90. This observation is likewise applicable to hospitals, workhouses, &c. where numbers of children happen to have the small-pox at the same time. I have seen above forty children cooped up in one apartment all the while they had this disease, without any of them being admitted to breathe the fresh air. No one can be at a loss to see the impropriety of such conduct. It ought to be a rule, not only in hospitals for the small-pox, but likewise for other diseases, that no patient should be within sight or hearing of another. This is a matter to which too little regard is paid. In most hospitals and infirmaries, the sick, the dying, and the dead, are often to be seen in the same apartment.

91. Though this operation can never do harm, yet it is only necessary when the patient has a great load of small-pox, or when the matter which they contain is of so thin and acrid a nature, that there is reason to apprehend bad consequences from its being too quickly resorbed, or taken up again into the mass of circulating humours.

92. I have of late been accustomed, after the small-pox, to give one, two, three, four, or five grains of calomel, according to the age of the patient, over night, and to work it off next morning with a suitable dose of jalap.

93. A critical situation, too often to be met with, first put me upon trying this method. A gentleman who had lost all his children except one son by the natural small-pox, was determined to have him inoculated. He told me his intention, and desired I would persuade the mother and grandmother, &c. of its propriety. But that was impossible. They were not to be persuaded, and either could not get the better of their fears, or were determined against conviction. It was always a point with me not to perform the operation without the consent of the parties concerned. I therefore advised the father, after giving his son a dose or two of rhubarb, to go to a patient who had the small-pox of a good kind, to open two or three of the pustules, taking up the matter with a little cotton, and as soon as he came home to take his son apart, and give his arm a slight scratch with a pin, afterwards to rub the place well with the cotton, and take no farther notice of it. All this he punctually performed; and at the usual period the small-pox made their appearance, which were of an exceeding good kind, and so mild as not to confine the boy an hour to his bed. None of the other relations knew but the disease had come in the natural way, till the boy was well.

94. Mr. Tronchin communicates this disease by a little bit of thread dipt in the matter, which he covers with a small blistering-plaster. This method may no doubt be used with advantage in those cases where the patient is very much alarmed at the sight of any cutting instrument.

95. “Many and great,” says this humane author, “are the dangers attending the natural infection, from all which the inoculation is quite secure. The natural infection may invade weaker distempered bodies, by no means disposed for its kindly reception. It may attack them at a season of the year either violently hot or intensely cold. It may be communicated from a sort of small-pox impregnated with the utmost virulence. It may lay hold upon people unexpectedly, when a dangerous sort is imprudently imported into a maritime place. It may surprise us soon after excesses committed in luxury, intemperance, or lewdness. It may likewise seize on the innocent after indispensably watchings, hard labour, or necessary journies. And is it a trivial advantage, that all these unhappy circumstances can be prevented by inoculation? By inoculation numbers are saved from deformity as well as from death. In the natural small-pox, how often are the finest features, and the most beautiful complexions, miserably disfigured? Whereas inoculation rarely leaves any ugly marks of scars, even where the number of pustules on the face has been very considerable, and the symptoms by no means favourable. And many other grievous complaints, that are frequently subsequent to the natural sort, seldom follow the artificial. Does not inoculation also prevent those inexpressible terrors that perpetually harass persons who never had this disease, insomuch that when the small-pox is epidemical, entire villages are depopulated, markets ruined, and the face of distress spread over the whole country? From this terror it arises, that justice is frequently postponed, or discouraged, at sessions or assizes where the small-pox rages. Witnesses and juries dare not appear; and by reason of the necessary absence of some gentlemen, our honourable and useful judges are not attended with that reverence and splendour due to their office and merit. Does not inoculation, in like manner, prevent our brave sailors from being seized with this distemper on shipboard, where they must quickly spread the infection among such of the crew who never had it before, and where they have scarce any chance to escape, being half stifled with the closeness of their cabins, and but very indifferently nursed? Lastly, with regard to the soldiery, the miseries attending these poor creatures, when attacked by the small-pox on a march, are inconceivable, without attendance, without lodgings, without any accommodation; so that one of three commonly perishes.”

96. By a well-laid plan for extending inoculation, more lives might be saved at a small expence, than are at present preserved by all the hospitals in England, which cost the public such an amazing sum.

97. I do not know any disease wherein bleeding is more necessary than in the measles, especially when the fever runs high: in this case I have always found it relieve the patient.

98. Attempts have been made to communicate the measles, as well as the small-pox, by inoculation, and we make no doubt but in time the practice may succeed. Dr. Home of Edinburgh says, he communicated the disease by the blood. Others have tried this method, and have not found it succeed. Some think the disease would be more certainly communicated by rubbing the skin of a patient who has the measles with cotton, and afterwards applying the cotton to a wound, as in the small-pox; while others recommend a bit of flannel which had been applied to the patient’s skin, all the time of the disease, to be afterwards laid upon the arm or leg of the person to whom the infection is to be communicated. There is no doubt but this disease, as well as the small-pox, may be communicated various ways; the most probable, however, is either from cotton rubbed upon the skin, as mentioned above, or by introducing a little of the sharp humour which distils from the eyes of the patient into the blood. It is agreed on all hands, that such patients as have been inoculated had the disease very mildly; we therefore wish the practice were more general, as the measles have of late become very fatal.

99. Sydenham.

100. In the year 1774, during winter, a very bad species of this fever prevailed in Edinburgh. It raged chiefly among young people. The eruption was generally accompanied with a quinsey, and the inflammatory symptoms were so blended with others of a putrid nature, as to render the treatment of the disease very difficult. Many of the patients, towards the decline of the fever, were afflicted with large swellings of the submaxillary glands, and not a few had a suppuration in one or both ears.

101. See Appendix, White Decoction.

102. See Appendix, Spirit of Mindererus.

103. The country people in many parts of Britain call this disease a blast, and imagine it proceeds from foul air, or ill wind, as they term it. The truth is, they often lie down to rest them, when warm and fatigued, upon the damp ground, where they fall asleep, and lie so long as to catch cold, which occasions the erysipelas. This disease may indeed proceed from other causes, but we may venture to say, that nine times out of ten it is occasioned by cold caught after the body has been greatly heated or fatigued.

104. See Appendix, Decoction of Woods.

105. Any foreign body lodged in the eye may be expeditiously removed by passing a small hair pencil between the eye-lid and the ball of the eye. In some places, the peasants do this very effectually, by using their tongue in the same manner.

106. As most people are fond of using eye-waters and ointments in this and other diseases of the eyes, we have inserted some of the most approved forms of these medicines in the Appendix. See Appendix, Eye-water and Eye-salve.

107. Dr. Home.

108. See Appendix, Spanish Infusion.

109. In a former edition of this book I recommended, for an obstinate tickling cough, an oily emulsion, made with the paregoric elixir of the Edinburgh Dispensatory, instead of the common alkaline spirit. I have since been told by several practitioners, that they found it to be an excellent medicine in this disorder, and every way deserving of the character which I had given it. Where this elixir is not kept, its place may be supplied by adding to the common oily emulsion, an adequate proportion of the Thebaic tincture, or liquid laudanum.

110. Some complain that the pitch plaster adheres too fast, while others find difficulty in keeping it on. This proceeds from the different kinds of pitch made use of, and likewise from the manner of making it. I generally find it answer best when mixed with a little beeswax, and spread as cool as possible. The clear, hard, transparent pitch answers the purpose best.

111. See Appendix, Hiera Picra.

112. Some think the air ought not to be changed till the disease is on the decline; but there seems to be no sufficient reason for this opinion, as patients have been known to reap benefit from a change of air at all periods of the disease. It is not sufficient to take the patient out daily in a carriage. This seldom answers any good purpose; but often does hurt, by giving him cold.

113. See Appendix, Vomiting Julep.

114. Dr. Duplanil says, he has seen many good effects from the kermes mineral in this complaint, the cough being frequently alleviated even by the first dose. The dose for a child of one year old, is a quarter of a grain dissolved in a cup of any liquid, repeated two or three times a-day. For a child of two years the dose is half a grain; and the quantity must be thus increased in proportion to the age of the patient.

115. Some recommend the extract of hemlock as an extraordinary remedy in the hooping-cough; but so far as I have been able to observe, it is no way superior to opium, which, when properly administered, will often relieve some of the most troublesome symptoms of this disorder.

116. When quicksilver is given in too large quantities, it defeats its own intention, as it drags down the bottom of the stomach, which prevents it getting over the Pylorus. In this case the patient should be hung up by the heels, in order that the quicksilver may be discharged by his mouth.

117. See Appendix, Anti-hysteric Plaster.

118. As the smoke of tobacco thrown into the bowels will often procure a stool when all other means have failed, an apparatus for this purpose ought to be kept by every surgeon. It may be purchased at a small expence, and will be of service in several other cases, the recovery of drowned persons, &c.

119. The Ureters are two long and small canals, one on each side, which carry the urine from the bason of the kidneys to the bladder. They are sometimes obstructed by small stones of gravel falling down from the kidneys, and lodging in them.

120. I knew a gentleman who has had several abscesses of the liver opened, and is now a strong and healthy man, though above eighty years of age.

121. I have been twice brought to the gates of death by this disease, and both times it was occasioned by eating rancid bacon.

122. See Appendix, White Decoction.

123. See Appendix, Tincture of Roses.

124. See Appendix, Lime-water.

125. The caustic alkali may be prepared by mixing two parts of quicklime with one of pot-ashes, and suffering them to stand till the lixivium be formed, which must be carefully filtrated before it be used. If the solution does not happen readily, a small quantity of water may be added to the mixture.

126. The manner of making this broth is, to take a sheep’s head and feet with the skin upon them, and to burn the wool off with a hot iron; afterwards to boil them till the broth is quite a jelly. A little cinnamon or mace may be added, to give the broth an agreeable flavour, and the patient may take a little of it warm with toasted bread three or four times a-day. A clyster of it may likewise be given twice a-day. Such as cannot use the broth made in this way, may have the head and feet skinned; but we have reason to believe that this hurts the medicine. It is not our business here to reason upon the nature and qualities of medicine, otherwise this might be shewn to possess virtues every way suited to the cure of a dysentery which does not proceed from a putrid state of the humours. One thing we know, which is preferable to all reasoning, that whole families have often been cured by it, after they had used many other medicines in vain. It will, however, be proper that the patient take a vomit, and a dose or two of rhubarb, before he begins to use the broth. It will likewise be necessary to continue the use of it for a considerable time, and to make it the principal food.

127. The learned and humane Dr. Rutherford, late professor of medicine in the university of Edinburgh, used to mention this food in his public lectures with great encomiums. He directed it to be made by tying a pound or two of the finest flour, as tight as possible, in a linen rag, afterwards to dip it frequently in water, and to dredge the outside with flour, till a cake or crust was formed around it, which prevents the water from soaking into it while boiling. It is then to be boiled till it becomes a hard dry mass, as directed above. This, when mixed with milk and water, will not only answer the purpose of food, but may likewise be given in clysters.

128. I lately saw a young man who had been seized with a dysentery in North America. Many things had been tried there for his relief, but to no purpose. At length, tired out with disappointments from medicine, and reduced to skin and bone, he came over to Britain, rather with a view to die among his relations, than with any hopes of a cure. After taking sundry medicines here with no better success than abroad, I advised him to leave off the use of drugs, and to trust entirely to a diet of milk and fruits, with gentle exercise. Strawberries was the only fruit he could procure at that season. These he ate with milk twice, and sometimes thrice a-day. The consequence was, that in a short time his stools were reduced from upwards of twenty in a-day, to three or four, and sometimes not so many. He used the other fruits as they came in, and was in a few weeks so well as to leave that part of the country where I was, with a view to return to America.

129. See Appendix, Decoction of Logwood.

130. See Appendix, Decoction of Sarsaparilla.

131. When the pain is very violent, and does not yield to small doses of laudanum, the quantity may be increased. I have known a patient in extreme pain take three hundred drops in twenty-four hours; but such doses ought only to be administered by a person of skill.

132. This may always be prevented by the operator striking upon the teeth with any piece of metal, as this never fails to excite the pain in the carious tooth.

133. These are prepared by steeping or soaking pease in water, and afterwards drying them in a pot or kiln till they be quite hard. They may be used at pleasure.

134. That worms exist in the human body there can be no doubt; and that they must sometimes be considered as a disease, is equally certain: but this is not the case so often as people imagine. The idea that worms occasion many diseases, gives an opportunity to the professed worm-doctors of imposing on the credulity of mankind, and doing much mischief. They find worms in every case, and liberally throw in their antidotes, which generally consist of strong, drastic purges. I have known these given in delicate constitutions to the destruction of the patient, where there was not the least symptom of worms.

135. A medical writer of the present age has enumerated upwards of fifty British plants, all celebrated for killing and expelling worms.

136. A powder for the tape-worm resembling this, was long kept a secret on the Continent; it was lately purchased by the French king, and will be found under the article Powder, in the Appendix.

137. We think it necessary here to warn people of their danger who buy cakes, powders, and other worm medicines, at random from quacks, and give them to their children without proper care. The principal ingredients in most of these medicines is mercury, which is never to be trifled with. I lately saw a shocking instance of the danger of this conduct. A girl who had taken a dose of worm powder, bought of a travelling quack, went out, and perhaps was so imprudent as to drink cold water during its operation. She immediately swelled, and died on the following day, with all the symptoms of having been poisoned.

138. The very name of an operation is dreadful to most people, and they wish to try every thing before they have recourse to it. This is the reason why tapping so seldom succeeds to our wish. I have had a patient who was regularly tapped once a month for several years, and who used to eat her dinner as well after the operation as if nothing had happened. She died at last rather worn out by age than by the disease.

139. Some make a secret of curing the gout by muscular exercise. This secret, however, is as old as Celsus, who strongly recommends that mode of cure; and whoever will submit to it, in the fullest extent, may expect to reap solid and permanent advantages.

140. See Appendix, Warm Plaster.

141. The scrophula, as well as the rickets, is found to prevail in large manufacturing towns, where people live gross, and lead sedentary lives.

142. Sir John Pringle observes, that though this disease may seem trifling, there is no one in the army that is more troublesome to cure, as the infection often lurks in clothes, &c. and breaks out a second, or even a third time. The same inconveniency occurs in private families, unless particular regard is paid to the changing or cleaning of their clothes, which last is by no means an easy operation.

143. The itch is now by cleanliness banished from every genteel family in Britain. It still however prevails among the poorer sort of peasants in Scotland, and among the manufacturers in England. These are not only sufficient to keep the seeds of the disease alive, but to spread the infection among others. It were to be wished that some effectual method could be devised for extirpating it altogether. Several country clergymen have told me, that by getting such as were infected cured, and strongly recommending an attention to cleanliness, they have banished the itch entirely out of their parishes. Why might not others do the same?

144. After copious evacuations, large doses of æther have been found very efficacious in removing a fit of the asthma. I have likewise known the following mixture produce very happy effects: To four or five ounces of the solution of gum-ammoniac add two ounces of simple cinnamon-water, the same quantity of balsamic syrup, and half an ounce of paregoric elixir. Of this two table-spoonfuls may be taken every three hours.

145. I knew a woman who in a violent fit of anger was seized with a sanguine apoplexy. She at first complained of extreme pain, as if daggers had been thrust through her head, as she expressed it. Afterwards she became comatose, her pulse sunk very low, and was exceeding slow. By bleeding, blistering, and other evacuations, she was kept alive for about a fortnight. When her head was opened, a large quantity of extravasated blood was found in the left ventricle of the brain.

146. The learned Dr. Arbuthnot advises those who are troubled with costiveness to use animal oils, as fresh butter, cream, marrow, fat broths, especially those made of the internal parts of animals, as the liver, heart, midriff, &c. He likewise recommends the expressed oils of mild vegetables, as olives, almonds, pastaches, and the fruits themselves; all oily and mild fruits, as figs; decoctions of mealy vegetables; these lubricate the intestines; some saponaceous substances which stimulate gently, as honey, hydromel, or boiled honey and water, unrefined sugar, &c.

The Doctor observes, that such lenitive substances are proper for persons of dry atrabilarian constitutions, who are subject to astriction of the belly, and the piles, and will operate when stronger medicinal substances are sometimes ineffectual; but that such lenitive diet hurts those whose bowels are weak and lax. He likewise observes, that all watery substances are lenitive, and that even common water, whey, sour milk, and butter-milk, have that effect;—That new milk, especially asses milk, stimulates still more when it sours on the stomach; and that whey turned sour will purge strongly;—That most garden fruits are likewise laxative; and that some of them, as grapes, will throw such as take them immoderately into a cholera morbus, or incurable diarrhœa.

147. Many people imagine, that tea has no tendency to hurt the nerves, and that drinking the same quantity of warm water would be equally pernicious. This however seems to be a mistake. Many persons drink three or four cups of warm milk and water daily, without feeling any bad consequences; yet the same quantity of tea will make their hands shake for twenty-four hours. That tea affects the nerves, is likewise evident from its preventing sleep, occasioning giddiness, dimness of the sight, sickness, &c.

148. See Appendix, Electuary for the Epilepsy.

149. Many nervous people find great benefit from eating a dry biscuit, especially when the stomach is empty. I look upon this as one of the best carminative medicines; and would recommend it in all complaints of the stomach, arising from flatulence, indigestion, &c.

150. Though the patient may begin with this quantity, it will be necessary to increase the dose gradually as the stomach can bear it. Æther is now given in considerably greater doses than it was in Dr. Whytt’s time.

151. When hysteric fits are occasioned by sympathy, they may be cured by exciting an opposite passion. This is said to have been the case of a whole school of young ladies in Holland, who were all cured by being told, that the first who was seized should be burnt to death. But this method of cure, to my knowledge, will not always succeed. I would therefore advise, that young ladies who are subject to hysteric fits should not be sent to boarding schools, as the disease may be caught by imitation. I have known madness itself brought on by sympathy.

152. Though antispasmodics and anodynes are universally recommended in this disease, yet all the extraordinary cures that I ever knew in hysteric cases, were performed by means of tonic and corroborating medicines.

153. Some persons afflicted with cramps pretend to reap great benefit from small bundles of rosemary tied all night about their feet, ancles, and knees.

154. Armstrong on Health.

155. It is a pity those who have the misfortune to be born blind, or who lose their sight when young, should be suffered to remain in ignorance, or to beg. This is both cruelty and want of economy. There are many employments of which blind persons are very capable, as knitting, carding, turning a wheel, teaching languages, &c. Nor are instances wanting of persons who have arrived at the highest pitch of learning, without having the least idea of light. Witness the late famous Nicholas Sanderson of Cambridge, and my worthy friend Dr. Thomas Blacklock of Edinburgh. The former was one of the first mathematicians of his age, and the latter, besides being a good poet and philosopher, is master of all the learned languages, and a very considerable adept in the liberal arts.

156. Though those who have the misfortune to be born deaf are generally suffered to continue dumb, and consequently are in a great measure lost to society, yet nothing is more certain than that such persons may be taught not only to read and write, but also to speak, and to understand what others say to them. Teaching the dumb to speak will appear paradoxical to those who do not consider that the formation of sounds is merely mechanical, and may be taught without the assistance of the ear. This is not only capable of demonstration, but is actually reduced to practice by the ingenious Mr. Thomas Braidwood of Edinburgh. This gentleman has, by the mere force of genius and application, brought the teaching of dumb persons to such a degree of perfection, that his scholars are generally more forward in their education than those of the same age who enjoy all their faculties. They not only read and write with the utmost readiness, but likewise speak, and are capable of holding conversation with any person in the light. What a pity any of the human species should remain in a state of idiotism, who are capable of being rendered as useful and intelligent as others! We mention this not only from humanity to those who have the misfortune to be born deaf, but also in justice to Mr. Braidwood, whose success has far exceeded all former attempts this way; and indeed it exceeds imagination itself so far, that no person who has not seen and examined his pupils, can believe what they are capable of.—As this gentleman, however willing, is only able to teach a few, and as the far greater part of those who are born deaf cannot afford to attend him, it would be an act of great humanity, as well as of public utility, to erect an academy for their benefit.

157. A gentleman, on whose veracity I can depend, told me, that after using many things to no purpose for an obstinate deafness, he was at last advised to put a few drops of his own urine warm into his ears every night and morning, from which he received great benefit. It is probable that a solution of sal ammoniac, in water, would produce the same effect.

158. London Medical Essays.

159. In a cancer which had set all medicines, and even surgery, at defiance, I lately saw remarkable effects from an obstinate perseverance in a course of antiseptics. I ordered the deep ulcers to be washed to the bottom by means of a syringe, twice or thrice a-day, either with an infusion of the bark, or a decoction of carrot, and that the patient should take four or five times a-day, a glass of good wine, with half a drachm of the best powdered bark in it. The sores, after being washed, were likewise sprinkled with the same powder. When the patient began this course, her death was daily expected. She continued it for above two years, with manifest advantage; but being told by an eminent surgeon, that the bark would not cure a cancer, and that the sores ought not to be washed, she discontinued the practice, and died in a few weeks. This course was not expected to cure the cancer, but to prolong the patient’s life, which it evidently did almost to a miracle.

160. As hemlock is the principal medicine recommended in this disease, we would have given some directions for the gathering and preparing of that plant; but as its different preparations are now kept in the shops, we think it much safer for people to get them there, with proper directions for using them.

161. Though we give this prescription on the credit of Dr. Mead, yet we would not advise any person, who has reason to believe that he has been bit by a dog which was really mad, to trust to it alone. Mead was an able physician, but he seems to have been no great philosopher, and was some times the dupe of his own credulity.

162. The Ormskirk medicine, as it is called, seems to me to consist chiefly of cinnabar. Though it is said to be infallible, as a preventive; yet I would not advise any one to trust to it alone. Indeed it is ordered to be taken in a manner which gives it more the appearance of a charm than of a medicine. Surely if a medicine is to produce any change in the body, it must be taken for some considerable time, and in sufficient quantity.

163. The practice of sucking out poisons is very ancient; and indeed nothing can be more rational. Where the bite cannot be cut out, this is the most likely way for extracting the poison. There can be no danger in performing this office, as the poison does no harm unless it be taken into the body by a wound. The person who sucks the wound ought however to wash his mouth frequently with salad-oil, which will secure him from even the least inconveniency. The Psylli in Africa, and the Marsi in Italy, were famed for curing the bites of poisonous animals by sucking the wound; and we are told, that the Indians in North America practise the same at this day.

164. Although it is now very common to cure the gonorrhœa by astringent injections, there are still many practitioners who do not approve this mode of practice. I can, however, from much experience, assert, that it is both the most easy, elegant, and efficacious method of cure; and that any bad consequences arising from it must be owing to the ignorance or misconduct of the practitioner himself, and not to the remedy. Many, for example, use strong preparations of lead, all of which are dangerous when applied to the internal surfaces of the body; others use escharotics, which inflame and injure the parts. I have known a gonorrhœa actually cured by an injection made of green tea, and would always recommend gentle methods where they will succeed.

165. If the patient can swallow a solution of salts and manna, he may take six drachms, or, if his constitution requires it, an ounce of the former, with half an ounce of the latter. These may be dissolved in an English pint of boiling water, whey, or thin water-gruel, and taken early in the morning.

If an infusion of senna and tamarinds be more agreeable, two drachms of the former, and an ounce of the latter, may be infused all night in an English pint of boiling water. The infusion may be strained next morning, and half an ounce of Glauber’s salts dissolved in it. A tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken every half hour till it operates.

Should the patient prefer an electuary, the following will be found to answer very well. Take of the lenitive electuary four ounces, cream of tartar two ounces, jalap in powder two drachms, rhubarb one drachm, and as much of the syrup of pale roses as will serve to make up the whole into a soft electuary. Two or three tea-spoonfuls of this may be taken over-night, and about the same quantity next morning, every day that the patient chuses to take a purge.

The doses of the above medicines may be increased or diminished according as the patient finds it necessary. We have ordered the salts to be dissolved in a large quantity of water, because it renders their operation more mild.

166. Take quicksilver one drachm, gum-arabic reduced to a mucilage two drachms; let the quicksilver be rubbed with the mucilage, in a marble mortar, until the globules of mercury entirely disappear; afterwards add gradually, still continuing the trituration, half an ounce of balsamic syrup, and eight ounces of simple cinnamon-water. Two table-spoonfuls of this solution may be taken night and morning. Some reckon this the best form in which quicksilver can be exhibited for the cure of a gonorrhœa.

167. The Peruvian bark may be combined with other astringents, and prepared in the following manner:

Take of Peruvian bark bruised six drachms, of fresh galls bruised two drachms; boil them in a pound and a half of water to a pound; to the strained liquor add three ounces of the simple tincture of the bark. A small tea-cupful of this may be taken three times a-day, adding to each cup fifteen or twenty drops of the acid elixir of vitriol.

168. Take Venice turpentine, boiled to a sufficient degree of hardness, half an ounce, calomel half a drachm. Let these be mixed and formed into sixty pills, of which five or six may be taken night and morning. If, during the use of these pills, the mouth should grow sore, or the breath become offensive, they must be discontinued till these symptoms disappear.

169. I have been accustomed for some time past to apply leeches to inflamed testicles, which practice has always been followed with the most happy effects.

170. The extract of hemlock may be made into pills, and taken in the manner directed under the article Cancer.

171. For the dispersion of a bubo, a number of leeches applied to the part affected will be found equally efficacious as in the inflamed testicle.

172. When venereal ulcers are seated in the lips, the infection may be communicated by kissing. I have seen very obstinate venereal ulcers in the lips, which I had all the reason in the world to believe were communicated in this manner.

Nurses ought to beware of suckling infected children, or having their breasts drawn by persons tainted with the venereal disease. This caution is peculiarly necessary for nurses who reside in the neighbourhood of great towns.

173. I have found it answer extremely well to sprinkle chancres twice a-day with calomel. This will often perform a cure without any other application whatever. If the chancres are upon the glans, they may be washed with milk and water, a little warm, and afterwards the calomel may be applied as above.

174. The sublimate may be given in distilled water, or any other liquor that the patient chuses. I commonly order ten grains to be dissolved in an ounce of the spirit of wine, for the conveniency of carriage, and let the patient take twenty or thirty drops of it night and morning in half a glass of brandy or other spirits. Mr. Debraw, an ingenious chymist of this place, informs me, that he prepares a salt of mercury much more mild and gentle in its operation than the sublimate, though equally efficacious.