With respect to the medicines proper in a caries of the bone, without the application of instruments, or which finish what the instruments have begun, we are furnished with a great many, of which it would be too tedious to give a list: I must only give a caution not to employ the mineral acids, even the anodyne mineral liquor of Hoffman, so much boasted of by some practitioners in diseases of the bones; for they all do hurt. It is well known that when these acids are used for the teeth, they whiten them, but at the same time destroy their substance, rendering them crumbly and friable like limestone; now the other bones being less solid and hard than the teeth, there is so much the more reason to apprehend the same effect, by their penetrating from the affected part of the bone, where they are applied, to that which is sound. In consequence of this, the bones which appear mended after the use of these liquors, are, in a short time, worse than before[49]. The real method of doing service to bones consumed by a caries, is like what happens to boards joined together with nails, if you make them excessively dry, the nails fall out of themselves; and doubtless it is this notion that has given rise to the practice of employing hot irons, and acid liquors, as driers, to promote the exfoliation of bones. But both these methods are attended with the inconvenience I have already mentioned, with respect to acids, of acting with so much violence on the diseased parts, that they extend their action in a dangerous manner, to those that are sound. We may nevertheless employ hot irons with success in constitutions abounding with moisture, or when it is of consequence immediately to stop the progress of the disease. The following medicines act efficaciously, but with less violence, frankincense, mastich, myrrh, balsam of Peru, and essential oil of cloves; but this oil should be used with moderation, since when it is employed for carious teeth, they become friable, and crumble away by degrees in a short time[50]. When the caries is removed, in order to compleat the cure, we ought to prescribe a nourishing diet, but not too oily; broth, in which viper flesh is boiled, is very useful[51]. The dressing should then only consist of dry lint, taking all imaginable care to hinder the contact of the external air. When the caries is accompanied with a vitiated state of the blood, the external treatment is the same, and succeeds equally, provided internal medicines, suitable to the nature of the ailment, be joined with it; with this precaution, a caries from a venereal cause, may be cured like any other. FOOTNOTES: