Another kind of food very proper in the dysentery, which may be used by such as cannot take the broth mentioned above, is made by boiling a few handfuls of fine flour, tied in a cloth, for six or seven hours, till it becomes as hard as starch. Two or three table-spoonfuls of this may be grated down, and boiled in such a quantity of new milk and water as to be of the thickness of pap. This may be sweetened to the patient’s taste, and taken for his ordinary food[127]. In a _putrid dysentery_ the patient may be allowed to eat freely of most kinds of good ripe fruit; as apples, grapes, gooseberries, currant-berries, strawberries, &c. These may either be eaten raw or boiled, with or without milk, as the patient chuses. The prejudice against fruit in this disease is so great, that many believe it to be the common cause of dysenteries. This however is an egregious mistake. Both reason and experience shew, that good fruit is one of the best medicines, both for the prevention and cure of the dysentery. Good fruit is in every respect calculated to counteract that tendency to putrefaction, from whence the most dangerous kind of dysentery proceeds. The patient in such a case ought therefore be allowed to eat as much fruit as he pleases, provided it be ripe[128]. The most proper drink in this disorder is whey. The dysentery has often been cured by the use of clear whey alone. It may be taken both for drink and in form of clyster. When whey cannot be had, barley-water sharpened with cream of tartar may be drank, or a decoction of barley and tamarinds; two ounces of the former and one of the latter may be boiled in two English quarts of water to one. Warm water, water-gruel, or water wherein hot iron has been frequently quenched, are all very proper, and may be drank in turns. Camomile-tea, if the stomach will bear it, is an exceeding proper drink. It both strengthens the stomach, and by its antiseptic quality tends to prevent a mortification of the bowels. MEDICINE.——At the beginning of this disease it is always necessary to cleanse the first passages. For this purpose a vomit of ipecacuanha must be given, and wrought off with weak camomile-tea. Strong vomits are seldom necessary here. A scruple, or at most half a drachm of ipecacuanha, is generally sufficient for an adult, and sometimes a very few grains will suffice. The day after the vomit, half a drachm, or two scruples of rhubarb, must be taken; or, what will answer the purpose rather better, an ounce or an ounce and a half of Epsom salts. This dose may be repeated every other day for two or three times. Afterwards small doles of ipecacuanha may be taken for some time. Two or three grains of the powder may be mixed in a table-spoonful of the syrup of poppies, and taken three times a day. These evacuations, and the regimen prescribed above, will often be sufficient to effect a cure. Should it however happen otherwise, the following astringent medicines may be used.