The patient should be kept as quiet as possible; for hard labour not only retards the cure, but becomes very painful. Should this not be sufficient, apply the poultice, No. [II]. with the mercurial addition as warm as sufferable, and repeat it as often as it is necessary for keeping it warm to the part. By this method it will not fail of dispersing.
Should it however against all expectation come to a suppuration, it must be opened the same as another aposthume, and treated accordingly. But should a scirrhus, or a mortification ensue, extirpation is the only recourse. For which see my treatise.
Of Venereal Excrescences.
Besides all these disorders before mentioned that are the consequence of impure coition, there is one more to be mentioned, and that is a variety of disagreeable excrescences, which sometimes arise about the penis, the scrotum perinæum, and about the fundament.
When these appear, I generally take it for granted, that the pox is in the blood, and the patient ought to be treated accordingly.
If there is a possibility of extirpating them, either by a bistoury, or a pair of good sharp scissars, it ought to be done, and dressed with the following ointment.
No. XXII
Take mercurial ointment (P), and precipitate (O) equal parts: mix them.
The roots of these stubborn companions are frequently seated very deep; if this is particularly taken notice of, together with proper internal medicines, the excrescences taken away at the root, and the ointment applied, they may all of them soon be drove off from the field.