to 40 drops.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to 4 drachms.

2 to  4 drachms.

30 to 60 drops.
3 to 5 drops.



3 to 6 drops.


1 drachm.




10 to 20 drops.

10 to 15 drops.

3 to 5 drops.

6 to 8 drops.

20 to 30 drops.

20 to 30 drops.

20 to 30 drops.
}
In mint-water.

Water, 3 times a day.
 ("Well  diluted   in
<  water,  twice  a
 I day.

In mint-water.


In mint-water.

In water.

 C Water, 2  or  3
 I times a day.

In water.

In mint-water.

Water, 3 times a day.

Water, 3 times a day.

Water, 3 times a day.

Water, sugar, or honey
Anodyne.

Stomachic.

Tonic.

 C Brisk  Pur-
 l gative.

Anodyne.

Cordial.

Strengthening.

Anodyne.

Anodyne.

Stomachic.

 C Stomachic
 £ .& Cordial.
 3 Stomachic   }
 I Si Cordial. 3
Pectoral.
 3 Spasms,acute Pains,
 I  Sic.

Nervous Indigestion.

 3 Indigestion, Rickets,
 I  and Worms.

Obstinate Costiveness.

 3 Spasms, acute Pains,
 I  Sic.
 C Lowness of Spirits,
 I  Fainting.
 C Green  Sickness,
 l  Debility, Sic.
 3 Spasms, acute Pains,
 I  Sic.
 C Spasms,   Cough,
 I  Asthma, Sic.
 C Indigestion and  Re-
 l  laxation.
 3 Indigestion and  Re-
 £  laxation.
 3 Indigestion and  Re-
 l  laxation.
Chronic Cough.
>
B
>
B
O
0
B
B
O
B

B
0
B
Hi
00
CO 
A CATALOGUE  OF MEDICINES, WITH  THEIR DOSES AND  PROPERTIES.
_ MEDICINES.
                    2 to 4 grains.
                    10 to 15 grains.
                    2 to 3 drachms.
                    15 to 20 drops.
                    10 to 15 grains.
                    20 to 30 grains.
                    I to 3 drachms.
                    40 to 80 drops.
                    10 to 12 drops.
Vitriolic Acid diluted!8 to 15 drops.
Tobacco, Extract of
Turpentine, Venice
Lenitive, Electuary
Turpentine, Spirits of
Turpentine, Ohio  -
Valerian Powder   -
Valerian, Tincture,-
Valerian,  Volatile >
  Tincture of -   3
Vitriol, Acid Elixir }
  of  -   ---   J
   ADULTS OR
GROWN PERSONS.
CHILDREN FROM
 2 TO 4 YEARS.
WHAT  TO BE TAKEN
IN,  AND HOW OFTEN.
Wormwood, Con-?  .  .  0 ,   ,
         c        >  I  to 2 drachms.
  serve of  -  -  3
Wormwood, Salt of  5  to 8 grains.
Half a grain.
I to 1 drachm.
6 to 8 grains.
10 to 40 drops.
10 to 15 drops.
3 to 5 drops.
4 drops.
k to 1 drachm
1 to 4 grains.
In a pill, twice a day.
In honey, twice a day.
Occasionally.
In honey, twice a day.
In a pill, twice a day.
  In  mint-water,   ~)
    twice a day.     3
In water, 3 times a day,
In water, 3 times a day,
.3 In  camomile tea, }
 £  twice a day.     3
  In  camomile tea,
    twice a day.
Twice a day.
In mint-water.
PROPERTIES
OR EFFECTS.
DISEASES PROPER  FOR.
Anodyne.
Diuretic, &c.
Gentle Aperient,
Diuretic, &c.
Diuretic.
Antinervous.
Antinervous.
Antinervous.
Stomachic.
Stomachic.
 3 Stomachic &")
 I  Vermifuge. 3
I Alkaline.
Whooping Cough.
 3 Gleet, Fluor Albus,
 I Whites, or Gravel.
Costiveness.
 C Gleet, Gravel, Rheu-
 l matism, Si Worms.
 'C Gleet, Gravel, and
 I Rheumatism.
 3 Nervous  Headach,
 I Sic.
 3 Nervous  Headach,
 I Sic.
 3Lowness of Spirits,
 I Sic.
 3 Indigestion,   Flatu-
 l lence, Si Relaxation.
 C Indigestion,   Flatu-
 £ lence, & Relaxation.
 C Indigestion, Worms,
 £  Sic.
 Heartburn, Rickets.
00
CO
to
0
►
B
B
o
o
B
B
O
B
3
B
0 
Wine, Antimonial
Wine of Colchicum
  Seeds  -   -   -
Wine  of  Colchi-
  cum, Alkaline
Wine of Ipecacuanha

Wine of Rhubarb

Wine of Steel  -
4 to 8 drachms.

20 to 60 drops.

1 tea-spoonful.

4 to 8 drachms.

6 to 12 drachms.

3 to 6 drachms.
1 to 2 drachms.
2 to 3 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.

1 to 2 drachms.
In water.
 C In  mint-water,
 X twice a day.
 C In  mint-water,
 \ twice a day.
In water.

In mint-water.
Emetic.

Sedative.

Sedative.

Emetic.

Aperient.

Tonic.
Rheumatism & Gout.

Rheumatism Si Gout.
C Costiveness & Indi-
l gestion.   ,
C Debility,GreenSick-
\ ness, and Whites.
        Mint Water, so often mentioned in this table, is made by dropping a few drops of Essence  of Peppermint
into water, and is designed to destroy the unpleasant taste of the medicine.
***
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