Poultice of Walnut Leaves. (Perfect.) Syn. Cataplasma juglandis. Prep. The fresh leaves of walnut bruised and mixed with honey. Applied over the abdomen as a vermifuge.
Poultice of Yeast. Syn. Cataplasma fermenti (B. P., Ph. L.), C. f. cerevisiæ, L. Prep. 1. (Ph. L.) Beer yeast and water at 100° Fahr., of each 5 fl. oz.; mix, stir in flour, 1 lb., and place it near the fire until it rises. In gangrenous or foul ulcers; to correct the fetor of the discharge, and to hasten the sloughing.
2. (B. P.) Beer yeast, 6; flour, 14; water (at 100° Fahr.), 6; mix. Place the mass near the fire till it rises.
POUL′TRY. Domestic birds, which are propagated and fed for the table, and for their eggs, feathers, &c.
The poultry of this country are the common domestic fowl, the turkey, the duck, and the goose; to which some writers add the guinea-fowl and the peacock. Of these, the first is the most generally useful. Though a native of India, it accompanies man through almost every gradation of civilisation and climate, and flourishes almost everywhere, when properly secured from the inclemency of the weather, and allowed an ample supply of fresh air, with proper food. For the production of abundance of eggs it must, however, be well fed and warmly lodged. The hen-roosts and poultry-houses should be well protected from the weather, and their temperature should be duly maintained by proximity to the stables, cow-houses, or dwelling-house, and, in cold weather,
by the employment, when necessary, of artificial heat. The food should also contain an ample supply of nitrogenous matter, for without this how can it be expected that hens can produce abundance of eggs, which are peculiarly rich in nitrogen? The ‘greaves’ of the tallow-chandlers, and such-like substances, are hence excellent additions to the ordinary food of poultry. But it is not sufficient merely to supply poultry with abundance of food and warmth; it is equally necessary that they should have ample space for exercise and recreation. This space “should always contain living plants of various kinds, and some gravelly or sandy soil; because worms, snails, as well as, occasionally, grass and herbage, form a part of the food of poultry; and sand or gravel is swallowed by them for the purpose of promoting digestion. Hence, no healthy poultry can ever be reared in towns, however much the natural food may be imitated by the supply of animal matters, herbage, and sand.” (Loudon.)
POUNCE. Powdered gum sandarac generally passes under this name. It is used to prepare parchment for writing on, and to prevent ink from spreading upon paper after erasures. Powdered cuttle-fish bone is occasionally employed in the same way. Both are applied to the surface by means of a cylindrical roll of list called a ‘rubber.’ Packers rub the surface of porous and greasy woods, as the heads of boxes, cases, casks, &c., with whiting or powdered resin, to make them bear the ink. The coloured powders used by pattern drawers, for sprinkling over pricked papers, are also called ‘pounce.’ For liquid pounce, see Marking ink.
POWDER. Syn. Pulvis, L. Powders are divided by pharmaceutical writers into two classes—simple and compound. The first are prepared by simple pulverisation; the second by the admixture of two or more simple powders. For use the appropriate doses are separately weighed, and placed in separate papers. They are usually exhibited in a little honey, sugar, or milk, either taken from a spoon or made into an electuary or bolus, and swallowed in the semi-solid form. Metallic and other heavy powders are best taken in the latter state. Very active substances should be, in all cases, mixed with some inert powder, as that of starch, gum, liquorice, or marshmallow, at the time of ‘dispensing’ them.
“This form of preparing medicines is the simplest, and perhaps the least objectionable; but it is not applicable to all the articles of the Materia Medica. Those remedies which are very unpleasant to the taste; those which deliquesce rapidly when exposed to the air, or are very volatile; and those which require to be given in very large doses, or which are not diffused readily in water, cannot, with propriety, be administered in the form of powder. Some substances cannot be reduced to powder unless they be very much dried, and the heat
necessary for that purpose alters their properties.” Nor can we “be surprised that a great alteration should be effected in a short time by the action of the air on so great an extension of surface as takes place in the operation usually adopted for reducing drugs to a fine powder.” (A. T. Thomson.)