234 DISEASES Class II. i. 5. 2. 



« 



2. Syphilis. Venereal difeafe. The contagion (hews itfelf 

 in ulcers on the part firffc inoculated, as chancres ; ulcere on the 

 tonfils fucceed, with eruption on the nun, efpecially about the 

 roots of the hair ; afterwards on other parts of the ikin, termin- 

 ating in dry fcabs \ and, laftly, with pain and fwcliing of the 

 bones. 



The corona veneris, or crown of Venus, confifls of the erup- 

 tions at the roots of the hair appearing mod round the forehead ^ 

 which is occafioned by this part being more expofed to the air \ 

 which we obferved, at the beginning of this genus, either produ- 

 ces or increafes the virulence of contagious matter. But it i$ 

 difficult to conceive, from this hiilory, why the throat mould be 

 flrft arTecled ; as it cannot be fuppofed, that the difeafe is fa 

 often taken by the faliva, like the fmall-pox, though this may 

 fometimes occur ; perhaps very often. The connection be- 

 tween the genitals in men and the throat, is treated of in Oafs 

 IV. 1.2. 7. Hydrophobia. 



M. M. A quarter of a grain of corrofive fublimate of mer- 

 cury, taken thrice a day for five or fix weeks, made into a pill 

 with bread-crumbs, or dhTolved in a fpoonful of brandy and 

 water, is a very efficacious and almoft certain cure. When it 

 does, not fucceed, it is owing either to the drug being bad, 

 or to its having precipitated from the brandy, or from its being 

 ipoiled in the pill by long keeping. Opium contributes much 

 10 expedite the cure, both of the fimple gonorrhoea and of ve- 

 nereal ulcers, by increasing abforption both from the mucous 

 membrane and from the furface of ulcers. A quarter of a grain, 

 or half a grain, may be given with every dofe of the fublimate. 



Nitrous acid has been lately (irongly recommended, by Mr. 

 Scott, in venereal cafes ; from an idea that the oxygen, which 

 it confiits of in part, is loofely combined, and may be feparable in 

 the animal fyflem ; and that it may be the oxygen, only, which 

 exifts loofely in mercurial calces or cxydes, that acts fo fuccefs- 

 fully, when mercurials are exhibited. Some fuccefsful exhibi- 

 tions of this acid in venereal cafes are publifhed ; the dofe is one 

 drachm and a half, or two drachms, of the ftrong nitric acid 

 mixed in two pounds of water, to be drunk daily at repeated in- 

 tervals. Mr. Scott has fince ufed the nitrous acid much diluted 

 with water externally as a warm bath, either partially or gener- 

 ally, with great fuccefs, at Bombay, in venereal cafes. See Ar- 

 ticle II. 2. 4. and IV. 2. 7. 1. in the Materia Medica. 



It has been now ufed in this country with fuccefs by fome, 

 and without fuccefs by others, and may perhaps affilt the ufe of 

 mercurials as well as opium in the cure of vcneral ulcers ; but 

 fhould not yet be folely depended upon. 



3. Lepra, 



