It will likewise be proper to put a blistering-plaster on the back, to give two table-spoonfuls of the saline mixture every two hours, and in short to treat the patient in all respects as for a slight fever. I have often seen this course, when observed at the beginning, remove the complaint in two or three days, when the patient had all the symptoms of an approaching ardent fever, or an inflammation of the breast.
The chief secret of preventing colds lies in avoiding, as far as possible, all extremes either of heat or cold, and in taking care, when the body is heated, to let it cool gradually. These and other circumstances relating to this important subject, are so fully treated of under the article Obstructed Perspiration, that it is needless here to resume the consideration of them.
OF A COMMON COUGH.
A cough is generally the effect of a cold, which has either been improperly treated, or entirely neglected. When it proves obstinate, there is always reason to fear the consequences, as this shews a weak state of the lungs, and is often the forerunner of a consumption.
If the cough be violent, and the patient young and strong, with a hard quick pulse, bleeding will be proper; but in weak and relaxed habits, bleeding rather prolongs the disease. When the patient spits freely, bleeding is unnecessary, and sometimes hurtful, as it tends to lessen that discharge.
When the cough is not attended with any degree of fever, and the spittle is viscid and tough, sharp pectoral medicines are to be administered; as gum ammoniac, squills, &c. Two table-spoonfuls of the solution of gum ammoniac may be taken three or four times a-day, more or less, according to the age and constitution of the patient. Squills may be given various ways; two ounces of the vinegar, the oxymel, or the syrup, may be mixed with the same quantity of simple cinnamon water, to which may be added an ounce of common water and an ounce of balsamic syrup. Two table-spoonfuls of this mixture may be taken three or four times a-day.
A syrup made of equal parts of lemon-juice, honey, and sugar-candy, is likewise very proper in this kind of cough. A table-spoonful of it may be taken at pleasure.
But when the defluxion is sharp and thin, these medicines rather do hurt. In this case gentle opiates, oils, and mucilages, are more proper. A cup of an infusion of wild poppy leaves, and marsh-mallow roots, or the flowers of coltsfoot, may be taken frequently; or a tea-spoonful of the paregoric elixir may be put into the patient’s drink twice a-day. Fuller’s Spanish infusion is also a very proper medicine in this case, and may be taken in the quantity of a tea-cupful three or four times a-day[[108]].
When a cough is occasioned by acrid humours tickling the throat and fauces, the patient should keep some soft pectoral lozenges almost constantly in his mouth; as the Pontefract liquorice cakes, barley-sugar, the common balsamic lozenges, Spanish juice, &c. These blunt the acrimony of the humours, and by taking off their stimulating quality, help to appease the cough[[109]].
In obstinate coughs, proceeding from a flux of humours upon the lungs, it will often be necessary, besides expectorating medicines, to have recourse to issues, setons, or some other drain. In this case I have often observed the most happy effects from a Burgundy-pitch plaster applied between the shoulders. I have ordered this simple remedy in the most obstinate coughs, in a great number of cases, and in many different constitutions, without ever knowing it fail to give relief, unless where there were evident signs of an ulcer in the lungs.