from some high place into a cauldron, that he may hear the sound
of it; by which means sleep shall be provoked on him. As for the
contraction of his leg, there is hope of righting it when we have
let out the pus and other humors pent up in the thigh, and have
rubbed the whole knee with ointment of mallows, and oil of
lilies, and a little eau-de-vie, and wrapped it in black wool
with the grease left in it; and if we put under the knee a
feather pillow doubled, little by little we shall straighten the
leg.
This my discourse was well approved by the physicians and
surgeons.
The consultation ended, we went back to the patient, and I made
three openings in his thigh. ... Two or three hours later, I got
a bed made near his old one, with fair white sheets on it; then a
strong man put him in it, and he was thankful to be taken out of
his foul stinking bed. Soon after, he asked to sleep; which he
did for near four hours; and everybody in the house began to feel
happy, and especially M. le Duc d' Ascot, his brother.
The following days, I made injections, into the depth and
cavities of the ulcers, of Aegyptiacum dissolved sometimes in
eau-de-vie, other times in wine, I applied compresses to the
bottom of the sinuous tracks, to cleanse and dry the soft spongy
flesh, and hollow leaden tents, that the sanies might always have
a way out; and above them a large plaster of Diacalcitheos
dissolved in wine. And I bandaged him so skilfully that he had no
pain; and when the pain was gone, the fever began at once to
abate. Then I gave him wine to drink moderately tempered with
water, knowing it would restore and quicken the vital forces. And
all that we agreed in consultation was done in due time and
order; and so soon as his pains and fever ceased, he began
steadily to amend. He dismissed two of his surgeons, and one of
his physicians, so that we were but three with him.
Now I stopped there about two months, not without seeing many
patients, both rich and poor, who came to me from three or four
leagues round. He gave food and drink to the needy, and commended
them all to me, asking me to help them for his sake. I protest I
refused not one, and did for them all I could, to his great
pleasure. Then, when I saw him beginning to be well, I told him
we must have viols and violins, and a buffoon to make him laugh:
which he did. In one month, we got him into a chair, and he had
himself carried about in his garden and at the door of his
chateau, to see everybody passing by.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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