Medical advice; chiefly for the consideration of seamen: and adapted for the use of travellers, or domestic life. Containing practical essays on diseases in general--with plain and full directions for their prevention and cure: gun-shot wounds, fractures, dislocations--and on the venereal disease. : Exhibiting a concise view of the most approved practice in medicine. / By William Burrell; who prepares medicine chests, carefully suited to this pamphlet. ; [Two lines from Armstrong] ; Dedicated to the Chamber of Commerce.

Medical advice; chiefly for the consideration of seamen: and adapted for the use of travellers, or domestic life. Containing practical essays on diseases in general--with plain and full directions for their prevention and cure: gun-shot wounds, fractures, dislocations--and on the venereal disease. : Exhibiting a concise view of the most approved practice in medicine. / By William Burrell; who prepares medicine chests, carefully suited to this pamphlet. ; [Two lines from Armstrong] ; Dedicated to the Chamber of Commerce.

Table of contents

Title page

TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, OF T•• CITY OF NEW-YORK.

PREFACE.

MEDICAL ADVICE; Particularly to those who travel to the various regions of the Globe.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS respecting DIET, more properly adapted to domestic use—particularly in cases of indisposition or sickness.

VIRTUES.

FRUITS.

OF DRINKS.

OF BEER, ALE, &c.

OF WINES.

OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

SWEET DRINKS,

WARM DRINKS.

TREATMENT OF DISEASES.

BLEEDING.

PLEURISY AND PERIPNEUMONY.

ACUTE, INFLAMMATORY FEVER

RHEUMATISM

INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE.

INFLAMMATION of the Stomach, Intestines, Liver, and Kidney.

PILES.

COUGHS.

DIARRHOEA AND DYSENTERY.

SCURVY.

INTERMITTING FEVER AND AGUE.

BARK MIXTURE.

PUTRID TENDING BILLIOUS, OR YELLOW FEVER.

MEANS OF PREVENTION.

PUTRID SORE THROAT.

LOCKED JAW, AND OTHER SPASMODIC DISEASES.

DROPSY.

JAUNDICE.

ASTHMA,

SURGERY.

BRUISES and SPRAINS.

BURNS AND SCALDS.

ITCH, and Herpetic Eruptions.

GUN-SHOT WOUNDS, &c.

FRACTURED LIMBS.

DISLOCATIONS.

Recovery of Suspended Respiration, or Persons Apparently Dead by Drowning, &c.

A TABLE OF WEIGHTS, &c.

INDEX OF DOSES OF MEDICINES.

CONTENTS.

§

§

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MEDICAL ADVICE; CHIEFLY FOR THE CONSIDERATION of SEAMEN: AND ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF TRAVELLERS, OR DOMESTIC LIFE.

CONTAINING PRACTICAL ESSAYS ON Diseases in General—with plain and full directions for their prevention and cure: Gun-shot Wounds, Fractures, Dislocations—and on the Venereal Disease.

EXHIBITING A CONCISE VIEW OF THE MOST APPROVED PRACTICE IN MEDICINE.

BY William Burrell; Who prepares Medicine Chests, carefully suited to this Pamphlet.

For want of timely care Millions have died of medicable wounds. Armstrong.

Dedicated to the Chamber of Commerce.

NEW-YORK: PRINTED for the AUTHOR—by R. WILSON. 1798.

TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, OF T [...] CITY OF NEW-YORK.

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GENTLEMEN,

THE importance of the subject which I take the liberty to dedicate to you, particularly that part relative to the treatment and prevention of Yellow Fever, and other Diseases which have their origin, and are in general denominated contagious, has engaged the attention of several learned and ingenious men, who have attempted to devise means to remedy the evil, with a penetration and zeal which must ever do them honour. It will not, I trust, therefore be deemed presumptuous in me, to collect those important and valuable discoveries together, so as to make them more universally known, and their application more generally and extensively useful amongst that class of men, [Page] who have not at all times an opportunity of calling in medical aid. In confidence that the utility of the measure; its connection with the health and comfort of those valuable citizens, who brave the danger of the seas, encounter various hardships, and are exposed to the diseases of unhealthy climes, to procure the conveniences and luxuries of the different parts of the globe, will entitle me to your candid attention; and those readers who feel an interest in whatever may contribute to the removal of misery.

THE following pages are particularly presented for your consideration, with a view of supplying these defficiencies, which are too obvious in publications of this nature.

I am, Gentlemen, with the utmost deference and respect, your humble Servant, WILLIAM BURRELL.

PREFACE.

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DAILY experience affords such numerous and melancholy instances of the fatal effects of contagious diseases, and others more immediately within the power of medicine to remove, as render every attempt to mitigate their violence interesting to the Community at large, and the United States in particular. It is scarce necessary to place before our Readers facts, in order to excite their attention to the subject: Lately in this country, calamity itself has been the constant complaint of every neighbourhood; and almost every news-paper presents us with an example of the direful consequences of infection. From this malignant source it is, that the late awful and melancholy events in our cities are principally to be attributed, and that our ships become scenes of execution;—the enterprising Mariner—the hardy Soldier—the industrious Citizen (all entitled to the care and gratitude of a mercantile and rising republic) are daily victims to the unsuspected influence of contagion.

[Page]IN contemplating the subject of noxious vapours, it struck me forcibly that some service might be rendered to the public, and considerable improvements made by turning my attention to the subject of medicine-chests for naval, travelling, or domestic use, particularly the former, by pointing out the means that are known by repeated experiments to possess the power of destroying contagion, cleansing infected substances, and preventing the propagation of diseases, which I have never seen sufficiently attended to in any book of directions of this kind; besides the discovery of the means for that purpose, which are communicated in the following sheets, are of a very recent date, and not yet generally practised.

WHAT avail the noblest remedies that nature and art have produced for the cure of those dreadful maladies, without devising and applying means to destroy the Fons et origo mali, (fountain and origin of evil,) and restore the purity of the atmosphere in which the patient breathes, by removing the causes which might subject him to a fatal relapse.—Dr. Lind observes, "Wherever infection lurks, and in whatever it is harboured, the admission of the purest air, or the most perfect ventilation will often not avail either in removing or abating its activity." It is to the persevering [Page] and unremitting attention to the best interests of mankind, that we are indebted to the ingenious Drs. Carmichael Smith, Priestly, Ingenhouz, Beddoes, Mitchill, and others of great eminence; particularly the former gentleman for his important discovery, for arresting and stopping the progress of contagious diseases, by a simple operation in chemistry, which is in the power of every one to perform at a minutes notice.

As perfect ventilation and the free admission of pure air, is not always practicable on board of ships, occasionally the use of steam will be recommended, by which a large portion of water being converted into vapour, which the air having a greater affinity to than for any foreign matter floating in it; a compleat exchange will take place, all the noxious particles will be decomposed, the disagreeable stench or foetor arising from foul or diseased bodies will be precipitated, and the atmosphere of the patient rendered pure.

A COMPLEAT system of the practice of physic and surgery cannot be expected in the compass of these directions; neither is it intended to preclude the propriety of calling in proper medical aid, when it can be had.

As the medicine-chests will be equally portable, and not more expensive by the additional [Page] means here recommended; they will of course, be rendered more extensively useful. In short, if I should be fortunate enough in this instance to contribute in the smallest degree to the health and comfort of Society, I shall think myself amply rewarded.

MEDICAL ADVICE; Particularly to those who travel to the various regions of the Globe.

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IT is of the utmost importance for every individual, to well understand the best methods of preserving health, and is the duty of every well-wisher to the cause of humanity, to contribute his services; on this principle then the following directions are written.

IN hot weather, after using any hard exercise, avoid drinking cold water, for it has proved fatal: but as drink is absolutely necessary, the water should be mixed with about one seventh or eight of good old spirits. To those who are relaxed, nothing can be better than an addition to this drink of about twelve drops of acid elixir of vitriol, three or four times a day, or a small quantity of the juice of lemons or limes: but the most wholesome beverage for them who enjoy a good state of health, is good sound porter or ale mixed with water.

[Page]EXCESSES of every kind should be avoided as much as possible, and drunkenness in particular. No person should sleep at night in the open air, as it is extremely hazardous, on account of the damps.

IT is strongly recommended to the commanders of ships trading to the different parts of Africa, the East, and West Indies, not to permit any of their men to remain on shore after sunset.—But if from business, of any other unavoidable circumstance, they should be sent in boats, up rivers, or on shore in the neighbourhood of marshy countries, a few large doses of bark in powder, given in wine, may enable the constitution to resist the sedative power of the chilling and noxious damps.—Or a few doses of the ague pills, which are a very powerful tonic, will answer still better in places, where from the rain and fogs, the constitution may be said to be constantly in a vapour bath.

IN order to prevent injuries from the bite of musquetoes, horse-flies, and other insects, as they sometimes produce inflammations and ulcers in the legs, and even mortifications; wear long light linen trowsers. The best remedy for the inflammation arising from these causes, is the juice of a lime, sharp vinegar, Goulard's extract of lead and water, or spirit of harts-horn and water.

[Page]WHEN the water is bad or putrid, it may be sweetened in the following manner: Expose it to the air as much as possible, by pumping it with a hand pump from one vessel into another, mixing a little powdered charcoal or a small portion of alum, which will throw down particles of dirt, clear the water, and its wholesomeness will not be in the slightest degree impaired.*

IN long voyages, beef, pork, &c. is frequently apt to become stale.—"In Mr. Gaine's almanac for 1797, there is a good Receipt, by which any meat, ever so stinking, may be made as sweet and wholesome in a few minutes, as any meat at all. The Receipt is as follows: Take some white ley, that is, boil some clean ashes in water; let it stand till it settles; pour this off as clear as rock water; boil your meat in this three or four minutes, or till it is sweet, then wash it and dress it in any way, and no person could discover it had ever been foetid or stinking. This will be found a useful communication to the navy, where a solution of pot-ash may be used instead of the white ley."

[Page]"WE find that a few pails full of this ley or solution of pot-ash, will restore to eatable condition, a barrel of stinking meat, which by the operation of the pot-ash, is restored to a sound state."*

FOR the most part small grog, that is, liquor united to a considerable quantity of water, is the drink, and through necessity salt provisions are the diet. Neither this diet, nor the liquor, produce diseases, unless the water should be very putrid, which will sometimes, in hot climates, occasion fevers of the malignant kind, and fluxes; and by the sea air, through the imprudence of the men sleeping on the deck, are pleurisies, peripneumonies, and other inflammatory diseases produced. —The Guinea-worm, I believe is peculiar to Africa, and a few parts of Asia. It has been supposed to proceed from a bad quality in the water of the country; doubtless the waters of Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leon, Ganges, &c. are either unwholesome or muddy; supposing with Lind and others, that the Guinea-worm is generated from animalcula, or their ova, contained in the waters of the country; their production in the human body, may probably be prevented, by drinking good water.—"The Guinea-worm is a white, round, slender worm, often some yards long, lodged in the interstices of the muscles (or flesh), commonly [Page] in the legs, feet, or hands; when it attempts to escape through the skin, it occasions a swelling, resembling a boil, attended with great pain, until its black head appears in a small watery bladder on the head of the bile. When this bladder breaks, the head of the worm is to be secured, by tying it to a small roll of linen, spread with plaister; and part of the worm is once or twice a day to be gently drawn forth, with care not to break it, and wrapped round this roll, until it be brought away entire; then the ulcer generally heals soon; but if part of the worm breaks off, the part remaining in the flesh, can be ejected only by painful and tedious suppuration in different places. Dr. Rouppe observes, that the Guineaworm is infectious. It may at least be prudent, not to lie in the same apartment, and to avoid too free a communication with such negroes as are afflicted with them."

BEFORE we proceed to give directions how to exhibit the medicines contained in the medicine-chest, our attention shall be directed to the means pointed out by Dr. Lind, for preventing a want of provisions at sea, and close our remarks with some general observations respecting diet, more properly adapted to domestic use.

[Page]"THE substances I have found most fit for the purpose are powder of salep and portable soup, which convey the greatest quantity of vegetable and animal nourishment under the smallest bulk. An ounce of powdered salep, and another of portable soup, dissolved in two quarts of boiling water, become a rich thick jelly, capable of receiving any flavour from the addition of spices. This is sufficient for one man a day; two pounds of each would serve him a month: and being a mixture of both animal and vegetable food, it is more wholesome than either used alone. Hasselquist informs us, that a caravan from Ethiopia to Egypt, having expended their provisions, lived for two months on gum arabic, dissolved in water; this gum having luckily been a part of their merchandize. The gum senega or arabic, serves as a sustenance for whole negro towns, during a scarcity of other provisions, occasioned by a failure of their crops of millet and rice.

SPICES render portable soup and salep, more grateful to the palate, and also tend to improve their nutritive quality; as would appear from the following incident of famine on board a ship at sea: A Malay ship arrived from Macassar, at Manilla, which by the shifting of the monsoon, had been detained at sea much longer than was expected, the men had been reduced to such extremities for want [Page] of provisions, as to be obliged to subsist for two months, almost wholly upon water and spices; the latter, viz. cinnamon, mace, and pepper, being the cargo of the ship, notwithstanding which, upon their arrival at Manilla, they all, the number of thirty, were in perfect health."

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS respecting DIET, more properly adapted to domestic use—particularly in cases of indisposition or sickness.

PERSONS of imflammatory disposition, cannot use vegetables too plentifully. Oat-meal is cooling, therefore made into gruel, affords a light and proper diet for the sick, so are sago, simolina, and tapioca, used in general, in various diseases, where such diet is necessary; and in all fevers, where animal food should be generally avoided. From the finest wheat flour is made macaroni, vermicelle, &c. as they are called in Italy, which may be boiled in water, and affords excellent nourishment.

THOSE whose health is impaired, would do well to be cautious in the choice of their food; veal, poultry, mutton well boiled, and fish are extremely nutritive, oysters eaten from the shell are excellent.

MILK is friendly and nutritive, requiring little or no exertion, to prepare for chyle, so are eggs, if [Page] care be taken they are not boiled hard; beef-tea is good, and with prudence roast beef may be tried, and if it sits easy, may be taken in change—hard, salted, and dried meats must be avoided. Fungusses, such as truffles, mushroons, morilles, champignons, &c. &c. are apt to tumify the stomach, especially of the delicate in constitution, and debilitated; from whence anxiety, heart-burn, cholics, hiccups. Sometimes they have been retained three or four days undigested in the stomach, occasioning the most violent pains and misery. Their juices are not liable to the same objections, should be extracted, and their solid parts, which are as tough as leather, should be thrown away. Esculent vegetables which are eaten raw, with vinegar, oil, and salt, are called salads.

VIRTUES.

SALLADS are saponaceous, detergent, cooling, and antiseptic; opening and diuretic, and, from the addition of vinegar, they become a grateful stimulant for the stomach.—From hence they excite appetite; correct an atrabilious alcaline, putrid, scorbutic diathesis; they liberate the tongue, stomach, intestines and kidneys from sordes; they cool the blood in summer, and resolve obstructions of the liver, and other viscera. They agree with [Page] the sedentary, scorbutic, and bilious, sanguineous; the heated, especially in hot climates or in the summer heat; provided they do not disorder the stomach by their slow digestion, or flatulency. They are improper and injurious to the cold, debilitated, and nervous, and all those who have acidity in the stomach, or inert bile.

THOSE who eat large quantities of cucumbers, are in general subject to fluxes, and other stomach and intestinal disorders.

FRUITS.

THEY resist the putrid tendency of the humours and bile, by their abounding with fixed air. By their acidulous taste they quench thirst, moderate heat, and cool. They agree most with summer heat, and in hot climates they most abound.— Care should be taken not to eat them immoderately, as they will produce disagreeable consequences, pretty generally known.

OF DRINKS.

PURE, good water, ought to be clear, without smell, taste or colour; light, cold, and contain a [Page] little fixed air; and, if examined by a chemical analysis, exhibits no heterogenous principle; which is known, if by adding the acid of sugar, by a fixed and a nitrous solution of silver. Little or no turbidness appears; for water perfectly pure, is scarce found in any part of the world. The best water is spring and mountainous, from rocks, the next is the river, the worst is well, and all stagnant waters.

OF BEER, ALE, &c.

ALL new ales, and small beer, are flatulent and fattening. Ale, and porter, are very good strengthening malt liquors, for those who use hard exercise.

THOSE who accustom themselves to drink malt-liquor in moderation, scarcely ever have the gout; but its immoderate use produces corpulency, and sometimes dropsy.

BEER if not very strong, is less heating than wine; it is a nourishing and analeptic drink; hence proper for the feeble and emaciated, if they labour under coughs or difficulty of breathing. In many where wine sours in the stomach, beer or good ale will agree; if it be well hopped, it is said to prevent the gravel, gout, or stone.

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OF WINES.

A MODERATE use of wine strengthens the languid stomach, excites the appetite, helps digestion, strengthens the nervous system, increases heat, resists putridity, promotes perspiration, &c. A spare use of wine agrees with the aged; in infancy it should be always prohibited (except it be ordered, and taken as a medicine) for those who begin to drink wine after manhood, are much more likely to escape gout, gravel, stone, and chronic diseases, and to be healthful and long-lived, than those who in infancy or in youthful age, or, whilst they be growing, are indulged with this liquor.

WINE is a preservative against putrid diseases. It exhilirates the mind, and is the greatest friend to conviviality.

OF SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

As a medicine, in some cases, they are cordials and antiseptics: they agree with the flatulent, hypocondriac, nervous and low spirited; but if continued always, do mischief, destroying the tone of the stomach, viscera, &c.

WE are sorry to find the cities of America, imitate the great cities in Europe, in the baneful practice [Page] of dram-drinking, so destructive to the health and comfort of thousands. The [...]crease of brewing malt liquor, we trust will afford more than a partial remedy to this wide-spreading evil, by giving the people a more wholesome drink. However, we shall not quit our observations on spirits, without warning seriously all its votaries, of their dreadful, slow, poisonous qualities.

SWEET DRINKS,

ARE cyder, cherry, elder-wine, &c. punch, lemonade, orangeade, orgeat, cappilaire, &c.

THEY are cooling and pleasant; but some agree better with certain stomachs than others, and when they disagree, they should not be repeated. As to cyder, it produces the rheumatism, gout, gravel and stone, therefore much less salubrious than malt liquors.

WARM DRINKS.

TEA we believe is pretty generally used in most parts of America, and with milk or cream, makes an excellent breakfast, if the quality be good, and it agrees well with the stomach; it should [Page] never be drank without previously eating bread and butter, rusks, biscuits, &c. The Chinese pronounce tea noxious in inflammations of the eyes, in the cholic and palsy.

CHOCOLATE is nourishing, and proper for the debilitated hypochondriacs, and those who labour under the piles, or costiveness.

COFFEE strengthens the stomach, promotes urine, and evacuates worms and wind—removes costiveness, elevates the sinking spirits. Without milk after dinner, promotes digestion, retards putrefaction, and increases the vital motions of the blood.

TREATMENT OF DISEASES.

BLEEDING.

IN the treatment of inflammatory distempers, great attention must be paid to the season of the year and climate; for, in proportion as the country or season is hot or cold, so must bleeding be regulated. In colder countries, large bleedings are not only salutary, but absolutely necessary; in hot climates bleeding must not be often repeated; it must be frequently omitted, as it exhausts the [Page] strength of the patient. The inflammatory symptoms in most diseases, by profuse bleeding, are immediately succeeded by a putrifactive state of the juices, which will end in the death of the patient*.

PLEURISY AND PERIPNEUMONY.

THE first is an acute pain in the side, with fever and difficulty of breathing; the second violent difficulty of breathing and inflammatory fever. Large and repeated bleedings are necessary.—Internally, the following medicines are proper to raise perspiration.

No. 3. Take of tartar emetic two grains, dissolve it in four table spoon fulls of water, which is equal to two ounces in measure. Take three or four tea-spoonfull every four or six hours.

No. 1. In order to open the bowels, take an ounce or more of glauber salts, dissolve in half a pint of water, take a little every hour until it answers. Common nitrous drink;—dissolve two drachms of powdered salt nitre in a quart of water; [Page] this may be sweetened with honey, molasses, or sugar, and drank freely.

IF the difficulty of breathing or pain continues, bleeding must be repeated, and a blister must be applied in the pleurisy, directly over the pain in the side, but in the inflammation of the lungs to the pit of the stomach, which must lay on sixteen or eighteen hours, and a discharge promoted by dressing it with basilicon spread on a linen rag once or twice a day.

ACUTE, INFLAMMATORY FEVER

BEGINS with cold shiverings, succeeded by great heat, thirst, nausea, quick full pulse, pain in the head, back, and loins, &c. It commonly arises from sudden cold, the drinking cold liquors when over-heated, or when in a state of perspiration. It attacks the young, strong, and vigorous; very seldom the debilitated. Repeated bleedings are necessary, if a nausea or vomiting should be distressing. Dissolve three grains of No. 3, in four table spoonfulls of water; after the bleeding, give a large spoonfull every ten minutes or quarter of an hour, which will discharge whatever is on the stomach, and perhaps operate on the intestines; which if it should not, [Page] give the solution of No. 1, or half a grain of tartar emetic, with a little magnesia, and about one scruple of nitre, mixed in two ounces of common water, every hour till it operates.

FOR quenching the thirst, no drink will be equal to about a tea-cup full of vinegar, lemon, or lime juice (strained from the pulp) mixed with a quart of the common nitrous drink recommended under the pleurisy, &c.

IF the heat should be intense, it must be observed, that nitre is improper in most cases in hot climates, but inflammatory disorders are not there so frequent as in the colder countries.

IN all other respects the true inflammatory diseases may be treated exactly as the pleurisy and peripneumony. If a delirium come on, blister the legs and back. Internally give the nitrous drink, and eight or ten grains of No. 10, every four or six hours.

IN the recovery of all inflammatory disorders, a gentle laxative will be necessary—as the solution of glauber salts, or twenty grains of julap, mixed with about fifteen or twenty grains of nitre, or cream of tartar, and taken in some water. When the patient begins to recover, twenty-five drops of No. 6, in a cup of water, may be taken three or [Page] four times a day —Diet in the beginning, and during the augmentation of the fever, should be very low; after its termination, a greater freedom is necessary.

RHEUMATISM

CONSISTS of wandering pains, affecting the larger joints, especially those of the hip, knees, shoulders and elbows, shifting in the course of the muscles, and much increased on motion. It is divided in two kinds, the acute and chronic; and this division is necessary to be observed, on account of their difference of treatment.

IT occurs most commonly of the acute kind, from the age of puberty to that of thirty-five.

ITS causes are the sudden application of cold when heated, changes of weather, and excesses inducing a plethoric state. When attended with fever, which in the acute kind it generally is, its first symptoms begin with a considerable rigor, in which the pulse is hard and full, and other febrile appearances attend. When the fever departs, a degree of pain and stiffness is frequently felt in the joints, which recurring on changes of weather, without fever, constitutes the chronic kind.

IN the treatment of the first or acute kind, large and repeated bleedings are necessary, as indicated by the strength of the pulse, especially on the first days, and where there is much topical pain.

[Page]THE plentiful use of diluent liquids should be likewise enjoined, especially thin gruel or barley water with nitre.—Cooling purges are proper, but only after the abatement of pain when motion is permitted. Blisters to the part, when the pain is violent, are useful; after evacuation, sweating medicines, as fifteen or twenty grains of Dover's powder every six hours may be used with advantage.

IN the chronic kind, large evacuations are here to be avoided, and warm applications of different kinds must be applied to the part, consisting of warm oils, volatiles, turpentines, &c. The use of friction will likewise be of service.

INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE.

THE cure consists in reducing the inflammatory disposition, by bleeding and purging, and in diminishing the pain and irritability by local applications. Blisters applied to the head or behind the ears often relieve. The following application for inflamed eyes, is very proper:

Take Goulard's extract of lead, thirty drops,

Brandy, sixty drops,

Water, half a pint—Bath the eyes frequently.

INFLAMMATION of the Stomach, Intestines, Liver, and Kidney.

INFLAMMATION of the stomach, is known by an acute pain in the region of the stomach, a sense of [Page] internal heat in the part, quick, hard contracted pulse, great anxiety, watchfulness, violent vomiting, especially after taking any thing into the stomach, much thirst, with great prostration of strength.

Inflammation of the Bowels or Intestines.—There is a fixed pain in the belly, attended with fever, costiveness, and vomiting; the pain is chiefly felt in the region of the navel.

Inflammation of the Liver.—A dull sense of pain and weight in the right side below the false ribs, much heat and anxiety, the pulse at first slow, afterwards more quickened, a sense of fulness and tension in the region of the liver, a loathing of food, sickness and vomiting, thirst, dry rough tongue, becoming black, a pale sunk countenance, frequently of a yellow colour, troublesome hiccup. Sometimes the pain is more acute, attended with difficult and painful respiration; the pain extends high in the cavity of the thorax or breast, affecting the collar bone, and resembling pleurisy; there is generally s [...]me degree of cough, and the patient cannot lie on the left side.

Inflammation of the Kidney.—The symptoms are, a sense of heat, pain, and somtiemes tumour and redness in the region of the kidney, a numbness of the leg and thigh of the affected side, the urine high coloured, and in small quantity, accompanied [Page] with pain, difficulty in discharging it; the patient in general, can lie more easily on the diseased than the opposite side.—There is generally nausea and vomiting, with much febrile heat and anxiety.

IN all the above disorders, bleed freely, and administer emolient opening clysters, foment the parts affected—and procure a liberal passage by the bowels, as soon as the stomach will retain proper medicine.—One ounce and half of glauber salts, dissolved in twelve ounces of water, and by adding a few drops of essence of mint, makes an agreeable opening mixture—take four spoonfulls every hour until the bowels are emptied freely. Warm bath should be frequently employed in inflammation of the bowels.

THE application of blisters to the region of the part should not be neglected, except in the inflammation of the kidney; for in that case they are not admissible, barley water with a little gumarabic dissolved in it, may be drank freely; castor-oil is an excellent aperient.

PILES.

THE piles consist of small tumors situated on the verge of the anus, or of a varicose ring surrounding it. When a discharge from such tumors takes place, they are termed bleeding: when there is no discharge, they are termed blind piles.

COSTIVENESS is one of the most frequent causes of this disease, which is to be obviated by means of [Page] different laxatives, suited to the particular constitution; the best of which are cream of tartar, flour of sulphur, and castor-oil.—If there is much pain, apply fomentation and poultices; and the parts during the continuance of the inflammation, should be carefully anointed with soft pomatum or hog's lard before going to stool.

USE a spare diet, and guard against intemperance in drink, which is particularly hurtful.

COUGHS.

Sometimes in changing from a warm climate to another, a violent cough is occasioned, particularly to the coldest parts of N. America. Treating such a complaint, bleeding is proper, and the cooling remedies above. If the irritation and coughing is very violent, two tea-spoon fulls of No. 16, or twenty-five or thirty drops of tincture of opium in a cup of the common nitrous drink at bed-time. In all inflammatory cases keep the bowels laxative with gentle purges of salts, or clysters, made of a spoonful of common salt and coarse sugar dissolved in half a pint of warm water, with the addition of two, three, or four table spoon fulls of castor-oil, or any other sweet oil; in order to promote expectoration and prevent consumption, asthma, &c. give a table spoonfull of No. 18, as directed, night and morning.

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DIARRHOEA AND DYSENTERY.

THE diarrhoea is a violent and continued purging, with gripings, &c. the dysentery is a violent purging, in which the blood and mucus are voided with griping pains, and an inclination to go to stool without evacuation, except of a little blood and mucus.

GIVE a vomiting or nauseating dose of No. 18, in the morning fasting, so as to evacuate bilious crudities, and repeat it in small doses afterwards, two or three times a day; it will require a table spoon full, or in some cases rather more to vomit, and from three tea spoonfulls to better than half of a large spoonfull to produce a slight nausea, without vomiting, which is the alterative and tonic dose.

IF dysentery is of long standing, the cure must be performed by giving a dose night and morning.—If the pain and griping is very troublesome, twenty-five or thirty drops of tincture of opium, may be very conveniently given occasionally, or every night at bed-time.—Costiveness is sometimes the consequence of its continued use; when this happens, omit it until a dose of the anti-bilious pills, castor-oil, or rhubarb is taken.

IN the early stage of this disease, care must be taken to empty the intestines of the putrid, acrid, matter contained in them. "The vegetable alkali [Page] or carbonate of pot-ash,* will be found a very efficatious remedy. The dose which may be given with safety is four grains of No. 20, dissolved in half an ounce of water, and repeated every two or three hours, until natural stools are evacuated.— If a little of No. 11, jalap, or No. 19, rhubarb, be combined, its operation will be greatly assisted.

WE are informed that marine salt (common salt) dissolved in any of the vegetable acids, operated as a charm in dysenteries, in the Island of Jamaica, when all other remedies which have been celebrated in curing this disease, had failed.

IF violent pain, inflammation, &c. render bleeding necessary, it may be performed once or twice according to existing circumstances.

ATTENTION must be paid to using the means recommended for purifying the air and destroying pestilential stimulus.

SCURVY.

IT is chiefly owing to salt provisions.—Vegetables and a fresh diet are the most effectual remedies.

WHEN on ship-board, give fifteen or twenty grains of No. 12, cremor tartar, and the same quantity of No. 21, flowers of sulphur, night and morning; avoid as much as possible all salt meats, [Page] live principally on pease, burgoo, rice, spruce beer prepared from the essence of spruce, &c. Infusion of malt is an excellent preservative against putrid diseases in hot countries, and likewise the scurvy.— The limbs may be rubbed night and morning with vinegar. If a wine glass of the juice of oranges or lemons (or for want of both of them vinegar) with two ounces of brown sugar, were daily allowed to each man to mix with his allowance of grog, it would be extremely serviceable.

INTERMITTING FEVER AND AGUE.

THE patient is first seized with a cold shivering, this is succeeded by heat, an uneasiness, languor of the whole body, and great thirst; sometimes it is attended with a violent head-ache, at others not. —In the beginning of the disorder, it will be best to give a vomiting dose of No. 18, afterwards a gentle laxative dose of No. 22.

No. 23. Ague and Fever Pills, which effect a cure in the most obstinate cases doses. From 3 years old to 12, one pill every day at six o'clock in the morning, at two in the afternoon; and at ten at night; from 12 years old and upwards, two pills at the same hours.

THEIR use requires no restraint of diet, nor any particular regimen, only to abstain from fish, milk, salt provisions, and fermented liquor, and keep dry and warm. When a dose of the anti-bilious pills are taken, this medicine must be omitted [Page] for that day.—When the fever is off, the cure and return of strength may be greatly promoted by taking the following

BARK MIXTURE.

TAKE of powdered bark, one ounce, put it into a quart bottle, add to it two ounces of any spirit, and fill the bottle nearly with water; then put to this two or three drachms of No. 6. Three or four table spoonfuls should be taken three or four times a day when the fever is off.

DURING the fever, and hot sit, the diluted warm vinegar drink is to be administered.

IF the viscera is obstructed, it must be removed by a dose of No. 22, once or twice a week, and No. 24, (alterative pills,) taken on the intermediate days, according to the direction.

PUTRID TENDING BILLIOUS, OR YELLOW FEVER.*

Begins with languor, debility, head-ache, affection of the stomach peculiarly disagreeable, vomiting of bile, and sometimes a diarrhoea, great thirst, heat, and uneasiness of the whole body, and the spirits are exceedingly depressed; sometimes the anxious symptoms of vomiting are such, that no remedy whatever will allay; the eyes appear sad and watery, or in some degree inflamed, having much that appearance, which is the consequence [Page] of exposure to the smoke of green wood. The face often flushed, the tongue in the latter stage is of a colour nearly approaching to black, sometimes moist, but generally foul.

WE shall here particularly insist upon early attention to the first symptoms of indisposition, which are a suppression of the excretion, or perspiration of the skin and disorder in the functions of the stomach. Application of warm water to the feet,* [Page] Opening the bowels by repeated clysters, give a decoction of tamarinds, or an ounce and half of No. 1, dissolved in half a pint or better of tamarind [Page] water, give a spoonful every hour, till it operates, a dose or two of the anti-bilious pills will answer, to evacuate the intestines, where any objection arises to the taste of liquid purges.—If vomiting is not troublesome, give the acid vitriolic drink, which is made by adding twenty drops of the concentrated acid of vitriol, or two tea spoonfuls of the diluted acid of vitriol to a quart of water, which is an excellent remedy, as it cools, allays the thirst; acts as an antiputrescent, and comes in immediate contact with the seat of the disease. The bark mixture may be given with advantage as prescribed under the ague and fever, when the fever is reduced, and the patient begins to recover*.

MEANS OF PREVENTION.

WE intend in this terrible and most consuming disease, to be very minute and particular in our observations on the means of prevention.

WHEN you arrive in hot climates, as the coast of Africa, East and West-Indies, &c. if full of blood,† [Page] and of a plethoric habit, lose about a pint, and keep the bowels open with the anti-bilious pills, which are excellent once or twice a week. If disposed to perspire freely, omit bleeding. Take care to avoid the rains and subtle night dews, which no ordinary cloathing is proof against: drink a little small punch, or wine warm every day, before the sea-breeze sets in. Ordinary drink may be imperial water, which is made thus: Boil a large table spoonful of cream of tartar, in five pints of water for ten minutes, put the peel of the lemon into it, and two ounces of sugar. This is the best drink, and if the patient is weak and relaxed, mix a small quantity of wine.

WHEN small punch is preferred to this liquor, always strain your lime or lemon juice, clear from the pulp, to prevent the dry gripes; use exercise every morning and evening, but not early or late; cold bathing with proper precaution, is a powerful tonic or strengthener. In very hot close and moist weather, it is a very general complaint, that in the morning a sense of lassitude, aching and weariness is felt, with bitter taste in the mouth, acid or bitter eructations, sickness, sense of weight at the stomach, rising of phlegm, appetite impaired, flatulence in the stomach and bowels, vertigo or giddiness in the head, lowness of spirits, &c. Some one or more of these symptoms are usually felt, especially if foul air arising from swamps, ponds, marshes, &c. has affected the lungs and stomach.— [Page] Immediately take a dose of No. 18, to evacuate bilious crudities, unload the stomach, and cleanse the bronchial glands; repeat it if occasion serves. Afterwards small doses, two or three times a day, as a tonic and alterative to brace the relaxed solids, strengthen the stomach, and give firmness and energy to the nervous system.

"SHIPS being amongst the chief agents in producing foul or pestilential air, which from its heaviness has always a tendency to the lower parts, through whose sides it cannot leak out by reason of their tightness; and therefore are very often the seats of its most destructive ravages." In all countries epidemic diseases, extraordinarily mortal, are frequently bred in ships, gaols, camps, &c. and are incidental to every place ill aired and kept dirty; that is, filled with animal steams from foul or diseased bodies.

THE application of nitrous vapour to the destruction of typhus contagion, is of great importance, and will probably put a stop to the spread of contagious diseases of any kind.*

[Page]SMALL portions of No. 13, concentrated acid of vitriol put into a china saucer on hot sand, or over a lamp, and No. 2, purified nitre gradually sprinkled in, and the vapour diffused about the bed, and through the cabbin, half deck or room; the windows and doors being closed, the bedsteads are directed to be washed with diluted marine acid, No. 14, (viz. mix a little of it with each pail of water), and the clothes, &c. to be immersed in the same as soon as taken from the sick. By these means the spread of contagion in a most crowded hospital ship, where it was making terrible havock, was entirely stopped. Private practice confirms these assertions, the spread of scarlatina has been thus checked: and two parcels of the small-pox matter being taken, and the one exposed to the nitrous vapour, lost its power of communicating the small-pox, while the other imparted the infection to persons inoculated with it. The nitrous vapour is not at all injurious, provided care be taken not to change it into nitrous air, by the use of any metallic substance in stirring the mixture.

ALSO a quantity of water may occasionally be placed in the middle of the cabbin or room: the vapour of the water being more strongly attracted by the air than the effluvium is; the latter will be precipitated, and will fall into the water.

BUT, as spontaneous evaporation is very slow, the quantity of moisture is not sufficient in all cases to [Page] supply as much fluid as will precipitate the whole of the effluvium [as in cases of putrid fever, large ulcers or wounds, mortifying limb, &c.] the use of steam is recommended, by which a large portion of water being converted into vapour, a more compleat exchange will take place, and all the noxious parties be decomposed.

A QUANTITY of boiling water must be poured from one vessel to another, with a view to supply the air more readily with a proper quantity of moisture, which will precipitate the noxious effluvium and depurate the air; so ready is the atmosphere to part with the mephitic matter it contains.* Use the above means in every case where the air of the room or cabbin is surcharged with human effluvia.

To prevent an accumulation of foetor, the usual method of airing the bed-clothes, &c. upon deck in warm climates, should by no means be neglected. The cabbin, half deck, and bed-places, should be washed clean often with alkaline ley, or pot-ash, mixed with water, and fumigated with the steam of vinegar, taking care to sprinkle frequently, the floor of the cabbin and half deck with vinegar or lime juice, strained and freed from the pulp.

[Page]WITH regard to personal preservatives for those who are subject to danger, in addition to the medicines and other means recommended above, the four-thieves vinegar has been found a very useful preventative; cotton made into small dossils, and dipped in it, may be put up the nostrils; or a vial containing this vinegar, may be carried open before the mouth or under the nose. The following is the method of preparing it:

TAKE of lavender flowers, rosemary, wormwood, sage and mint, of each a handful; of white wine vinegar a gallon; let them stand in a sand bath, or warm place for eight days to deject; when wanted, add three drachms of camphor to each pint.

IF he is a man who enjoys health, and drinks a certain quantity of wine every day, let him not venture without it; but let him abstain from more than is necessary for this purpose; or should his habit be debilitated, a dose of bark, or a glass of Huxham's tincture of bark, may be useful, observing often to carefully wash his hands, face and mouth, making free and liberal use of water.

PUTRID SORE THROAT.

GIVE the acid drink, and bark mixture, be particularly careful to keep the mouth, tongue, and fauces clean; especially before any thing is swallowed, by a decoction of bark, made rather acid with a few drops of acid of vitriol; with which gargle the [Page] throat and mouth frequently—give a little castor oil or some other very gentle laxative, to open the bowels—observe similar directions as given in other putrid diseases.

LOCKED JAW, AND OTHER SPASMODIC DISEASES.

THE locked jaw is not uncommon in hot countries, and is the companion of gun-shot wounds, ulcers and amputations; or it may arise from accidents or splinters, puncturing the tendinous or nervous parts; wounds of the joints, and lying in the open air at nights in the damp foggy seasons.

IN attempting the cure of those alarming affections, we must not wholly depend on large doses of opium, musk, and warm bathing. I have seen all those methods tried, but very rarely with success—the symptoms of all spasmodic complaints are in general so clearly marked that we need not here enumerate them. The medicines, we shall place our chief dependance for success in the cure is No. 30, and a strong solution of No. 10, one pill, must if possible, be taken three or four times a day, drinking a cup-full of strong solution of camphor pretty often, use warm water baths with a small portion of No. 14, in it—large blisters may be applied to the most rigid parts.

DROPSY.

SMART doses of No. 11, thirty or forty grains, with five or six grains of No. 31, and two or three [Page] drachms of No. 12, every third day in honey or molasses or dissolved in half a pint of boiling water, increasing the dose if necessary, so as to operate freely, if no difficulty in breathing exists, give on the intermediate days, bitters, &c. to strengthen the habit.

JAUNDICE.

TINGES the skin with a yellow or black colour, and is cured by calomel in small doses, with one or two of the anti-bilious pills every night; a vomit in the first instance is proper. Give two or three grains of No. 3, and eight or ten of No. 47, drinking freely of warm water, or a spoon-full of No. 18, which in general empties the stomach very well; if occasion requires, repeat the emetic in a day or two.

ASTHMA,

CONSISTS in an impeded and laborious respiration, threatening suffocation.

A VOMITING dose of No. 18, will with ease, facilitate the discharge of tough, viscid, phlegm, and repeated in doses so regulated, as it may gently vomit every morning, and nauseate two or three times a day. If the asthma is of long standing, and the constitution phlegmatic, a vomiting dose may be taken two or three times a week, according to the urgency of the symptoms, taking care to keep the bowels laxative with No. 22.

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SURGERY.

BRUISES and SPRAINS.

FOR external use, when the skin is not much destroyed, a mixture of sharp vinegar, with twice its quantity of water, may be applied frequently by [...] of linen cloths wrung out of it; and as often as they dry, moisten them again; or lime water, with a portion of spirit, may be used with advantage. Spiritous applications should not be used, except where the sole intention is to strengthen the injured fibres; in slighter cases, a small quantity of spirit may be mixed with vinegar, and used on the first reception of the bruise.

IF on account of a tumour or wound, a poultice is applied, the common bread poultice is the best. If the bruise is considerable, and particularly, if any internal part is affected, bleed as freely as the constitution will admit; direct a cooling liquid diet, let glisters be repeatedly injected, if the lower belly be the seat of complaint; and in all cases, repeated gentle purging is of the greatest advantage.— Violent pain may be allayed by taking a dose of tincture of opium, or Dover's powder. The anodyne antimonial drops, No. 33, give ten or fifteen drops every four or six hours; in bruises of the head, this latter medicine may be depended upon.

BURNS AND SCALDS.

APPLY immediately a quantity of raw potatoes, pounded to a proper degree of fineness; this, though a vulgar remedy, is nevertheless a very useful application [Page] to parts that have been scalded or burnt; but chiefly in the former case, they are to be applied cold, or bathe the parts very often with the saturnine solution made by mixing three drachms of extract of lead, No. 5, in a quart of water, to which is to be added a table spoonfull of any spirits, and keep a rag constantly wet with it on the part; when that is done, apply cerate, spread upon a rag once a day. If inflammation is considerable, give a dose of salts, and lose blood.

ITCH, and Herpetic Eruptions.

ITCH is a curtaneous eruption, of particular pustules in several parts of the body, particularly in the joints, and between the fingers, on the arms, hands and thighs; the eruption causes a violent itching, and sometimes are small, and contain a fluid, and in some cases they are large and deep, and contain a white matter, other times they are covered with crust or scabs; the heat always increases with the itching. Bleed on the first appearance, and use the herpetic linament No. 36, to the parts affected every night and morning. A few doses of gentle physic will be useful; flowers of sulphur mixed with oil or hog's lard, is a proper application.

GUN-SHOT WOUNDS, &c.

THERE are different species of wounds 1. simple cuts or incised wounds. 2. Punctured wounds. 3. Lacerated or contused wounds. 4. Gun-shot wounds, and 5, Poisoned wounds. In order to the cure of a simple incised wound, remove the effused [Page] blood with a sponge, pressed out of moderately warm water. If a considerable arterial haemorrhage, secure the vessel by ligature; i. e. pass a thread of strong silk by a needle round the blood vessel, and secure by a knot. Remove every extraneous body; if it can be done with prudence, extract it with your fingers, if possible; when a lead ball is the substance lodged, if it cannot be easily removed it may be left; but a splinter of wood, glass, iron, or cloth, should be removed as soon as possible after the injury is inflicted. This done, the lips of the wounds must be brought together as nearly as possible, and so retained by adhesive plaisters, if the wound is not deep, the dressings may be pledgits of soft lint, covered with one of tow, spread with some digestive ointment, as basilicon No. 35, and large enough to cover the whole. These may be secured by such bandages as the situation of the wound will admit. The first dressing usually remains two or three days, or until the discharge of matter renders the separation of them easy. The dressing may be repeated every 12 or 24 hours; when the wound is filled up with flesh, dress with the cerate No. 34, to complete the cure*.

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FRACTURED LIMBS.

FRACTURES are of various kinds, viz. Transverse, oblique, and longitudinal. When a bone is split into small pieces, it is said to be splintered, they are also distinguished by different names; thus, when the soft parts remain sound, the fracture is denominated simple; when attended with a wound, communicating with the fracture, it is termed compound. Fractures are discovered by the eye, the ear, and the touch. The symptoms are pain, swelling, and tension in the contiguous parts; a more or less crooked and distorted state of the limb, a crackling or grating noise on the parts being [Page] handled, and loss of power to a certain extent in the injured limb.

THE indications of cure, are to replace the parts of the bone that have been removed from their natural situation, to retain them in this situation as long as may be necessary. In order to replace the parts of the bones, a slight degree of extension may be employed by the upper part of the limb, being kept firm by an assistant with his hands placed between the fracture and the contiguous joint, while the under part of it is gently extended by another, observing to keep the muscles as much relaxed as possible. If there is very great tension and inflammation, they must be removed before the replacing of the bone is attempted, by the means recommended in bruises, sprains, &c.

TO retain the bones when replaced, compresses, bandages, and a relaxed state of the limb till the cure is compleated, are necessary. The bandage must not be applied with more tightness than is necessary to retain the bones in their situation, a linen or flannel roller is the best for this purpose. In a healthy middle aged person, a simple fracture of the thigh, or bones of the leg, will require about two months for the cure. The humerus and bones of the forearm about six weeks; the collar bone, ribs, and bones of the fingers and toes, hands and feet, about three weeks. In infancy, the cure is effected in less time, but in old age the process is more slow; to reduce the fracture of the collar bone, it is [Page] only necessary to raise the arm, and support it at a proper height; which is done by a sling round the neck, adapted to the length of the arm, and applied equally to every part of it—the bones are generally united in a fortnight; but the corresponding arm should not be used until the end of the third or fourth week.

FRACTURES of the ribs, are discovered by the seat of the pain, and by pressure of the fingers. In general the symptoms are moderate, but in some instances the pain is severe from the first, the breathing is difficult, attended with cough and sometimes spitting of blood; the pulse is quick, full, and sometimes oppressed. In every case of fractured ribs, bleed proportionably to the strength of the patient. If any inequality is discovered, let the patient make a deep inspiration, and by equal and moderate pressure, endeavour to replace it; and to prevent its rising, apply a broad roller, or a leather belt quilted inside, with cotton or flannel, moderately tight, and let it be worn for several weeks—the diet must be low.

DISLOCATIONS.

THE principal indications of cure, are to restore the luxated part; and secondly, to retain it in its proper situation. But if inflammation, or tumour, are considerable, they should be removed by bleeding, and application of Goulard's extract of lead and water.

[Page]IN reducing luxations, the muscles should be put into a state of the greatest relaxation by bending the limb. The extension should be gradual and continued, until the dislo-cated bone is on a level with the cavity, or socket from whence it receded; at which time, if the head does not return of itself, it must be assisted by pressing upon it, and making a lever of the dislocated bone.

Recovery of Suspended Respiration, or Persons Apparently Dead by Drowning, &c.

FIRST, in removing the body, great care should be taken that it be not bruised, shaken violently, roughly handled, nor carried over any one's shoulders with the head hanging downwards, nor rolled upon the deck, or over a barrel, nor lifted up by the heels: for experience proves that all these methods are injurious, and often destroy the small remains of life. The body should be cautiously carried in the arms of two or more persons with the head a little raised and kept in as easy a position as possible.*

SECONDLY, the body is to be placed on a bed or mattrass, with the head a little elevated; if wet [Page] should be gently dried with cloths, but in such a cautious manner, as to prevent the mechanical effect of friction, from propelling the blood towards the heart. Five or six ounces of brandy, spirits, or some other warm aromatic, should be thrown into [Page] the stomach. If the patient seems plethoric, and more particularly if the disease has been occasioned by hanging, bleeding should be employed, and that as one of the first remedies; nor should the [Page] application of a proper degree of warmth be neglected. Bottles with hot water, or bricks heated, wrapped in a blanket, should be laid to the bottom of the feet; the joints of the knees, and under the arm-pits. Fresh air should be carefully admitted into the place where he lays. If an electrical machine, is at hand, gentle shocks may be directed through the fourth or fifth rib of the left side. Inflate the lungs by blowing air into them by a curved pipe if one can be had, otherwise by a person blowing air into the lungs, and pressing it out again, so as to imitate natural respiration. Electricity should never be employed on any account, without a concomitant expansion of the lungs. Tobacco, in any form is highly pernicious, and ought not therefore to be applied on any account.

INFLATING the lungs, electrifying the heart, collapsing the lungs, and the application of frictions, are to be continued four hours, if our endeavours be not previously crowned with success. Frictions should never be employed before the lungs have been several times expanded and collapsed. A little common oil or lard as a medium for the friction, is preferable to either salt or spirits, or any other stimulating substance. The above methods of restoring life are applicable to various other causes of apparent death, whether from fits, suffocation by damps, or noxious vapours, from the confined air of wells, &c.

P. S. FOR making the common bread poultice, water is decidedly preferable to milk.

Notes

*

Mr. OTSBRIDGE's method of sweetening such water is the quickest, which is by passing it through a series of vessels, placed under each other, having very small holes bored in their bottoms, so that it may fall in small drops, like a gentle shower of rain, through each of them into a receiver fixed below. The wind, or air, having thus a free passage through the water, divided into small drops, w [...] soon render it wholesome and sweet.

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*

VIDE the case of the Manufacturers of Soap and Candles.

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*

GENTLEMEN, unacquainted with the operation of bleeding, will be instucted in a few minutes how to perform it with perfect safety, by applying at my Dispensary in New-York.

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*

CALLED (salt of wormwood), acetite of pot-ash (regenerated tartar), sulphite of pot-ash (vitriolated tartar), tartrite of pot-ash (soluble tartar;) tartrite of soda (rochelle salt). Any of which may be given.—Castor-oil is a useful purgative.

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*

UNDER this head we class the nervous fever, the ship-fever, the hospital-fever, the gaol-fever, the pestilential-fever, &c. All of these are different names for the same disease, and differ only from each other in malignity or violence, from local circumstances, the state of the atmosphere, or season of the year.

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*

THE eminent Dr. Clark's method of treating this fever, as it appeared in Dominica in the year 1793,—1796, as communicated in the annals of medicine, 1797, is so perfectly rational and successful, we shall here give a few extracts.

DR. C. observes, that in general, few recovered who had a cold fit at the beginning of the fever. If the yellowness appeared in twenty four hours, or if the patients had been bled, they never recovered, unless by the aid of powerful remedies acting in an evident and decisive manner. Dr. C's method of cure, is to subdue the febrile stage, by the most speedy means, and prevent the putrescent state;—he observes, that although there were some appearances which might seem to indicate blood-letting, yet it had very generally pernicious effects. The French practitioners, with whom blood-letting is a remedy in all diseases, erred much in this particular; and assure us, that there was not a single instance of an emigrant recovering who had been bled in this disease. He allows that in young athletic people, seized with this fever soon after their arrival in the West-Indies, bleeding may to a certain degree, be of use, if performed during the first twenty-four hours from the attack, but if used after that period, or at most after thirty-six hours, it will always be found prejudicial, if not fatal.—In the treatment Dr. C. in general, first ordered pediluvium, or bathing the feet in warm water, and a purging clyster, to moderate the determination to the head. After this, purging was the chief means employed to moderate the fever. But he found it very difficult to procure this evacuation by common purgatives. He recommends the following form, as the most efficacious.

Take of powder of jalap, two scruples,

Calomel, one scruple,

Oil of mint, four drops,

Water sufficient to make them into sixteen pills, of these pills, six or eight were given as speedily as possible, with a cupful of cold mint or cinnamon tea, and two or three more repeated every hour, till they operated. If these were rejected by vomiting, ten grains of calomel formed into two pills, were administered immediately, and repeated in four hours, if they had not operated plentifully before that time.

AFTER the purgatives had operated sufficiently, if the head ache was not relieved, a blister was applied to the neck; perspiration was encouraged, by giving warm drinks; and three or four grains of calomel was given in a pill, every four or six hours. To this opium was sometimes added, (twenty or thirty drops of the tincture) when the purging had a tendency to run to excess.

A BLISTER applied over the stomach, generally checked the vomiting, when employed early in the disease. When there was little or no inclination to vomit, Dr. C. added a proportion, viz. from half a grain to one or two grains of the antimonial powder (No. 27) to the calomel; and pills with this combination were given every second or third hour, till they had some effect. A grain or two of opium, or twenty five to thirty five drops of the tincture was afterwards given, to settle the stomach and procure sleep. If the medicine operated plentifully by stool before the opium was administered, and a profuse perspiration followed, the fever was carried off in twenty four hours, and the patient recovered. The antimonial when conjoined with calomel, rarely occasioned vomiting, their effects were commonly to procure a few stools, and to excite perspiration. And although vomiting in this fever is very much to be dreaded, yet in all cases considered as desperate, this combination ought to be tried.

AFTER the febrile stage, three or four grains of calomel were given every four hours to an adult, and a glass of strong decoction of bark, was ordered every hour in the intervals, with as much nourishment and wine as the stomach could bear, given in small quantities frequently repeated. This plan was continued for thirty-six or forty-eight hours after the febrile state was over a slight salivation or spitting rarely took place; but the gums we are told, were sometimes a little aff [...]cted about the third day. When that happened, both mercury and every other remedy was suspended, and nourishment and wine only given.

Dr. C's method of prevention is on arrival a few calomel purges, in the course of the first ten days, with a vegetable diet, and the moderate use of wine, together with peruvian bark for several days after, and the renewal of the calomel purges and bark from time to time, during the first two or three months residence, was the most common method employed to prevent an attack, and it was generally successful.

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*

IN the decline of this fever, affections of the liver and other viscera are not unfrequently the consequence, a salivation has proved successful in the East-Indies; and it is equally advantageous in all warm climates; but we are certain the scirrhous liver is safely cured by the alterative pills, No. 24, without salivation.

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†

IT is of the utmost importance not to reduce the system by bleeding or any other evacuation whatever, below the ordinary healthy standard, as a firm constitution and a chearful and fearless mind, most powerfully resist the sedative action of pestilential contagion. What has conducted the benevolent Howard through those dismal scenes, where disease sate brooding, but that conciousness of duty which rendered him intrepid? His escape from so many fiery trials, may convince others, by attention in similar situations, how much it is in their power to avoid infection.

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*

I AM happy to add a note which further corroborates the importanace and utility of the nitrous vapour taken from Mr. J. M. Gregor's account of putrid contagious fever which appeared amongst the soldiers in the island of Jersey, in July, August, Sept. and Octr. 1797.

"ALARMED at the fatal issue of the first case, be with two assistants ca [...]fully fumigated the hospital, the clothes, the bedding of the sick, and the different barrack-rooms; which stopped its ravages compleatly; for out of [...]y-six cases that occurred, the first case was the only one that proved fatal. [...] this fever again appeared, with its original symptoms amongst some convalescents. [...] by putting in practice the nitrous fumigation, and thinning the wards of the hospital, the fever was again very soon got under."

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*

WE consider as highly reprehensible, any attempt to purify the air by combustible materials, such as burning tar, sulphur, rozin, tobacco, &c. &c. It destroys or absorbs vital air, at least so much diminishes it as to endanger life.

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*

IN gun-shot wounds, which are deep seated, inflamed, or the lips look black or gangrenous, lay the wounded limb in large poultices easy and soft, which will at once encourage a kindly suppuration and assuage the pain, a large soft warm, and comfortable, oily poultice, is literally a bath for the limb, and will do great service to the patient.

IT frequently happens when the patient i [...] first wounded by bayo [...]et, sabre, &c. &c. he is in great confusion, there is a tremor, [...] or almost a convulsion of the whole frame. There is a coldness, fainting, and nervous affection; but it is merely a nervous affection, and you should treat it as such. You may expect it to subside in time, and therefore should give some warm cordial and a large dose of tincture of opium (30 or 40 drops) to quiet the commotion. This is no time for bleeding, whatever the nature of the wound may be. If the stupor continues, you should give cordial draughts and wine.

IF a sharp fever should come on, still [...]o not bleed, but rather be upon the reserve, for, perhaps this, which at first seems to be a pure inflammatory fever, may turn out to be a fit of an ague, it may be a low and malignant fever.— Reserve your bleeding for those more dangerous cases, where high inflammation is so often fatal, and do not bleed in wounds of the hips, shoulders or limbs, reserve bleeding for wounds of the breast or belly, or great joints, for in all wounds of cavities, inflammation which can hardly be escaped, is the great danger.

IF a man be wounded after a full meal, there can be no doubt of the propriety of a gentle vomit, a table spoonful or two of mixture No. 18, will evacuate the contents of the stomach very quickly, when it is allowed by the circumstances of the wound. The bowels may be opened by a cooling saline laxative.

THE fever which attends are ill-conditioned wound is attended with great heat, thirst, a foul tongue, a low, quick, unequal pulse, and there is a low muttering delirium, or as Ranby expresse it, the head not quite clear, and bark wine and elixer of vitriol are to be used.

↵

*

1. WHEN the body is taken out of the water, strip and wrap it closely in a coat, blanket, or other warm covering; and convey it to the nearest commodious house,—keeping the face upwards and the head and shoulders a little raised.

2. LAY it on a bed, or mattrass, that is well heated by a warming pan, in a chamber containing a fire;—or, during very hot weather, place it in the sunshine. Dry the body completely with warm cloths, and afterwards rub it diligently, but gently, with hot flannels, all over, and especially about the heart.—Apply to the hands, feet, and under the arm pits, cloths heated by a warming pan, bags of hot grains or sand, heated bricks or bottles filled, or bladders half filled, with warm water,—the bricks or bottles being covered with flannel.—As soon as a quantity of hot water can be got ready, let blankets or flannels strongly wrung out of it, be wrapped round the body, and renewed as they grow cool.

N. B. THE heat of these applications should not be greater than can be comfortably borne by the assistants.

3. DURING the foregoing operations, put the pipe of a pair of bellows into one of the nostrils (the other nostril and mouth being closed by an assistant,) and blow gently till the breast be a little raised: let the mouth then be le [...] free, and an easy pressure made on the breast.—Repeat this imitation of natural breathing, until signs of life appear, and then gradually discontinue it.—To prevent air getting into the stomach, let an assistant keep pressing the upper part of the wind-pipe gently backwards.

N. B. IF the pipe of the bellows will not enter the nostril, a piece of stiff paper, or leather, may be rolled up in the shape of a funnel, and the smaller end put into the nostril, while the other receives the pipe of the bellows.—Or if bellows are not at hand, blow into the lungs through such a tube, or through a quill, reed, or other small pipe, with your breath.

4. WHEN breathing begins, touch the inside of the nostrils, with a feather dipt in spirir of hartshorn or sharp mustard; or blow some pepper into them. A glyster should now be given without delay, composed of a pint of warm water mixed with a sixth part of rum, brandy, or gin, or with a large table spoonful of spirit of hartshorn, or essence of peppermint, or a heaped teaspoo [...]ful of flour of mustard.

5. As soon as the patient can swallow, give him by spoonfuls, a little warm wine, or spirits mixed with water.

6. WHEN life is completely restored, the sufferer should remain at rest in a warm bed; be supplied with warm wine whey, ale, posset, or other nourishing drinks; and gentle sweating should be encouraged.

N. B. These attentions should be continued until the patient is out of all danger, several persons having been lost from being quitted too soon.

No more than six persons to be admitted into the room; a greater number serving only to spoil the air and to create confusion and mistakes.

Hanging.—1. If a medical person be present, let him take a few ounces of blood from the jugular veins, or apply cupping-glasses to the neck.

The other means to be the same as recommened for drowned persons.

Suffocation by Noxious Vapours.—2. If the body be hot, strip and lay it in the open air, with the head and shoulders raised. Then dash cold water upon it, until signs of life appear; taking care that none get into the mouth or nostrils. At the same time blow into the lungs as ordered in drowned persons.—If the body has grown cold, then warmth must be applied.

Frost-bitten, or Frozen.—At first rub the parts affected, or the whole body with snow; or wash them with cold water;—but not near a fire, or in a warm place; it being of great consequence that the heat be communicated very gradually.—If the breathing has stopped, blow into the lungs as already described: and when recovery takes place, be cautious of giving spiritous liquors, except in very small quantities, and well lowered with water.

Still-born, or Smothered under Bed-clothes.—1. In cases of still-birth, fill the lungs with air, by blowing into the nostril or mouth through a quill, then gently press the chest with the hand; and repeat this till natural breathing begins.—Also rub the body gently with the warm hand, before a fire; put it into the warm bath; or wrap it in flannels well wrung out of water moderately warmed;and stimulate the nostrils with spirit of hartshorn or mustard.

2. When a child has been smothered in bed by overlaying, &c. if (as is generally the case) the body be too hot, expose it immediately to a [...]rrent of air for a short time; also blow into the lungs, and use gentle frictions.

No other means than those here recommended, are ever to be used, except under the immediate direction of a medical gentleman; but the above means are to be continued six hours, if needful.

Poison.—Until medical assistance can be procured, endeavour to produce vomiting, by giving large draughts of warm milk or water, mixed with oil, melted butter or lard.

An IMPORTANT, PUBLIC, and HUMANE CAUTION. — In great sinking of the strength, especially in the end of fevers and other acute diseases, patients frequently lie in a state resembling death. If the bed clothes be removed, the heat of the body will be immediately dissipated, and every spark of life destroyed. By not attending to this important circumstance, it is feared the lives of thousands of our fellow creatures have been sacrificed, and their bodies committed to the grave;—who, by a more humane conduct, would have been restored to life.

Death may usurp on Nature many hours,

And yet the fire of Life kindle again

The o'er-prest spirits.

Shakespear.

↵

A TABLE OF WEIGHTS, &c.

[Page]

Half a scruple, contains 10 grains.

One scruple, 20 do.

Half a drachm, 30 do.

Two scruples, 40 do.

One drachm, 60 do.

Two drachms, 120 do.

There is also a pewter measure, the large end of which contains one ounce, the small end half an ounce.

INDEX OF DOSES OF MEDICINES.

| No. | Doses.
ACID of vitriol diluted, or elixir of vitriol, | (16) drops, | 15 to 40
Antimonial powder, | (27) grains, | 2 to 6
Allum, | (7) grains, | 10 to 30
Bark, Peruvian, | (28) grains, | 10 to 60
Camphor, | (10) grains, | 3 to 20
Castor Oil, | (17) half an ounce to 1 oz.
Calomel, | (25) grains, | 5 to 15
Cremor Tartar, | (12) half a dr. to half an oz.
Drops, Antimonial Anodine, | (33) drops, | 15 to 25
Elixir, Paregoric, | (16) drops, | 10 to 60
Ginger, Powder, | (31) grains, | 5 to 20
Jalap, Powder, | (11) grains, | 10 to 40
Ipecacuanh, Powder, | (47) grains, | 10 to 30
Magnesia, | (19) half a drachm to 2
Mint, essence of, | (26) drops, | 5 to 8
Pills, Ague and Fever, | (23) 3 times a day, | 1 to 2
— Anti-Bilious, | (22) Night and morn. | 2 to 3
— Alterative, | (24) Night and morn. | ½ to 1
— Mineral, | (30) L. jaw, 1, 3 or 4 t. a d.
Rhubarb, Powder, | (19) grains, | 10 to 40
Salt, Glauber, | (1) half an oz. to 1 ½
— Nitre, | (2) grains, | 10 to 30
— Wormwood, | (20) grains, | 10 to 30
Spirit of hartshorn, | (4) drops, | 10 to 30
— Sweet Nitre, | (48) drops, | 10 to 30
Specific, Pectoral, | (18) teaspoonful to [...] sp. half
Sulphur, flowers of, | (21) grains, | 10 to 60
Tartar emetic, or tartarized antimony | (3) grains, | ¼ to 3
Tincture of opium, | (15) drops, | 10 to 40
— Peruvian bark, Huxham's, | (29) table sp. full to w. g. ful [...]
Turlington's Balsam, | (46) drops | 30 to 60

CONTENTS.

[Page]

ASTHMA, Page 43

Bruises and Sprains, Page 44

Beef, Pork, &c. when stale, how to make wholesome, Page 11

Bear, Ale, &c. Page 18

Bleeding, Page 21

Coughs, Page 29

Clyster, Page ib.

Dedication, Page 2

Diet. observations on, Page 15

Diarrhoea and Dysentery, Page 30

Drinks, observation on, Page 17

— Sweet (Cyder, Cherry, Elder-wine, Punch, Lemonade, &c.) Page 20

— Warm (Tea, Coffee and Chocolate,) Page 21

— Acid Vitriolic, Page 36

— Nitrous, common, Page 22

Dislocations, Page 49

Dropsy, Page 42

Drowning, recovery of, Page 50

Extract of Lead, Solution of, Page 45

Eye, inflammation of, Page 26

Eye-water, Page ib.

Fever, acute inflammatory, Page 23

— Intermitting, and ague, Page 32

— Pleurisy and peripneumony, Page 22

— Putrid tending, bilious or yellow, Page 33

Fractures in general, Page 47

— Ribs, Page 49

Fruits, Page 17

Guinea-worm, Page 12

— Jaundice, Page 43

Itch, and herpetic eruptions, Page 45

Intestines, inflammation of Page 27

Jaw, locked, Page 42

Kidney, inflammation of, Page 27

Liver inflammation of, Page ib.

Liquors, Spiritous, Page 19

Medical advice, Page 9

Mixture opening, Page 22

— With essence of Mint, Page 28

[Page]— Of tarter emetic, Page 22

— Of Peruvian bark, &c. Page 33

Musquetoes, horse-flies, &c. bite of, Page 10

Preface, Page 5

Provisions, want of how to prevent, Page 14

Piles, Page 28

Pills, opening, Page 34

Powders, febrifuse and opening, Page 24

— Antiscorbutic, Page 31

— Cathartic (for the dropsy,) Page 42

Rheumatism, Page 25

Sallads, their virtues, Page 16

Spices, their nutritive quality, Page 14

Scurvy, Page 31

Stomach, inflammation of, Page 26

Vapour, nitrous for the distruction of contagion, Page 39

Vinegar, four thieves, Page 49

Water, bad or putrid, how to sweeten, Page 11

— Imperial, Page 37

Wounds, gun-shot, Page 45

— Bayonet, Sabre, &c. Page 46

Wines. Page 19

APPENDIX, On the Prevention and Cure of the VENEREAL DISEASE, Is published separate.

Information about this book

Title statement

Medical advice; chiefly for the consideration of seamen: and adapted for the use of travellers, or domestic life. Containing practical essays on diseases in general--with plain and full directions for their prevention and cure: gun-shot wounds, fractures, dislocations--and on the venereal disease. : Exhibiting a concise view of the most approved practice in medicine. / By William Burrell; who prepares medicine chests, carefully suited to this pamphlet. ; [Two lines from Armstrong] ; Dedicated to the Chamber of Commerce.

Burrell, William.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N36951

ID [TCP]

N36951

ID [STC]

Shipton 48383

ID [NOTIS]

APV6232

ID [IMAGE-SET]

48383

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99001696

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This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 48383.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N36951)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 48383)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 48383)

Source

— Medical advice; chiefly for the consideration of seamen: and adapted for the use of travellers, or domestic life. Containing practical essays on diseases in general--with plain and full directions for their prevention and cure: gun-shot wounds, fractures, dislocations--and on the venereal disease. : Exhibiting a concise view of the most approved practice in medicine. / By William Burrell; who prepares medicine chests, carefully suited to this pamphlet. ; [Two lines from Armstrong] ; Dedicated to the Chamber of Commerce., Burrell, William..

Extent

53, [3] p. ; 20 cm. (8vo)

Printed for the author--by R. Wilson.,. New-York: :: 1798.. ("Appendix, on the prevention and cure of the venereal disease, is published separate."--p. [56].)

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