The body ought to be kept gently open. The best medicines for this purpose are rhubarb and its preparations, as the syrup, tincture, &c. Of these a tea-spoonful or two may be given to an infant twice or thrice a-day, as there is occasion. To such as are farther advanced, the dose must be proportionally increased, and repeated till it has the desired effect. Those who cannot be brought to take the bitter tincture, may have an infusion of senna and prunes, sweetened with manna, coarse sugar, or honey; or a few grains of rhubarb mixed with a tea-spoonful or two of syrup, or currant jelly, so as to disguise the taste. Most children are fond of syrups and jellies, and seldom refuse even a disagreeable medicine when mixed with them. Many people believe that oily, pectoral, and balsamic medicines possess wonderful virtues for the cure of the chin-cough, and accordingly exhibit them plentifully to patients of every age and constitution, without considering that every thing of this nature must load the stomach, hurt the digestion, and of course aggravate the disorder[114]. The _millepedes_, or woodlice, are greatly recommended for the cure of a chin-cough. Those who chuse to make use of these insects, may infuse two ounces of them bruised in an English pint of small white-wine for one night. Afterwards the liquor may be drained through a cloth, and a table-spoonful of it given to the patient three or four times a-day. Opiates are sometimes necessary to allay the violence of the cough. For this purpose a little of the syrup of poppies, or five, six, or seven drops of laudanum, according to the age of the patient, may be taken in a cup of hyssop or penny-royal-tea, and repeated occasionally[115]. The garlic ointment is a well-known remedy in North Britain for the chin-cough. It is made by beating in a mortar garlic with an equal quantity of hogs lard. With this the soles of the feet may be rubbed twice or thrice a-day; but the best method is to spread it upon a rag, and apply it in the form of plaster. It should be renewed every night and morning at least, as the garlic soon loses its virtue. This is an exceeding good medicine both in the chin-cough, and in most other coughs of an obstinate nature. It ought not however to be used when the patient is very hot or feverish, lest it should increase these symptoms. The feet should be bathed once every two or three days in lukewarm water; and a Burgundy-pitch plaster kept constantly between the shoulders. But when the disease proves very violent, it will be necessary, instead of it, to apply a blistering-plaster, and to keep the part open for some time with issue ointment.