1353. Costiveness may be relieved by a change of diet, exercise on horseback, or any other exercise in the open air, or by taking one of the following pills an hour before dinner:—
Take of Socotrine aloes, thirty grains; gum mastic, ten grains; oil of wormwood, one drop; tincture of aloes, a sufficient quantity to form the ingredients into a mass, which must be divided into twelve pills.
This is an excellent dyspeptic pill, and will afford great relief in all cases of weak digestion.
1354. Remedies for Dysentery.—Black or green tea, steeped in boiling milk, seasoned with nutmeg, and best of loaf-sugar, is excellent for the dysentery. Cork burnt to charcoal, about as big as a hazel-nut, macerated, and put in a tea-spoonful of brandy, with a little loaf sugar and nutmeg, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and cholera-morbus. If nutmeg be wanting, peppermint-water may be used. Flannel wet with brandy, powdered with Cayenne pepper, and laid upon the bowels, affords great relief in cases of extreme distress.
1355. Another Remedy.—Dissolve as much table-salt in keen vinegar as will ferment and work clear. When the foam is discharged, cork it up in a bottle, and put it away for use. A large spoonful of this, in a gill of boiling water, is very efficacious in cases of dysentery and colic.
1356. Loss of Appetite.—This is generally symptomatic, and varies according to the occasional cause. The continued use of warm tea, of wine, or other spirituous liquors, diluted with warm water, or the use of warm water alone, if long continued, will occasion a relaxed state of the muscular coat of the stomach. This organ also suffers from anxiety of mind, a sedentary life, or a costive habit; from these and other causes it becomes weakened, irritable, and incapable of digesting the most simple food. To restore the tone of the stomach, first give this emetic:—