[162]. The Ormskirk medicine, as it is called, seems to me to consist chiefly of cinnabar. Though it is said to be infallible, as a preventive; yet I would not advise any one to trust to it alone. Indeed it is ordered to be taken in a manner which gives it more the appearance of a charm than of a medicine. Surely if a medicine is to produce any change in the body, it must be taken for some considerable time, and in sufficient quantity.
[163]. The practice of sucking out poisons is very ancient; and indeed nothing can be more rational. Where the bite cannot be cut out, this is the most likely way for extracting the poison. There can be no danger in performing this office, as the poison does no harm unless it be taken into the body by a wound. The person who sucks the wound ought however to wash his mouth frequently with salad-oil, which will secure him from even the least inconveniency. The Psylli in Africa, and the Marsi in Italy, were famed for curing the bites of poisonous animals by sucking the wound; and we are told, that the Indians in North America practise the same at this day.
[164]. Although it is now very common to cure the gonorrhœa by astringent injections, there are still many practitioners who do not approve this mode of practice. I can, however, from much experience, assert, that it is both the most easy, elegant, and efficacious method of cure; and that any bad consequences arising from it must be owing to the ignorance or misconduct of the practitioner himself, and not to the remedy. Many, for example, use strong preparations of lead, all of which are dangerous when applied to the internal surfaces of the body; others use escharotics, which inflame and injure the parts. I have known a gonorrhœa actually cured by an injection made of green tea, and would always recommend gentle methods where they will succeed.
[165]. If the patient can swallow a solution of salts and manna, he may take six drachms, or, if his constitution requires it, an ounce of the former, with half an ounce of the latter. These may be dissolved in an English pint of boiling water, whey, or thin water-gruel, and taken early in the morning.
If an infusion of senna and tamarinds be more agreeable, two drachms of the former, and an ounce of the latter, may be infused all night in an English pint of boiling water. The infusion may be strained next morning, and half an ounce of Glauber’s salts dissolved in it. A tea-cupful of this infusion may be taken every half hour till it operates.
Should the patient prefer an electuary, the following will be found to answer very well. Take of the lenitive electuary four ounces, cream of tartar two ounces, jalap in powder two drachms, rhubarb one drachm, and as much of the syrup of pale roses as will serve to make up the whole into a soft electuary. Two or three tea-spoonfuls of this may be taken over-night, and about the same quantity next morning, every day that the patient chuses to take a purge.
The doses of the above medicines may be increased or diminished according as the patient finds it necessary. We have ordered the salts to be dissolved in a large quantity of water, because it renders their operation more mild.
[166]. Take quicksilver one drachm, gum-arabic reduced to a mucilage two drachms; let the quicksilver be rubbed with the mucilage, in a marble mortar, until the globules of mercury entirely disappear; afterwards add gradually, still continuing the trituration, half an ounce of balsamic syrup, and eight ounces of simple cinnamon-water. Two table-spoonfuls of this solution may be taken night and morning. Some reckon this the best form in which quicksilver can be exhibited for the cure of a gonorrhœa.
[167]. The Peruvian bark may be combined with other astringents, and prepared in the following manner:
Take of Peruvian bark bruised six drachms, of fresh galls bruised two drachms; boil them in a pound and a half of water to a pound; to the strained liquor add three ounces of the simple tincture of the bark. A small tea-cupful of this may be taken three times a-day, adding to each cup fifteen or twenty drops of the acid elixir of vitriol.