EMBROCATIONS AND LINIMENTS

3088. These remedies are used externally as local stimulants, to relieve deep-seated inflammations when other means cannot be employed, as they are more easily applied locally.

3089. _Liniments_ are to be rubbed on the skin as the patient can bear.

3090. _Anodyne and Discutient._--Take two drachms of scraped white soap, half a drachm of extract of henbane, and dissolve them by a gentle heat in six ounces of olive oil.

3091. Used in doses of two or three drachms at a time, for glandular enlargements which are painful and stubborn.

3092. _Strong Ammoniated._--Add one ounce of strong liquid ammonia (_Liquoris ammoniæ fortis_) to two ounces of olive oil; shake them well together until they are properly mixed.

3093. Use--employed as a stimulant in rheumatic pains, paralytic numbness, chronic glandular enlargements, lumbago, sciatica, &c.

3094. _Compound Ammoniated._--Add six teaspoonsful of oil of turpentine to the strong ammoniated liniment above.

3095. Use for the diseases mentioned under the head of strong ammoniated liniment, and chronic affections of the knee and ankle-joints.

3096. _Lime and Oil._--Take equal parts of common linseed oil and lime-water (_Liquor calcis_), and shake well.

3097. Use, applied to burns, scalds, sun-peelings, &c.

3098. _Camphorated._--Take half an ounce of camphor, and dissolve it in two ounces of olive oil.

3099. Use as a stimulant, soothing application in stubborn breasts, glandular enlargements, dropsy of the belly, and rheumatic pains.

3100. _Soap Liniment with Spanish Flies._--Take three ounces and a half of soap-liniment, and half an ounce of tincture of Spanish flies: mix and shake well.

3101. Use as a stimulant to chronic bruises, sprains, rheumatic pains, and indolent swellings.

3102. _Turpentine._--Take two ounces and a half of resin cerate (_ceratum resinæ_), and melt it by standing the vessel in hot water; then add one ounce and a half of oil of turpentine, and mix.

3103. Use as a stimulant application to ulcers, burns, scalds, &c.

3104. Are a peculiar kind of medicine, administered by injecting them into the rectum or outlet of the body.

3105. The intention is either to empty the bowels, kill worms, protect the lining membrane of the intestines from injury, restrain copious discharges, allay spasms in the bowels, or nourish the body. These clysters, or glysters, are administered by means of bladders and pipes, or a proper apparatus.

3106. _Laxative._--Take two ounces of Epsom salts, and dissolve in three-quarters of a pint of gruel, or thin broth, with an ounce of olive oil. Use as all enemas are used.

3107. _Nutritive._--Take twelve ounces of strong beef tea, and thicken with hartshorn shavings or arrow-root.

3108. _Turpentine._--Take half an ounce of oil of turpentine, the yolk of one egg, and half a pint of gruel.

3109. Mix the turpentine and egg, and then add the gruel. Use as an anthelmintic.

3110. _Common._--Dissolve one ounce of salt in twelve ounces of gruel.

3111. _Castor Oil._--Mix two ounces of castor oil with one drachm of starch; then rub them together, and add fourteen ounces of thin gruel.

3112. Use--purgative.

3113. _Opium._--Rub two grains of opium with two ounces of starch, then add two ounces of warm water.

3114. Use as an anodyne, in colic, spasms, &c.

3115. _Oil._--Mix four ounces of olive oil with half an ounce of mucilage and half a pint of warm water.

3116. Use as a demulcent.

3117. _Assafœtida._--Dissolve two drachms of the gum in a pint of barley-water.

3118. Used in convulsions from teething.

3119. _Gargles._--See pages 107, 245, and 246.

3120. _Extracts_ are made by evaporating the liquors obtained by infusion or decoction, but these can be bought much cheaper and better of chemists and druggists, and so can tinctures, confections, cerates, plasters, and syrups.

3121. _Method of Ascertaining the State of the Lungs._--Persons desirous of ascertaining the true state of their lungs, are directed to draw in as much breath as they conveniently can; they are then to count as far as they are able, in a slow and audible voice, without drawing in more breath.

3122. The number of seconds they can continue counting must be carefully observed; in a consumption the time does not exceed ten, and is frequently less than six seconds; in pleurisy and pneumonia it ranges from nine to four seconds. When the lungs are in a sound condition, the time will range as high as from twenty to thirty-five seconds.

3123. _Appetite._--Appetite is frequently lost through excessive use of stimulants, food taken too hot, sedentary occupation, costiveness, liver disorder, and want of change of air. The first endeavor should be to ascertain and remove the cause.

3124. Change of diet, and change of air, will frequently be found more beneficial than medicines.

3125. _Bile, Bilious or Liver Complaints._--Abstinence from malt liquors, cool homœopathic cocoa for drink, no tea or coffee, few vegetables, and little bread; bacon in a morning, and well-cooked fresh animal food once a day.

3126. One common cause of putrid and malignant fevers is the want of cleanliness.

POULTICES.

[SEE PAGES 112, 113, AND 230, 231.]

3127. Poultices should be applied as hot as the patient can bear. Cold poultices do no good; remove them.

3128. _Apple Poultice._--Apples pared, cored and well boiled, then well washed into a pulp, form a very good poultice.

3129. _Starch Poultice._--Starch, any quantity; thicken with boiling water. When a little cool, stir in a little lard or oil.

3130. _Slippery Elm Poultice._--Take slippery elm in powder, and mix with water until somewhat thick, then boil it a few minutes. It is to be applied warm.

3131. _Yeast Poultice._--Wheat flour, one pound; yeast, half a pint. Mix them together over a gentle heat until the mixture begins to rise, then apply warm.

3132. _Mustard Poultice._--Flour of mustard, one part; flax-seed meal, one part. Make into a paste with water. A little oil or lard should be added to prevent its sticking.

3133. _Poultice made of Hops._--Boil a handful of hops for a few minutes in a pint of water, in a covered vessel, squeeze out the juice and strain. This liquor is now to be put again on the fire and thickened with Indian meal, and a little lard added as it becomes cool.

3134. _Spice Poultice._---Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ginger, of each equal quantities; honey or molasses to mix.

3135. _Alum Poultice._--Put the white of a couple of eggs into a plate, and then with a piece of alum between the thumb and finger stir it into a curd.

3136. _Ginger Poultice._--Wet flannel in hot vinegar and sprinkle on ground ginger--good for toothache.

3137. _Hot Water._--In bruises, hot water is most efficacious, both by means of insertion and fomentation, in removing pain, and totally preventing discoloration and stiffness. It has the same effect after a blow. It should be applied as quickly as possible, and as hot as it can be borne.

3138. Insertion in hot water will cure that troublesome and fearful thing called a whitlow.

3139. The efficacy of hot water in preventing the ill effects of fatigue is too well known to require notice.

3140. _Blisters._--See pages 113 and 374.

3141. _Plasters, Cerates, etc._--See page 238.

3142. _Food for the Sick._--See page 230, &c.

3143. _Fevers and Remedies._--See pages 111, 112.

3144. _Mucilage of Gum Arabic._--Rub one ounce of gum arabic in a mortar, with four ounces of warm water. Use for coughs, &c.

3145. _Mucilage of Starch._--Rub one drachm of starch with a little water, and gradually add five ounces of water, then boil until it forms a mucilage.

3146. Use for enemas, topical application and demulcent.

3147. _Cutaneous Eruptions._--The following mixture is very useful in all cutaneous eruptions:

3148. Ipecacuanha wine, four drachms; flowers of sulphur, two drachms; tincture of cardamoms, one ounce. Mix.

3149. Dose--one teaspoonful to be taken three times a day, in a wine-glassful of water. (See page 232.)

3150. _Small Pox Marks._--Long observation has convinced me that nothing so effectually removes these disfigurements as gently rubbing the face with a soft towel immediately after washing. This practice, which is free from the objections which may be made against external applications (which are usually violent irritants), quickens the circulation of the blood, producing exfoliation and the formation of new tissues, and at the same time restoring to the cheek its healthy color, which is generally lost by confluent small-pox.--_Dr. Cox._

3151. Mental and bodily exercise are equally essential to the general health and happiness.

3152. Therefore, labor and study should succeed each other.

3153. Man will live most healthily upon simple solids and fluids, of which a sufficient but temperate quantity should be taken.

3154. Therefore, strong drinks, tobacco, snuff, opium, and all mere indulgences should be avoided.