The dose is from twenty to sixty drops.
This, though a medicine of some value, does not deserve the extravagant encomiums which have been bestowed on it. It has been celebrated under the different names of The Commander’s Balsam, Persian Balsam, Balsam of Berne, Wade’s Balsam, Friar’s Balsam, Jesuit’s Drops, Turlington’s Drops, &c.
BOLUSES.
As boluses are intended for immediate use, volatile salts and other ingredients improper for being kept, are admitted into their composition. They are generally composed of powders, with a proper quantity of syrup, conserve, or mucilage. The lighter powders are commonly made up with syrup, and the more ponderous, as mercury, &c. with conserve; but those of the lighter kind would be more conveniently made up with mucilage, as it increases their bulk less than the other additions, and likewise occasions the medicine to pass down more easily.
Astringent Bolus.
Take of alum, in powder, fifteen grains; gum kino, five grains; syrup, a sufficient quantity to make a bolus.
In an excessive flow of the menses, and other violent discharges of blood, proceeding from relaxation, this bolus may be given every four or five hours, till the discharge abates.
Diaphoretic Bolus.
Take of gum guaiacum, in powder, ten grains; flowers of sulphur and cream of tartar, of each one scruple; simple syrup, a sufficient quantity.
In rheumatic complaints, and disorders of the skin, this bolus may be taken twice a day. It will also be of service in the inflammatory quinsey.