2, He should receive opening Glysters made of a Decoction of Barley Water, with five or six Ounces of Oil in each.
3, We should endeavour to allay the violent Efforts to vomit, by giving every two Hours a Spoonful of the Mixture [Nº. 48].
4, The Sick should drink plentifully, in very small Quantities, very often repeated, of an appeasing, diluting, refreshing Drink, which tends at the same Time to promote both Stools and Urine. Nothing is preferable to the Whey [Nº. 49], if it can be had immediately: if not, give simple clear Whey sweetened with Honey, and the Drinks prescribed [§ 298], Art. 3.
5, The Patient is to be put into a warm Bath, and kept as long as he can bear it, repeating it as often daily too, as his Strength will permit.
6, After Bleeding, warm Bathing, repeated Glysters and Fomentations, if each and all of these have availed nothing; the Fume or Smoak of Tobacco may be introduced in the Manner of a Glyster, of which I shall speak further, in the Chapter on Persons drowned.
I cured a Person of this Disease, by conveying him into a Bath, immediately after bleeding him, and giving him a Purge on his going into the Bath.
§ 319. If the Pain abates before the Patient has quite lost his Strength; if the Pulse improves at the same Time; if the Vomitings are less in Number, and in the Quantity of the Matter brought up; if that Matter seems in a less putrid offensive State; if he feels some Commotion and Rumbling in his Bowels; if he has some little Discharge by Stool; and if at the same Time he feels himself a little stronger than before, his Cure may reasonably be expected; but if he is otherwise circumstanced he will soon depart. It frequently happens, a single Hour before Death, that the Pain seems to vanish, and a surprising Quantity of extremely fœtid Matter is discharged by Stool: the Patient is suddenly seized with a great Weakness and Sinking, falls into a cold Sweat, and immediately expires.
§ 320. This is the Disease which the common People attribute to, and term, the Twisting of the Guts; and in which they make the Patients swallow Bullets, or large Quantities of Quick-silver. This twisting, tangling, or Knoting of the Guts is an utter, an impossible Chimera; for how can they admit of such a Circumstance, as one of their Extremities, their Ends, is connected to the Stomach, and the other irremoveably fastened to the Skin of the Fork or Cleft of the Buttocks? In Fact this Disease results from a Variety of Causes, which have been discovered on a Dissection of those who have died of it. It were to be wished indeed this prudent Custom, so extremely conducive to enrich, and to perfect, the Art of Physick, were to prevail more generally; and which we ought rather to consider as a Duty to comply with, than a Difficulty to submit to; as it is our Duty to contribute to the Perfection of a Science, on which the Happiness of Mankind so considerably depends. I shall not enter into a Detail of these Causes; but whatever they are, the Practice of swallowing Bullets in the Disease is always pernicious, and the like Use of Mercury must be often so. Each of these pretended Remedies may aggravate the Disease, and contribute an insurmountable Obstacle to the Cure—Of that Iliac Passion, which is sometimes a Consequence of Ruptures, I shall treat in another Place.
Of the Cholera-morbus.
§ 321. This Disease is a sudden, abundant, and painful Evacuation by vomiting and by Stool.