Part 68

A Quarter of an Ounce of Smalt may also be mixed exactly with two Ounces of Butter or Ointment of Lead, to be used occasionally instead of the Plaister.

No. 47.

Take one Ounce of Sedlitz, or for want of that, as much Epsom Salt, and two Ounces of Tamarinds: pour upon them eight Ounces of boiling Water, stirring them about to dissolve the Tamarinds. Strain it off; and divide it into two equal Draughts, to be given at the Interval of Half an Hour between the first and last.

No. 48.

Take of Sydenham's Liquid Laudanum eighty Drops; of Bawm Water two Ounces and a half. If the first, or the second, Dose stops or considerably lessens the Vomiting, this Medicine should not be further repeated.

The medical Editor at Lyons justly notes here, that these eighty Drops are a very strong Dose of liquid Laudanum; adding that it is scarcely ever given at Lyons in a greater Dose than thirty Drops; and recommending a Spoonful of Syrup of Lemon-peel to be given with it--But we must observe here in answer to this Note, that when Dr. Tissot directs this Mixture in the Iliac Passion Sec. 318, to appease the Vomitings, Art. 3, he orders but one spoonful of this Mixture to be taken at once, and an Interval of two Hours to be observed between the first and second Repetition, which reduces each Dose to sixteen Drops, and which is not to be repeated without Necessity.

No. 49.

Dissolve three Ounces of Manna and twenty Grains of Nitre in twenty Ounces, or six Glasses, of sweet Whey.

No. 50.

To two Ounces of Syrup of Diacodium, or white Poppy Heads, add an equal Weight of Elder Flower Water, or, for want of it, of Spring Water.

No. 51.

Directs nothing but a Drachm of Rhubarb in Powder.

No. 52.

Take of Sulphur vivum, or of Flower of Brimstone, one Ounce; of Sal Ammoniac, one Drachm; of fresh Hogs Lard, two Ounces; and mix the whole very well in a Mortar.

No. 53.

Take two Drachms of crude Antimony and as much Nitre, both finely powdered and very well mixed; dividing the whole into eight equal Doses.

This Medicine, which often occasions Cholics in some Persons of a weakly Stomach, is attended with no such Inconvenience in strong Country People; and has been effectual in some Disorders of the Skin, which have baffled other Medicines--The Remainder of this Note observes the great Efficacy of Antimony in promoting Perspiration, and the extraordinary Benefit it is of to Horses in different Cases.

No. 54.

Take of Filings of Iron, not the least rusty, and of Sugar, each one Ounce; of Aniseeds Powdered, half an Ounce. After rubbing then very well together, divide the Powder into twenty-four equal Portions; one of which is to be taken three times a Day an Hour before eating.

The Prescriptions No. 54, 55, 56, are calculated against Distempers which arise from Obstructions, and a Stoppage of the monthly Discharges; which No. 55 is more particularly intended to remove; those of 54 and 56 are most convenient, either when the Suppression does not exist, or is not to be much regarded, if it does. This Medicine may be rendered less unpalatable for Persons in easy Circumstances, by adding as much Cinamon instead of Aniseeds; and though the Quantity of Iron be small, it may be sufficient, if given early in the Complaint; one, or at the most, two of these Doses daily, being sufficient for a very young Maiden.

No. 55.

Take of Filings of sound Iron two Ounces; of Leaves of Rue, and of white Hoar-hound one Pugil each; of black Hellebore Root, one Quarter of an Ounce, and infuse the whole in three Pints of Wine in the Manner already directed, No. 43. The Dose of this is one small Cup three times a Day, an Hour before eating.

I chuse to repeat here, the more strongly to inculcate so important a Point, that in Women who have long been ill and languid, our Endeavours must be directed towards the restoring of the Patient's Health and Strength, and not to forcing down the monthly Discharges, which is a very pernicious Practice. These will return of Course, if the Patient is of a proper Age, as she grows better. Their Return succeeds the Return of her Health, and should not, very often cannot, precede it.

No. 56.

Take two Ounces of Filings of Iron; of Rue Leaves and Aniseed powdered, each half an Ounce. Add to them a sufficient Quantity of Honey to make an Electuary of a good Consistence. The Dose is a Quarter of an Ounce three times daily.

No. 57.

Take of the Extract of the stinking Hemlock, with the purple spotted Stalk, one Ounce. Form it into Pills weighing two Grains each; adding as much of the Powder of dry Hemlock Leaves, as the Pills will easily take up. Begin the Use of this Medicine by giving one Pill Night and Morning. Some Patients have been so familiarized to it, as to take at length Half an Ounce daily.

Our learned and candid Author has a very long Note in this Place, strongly in Favour of Storck's Extract of Hemlock, in which it is evident he credits the greater Part of the Cures affirmed by Dr. Storck to have been effected by it. He says he made some himself, but not of the right Hemlock, which we think it very difficult to mistake, from its peculiar rank fetid Smell, and its purple spotted Stalk. After first taking this himself, he found it mitigated the Pain of Cancers, but did not cure them. But then addressing himself to Dr. Storck, and exactly following his Directions in making it, he took of Dr. Storck's Extract, and of his own, which exactly resembled each other, to the Quantity of a Drachm and a half daily; and finding his Health not in the least impaired by it, he then gave it to several Patients, curing many scrophulous and cancerous Cases, and mitigating others, which he supposes were incurable. So that he seems fully persuaded Dr. Storck's Extract is always innocent [which in Fact, except in a very few Instances, none of which were fatal, it has been] and he thinks it a Specific in many Cases, to which nothing can be substituted as an equivalent Remedy; that it should be taken with entire Confidence, and that it would be absurd to neglect its Continuance.