SECT. III.
Of Diseases of the Skin
Under this head I shall consider all kinds of breaking out, exclusive of that, which attends inflammatory and acute fevers, as they are all of one nature, and will all yield to one method of cure.—All proceed from a corrupted humour, which nature endeavours to expell from the body, by driving them to the surface, as that is the least resisting part.
Of the Itch.
The itch may either proceed from original acrimony, or it may be catched from a mess-mate who is infested with the disease. In itself it is of different kinds, but the diversity in this respect depends principally on the habit of body afflicted with it. Sometimes it is dry, scaly, and attended with very great itching; in that case, it proceeds generally from a scorbutic habit, and is attended with a slow inward fever. Sometimes it is more moist, and utters itself with bladders all about the hands, particularly betwixt the fingers, and is a sufficient testimony of the disorder. The principal indication is to purify the blood; and in the mean time recourse may be had to external means. A purge is first requisite.
No. IX
Take powder of jalap (R) one scruple; calomel (N) three grains, mix it with a little sugar and water, and let the patient take it early in the morning, working it off with balm or any other tea; after this some pills may be made of calomel.
No. X
Take stomach powder (M) two scruples, calomel (N) one scruple; sugar about one scruple; mix them, and with a few drops of water make it into a mass, and divide it into twenty pills. Of which let him take one every morning and night.
Externally make use of the following:
No. XI
Take Turner’s Cerate (K) two ounces; Precipitate (O) two drachms; mix them.
Let this be sparingly rubb’d on the itchy part; if it should be too hard, mix with it a little sweet oil. When the pills are all used, another purge like the former may be given; after which if requisite, a few of the same pills, one every night, will not be amiss. Should it be very obstinate, a little mercurial ointment (P) about one drachm to the above quantity may be added; particularly if the ship is in a warm climate. Should these medicines seem to affect the mouth, as people vary much in this respect, a purge will set all to rights again. This is a safe and expeditious method of curing the rankest itch, even of the worst kind. If however there is a fever attending, a few fever powders (L) should be given when going to rest, in order to promote perspiration; at the same time using the before mentioned medicines. In regard to the scorbutic itch, that I shall take notice of, under the title of that disorder. During the cure of the itch, a decoction of the sassafras (14) should be drank, as that is a great purifier of the blood.
Of Boils.
Boils are sometimes very troublesome, and at times exquisitely painful; especially when they are on tendinous parts: they are always a sign of foul blood, and nature very often that way frees the body from diseases. They may frequently be dispersed in the beginning of their coming, by pressing, and gently pinching them: but unless they are very numerous, such a method is unsafe; because it forces into the blood again what nature endeavours to discharge. The best method is to bring them to a head as soon as possible, to which purpose I shall here recommend a paste that is very powerful.
No. XII
Take oatmeal and make it into a paste with honey (E); this will speedily ripen them, and facilitate the collection of matter.
Should the boil not open of its own accord, and matter should be observed to fluctuate in it, open it with the incision lancet; and continue with your honey paste, till the core is discharged; when the diachylon plaister will heal it up.
Of Ring Worms, Daw Worms, &c. &c.
These are very troublesome, and though at first they seem but insignificant, very often they lay the foundation to stubborn evils. In fact they are but a peculiar kind of itch; and the very same remedy that is recommended above for the itch, is equally powerful to remove this: what necessity is there then, of increasing words with a tedious description of their various appearances; since they will all yield to one substantial remedy?
Of the Morbis Pedicularis, or, Lousy Disease.
It is an unhappy circumstance on board a ship, when a man is afflicted with this filthy distemper; and such a man is as pernicious to a ship’s crew, as a rotten sheep in a whole herd. If it proceeds from a lazy filthiness of body, a gentle washing with a good scrubbing-brush, and rubbing the back with the boatswain’s towel,[[12]] is a pretty amusement enough to circulate the blood and to excite cleanliness. But sometimes this disorder has its seat in the very blood itself, and that filthy vermin will breed under the skin, and eat their way through, by clusters.—I have opened boils as big as pigeons eggs, from which large bunches of lice have followed the lancet.
[12]. A cat of nine tails.
These patients are in every respect wretched, and are actually objects of pity. They generally have a pale, sullen, heavy, half-starved, cowardly, in short a lousy, look; habitually lazy, and seem to be void of every manly passion; neither good nor ill-natured; and are stimulated by nothing but pusillanimity; and as they seem neither sick nor well, I say they are objects both of pity and contempt; though the latter is unjust, because they cannot help it.
The reason of all this wretchedness is because the blood is degenerated into a lifeless mass of pituitous corruption; and wants that spirit which gives a relish to life. Hence we see in this one instance, how much the mental faculties depend upon the state of the body.
In order to cure this unhappy patient, the blood must be purified, and the whole system stimulated to a brisk circulation. Nothing less than mercury will do the one, and stimulants together with exercise, effect the other.
In the first place give him the following medicine.
No. XIII
Take ipecacuanha (S) one scruple; jalap (R) ten grains; calomel, (N) four grains; make it into a draught or bolus.
Let him take this in a morning upon a fasting stomach, and let him drink plenty of chamomile tea after every vomiting; then give him the following electuary.
No. XIV
Take lenitive electuary (I.) two ounces; black pepper powdered, two drachms; calomel (N), one scruple; mix them.
Of this let him take every morning one tea spoonful; upon which let him rub himself all over with the mercurial cloth as follows, till he comes by this exercise into a breathing sweat, at least for an hour; and for the rest of the day keep him in continual exercise.
No. XV
The mercurial cloth.
Take a cloth or rag as much as half a yard square, upon which spread one ounce of mercurial ointment; let the patient work this into the cloth with his hands, so that it is equally all over alike.
With this cloth let him rub his wrists, arms, shoulders, top of his head, his back, knees, waist, thighs, and legs; and continue this rubbing once every morning with the same cloth for a whole month, putting the cloth in his pocket when he has done.
His sores may be dressed with the above ointment No. [XI]. The decoction of sassafras, and a dram of spirits, with a little Turlington’s Balsam after his morning’s exercise, will prove greatly to facilitate the cure. This is the method I have pursued with this filthy disorder; and I have succeeded to my most sanguine expectations. And by this, I have been fortunate enough to be the means of making men again, of wretches that were a burden to themselves, and a nuisance to the people that were obliged to associate with them.