Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 2: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
Science
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 2: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
_Dull but constant pains in the limbs_ yield to frictions, volatile
liniments, muslin and woollen worn next to the skin, electricity, a
salivation, and the warm and cold bath. A gentleman who was afflicted
with a pain of this kind for three years and a half in one of his arms,
informed me, that he had been cured by wearing a woollen stocking that
had been boiled with sulphur in water, for two weeks upon the affected
limb. He had previously worn flannel upon it, but without receiving any
benefit from it. I have known wool and cotton, finely carded, and made
into small mats, worn upon the hips, when affected by gout, with great
advantage. In obstinate sciatic pains, without fever or inflammation,
Dr. Pitcairn's remedy, published by Dr. Cheyne, has performed many
cures. It consists in taking from one to four tea-spoons full of the
fine spirit of turpentine every morning, for a week or ten days, in
three times the quantity of honey, and afterwards in drinking a large
quantity of sack whey, to settle it on the stomach, and carry it into
the blood. An anodyne should be taken every night after taking this
medicine.
A _gouty diarrh[oe]a_ should be treated with the usual astringent
medicines of the shops. Blisters to the wrists and ankles, also a
salivation, have often cured it. I have heard of its being checked,
after continuing for many years, by the patient eating large quantities
of alspice, which he carried loose in his pocket for that purpose.
The _angina pectoris_, which I have said is a symptom of the gout,
generally comes on with fulness and tension in the pulse. After these
are reduced by two or three bleedings, mineral tonics seldom fail of
giving relief.
_Spasms in the stomach_, and _pains in the bowels_, often seize gouty
people in the midst of business or pleasure, or in the middle of the
night. My constant prescription for these complaints is ten drops of
laudanum every half hour, till relief be obtained. If this medicine
be taken in the forming state of these pains, a single dose generally
removes the disease. It is preferable to spiced wine and spirits,
inasmuch as it acts quicker, and leaves no disposition to contract a
love for it when it is not required to ease pain.
The _pain in the rectum_ which has been described, yields to the common
remedies for the piles. Cold water applied to the part, generally gives
immediate relief.
For a _preternatural secretion and excretion of bile_, gentle laxatives,
and abstinence from oily food, full meals, and all violent exercises of
the body and mind, are proper.
The _itching in the anus_, which I have supposed to be a symptom of
gout, has yielded in one instance that has come within my knowledge to
mercurial ointment applied to the part affected. Dr. Lettsom recommends
fomenting the part with a decoction of poppy heads and hemlock, and
advises lenient purges and a vegetable diet as a radical cure for the
disease[68].
[68] Medical Memoirs, vol. III.
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