A rural authority has power to deal with the matter under provision 3, section 91, of the Public Health Act, which defines as a nuisance “any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health.”
PIKE. The Esox lucius (Linn.), a fresh-water fish. It is remarkable for its voracity, but is highly esteemed by epicures. Various parts of it were formerly used in medicine. The fat (OLEUM LUCII PISCIS) was one of the simples of the Ph. L. of 1618, and was esteemed as a friction in catarrhs. It is even now used in some parts of Europe to disperse opacities of the cornea.
PIL′CHARD. The Clupea pilchardus, a fish closely resembling the common herring, than which, however, it is smaller, but thicker and rounder and more oily. It abounds on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, where it is not only consumed as food, but pressed for its oil.
PILES. Syn. Hemorrhoids; Hæmorrhoides, L. A painful disease occasioned by the morbid dilatations of the veins at the lower part of the rectum and surrounding the anus.
Piles are principally occasioned by costiveness and cold; and, occasionally, by the use of acrid food. They have been distinguished into—BLIND PILES, or a varicose state of the veins without bleeding,—MUCOUS PILES, when the tumours are excoriated, and mucus or pus is discharged,—BLEEDING PILES, when accompanied with loss of blood, and—EXCRESCENTIAL PILES, when there are loose fleshy excrescences about the verge of the anus and within the rectum.
The treatment of piles consists in the administration of mild aperients, as castor oil, or an electuary of sulphur and cream of tartar. When there is much inflammation or bleeding, cold and astringent lotions, as those of sulphate of zinc or alum, should be applied; and when the pain is considerable, fomentations of decoction of poppy heads may be used with advantage. To arrest the bleeding, ice is also frequently applied, but continued pressure is more certain. When the tumours are large and flaccid, the compound ointment of galls is an excellent application; and if there is a tendency to inflammation, a little liquor of diacetate of lead may be added. In confirmed piles the internal use of copaiba, or, still better, of the confection of black pepper, should be persevered in for some time, together with local applications. In severe cases the
protruded tumours are removed by surgeons, by the knife or ligature. See Ointments, Electuaries, &c.
PILL COCHIA. See Compound Colocynth Pills (below).
PILL RUFI. See Pills of Aloes with Myrrh (below).
PILLS. Syn. Pilulæ (Ph. E. & D.), Pilula (Ph. L.), L.; Pilules, Saccharolés solides, Fr. Pills are little balls, of a semi-solid consistence, composed of various medicinal substances, and intended to be taken whole. The facility with which they are made and administered, their comparatively little taste, their power of preserving their properties for a considerable length of time, and, lastly, their portability and inexpensiveness, have long rendered them the most frequently employed and the most popular form of medicine.