good Effects of
it, especially when the Patient at the same time had Worms;
in such Cases we joined it to Rhubarb as mentioned in the
Text, or gave a Calomel Bolus over Night, and a Purge next
Morning. Dr. _Duncan_, Physician to his Majesty, told me,
that he found the following Method of Cure always successful
in the Dysentery, which was epidemic in _London_ in the Year
1762.
If the Patient was Plethoric, or had much Fever, he ordered
more or less Blood to be taken away; and then gave four
Ounces of the following Julep, every Half Hour, till it both
vomited and purged. Rx _Tartar. emetic. gr._ iij _Mannae elect.
Unc._ ij _solve in Aq. hordeat. Lib._ 1.--The next Day, and
for five or six Days more, the Patient took so much of a
Decoction, of Manna, Tamarinds, and soluble Tartar, as kept
up a free Discharge by Stool.--If the Irritation and Griping
were severe, he found that a Solution of Manna, in the common
Almond Emulsion, was sufficient.
When the Pain, or Tenesmus, was violent, a Clyster, of
Chicken Broth, or of an Infusion of Linseed, with an Ounce or
two of Oil of sweet Almonds dissolved in the Yolk of an Egg,
injected once or twice a Day, was of great Use.
Upon the whole, he was always pleased when he saw large
excrementitious Stools come away; and when that could be
procured by a gentle Method, he was the more pleased.
This Disorder was very often cured in a few Days, and in that
Case he dropt the further Use of Medicines; but when it
exceeded the Period of six or seven Days, he then added
thirty or forty Drops of the _tinctura thebaica_ to the
Clysters; and ordered a Scruple of the Extract of the Logwood
to be taken thrice a Day in some proper Vehicle.
The Patient's Diet was Rice-Gruel, Sago, Panado, and such
like; no Animal Food, not so much as Chicken-Broth, was
allowed in the Beginning of the Distemper, nor even Oil,
Butter, or Fat of any Kind. The common Drink was Almond
Emulsion, Rice-Water, or Barley-Water with Gum Arabic.
Dr. _Duncan_ lost but one Patient out of Eighty, whom he had
under his Care that Season; and he was delirious, had a high
Fever, and a _subsultus tendinum_ before the Doctor was
called to him, and he died the next Day.
The late Dr. _Young_, of _Edinburgh_, seems to have had a
very just Notion of this Disorder,
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