The modern practice of physic : exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas, M.D., of Salisbury.

  • Thomas, Robert, 1753-1835.
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modern practice of physic : exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas, M.D., of Salisbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    deal of vegetables and ripe fruits, and their ordinary drink of malt liquors- With respect to the second object to be attended to, a habit of regulari- ty should be endeavoured to be established by the person's going at a certain hour or hours each day, and making proper efforts at each period for promotiiig an evacuation. If a natural inclination arises at any time> this-ought likewise to be encouraged. The laxatives most proper for obviating costiveness are those which afford the least irritation,* but which will at the same time procure one or two motions daily. Persons of a costive habit of body, and particularly pregnant women, are very apt to make use of Anderson's Pills, which are composed wholly of aloes, with a little oil of aniseed to prevent the griping effect of the former; and, indeed, these pills have acquired an extensive reputation. In phlegmatic constitutions, they may indeed be used occasionally with some advantage possibly ; but in pregnant women, or those of a bilious habit, where the bowels are naturally irritable, they cannot fail to do hann. Their operation is confined, in a great measure, to the lower part of the rectum, and they are thereby apt to induce piles. The use of every purgative medicine moreover creates a necessity for its repetition, and by this repetition the bowels lose their energy, their delicate nerves become toi'pid to the stimulus of the food and drink, and the secretions formed from them. A natural discharge of the contents of the bowels ought therefore to be solicited by those of a costive habit, in preference to the use of any kind of purgative whatever. In those cases where inveterate costiveness has once taken place, and the usual simple remedies have proved abortive, carbon or charcoal di- vested of heat has been administered with uncommon success. It is re- ported to have procured the desired relief in every instance. Three drachms of it finely levigated may be mixed with thi'ee ounces of the electuarium e senna, adding about two drachms of the carbonat of soda- Of this mixture from half an ounce to one ounce may be taken as circum- stances require. R. Kal. Tartarilat. gfs. Mann. Optim^^ij. Aq. Fervent, ^iij. Tina. Jalap, ^ij. M, Capiat dimidium pro dos. rd li. Fol. Senna gij. Aq. Font. .^x. Coque ad ^vj. et Cplat adde Cry ft Tartar, ^j. Syrup. Spin. Cerv. ^ij. M. Sumat ^ij. pro dos. et repetatur poft hoi-as tres, si sit ne-cessitas. _^fs. Terantur 5,. 01. Ricini 3VJ. Mucil. Gum. Arab, fimul, et adde Aq. Cinnam. ^fs. Tinifl. Sennae C. 3]. ft. Hauftus. Vd Jl. Elect, e Senna ^ij. Cryft. Tartar. 31]. Pulv. Jalap. 5J. Syrup. Zingib. q. s. ft. Electuarium cujus fumat quantitatem juglandis hora somhi. M. M,