ned with a solution of half an ounce of sugar of lead
to a pint of water applied on the erysipelas on anasarcous legs, which have
a tendency to mortification, is more efficacious than other applications.
White vitriol six grains dissolved in one ounce of rose-water removes
inflammations of the eyes after evacuation more certainly than solutions of
lead. Blue vitriol two or three grains dissolved in an ounce of water cures
ulcers in the mouth, and other mucous membranes, and a solution of arsenic
externally applied cures the itch, but requires great caution in the use of
it. See Class II. 1. 5. 6.
4. Bitter vegetables, as the Peruvian bark, quilted between two shirts, or
strewed in their beds, will cure the ague in children sometimes. Iron in
solution, and some bitter extract, as in the form of ink, will cure one
kind of herpes called the ringworm. And I have seen seven parts of bark in
fine powder mixed with one part of ceruss, or white lead, in fine powder,
applied dry to scrophulous ulcers, and renewed daily, with great advantage.
5. To these should be added electric sparks and shocks, which promote the
absorption of the vessels in inflamed eyes of scrophulous children; and
disperse, or bring to suppuration, scrophulous tumours about the neck. For
this last purpose smart shocks should be passed through the tumours only,
by inclosing them between two brass knobs communicating with the external
and internal coating of a charged phial. See Art. II. 2. 2. 2.
X. 1. Bandages increase absorption, if they are made to fit nicely on the
part; for which purpose it is necessary to spread some moderately adhesive
plaster on the bandage, and to cut it into tails, or into shreds two inches
wide; the ends are to be wrapped over each other; and it must be applied
when the part is least tumid, as in the morning before the patient rises,
if on the lower extremities. The emplastrum de minio made to cover the
whole of a swelled leg in this manner, whether the swelling is hard, which
is usually termed scorbutic; or more easily compressible, as in anasarca,
reduces the limb in two or three days to its natural size; for this purpose
I have sometimes used carpenter's glue, mixed with one twentieth part of
honey to prevent its becoming too hard, instead of a resinous plaster; but
the minium plaster of the shops is in general to be preferred. Nothing so
much facilitates the cure of ulcers in the legs, as covering the whole limb
from the toes
|