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fully. Sleep promotes a more calm and uniform circulation of the blood, and it facilitates assimilation of the nutriment received. The horizontal posture, likewise, is the most favourable to the growth and bodily development of the infant.

Duration of, and time for sleep.

accomplishment of girls, imagine that they must be kept under a certain restraint. Boys, in general, are not laced, but poor girls are compressed tight enough to suffocate them; because it is erroneously supposed, that this injudicious practice contributes to an elegant shape, though, ultimately, the contrary effect is obvious; as it is the surest way of making children round shouldered and deformed. Girls are, from their cradles, com

intention, dolls, and other play things, are early procured: yet boys are permitted to take more frequent exercise. Thus, girls are confined in their apartments, while boys amuse themselves in the open air. Such absurd constraints impede the free and progressive evolution of the different faculties inherent in the human mind.

The yellow gum.

Sleep ought to be in proportion to the age of the infant. After an uninterrupted rest of nine months in the womb, this salutary refreshment should cor.tinue to fill up the greater part of a child's ex-pelled to a more sedentary life; and, with this istence. A continued watchfulness of twenty-four hours would prove destructive. After the age of six months, the periods of sleep, as well as all other animal functions, may in some degree be regulated; yet, even then, a child should be suffered to sleep the whole night, and several hours both in the morning and afternoon. Mothers and nurses should endeavour to accustom infants from the time of their birth, to sleep in the night preferably to the day, and for this purpose they ought to remove all external impressions which may disturb their rest, such as noise, light, &c. but especially net to obey every call for taking them up, and giving food at improper times. After the second year of their age, they will not instinctively require to sleep in the forenoon, though after dinner it may be continued till the third and fourth year of life, if the child shows a particular inclination to repose; because till that age, the full half of its time may safely be allotted to sleep. From that period, however, it ought to be shortened for the space of one hour with every succeeding year; so that a child of seven years old may sleep about eight, and not exceeding nine hours; this proportion may be continued to the age of adolescence, and even manhood.

Awaking suddenly.

The yellow gum is known by a yellow tinge of the skin, with languor and a tendency to sleep. It is to be relieved by giving a tea-spoonful or more of castor oil, to clear the intestines. When the disease does not give way to this treatment, 8 drops of antimonial wine are to be given in a tea-spoonful of water, so as to prove emetic. In about eight or ten hours, this is to be followed by half a grain of calomel, or 4 grains of rhubarb. Vomiting.

When the food is vomited in an unaltered state, it is generally a sign of over-feeding: but when the vomiting is bilious, or when the food is partly digested, the diet ought to be changed, and the bowels opened by 1 grain of calomel given in sugar. This is to be followed by a tea-spoonful of castor oil on the following morning. If the vomiting should still continue, give a gentle emetic, and the calomel powder (containing 1 or 2 grains, according to the age) soon after. If there be much in-irritation, apply a blister to the stomach; and, if possible, give a tea-spoonful of the saline medicine, in a state of effervescence, and containing 2 drops of laudanum.

To awaken children from their sleep with a se, or in an impetuous manner, is extremely dicious and hurtful, nor is it proper to carry them from a dark room immediately into a glaring light, against a dazzling wall; for the sudden impression of light debilitates the organs of vision, and lays the foundation of weak eyes, from early infancy.

Restlessness at night.

Hiccups.

These generally arise from acidity in the stomach, and may be remedied by the administration of 8 grai of prepared chalk with 2 grains of powdered rhubarb, given in a little syrup or gruel. If very severe, the stomach is to be rubbed with a little soap liniment, or opodeldoc, to which a little laudanum has been added.

Griping and flatulency.

by diarhoea and green stools, it is to be relieved, in general, by the administration of a few graius of rhubarb and magnesia. If sour belchings, &c. still continue, it will be proper to give a tea-spoonful every quarter of an hour, of weak solution of tartar emetic, until the child vomits. After this, particularly if there be any purging, it will be proper to give a little rhubarb and magnesia again, and now and then a little chalk mixture.

An infant is sometimes very restless at night, and it is generally owing either to cramming him with a heavy supper, tight night clothes, or being overheated by too many blankets. It may also proceed from putting him to sleep too early. He should be kept awake till the family are going to rest, and These are known by continual crying, restlessthe house free from noise. Undressing and bathingness, and drawing up of the legs. When attended will weary and dispose him for sleep, and the universal stillness will promote it. This habit and all others depend on attention at first. Accustom him to regular nours, and if he has a good sleep in the forenoon and afternoon, it will be easy to keep him brisk all the evening. It is right to offer him drink when a young infant; and more solid, though simple food, when he is going to bed, after he is two or three months old, but do not force him to receive it; and never let any thing but the prescription of a physician in sickness, tempt the nurses to give him wine, spirits, or any drug to make him sleep. Milk and water, whey, or thin gruel, is the only fit liquor for little ones, even when they can run about. The more simple and light their diet and drink, the more they will thrive. Such food will keep the body regular, and they cannot be long well if that essential point is neglected.

Amusements, &c.

The bodily education of boys and girls ought in every respect to be uniform. A great difference usually prevails in the education of both sexes durg infancy. Parents, being too anxious for the

Absorbent mixture.

If the pains are very great so as to make the child scream violently, two tea-spoonsful of the following mixture, with 5 or 6 drops of laudanum, may be given directly: Mix together, prepared chalk, 1 scruple, tincture of caraway seeds, 3 dr. compound spirit of lavender, 1 do. and of peppermint water, 2 oz.

As soon as there is diminution of pain, a purga tive should be given, particularly if the bowels happen to be in a costive state. The best will be castor oil. The above mixture may afterwards be occasionally continued, but without the laudanum. Diarrhea.

This may, in general, if the stools are green,

be relieved by a brisk purgative, of from 1 to 2 gn ins of calomel, with 4 or 5 of rhubarb, according to the age of the child. The absorbent mixture is then to be given as before directed.

Further remedies.

When the stools are very frequent and are either slimy or tinged with blood, it will be proper to give 5 grains of rhubarb every 6 hours, the food being beef tea, sago, isinglass in milk or calf's foot jelly, the body being wrapped in warm flannel. A small blister may likewise be applied to the belly; and a dessert spoonful of the following tonic and astringent mixture is to be given every six hours: Mix together, tincture of rind, 1 drachm, chalk mixture, 2 oz. laudanum, 12 drops, and cinnamon water, 1 cz.

Opiate clyster.

If the fluid stools are ejected with great force a clyster should be given, composed of half a teacupful of boiled starch, and 20 drops of laudanum. This may be repeated at an interval of 8 hours, if the symptoms do not abate.

Excoriations of the skin.

swelled or inflamed, foment with warm milk, or decoction of oak bark, or wash frequently with cold water. The protruded parts are now to be replaced by the finger, and supported by a truss or bandage. The internal use of tonics will be proper Dentition.

When children are about cutting their teeth, they slaver much, are feverish, hot, and uneasy; their gums swell, and are very painful; they are sometimes loose in the bowels, and at other times costive; now and then convulsions come on. Leeches are often of use applied behind the ears; also blisters.

Scarifying the gums.

Instead of giving narcotics to children cutting their teeth, it is strenuously recommended to have the tumid gums divided by a lancet down to the tooth; an operation at once safe and unattended with pain. If done in time, by removing the cause of the complaint, all the symptoms will disappear of themselves. Instead of giving preparations of opium, it will be found, in the majority of cases, far better to administer calomel, in minute doses, as this medicine is well known to possess peculiar efficacy in promoting absorption in these parts. The body, if costive, should be kept regularly open, and if there should be looseness of the bowels, it should by no means be discouraged. Instead of coral or any other hard body, let the child nib

Children are apt to be chafed between the thighs, behind the ears, and in the wrinkles of the neck, from want of proper attention to cleanliness. In such cases it will be necessary to bathe the parts twice a day, (or every time that the child's things are changed) with a little warm milk and water; and to apply a puff with a little hair powder in-ble at a piece of wax candle. mediately afterwards, so as to keep the parts dry. -When discharges take place behind the ears, they must not be dried up too suddenly, as such a circumstance might produce a diversion to the brain. In such cases it will be always best to give frequent doses of castor oil, or calomel, every night, in the proportion of 1 grain to 3 grains of

rhubarb.

Cutaneous eruptions.

No real danger attends these eruptions, which are generally known by the names of red-gum, nettle-rash, &c. All that is required to be done is to keep the bowels open by such means as are . prescribed in the foregoing article, and to guard against cold, which might drive the eruption inwardly, and so produce internal inflammations of a critical nature. If the milk or food be considered the cause, the nurse, or diet, ought to be changed: and if sickness and vomiting should prevail, it will be proper to give the absorbent mixture mentioned under the head Griping and Flatulency. The thrush.

This disease makes its appearance by little ulcerations in the mouth, tongue, &c. of a white colour, and sometimes of a yellow appearance. They are generally owing to acidities in the stomach, &c.

In this disorder nothing avails more than an emetic at first, and then a little magnesia and rhubarb, (if there is diarrhea) with thin chickenwater as drink. Testaceous powders, or the absorbent mixture (see Griping and Fiatuleney), will also be proper. If there is no looseness, it will be proper to give a grain or two of calomel, with 3 or grains of rhubarb. The mouth and throat should at the same time be cleansed by gargles.

Syup of black currants.

Take of the juice of black currants, strained, 1 pint, double refined sugar, 24 oz. Dissolve the sugar, and boil to make a syrup.

A tea-spoonful of this to be given to children in the thrush.

Falling down of the fundament. This happens frequently to children who cry Inuch, or who have had a diarrhea, or from straining on going to stool. If it proceed from costiveness, give lenitive clysters. In case the gut be

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Convulsions.

Children are particularly liable to convulsions at the period of teething, small pox, measies, and other eruptive diseases; sometimes, also, from external causes, such as strait clothes, bandages, &c. When they proceed from any of these, bathing the feet, or the whole body, in warm water, of 92 or 94 degrees, and administering a mild elyster, will almost immediately relieve them. To shorten the duration of the fit, cold water should be poured over the face and neck, whilst the rest of the body is in the bath.

The return of convulsions is to be prevented only by the removal of the cause of the existing irritation; but, in general, when the body is kept carefully open, there will be little cause to fear a

return.

Inward fits.

In these fits the infant appears as if asleep, the eyelids, however, are not quite closed, but frequently twinkle, and show the whites turned upwards. The muscles of the face are sometimes slightly distorted, the mouth having the appearance of a laugh or smile. The breath is sometimes very quick, and at others stops for a time; whils the eyelids and lips are pale and dark alternately. The infant startles on the least noise, and sighs deeply or breaks wind. This relieves him for a little, but he soon relapses into a dose. Whenever the above mentioned symptoms are observed; it will be right to awaken the infant, by stirring or otherwise, and to rub its back and belly well before the fire, until wind escapes. At the same time, it will be proper to give heif a tea-spoonful of drink or pap, containing 2 dro,s of oil of anise or caraways. As soon after as possible, a purgative of castor oil, or a grain or two of calomel (according to the age), with two or three grains of rhubarb, is to be given, to empty the bowels of what ever crude matter may occasion the disorder. The rickets.

This disorder affects the bones of children, and causes a considerable protuberance, incurvation, or distortion of them. It may arise from varions causes, but more particularly when proper care has not been taken with children: when they have been too tightly swathed in some parts, and too

foose in others; keeping them too long in one and the same position; and not keeping them clean and dry. Sometimes it may proceed from a lax habit, at others from costiveness.

It usually appears about the eighth or ninth month, and continues to the sixth or seventh year of the child's age. The head becomes large, and the fontanelle keeps long open; the countenance is full and florid; the joints knotty and distorted, especially about the wrists; less near the ankles. The ribs protuberate, and grow crooked; the belly swells; cough and disorder of the lungs succeed; and there is, withal, a very early understanding, and the child moves but weakly, and waddles in walking.

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Take of spermaceti ointment, 1 oz.; tar ointrent, 1 oz.; powdered angustura bark, 3 drachms. Rub the whole well in a marble mortar, and apply to the parts affected. Alterative medicines.

In six cases out of ten, this disease is aggravated by a scrofulous taint of the system; and when this is the case, the following alterative medicine accelerates the cure.

Regimen, &c.-The regimen should be light and properly seasoned; the air dry and clear; exer- Take of oxide of zinc, precipitated sulphur of cise and motion should be encouraged, and ban-antimony, each, 9 grains; resin of guaiacum, exdages, as well as instruments, contrived to keep tract of bark, extract of hemlock, each, 2 scruples. the limbs in a proper sitaation; but we should take Mix, and form into 20 pills. care that they be so formed as not to put the child to pain, or restrain it too much.

To children from six to ten years of age, give one pill night and morning; under six years, half a pill night and morning, mixed in raspberry

Cold sea-bathing is of infinite use; after which, friction should be used, and the child placed be-jam. tween two blankets, so as to encourage perspiration. The back should be well rubbed with opodeldoc, or good old rum, every night.

A few grains of ipecacuanha, or calomel, may now and then be proper, and chalybeates are also very serviceable.

A decoction of Peruvian bark is also good, with red wine: it is to be used with moderation in the forenoou and after dinner.

Distortion of the spine.

Dr Weitch, an eminent physician of Berlin, has published in Hufeland's journal, a simple remedy for weakness of the back-bone of infants, and which he considers capable of preventing distortion. This method consists, first, in frequent and close examination of the child's back-bone; and secondly, on the slightest trace of any distortion, to wash the same with brandy every morning and night, and to pay the strictest attention to the child's keeping a straight posture both sleeping and waking; and if it can be bathed from time to time, it will be so much the better.

Jelly from the raspings of ivory. The raspings of ivory impart to boiling water a very pleasant jelly, which has been found more easy of digestion, and more nutritious than that of the hartshorn shavings, or isinglass. Mixed with the jelly of the arrow-root, in the proportion of one part to seven, it is much recommended for weakly and ricketty children, and consumptive or emaciated invalids.

Ringworm and scald head.

It is well known that these disorders, which are in many respects similar, are contagious; therefore, no comb or hair-brush, used by a child affected by them, is to be used by another child either in a school or in the same family. Nor should the hat ar cap of such a child be worn by any other.

Treatment.-The intractableness of most children, when attempted to be controlled or governed by the accustomed mode of treatment, proves, in most instances, a material obstacle in the way of curing this malignant disease; and the quickness with which the hair of the scalp grows in children, has hitherto, in most instances, rendered every effort ineffectual. It was a constant failure, under these inauspicious circumstances, that led Mr Barlow, a medical professor in Lancashire, to adopt the subjoined lotion:-Take of sulphate of potass, recently prepared, 3 drachms; Spanish white soap, 14 do.; lime-water, 74 oz.; and spirit of wine, 2 drachms. Mix, by shaking well in a phial. By bathing the affected head with this lotion

Instead of the above, 1 grain of calomel may be given going to rest, and repeated every night; als the use of salt water externally and internally, as an alterative, has been found very useful.

In all cases the bowels ought to be kept open, and the diet should consist of wholesome and nu

tritive food; avoiding fish and salt meats. Cleanliness and occasional use of the warm bath will likewise be of service.

Hooping cough.

This convulsive cough is occasioned by a viscid matter which cannot be easily expectorated. The poor infant, in endeavouring to bring it up, strains violently, till he becomes almost suffocated and convulsed.

Remedies. In this complaint, next to occasional vomiting, the daily use of the warm bath is most useful. Bleeding may sometimes be useful, to prevent inflammation of the internal membranes, or cupping between the neck and shoulders. Gentle antimonial emetics should be given repeatedly, because the symptoms are always relieved when the child vomits.

Another.-Dissolve a scruple of salt of tartar in a pint of water, add ten grains of cochineal, finely powdered; sweeten this with sugar. Give an infant the fourth part of a table-spoonful four times a day. To a child two or three years old, half a spoonful; and to a child four years old or upwards, a spoonful. The relief will be immediate, and the cure, generally, in three or four days.

To the above may be added, as auxiliaries, a Burundy pitch plaster on the pit of the stomach, a flannel waistcoat or shirt next the skin, and a change of air when practicable. The diet should be light and easy of digestion, avoiding every thing of a fat and oily nature.

Embrocation for hooping cough.

Take of emetic tartar, 2 drachms, boiling water, 2 oz. tincture of cantharides, 1 drachm, oil of wild thyme, 3 drachms. Mix. A dessert-spoonful to be rubbed upon the chest every night and morning.

Regimen, &c. for hooping cough.

A frequent change of air is exceedingly useful in hosping cough, particularly short voyages at sea; at the same time flannel is to be worn next the skin. Young children should lie with their heads and shoulders raised; and when the cough occurs, they ought to be placed on their feet and bent a little forward, to guard against suffocation. The diet should be light, and the drink warm and mucilaginous.

The croup.

Compound aloetic pis.

Take of hepatic aloes, 1 oz. ginger powder, 1 drachm, soap, oz. essential oil of peppermint, drachm.

Let the aloes and the ginger be rubbed well together, then add the soap and the oil, so as to form

a mass.

and are very well calculated for answering those This disease is peculiar to children, and gene-intentions; half a scruple, a scruple, or more, may ally fatal, if care is not taken in the commence- be taken every night, or oftener. ment. It cominonly approaches with the usual signs of a catarrh, but sometimes the peculiar symptoms occur at the first onset; namely, a hoarseness, with a shrill ringing sound both in speaking and coughing, as if the noise came from a brazen tube. At the same time there is a serse of pain about the larynx, and some difficulty of espiration, with a whizzing sound in inspiration, as if the passage of air was diminished: which is actually the case. The cough is generally dry, but if any thing is spit up, it is a purulent matter, sometimes resembling small portions of a membrane. There is also a frequent pulse, restlessness, and an uneasy sense of heat. The inside of the mouth is sometimes without inflammation, but frequently a redness, and even a swelling, exist. Sometimes there is an appearance of matter ou them, like that rejected by coughing.

These pills may be advantageously used for ob viating the habitual costiveness of sedentary per sons. The dose is from 10 to 15 grains. Aloetic and myrrh pills.

Take of socotrine aloes, 4 drachms, myrrh, 2 drachms, saffron, 1 drachm. Beat them into a mass with simple syrup.

These pills have been long employed to stimu late and open the bowels in chlorotic, hypochondriacal, and long diseased nabits. The dose is from 10 grains to a scruple, twice a day. Plummer's pills.

Remedies. As soon as possible a brisk emetic should be administered, for the purpose of freeing These pills are alterative, diaphoretic, purga the patient from the coagulable lymph which is al-¡tive, and beneficial in cutaneous eruptions, &c. ready secreted. Topic bleeding, by means of Take of calomel, 1 drachm, sulphate of anti leeches, should immediately succeed, and the dis-mony, 1 do. gum guaiacum, 2 drachms. charge be encouraged. As soon as it diminishes, blister, so large as to cover the whole throat, should be applied, and suffered to lie on for thirty hours or longer. Then warm steam should be inhaled, and the bowels should be evacuated by calomel.

As soon as the emetic has operated sufficiently, opium may be administered, by which means the breathing will in general be soon relieved; but should it become more difficult in the course of a few hours, the emetic is to be again repeated, and after its operation the opium again employed. This practice is to be alternately used till such time as the patient is out of danger, which will in general be in the course of three or four days. The child should be kept nearly upright in bed.

Another remedy.-Administer two grains of calomel every four hours, until the decline of the disorder's severity. As an adjunct, apply an ointment to the breast, composed of 5 grains of emetic tartar, and 5 grains of powdered opium, to a drachm of spermaceti cerate, until eruptions are excited on the skin.

USEFUL DOMESTIC MEDICINES.

Dover's stalorific powder. Take of ipecacuanha in powder, opium (purified), each 1 part, sulphate of potass, 8 parts. Triturate them together into a fine powder.

The dose is from 2 to 5 grains, repeated according as the patient's stomach and strength can bear it. It is proper to avoid much drinking immediately after taking it, otherwise it is very apt to be rejected by vomiting, before any other effects are produced. Perspiration should be kept up by

diluents.

Aloetic powder with iron.

Mix these assiduously with mucilage, and divide into 60 pills, two pills forming the dose. To be taken at night.

Compound soap liniment. Take of camphor, 1 oz. soap, 3 oz. spirit of rosemary, 1 pint.

Digest the soap in the spirit of rosemary until it be dissolved, and add to it the camphor. This is useful to excite action on the surface, and is used to disperse scrofulous enlargements, and to mois!en flannel which is applied to the throat in cases of quinsy.

Caput opodeldoc. Take of almond soap, 2 oz. alcohol, 1 pint, camphor, 1 oz. cajeput oil, 2 oz.

First dissolve the soap and camphor in the alco hol in a retort, by means of a sand heat, and when the solution is about to congeal, or becomes nearly cold, add the oil of cajeput: shake them well together, and put it into bottles to congeal.

This composition is a great improvement on the opodeldocs in general use, and in cases of rheumatism, paralytic numbness, chilblains, enlarge ments of joints, and indolent tumours, where the object is to rouse the action of absorbent vessels, and to stimulate the nerves, it is a very valuable external remedy.

In several cases of lumbago and deep seated rheumatic pains, it has been known to succeed in the almost immediate removal of the disease Liniment of ammonia.

Take of water of ammonia, an oz. olive oil,

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In the inflammatory quinsy, a piece of flannel, moistened with this mixture, applied to the throat, and renewed every four or five hours, is one of the most efficacious remedies. By means of this warm stimulating application, the neck, and sometimes the whole body, is put into a sweat, which, after bleeding, either carries off or lessens the inflam In this powder we have an aloetic and chalybe- mation. Where the skin cannot bear the acrim ate conjoined. It is an useful medicine, and is par-ny of this mixture, a larger proportion of oil may ticularly employed in cases of obstructed men

Take of socotrine aloes, powdered, 14 oz. myrrh, powdered, 2 oz. extract of gentian and sulphate, each in powder, 1 oz. Mix them.

struation.

Compound assafatida pills.

Take of assafoetida, galbanum, and myrrh, each 1 oz. rectified oil of amber, 1 drachm. Beat them nto a mass with simple syrup.

These pills are antihysteric an: emmenagogue,

be used.

Eau-de-luce.

Ten or twelve grains of white soap are dissolv. ed in 4 oz. of rectified spirit of wine; after which the solution is strained. A drachm of rectified oil of amber is then added, and the whole filtered: with this solution should be mixed such a propor

tion of the strongest volatile spirit of ammonia, in a clear glass vottle, as will, when sufficiently shaken, produce a beautiful milk-white liquor. If a kind of cream should settle on the surface, it will be requisite to add a small quantity of the spirituous solution of soap. Those who may wish to have this liquor water perfumed, may employ lavender or Hungary water, instead of the spirit of wine.

This composition is, however, seldom obtained in a genuine state when purchased at the shops. Its use, as an external remedy, is very extensive: for it has not only been employed for curing the bites of vipers, wasps, bees, gnats, ants, and other insects, but also for burns, and even the bite of a mad dog, though not always with uniform success. Besides, it affords one of the safest stimulants in cases of suffocation from mephitic vapours, and in that state of apoplexy which is termed serous, as likewise after excessive intoxication, and in all those paralytic complaints where the vessels of the skin, or the muscular fibre require to be excited into action.

Simple ointment.

Take of olive oil, 5 oz. white wax, 2 oz. This is a useful emollient ointment for softening the

skin.

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Lap salve.

Melt together 2 oz. of white war. 3 oz. of spermaceti, 7 oz. oil of almonds, I dr. of balsam of Peru, and 14 oz. of alkanet root wrapped up in alinen bag.

Pour the salve into small gallipots or boxes, and cover with bladder and white leather.

lard, and rub until the ointment is completely pre pared.

One drachm of this ointment contains twelve grains of mercury.

The preparation of mercurial ointment requires much labour, care, and patience. During the tri turation, the mercury is mechanically divided into minute globules, which are prevented from rursirg together again by the viscosity of the fat. These globules at length disappear, being oxidized, or rendered black by intimate mixture with the lard. Whatever tends to favour this, (for instance, a slight degree of rancidity of the lard,) shortens the time, and lessens the labour required for the preparation of the ointment. It is not uncommon, however, to use other means, which are not admissible, to facilitate the process, such as the use of sulphur or turpentine. The first may be detected by the very black colour of the ointment, and also by the sulphurous odour exhaled when a paper covered with a little of it is held over the flame of a candle. The turpentine is detected by its odour also, when the ointment containing it is treated in the same manner.

When uewly prepared, mercurial ointment has a light grey or bluish colour, owing to its containing some unoxidized metal, which separates in globules when it is liquefied by a gentle heat: when kept for some time, the colour is much deepened, and less metallic mercury is seen, owing to the more complete oxidizement of the metal.

Cerate of Spanish flies.

Take of cerate of spermaceti, softened with heat, 6 drachms; Spanish flies, finely powdered, one drachm. Mix them by melting over a gentle fire.

Under this form, cantharides may be made to act to any extent that is requisite. It may supply the place either of the blistering plaster or ointment; and there are cases in which it is preferable to either. It is, particularly, more convenient than the plaster of cantharides, where the skin to Basilicon, or yellow resinous ointment. which the blister is to be applied, is previously Take of yellow resin, 1 lb. yellow wax, 1 do. much affected, as in cases of small-pox: and in olive oil, 1 pint. Melt the resin and wax with a supporting a drain under the form of issue, it is gentle heat; then add the oil, and strain the mix-less apt to spread than the softer ointment. ture while yet warm.

This plaster is employed for the dressing of broken chilblains, and other sores that require stimulating; it is also used to drive milk away, being placed over the tumid breasts when the child is weaned.

Turner's cerate.

This bintment is known by the vulgar name of turner's cerate, as curing the wounds of turners. It is generally used for broken chilblains.

Take of prepared calamine, yellow wax, each lb. olive oil, 1 pint.

Melt the wax with the oil, and as soon as they begin to thicken, sprinkle in the prepared calamine and keep it stirring till the cerate is cool. Savin ointment.

Take of fresh savin leaves, separated from the stalks, and bruised, lb.; prepared hogs' lard, 2 Ibs.; yellow wax, lb. Boil the leaves in the lard until they become crisp; then filter with expression; lastly, add the wax, and melt them together.

This is an excellent issue ointment, being, in many respects, preferable to those of cantharides. It is mixed with equal parts of blistering ointment, in order to keep up a discharge.

Mercurial ointment. Take of mercury, and mutton suet, each, 1 part; nogs' lard, 3 parts. Rub the mercury diligently in a mortar with a little of the hog's lard, until the globules disappear; then add the remainder of the

Compound Burgundy pitch plaster. Take of Burgundy pitch, 2 lbs. fabdanum, 1 lb. yellow resin, and yellow wax, each, 4 oz. expressed oil of mace, 1 oz.

To the pitch, resin, and wax melted together, add first the labdanum, and then the oil of mace. After a long continued cough in the winter, a Burgundy pitch plaster should be put over the breast bone.

Compound labdanum plaster.

Take of labdanum, 3 oz. frankincense, 1 oz; cinnamon, powdered, expressed oil of mace, each oz. essential oil of mint, 1 dr.

To the melted frankincense add first the labdanum, softened by heat, then the oil of mace. MIX these afterwards with the cinnamon and oil of mint, and beat them together, in a warm mortar, into a plaster. Let it be kept in a close vessel.

This has been considered as a very elegant stomach plaster. It is contrived so as to be easily made occasionally (for these kinds of compositions on account of their volatile ingredients are not fit for keeping), and to be but moderately adhesive, so as not to offend the skin, also that it may, withcut difficulty, be frequently renewed; which these applications, in order to their producing any considerable effect, require to be. They keep up a perspiration over the part affected, and create a localaction, which diverts inflammation; consump tion from colds, in delicate habits, is by such means frequently obviated.

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