[692]. The following remarks, with which I have lately been favoured by Dr. Davy, appear interesting. “In the few cases which I have tried this remedy for the retention of urine, I have seen no good effects produced, until it excited nausea. For this purpose I have found it advantageous to give it in a little tepid water: upon chemical examination I could not discover that it ever passed off by the urine; the fæces, however, are uniformly coloured black by it, whence I conclude it must be evacuated through the bowels. In order to prevent its tendency to constipate the bowels, I have found it necessary to give some aperient, as castor oil, speedily after its exhibition.” May not this latter circumstance explain the reason of his not having detected it in the urine? (See p. 95.)
[693]. De La Motte’s Golden Drops. An Æthereal solution of Iron.
[694]. It has, for this reason, been substituted for oak bark in the tanning of leather.
[695]. British Herb Tobacco. The basis of which is Coltsfoot; this appears to have had a very ancient origin, for the same plant was smoaked through a reed in the days of Dioscorides, for the purpose of promoting expectoration, and was called by him βηγὶον, from βηξ, tussis, whence Tussilago.
Essence of Coltsfoot. For an account of this nostrum, see page 314.
[696]. In the first edition of this work, I stated the probability of the Veratrum being the active ingredient of the Eau Medicinale, and, upon the authority of Mr. James Moore, I inserted a formula for its preparation; subsequent enquiry, however, has shewn the fallacy of this opinion; but the fact of the medicinal efficacy of the Veratrum, when combined with opium, in the cure of gout, remains incontrovertible. One of the two Sweating Powders of Ward was a combination of the Veratrum and Opium, it is certainly a very singular coincidence, that recent experiments should have shewn that the active principle of colchicum is identical with that which gives efficacy to the hellebore, viz. Gallate of Veratria. The fact itself offers a striking instance of medical experience having anticipated the discoveries of chemistry, while it affords a powerful case in support of the arguments which I have urged in the first part of this work, p. 55.
[697]. Edinburgh Ointment. The principal ingredients of which are the White Hellebore and Muriate of Ammonia.
[698]. For an account of which the reader is referred to a most ingenious and interesting Essay by Dr. Macculloch, entitled “Remarks on the Art of making Wine, with suggestions for the application of its principles to the improvement of Domestic Wines.”
[699]. This may also explain why bitters, under certain circumstances, have been found to counteract the effects of wine, as in the instance of the “Poculum Absinthiatum,” of which the ancients entertained so high an opinion. See page 68.
[700]. .sp 1