Take of fresh sarsaparilla root, sliced and bruised, two ounces; shavings of guaiacum wood, one ounce. Boil over a slow fire, in three quarts of water, to one; adding towards the end, half an ounce of sassafras wood, and three drachms of liquorice. Strain the decoction.
This may either be employed as an assistant to a course of mercurial alteratives, or taken after the mercury has been used for some time. It strengthens the stomach, and restores flesh and vigour to habits emaciated by the venereal disease. It may also be taken in the rheumatism, and cutaneous disorders proceeding from foulness of the blood and juices. For all these intentions it is greatly preferable to the Decoction of Woods.
This decoction may be taken, from a pint and a half to two quarts in the day.
The following decoction is said to be similar to that used by Kennedy, in the cure of the venereal disease, and may supply the place of Lisbon diet drink:
Take of sarsaparilla, three ounces; liquorice and mezereon root, of each half an ounce; shavings of guaiacum and sassafras wood, of each one ounce; crude antimony, powdered, an ounce and a half. Infuse these ingredients in eight pints of boiling water for twenty-four hours, then boil them till one half of the water is consumed; afterwards strain the decoction.
This decoction may be used in the same manner as the preceding.
Take of seneka rattle-snake root, one ounce; water, a pint and a half. Boil to one pint, and strain.
This decoction is recommended in the pleurisy, dropsy, rheumatism, and some obstinate disorders of the skin. The dose is two ounces, three or four times a-day, or oftner, if the stomach will bear it.
Take of the purest chalk, in powder, two ounces; gum arabic, half an ounce; water, three pints. Boil to one quart, and strain the decoction.
This is a proper drink in acute diseases, attended with, or inclining to, a looseness, and where acidities abound in the stomach or bowels. It is peculiarly proper for children when afflicted with sourness of the stomach, and for persons who are subject to the heart-burn. It may be sweetened with sugar, as it is used, and two or three ounces of simple cinnamon-water added to it.
An ounce of powdered chalk, mixed with two pints of water, will occasionally supply the place of this decoction, and also of the chalk julep.
This is a proper form for exhibiting such medicines as are intended to operate immediately, and which do not need to be frequently repeated; as purges, vomits, and a few others, which are to be taken at one dose. Where a medicine requires to be used for any length of time, it is better to make up a larger quantity of it at once, which saves both trouble and expence.
Take of liquid laudanum, twenty-five drops; simple cinnamon water, an ounce; common syrup, two drachms. Mix them.
In excessive pain, where bleeding is not necessary, and in great restlessness, this composing draught may be taken and repeated occasionally.
Take of the diuretic salt, two scruples; syrup of poppies, two drachms; simple cinnamon-water and common water, of each an ounce.
This draught is of service in an obstruction or deficiency of urine.
Take of manna, an ounce; soluble tartar, or Rochel salt, from three to four drachms. Dissolve in three ounces of boiling water; to which add Jamaica pepper water, half an ounce.
As manna sometimes will not sit upon the stomach, an ounce or ten drachms of the bitter purging salts, dissolved in four ounces of water, may be taken instead of the above.
Those who cannot take salts may use the following draught:
Take of jalap in powder, a scruple; common water, an ounce; aromatic tincture, six drachms. Rub the jalap with twice its weight of sugar, and add to it the other ingredients.
Take spirit of Mindererus, two ounces; salt of hartshorn, five grains; simple cinnamon-water, and syrup of poppies, of each half an ounce. Make them into a draught.
In recent colds and rheumatic complaints, this draught is of service. To promote its effects, however, the patient ought to drink freely of warm water-gruel, or of some other weak diluting liquor.
Take of ipecacuanha, in powder, a scruple; water, an ounce; simple syrup, a drachm. Mix them.
Persons who require a stronger vomit may add to the above half a grain, or a grain, of emetic tartar.
Those who do not chuse the powder, may take ten drachms of the ipecacuanha wine; or half an ounce of the wine, and an equal quantity of the syrup of squills.
Electuaries are generally composed of the lighter powders, mixed with syrup, honey, conserve, or mucilage, into such a consistence, that the powders may neither separate by keeping, nor the mass prove too stiff for swallowing. They receive chiefly the milder alterative medicines, and such as are not ungrateful to the palate.
Astringent electuaries, and such as have pulps of fruit in them, should be prepared only in small quantities; as astringent medicines lose their virtues by being kept in this form, and the pulps of fruits are apt to ferment.
For the extraction of pulps it will be necessary to boil unripe fruits, and ripe ones if they are dried, in a small quantity of water till they become soft. The pulp is then to be pressed out through a strong hair sieve, or thin cloth, and afterwards boiled to a due consistence, in an earthen vessel, over a gentle fire, taking care to prevent the matter from burning by continually stirring it. The pulps of fruit that are both ripe and fresh may be pressed out without any previous boiling.
Take of senna, in fine powder, eight ounces; coriander seed, also in powder, four ounces; pulp of tamarinds and of French prunes, each a pound. Mix the pulps and powders together, and with a sufficient quantity of simple syrup, reduce the whole into an electuary.
A tea-spoonful of this electuary, taken two or three times a day, generally proves an agreeable laxative. It likewise serves as a convenient vehicle for exhibiting more active medicines, as jalaps, scammony, and such like.
This may supply the place of the electuary of Cassia.
Take of the Japonic confection, two ounces; Locatelli’s balsam, one ounce; rhubarb in powder, half an ounce; syrup of marsh-mallows, enough to make an electuary.
It is often dangerous in dysenteries to give opiates and astringents, without interposing purgatives. The purgative is here joined with these ingredients, which renders this a very safe and useful medicine for the purposes expressed in the title.
About the bulk of a nutmeg should be taken twice or thrice a-day, as the symptoms and constitution may require.
Take of Peruvian bark, in powder, an ounce; of powdered tin, and wild valerian-root, each half an ounce; simple syrup, enough to make an electuary.
Dr. Mead directs a drachm of an electuary similar to this to be taken evening and morning, in the epilepsy, for the space of three months. It will be proper, however, to discontinue the use of it for a few days every now and then. I have added the powdered tin, because the epilepsy often proceeds from worms.
Take of lenitive electuary, three ounces; jalap and rhubarb, in powder, of each two drachms; nitre, half an ounce; simple syrup, enough to make an electuary.
During the inflammation and tension of the urinary passages, which accompany a virulent gonorrhœa, this cooling laxative may be used with advantage.
The dose is a drachm, or about the bulk of a nutmeg, two or three times a-day; more or less, as may be necessary to keep the body gently open.
An electuary made of cream of tartar and simple syrup will occasionally supply the place of this.
After the inflammation is gone off, the following electuary may be used:
Take of lenitive electuary, two ounces; balsam of capivi, one ounce; gum guaiacum and rhubarb, in powder, of each two drachms; simple syrup, enough to make an electuary. The dose is the same as of the preceding.
Take of Peruvian bark, in powder, three ounces; cascarilla, half an ounce; syrup of ginger, enough to make an electuary.
In the cure of obstinate intermitting fevers, the bark is assisted by the cascarilla. In hectic habits, however, it will be better to leave out the cascarilla, and put three drachms of crude sal ammoniac in its stead.
Take flowers of sulphur, one ounce; cream of tartar, half an ounce; treacle, a sufficient quantity to form an electuary.
A tea-spoonful of this may be taken three or four times a-day.
Take of powdered mustard-seed, and conserve of roses, each an ounce; syrup of ginger, enough to make an electuary.
A tea-spoonful of this may be taken three or four times a-day.
Take of conserve of roses, two ounces; cinnabar of antimony, levigated, an ounce and a half; gum guaiacum, in powder, an ounce; syrup of ginger, a sufficient quantity to make an electuary.
In obstinate rheumatisms, which are not accompanied with a fever, a tea-spoonful of this electuary may be taken twice a-day with considerable advantage.
Emulsions, beside their use as medicines, are also proper vehicles for certain substances, which could not otherwise be conveniently taken in a liquid form. Thus camphor, triturated with almonds, readily unites with water into an emulsion. Pure oils, balsams, resins, and other similar substances, are likewise rendered miscible with water by the intervention of mucilages.
Take of sweet almonds, an ounce; bitter almonds, a drachm; water, two pints.
Let the almonds be blanched, and beat up in a marble mortar; adding the water by little and little, so as to make an emulsion; afterwards let it be strained.
This is made in the same manner as the above, adding to the almonds while beating, two ounces and a half of the mucilage of gum arabic.
Where soft cooling liquors are necessary, these emulsions may be used as ordinary drink.
Take of camphor, half a drachm; sweet almonds, half a dozen; white sugar, half an ounce; mint-water, eight ounces. Grind the camphor and almonds well together in a stone mortar, and add by degrees the mint water; then strain the liquor, and dissolve in it the sugar.
In fevers, and other disorders which require the use of camphor, a table-spoonful of this emulsion may be taken every two or three hours.
Take of gum ammoniac, two drachms; water, eight ounces. Grind the gum with the water poured upon it by little and little, till it is dissolved.
This emulsion is used for attenuating tough, viscid phlegm, and promoting expectoration. In obstinate coughs, two ounces of the syrup of poppies may be added to it. The dose is two table-spoonfuls three or four times a-day.
Take of soft water, six ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, two drachms; Florence oil, an ounce; shake them well together, and add, of simple syrup, half an ounce.
In recent colds and coughs, this emulsion is generally of service; but if the cough proves obstinate, it will succeed better when made with the paregoric elixir of the Edinburgh Dispensatory, instead of the volatile aromatic spirit. A table-spoonful of it may be taken every two or three hours.
Extracts are prepared by boiling the subject in water, and evaporating the strained decoction to a due consistence. By this process some of the more active parts of plants are freed from the useless, indissoluble earthy matter, which makes the larger share of their bulk. Water, however, is not the only menstruum used in the preparation of extracts; sometimes it is joined with spirits, and at other times rectified spirit alone is employed for that purpose.
Extracts are prepared from a variety of different drugs, as the bark, gentian, jalap, &c.; but as they require a troublesome and tedious operation, it will be more convenient for a private practitioner to purchase what he needs of them from a professed druggist, than to prepare them himself. Such of them as are generally used are inserted in our list of such drugs and medicines as are to be kept for private practice.
Fomentations are generally intended either to ease pain, by taking off tension and spasm; or to brace and restore the tone and vigour of those parts to which they are applied. The first of these intentions may generally be answered by warm water, and the second by cold. Certain substances, however, are usually added to water, with a view to heighten its effects, as anodynes, aromatics, astringents, &c. We shall therefore subjoin a few of the most useful medicated fomentations, that people may have it in their power to make use of them if they chuse.
Take of white poppy-heads, two ounces; elder flowers, half an ounce; water, three pints. Boil till one pint is evaporated, and strain out the liquor.
This fomentation, as its title expresses, is used for relieving acute pain.
Take of Jamaica pepper, half an ounce; red wine, a pint. Boil them for a little, and then strain the liquor.
This is intended, not only as a topical application for external complaints, but also for relieving the internal parts. Pains of the bowels, which accompany dysenteries and diarrhœas, flatulent colics, uneasiness of the stomach, and reachings to vomit, are frequently abated by fomenting the abdomen and region of the stomach with the warm liquor.
Take tops of wormwood and camomile flowers, dried, of each two ounces; water, two quarts. After a slight boiling, pour off the liquor.
Brandy or spirit of wine may be added to this fomentation, in such quantity as the particular circumstances of the case shall require; but these are not always necessary.
This is the same as the common decoction.
Take of oak bark, one ounce; granate peel, half an ounce; alum, two drachms; smith’s forge water, three pints. Boil the water with the bark and peel to the consumption of one-third; then strain the remaining decoction, and dissolve it in alum.
This astringent liquor is employed as an external fomentation to weak parts; it may also be used internally.
However trifling this class of medicines may appear, they are by no means without their use. They seldom indeed cure diseases, but they often alleviate very disagreeable symptoms; as parchedness of the mouth, foulness of the tongue and fauces, &c. they are peculiarly useful in fevers and sore throats. In the latter, a gargle will sometimes remove the disorder; and in the former, few things are more refreshing or agreeable to the patient, than to have his mouth frequently washed with some soft detergent gargle.
One advantage of these medicines is, that they are easily prepared. A little barley-water and honey may be had any where; and if to these be added as much vinegar as will give them an agreeable sharpness, they will make a very useful gargle for softening and cleansing the mouth.
Gargles have the best effect when injected with a syringe.
Take of water, six ounces; honey, one ounce; nitre, a drachm and a half. Mix them.
This cooling gargle may be used either in the inflammatory quinsey, or in fevers, for cleaning the tongue and fauces.
Take of rose-water, six ounces; syrup of clove July-flowers, half an ounce; spirit of vitriol, a sufficient quantity to give it an agreeable sharpness. Mix them.
This gargle, besides cleansing the tongue and fauces, acts as a gentle repellent, and will sometimes remove a slight quinsey.
Take of the emollient gargle, a pint; tincture of myrrh, an ounce; honey, two ounces. Mix them.
When exulcerations require to be cleansed, or the excretion of tough viscid saliva promoted, this gargle will be of service.
Take an ounce of marsh-mallow roots, and two or three figs; boil them in a quart of water till near one half of it be consumed; then strain out the liquor.
If an ounce of honey, and half an ounce of spirit of sal ammoniac, be added to the above, it will then be an exceeding good attenuating gargle.
This gargle is beneficial in fevers, where the tongue and fauces are rough and parched, to soften these parts, and promote the discharge of saliva.
The learned and accurate Sir John Pringle observes, that in the inflammatory quinsey, or strangulation of the fauces, little benefit arises from the common gargles; that such as are of an acid nature do more harm than good, by contracting the emunctories of the saliva and mucus, and thickening those humours; that a decoction of figs in milk and water has a contrary effect, especially if some sal ammoniac be added; by which the saliva is made thinner, and the glands brought to secrete more freely; a circumstance always conducive to the cure.
Vegetables yield nearly the same properties to water by infusion as by decoction; and though they may require a longer time to give out their virtues in this way, yet it has several advantages over the other; since boiling is found to dissipate the finer parts of many bitter and aromatic substances, without more fully extracting their medicinal principles.
The author of the New Dispensatory observes, that even from those vegetables which are weak in virtue, rich infusions may be obtained, by returning the liquor upon fresh quantities of the subject, the water loading itself more and more with the active parts; and that these loaded infusions are applicable to valuable purposes in medicine, as they contain in a small compass the finer, more subtile, and active principles of vegetables, in a form readily miscible with the fluids of the human body.
Take tops of the lesser centaury and camomile flowers, of each half an ounce; yellow rind of lemon and orange peel, carefully freed from the inner white part, of each two drachms. Cut them in small pieces, and infuse them in a quart of boiling water.
For indigestion, weakness of the stomach, or want of appetite, a tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken twice or thrice a day.
To an ounce of the bark, in powder, add four or five table-spoonfuls of brandy, and a pint of boiling water. Let them infuse for two or three days.
This is one of the best preparations of the bark for weak stomachs. In disorders where the corroborating virtues of that medicine are required, a tea-cupful of it may be taken two or three times a-day.
Infuse an ounce of the dried leaves of carduus benedictus, or blessed thistle, in a pint of common water, for six hours, without heat; then filter the liquor through paper.
This light infusion may be given, with great benefit, in weakness of the stomach, where the common bitters do not agree. It may be flavoured at pleasure with cinnamon, or other aromatic materials.
Take of linseed, two spoonfuls; liquorice root, sliced, half an ounce; boiling water, three pints. Let them stand to infuse by the fire for some hours, and then strain off the liquor.
If an ounce of the leaves of colt’s foot be added to these ingredients, it will then be the pectoral infusion. Both these are emollient mucilaginous liquors, and may be taken with advantage as ordinary drink in difficulty of making water; and in coughs and other complaints of the breast.
Take of red roses, dried, half an ounce; boiling water, a quart; vitriolic acid, commonly called oil of vitriol, half a drachm; loaf sugar, an ounce.
Infuse the roses in the water for four hours, in an unglazed earthen vessel; afterwards pour in the acid, and having strained the liquor, add to it the sugar.
In an excessive flow of the menses, vomiting of blood, and other hæmorrhages, a tea-cupful of this gently astringent infusion may be taken every three or four hours. It likewise makes an exceeding good gargle.
As the quantity of roses used here can have little or no effect, an equally valuable medicine may be prepared by mixing the acid and water without infusion.
Take of tamarinds, one ounce; senna, and crystals of tartar, each two drachms. Let these ingredients be infused four or five hours in a pint of boiling water; afterwards let the liquor be strained, and an ounce or two of the aromatic tincture added to it. Persons who are easily purged may leave out either the tamarinds or the crystals of tartar.
This is an agreeable cooling purge. A tea-cupful may be given every half hour till it operates.
This supplies the place of the decoction of tamarinds and senna.
Take of Spanish juice, cut into small pieces, an ounce; salt of tartar, three drachms. Infuse in a quart of boiling water for a night. To the drained liquor add an ounce and a half of the syrup of poppies.
In recent colds, coughs, and obstructions of the breast, a tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken with advantage three or four times a-day.
Take of horse-radish root shaved, mustard-seed bruised, each four ounces; outer rind of orange-peel, one ounce. Infuse them in two quarts of boiling water, in a close vessel, for twenty-four hours.
In paralytic complaints, a tea-cupful of this warm stimulating medicine may be taken three or four times a-day. It excites the action of the solids, proves diuretic, and, if the patient be kept warm, promotes perspiration.
If two or three ounces of the dried leaves of marsh-trefoil be used instead of the mustard, it will make the antiscorbutic infusion.
The basis of juleps is generally common water, or some simple distilled water, with one-third or one-fourth its quantity of distilled spirituous water, and as much sugar or syrup as is sufficient to render the mixture agreeable. This is sharpened with vegetable or mineral acids, or impregnated with other medicines suitable to the intention.
Take of camphor, one drachm; rectified spirit of wine, ten drops; double refined sugar, half an ounce; boiling distilled water, one pint. Rub the camphor first with the spirit of wine, then with the sugar; lastly, add the water by degrees, and strain the liquor.
In hysterical and other complaints where camphor is proper, this julep may be taken in the dose of a spoonful or two as often as the stomach will bear it.
Take of simple cinnamon-water, four ounces; Jamaica pepper water, two ounces; volatile aromatic spirit, and compound spirit of lavender, of each two drachms; syrup of orange-peel, an ounce. Mix them.
This is given in the dose of two spoonfuls three or four times a day, in disorders accompanied with great weakness and depression of spirits.
Take of the emulsion of gum ammoniac, six ounces; syrup of squills, two ounces. Mix them.
In coughs, asthmas, and obstructions of the breast, two table-spoonfuls of this julep may be taken every three or four hours.
Rub half a drachm of musk well together with half an ounce of sugar, and add to it, gradually, of simple cinnamon and peppermint water, each two ounces; of the volatile aromatic spirit, two drachms.
In the low state of nervous fevers, hiccuping, convulsions, and other spasmodic affections, two table-spoonfuls of this julep may be taken every two or three hours.
Dissolve two drachms of salt of tartar in three ounces of fresh lemon-juice, strained; when the effervescence is over, add, of mint-water, and common water, each two ounces; of simple syrup, one ounce.
This removes sickness at the stomach, relieves vomiting, promotes perspiration, and may be of some service in fevers, especially of the inflammatory kind.
Dissolve four grains of emetic tartar in eight ounces of water; and add to it half an ounce of the syrup of clove July flowers.
In the beginning of fevers, where there is no topical inflammation, this julep may be given in the dose of one table-spoonful every quarter of an hour till it operates. Antimonial vomits serve not only to evacuate the contents of the stomach, but likewise to promote the different excretions. Hence they are found in fevers to have nearly the same effects as Dr. James’s Powder.
A mixture differs from a julep in this respect, that it receives into its composition not only salts, extracts, and other substances dissoluble in water, but also earths, powders, and such substances as cannot be dissolved. A mixture is seldom either an elegant or agreeable medicine. It is nevertheless necessary. Many persons can take a mixture, who are not able to swallow a bolus or an electuary: besides, there are medicines which act better in this than in any other form.
Take simple cinnamon-water and common water, of each three ounces; spirituous cinnamon-water, an ounce and a half; Japonic confection, half an ounce. Mix them.
In dysenteries which are not of long standing, after the necessary evacuations, a spoonful or two of this mixture may be taken every four hours, interposing every second or third day a dose of rhubarb.
Take of mint-water, five ounces; vinegar of squills, six drachms; sweet spirit of nitre, half an ounce; syrup of ginger, an ounce and a half. Mix them.
In obstructions of the urinary passages, two spoonfuls of this mixture may be taken twice or thrice a-day.
Rub one drachm of magnesia alba in a mortar with ten or twelve grains of the best Turkey rhubarb, and add to them three ounces of common water; simple cinnamon-water, and syrup of sugar, of each one ounce.
As most diseases of infants are accompanied with acidities, this mixture may either be given with a view to correct these, or to open the body. A table-spoonful may be taken for a dose, and repeated three times a-day. To a very young child half a spoonful will be sufficient.
When the mixture is intended to purge, the dose may either be increased, or the quantity of rhubarb doubled.
This is one of the most generally useful medicines for children with which I am acquainted.
Dissolve a drachm of the salt of tartar in four ounces of boiling water; and, when cold, drop into it spirit of vitriol till the effervescence ceases; then add, of peppermint-water, two ounces, simple syrup, one ounce.
Where fresh lemons cannot be had, this mixture may occasionally supply the place of the saline julep.
Take of simple cinnamon-water, five ounces; vinegar of squills, one ounce; syrup of marsh-mallows, an ounce and a half. Mix them.
This mixture, by promoting expectoration, and the secretion of urine, proves serviceable in asthmatic and dropsical habits. A table-spoonful of it may be taken frequently.
Notwithstanding the extravagant encomiums which have been bestowed on different preparations of this kind, with regard to their efficacy in the cure of wounds, sores, &c. it is beyond a doubt, that the most proper application to a green wound is dry lint. But though ointments do not heal wounds and sores, yet they serve to defend them from the external air, and to retain such substances as may be necessary for drying, deterging, destroying proud flesh, and such like. For these purposes, however, it will be sufficient to insert only a few of the most simple forms, as ingredients of a more active nature can occasionally be added to them.
Take of yellow wax, white resin, and frankincense, each a quarter of a pound; melt them together over a gentle fire; then add, of hogs’ lard prepared, one pound. Strain the ointment while warm.
This ointment is employed for cleansing and healing wounds and ulcers.
Take of olive oil, a pint and a half; white wax, and calamine stone levigated, of each half a pound. Let the calamine stone, reduced into a fine powder, be rubbed with some part of the oil, and afterwards added to the rest of the oil and wax, previously melted together, continually stirring them till quite cold.
This ointment, which is commonly known by the name of Turner’s Cerate, is an exceeding good application in burns and excoriations, from whatever cause.
Take of palm oil, two pounds; olive oil, a pint and a half; yellow wax, half a pound; Venice turpentine, a quarter of a pound. Melt the wax in the oils over a gentle fire; then mix in the turpentine, and strain the ointment.
This supplies the place of Althæ Ointment. It may be used for anointing inflamed parts, &c.
Take of hogs’ lard prepared, four ounces; white wax, two drachms; tutty prepared, one ounce; melt the wax with the lard over a gentle fire, and then sprinkle in the tutty, continually stirring them till the ointment is cold.
This ointment will be more efficacious, and of a better confidence, if two or three drachms of camphor be rubbed up with a little oil, and intimately mixed with it.
Take of camphor, and calamine stone levigated, each six drachms; verdegrise well prepared, two drachms; hogs’ lard, and mutton suet prepared, of each two ounces. Rub the camphor well with the powder; afterwards mix in the lard and suet, continuing the triture till they be perfectly united.
This ointment has been long in esteem for diseases of the eyes. It ought, however, to be used with caution, when the eyes are much inflamed or very tender.
Mix half an ounce of Spanish flies, finely powdered, in six ounces of yellow basilicum ointment.
This ointment is chiefly intended for dressing blisters, in order to keep them open during pleasure.
Take of olive oil, half a pint; white wax, two ounces; sugar of lead, three drachms. Let the sugar of lead, reduced into a fine powder, be rubbed up with some part of the oil, and afterwards added to the other ingredients, previously melted together, continually stirring them till quite cold.
This cooling and gently astringent ointment may be used in all cases where the intention is to dry and skin over the part, as in scalding, &c.
Take of quicksilver, two ounces; hogs’ lard, three ounces; mutton suet, one ounce. Rub the quicksilver with an ounce of the hogs’ lard in a warm mortar, till the globules be perfectly extinguished; then rub it up with the rest of the lard and suet, previously melted together.
The principal intention of this ointment is to convey mercury into the body by being rubbed upon the skin.
Take of hogs’ lard prepared, four ounces; flowers of sulphur, an ounce and a half; crude sal ammoniac, two drachms; essence of lemon, ten or twelve drops. Make them into an ointment.
This ointment, rubbed upon the parts affected, will generally cure the itch. It is both the safest and best application for that purpose, and, when made in this way, has no disagreeable smell.
Take of olive oil, one pint; white wax and sperma-ceti, of each three ounces. Melt them with a gentle heat, and keep them constantly and briskly stirring together, till quite cold.
If two drachms of camphor, previously rubbed with a small quantity of oil, be added to the above, it will make the White camphorated Ointment.
Take equal parts of Florence oil, or of fresh drawn linseed oil, and lime-water; shake them well together in a wide mouthed bottle, so as to form a liniment.
This is found to be an exceeding proper application for recent scalds or burns. It may either be spread upon a cloth, or the parts affected may be anointed with it twice or thrice a-day.
This is made in the same manner as the white ointment, two-thirds of the wax being left out.
This liniment may be applied in cases of excoriation, where, on account of the largeness of the surface, the ointments with lead or calamine might be improper.
Take of emollient ointment, two ounces; liquid laudanum, half an ounce. Mix these ingredients with the yolk of an egg, and work them well together.
Take of Florence oil, an ounce; spirit of hartshorn, half an ounce. Shake them together.
This liniment, made with equal parts of the spirit and oil, will be more efficacious, where the patient’s skin is able to bear it.
Sir John Pringle observes, that in the inflammatory quinsey, a piece of flannel, moistened with this liniment, and applied to the throat, to be renewed every four or five hours, is one of the most efficacious remedies; and that it seldom fails, after bleeding, either to lessen or carry off the complaint. The truth of this observation I have often experienced.
Rub an ounce of camphor, with two ounces of Florence oil, in a mortar, till the camphor be entirely dissolved.
This antispasmodic liniment may be used in obstinate rheumatisms, and in some other cases accompanied with extreme pain and tension of the parts.
Medicines which operate in a small dose, and whose disagreeable taste, or smell, makes it necessary that they should be concealed from the palate, are most commodiously exhibited in this form. No medicine, however, that is intended to operate quickly, ought to be made into pills, as they often lie for a considerable time on the stomach before they are dissolved, so as to produce any effect.
As the ingredients which enter the composition of pills are generally so contrived, that one pill of an ordinary size may contain about five grains of the compound, in mentioning the dose we shall only specify the number of pills to be taken; as one, two, three, &c.
Take of purified opium, ten grains; Castile soap, half a drachm. Beat them together, and form the whole into twenty pills.
When a quieting draught will not sit upon the stomach, one, two, or three of these pills may be taken, as occasion requires.
Take of asafœtida, half an ounce; simple syrup, as much as is necessary to form it into pills.
In hysteric complaints, four or five pills, of an ordinary size, may be taken twice or thrice a-day. They may likewise be of service to persons afflicted with the asthma.
When it is necessary to keep the body open, a proper quantity of rhubarb, aloes, or jalap, may occasionally be added to the above mass.
Take any quantity of the extract of hemlock, and adding to it about a fifth part its weight of the powder of the dried leaves, form it into pills of the ordinary size.
The extract of hemlock may be taken from one grain to several drachms in the day. The best method, however, of using these pills, is to begin with one or two, and to increase the dose gradually, as far as the patient can bear them, without any remarkable degree of stupor or giddiness.
Take of purified quicksilver and honey, each half an ounce. Rub them together in a mortar, till the globules of mercury are perfectly extinguished; then add, of Castile soap, two drachms, powdered liquorice, or crumb of bread, a sufficient quantity to give the mass a proper consistence for pills.
When stronger mercurial pills are wanted, the quantity of quicksilver may be doubled.
The dose of these pills is different, according to the intention with which they are given. As an alterant, two or three maybe taken daily. To raise a salivation, four or five will be necessary.
Equal parts of the above pill and powdered rhubarb made into a mass, with a sufficient quantity of simple syrup, will make a Mercurial purging Pill.
Dissolve fifteen grains of the corrosive sublimate of mercury in two drachms of the saturated solution of crude sal ammoniac, and make it into a paste, in a glass mortar, with a sufficient quantity of the crumb of bread. This mass must be formed into one hundred and twenty pills.
This pill, which is the most agreeable form of exhibiting the sublimate, has been found efficacious, not only in curing the venereal disease, but also in killing and expelling worms, after other powerful medicines had failed[209].
For the venereal disease, four of these pills may be taken twice a-day, as an alterant three, and for worms two.
Take of calomel, or sweet mercury, and precipitated sulphur of antimony, each three drachms; extract of liquorice, two drachms. Rub the sulphur and mercury well together; afterwards add the extract, and, with a sufficient quantity of the mucilage of gum arabic, make them into pills.
This pill has been found a powerful, yet safe, alterative in obstinate cutaneous disorders; and has completed a cure after salivation had failed. In venereal cases it has likewise produced excellent effects. Two or three pills of an ordinary size may be taken night and morning, the patient keeping moderately warm, and drinking after each dose a draught of decoction of the woods, or of sarsaparilla.