For dysentery the recipe is:
℞. Pulv. Rad. Rhei. Pulv. C. Catech. a. a., ʒj.;
Syr. Simp. f. ℥jv.; Spts. Terebinth. Spis.
Ammon. Arromat., a. a. f.ʒj.; Tinct. Opii. gtt. x.M.ft.
Pulverized rhubarb and pulverized gum catechu, each, one-eighth of an ounce; simple syrup, eight large tablespoonfuls; spirits of turpentine and aromatic spirits of ammonia, of each one teaspoonful; laudanum, ten drops. Mix this well together to take. Of this take one teaspoonful (if very bad, a dessert spoonful) every three hours, or four times a day (always beginning at least one hour before breakfast), till the symptoms cease.
Fever Antidote
During the presence of febrile symptoms, in the absence of all diarrhoea and dysenteric symptoms, even when the person is not complaining, an excellent simple antidote to be taken at discretion, not oftener than once every hour during the day, is:
℞ Syr. Simp., ℥jv.; Spts. Ammon. Arromat. ʒjss. M. ft.
Simple syrup, eight large tablespoonfuls; aromatic spirits of ammonia, one and a-half teaspoonfuls. Mix this well together. Take a teaspoonful of this preparation in a little cold water, or a glass of lemonade if preferred, and the condition of the bowels will admit, as often as thought advisable under the circumstances.
I have thus thought proper to simplify this treatment, that it may be in the reach of every person going to the tropics, as I am certain that there has been a great deficiency in the treatment and discovery of remedies in diseases of that continent especially. These prescriptions, as compounded, are entirely new, originating with the writer, who has only to add that he is in hopes that they prove as advantageous and successful in other hands as they have been in his.
Regimen
Persons laboring under fever should eat moderately of such food as best agrees with their appetite; but frequently, if required or desired, that the system may be well supported. When there is diarrhoea or dysentery present, there should be no solid food taken, but the patient or ailing person should be confined strictly to a thin milk porridge of fine Guinea-corn flour, which is always obtainable in Africa, crumbled crackers or soda biscuits, light (leavened) wheat bread if to be had, or well-done rice boiled to a pulp. The soda-biscuit as a porridge with milk rather aggravates the bowels of most persons; therefore, whenever it is found to have this effect, its use should be immediately abandoned. In many instances, where there is either diarrhoea or dysentery present, without other prominent symptoms, I have found the mere use of cooked milk (merely "scalded," as women usually term it—being heated to the boiling point without permitting it to boil), taken as food alone, to be the only remedy required.