[375 ] 



internally. By combining it with opium, to coun- 

 tcradl its deleterious cfFedt on the bowels, I have 

 fometimes ventured to give it in certain defperatc 

 cafes, and that with very evident advantage.f As 

 lead enters the compofition of a variety of appli- 

 cations, defigned for external ufe, as lotions, eye- 

 waters, ointments, plaifters, &c. the untoward 

 fymptoms which fometimes fucceed, are totally 

 unlooked for, and therefore generally referred to 

 every caufc but the right one. Among the popular 

 applications of this clafs, Goulard's famous Extract 

 of Saturn, and his vegeto-mineral water, feem to 

 ftand at the head of the lift ; and though perhaps 

 inferior to an aqueous folution of the fugar of lead, 

 are neverthelefs far more fafhionable remedies. 

 Applications of this nature may, it is true, be ufed 

 with tolerable fafety where there is a whole fkin, 

 and its texture fufficiently entire to prevent abforp- 

 tion. But where it is foft and fpungy, or the fcarf 

 flcin ftripped off, or ulcerated, the poifon of courfe 

 will be more liable to be abforbed into the fyftem, 



•f* Even thus guarded, the dofe ought to be cautloufly incrcafed, and 

 perhaps never exceed three or four grains a day. What are we to 

 think then of certain Englifli Difpenfatories and Coropendiuros of 

 Phyfick, (the daily companions of all our young pn^ftitioncrs) which 

 gravely recommend it to be given from fcven to nine, nay even to twelve 

 grains and upwards a day ! SeeQuincy'sDifpenfatory, Shaw's Prad\icc 

 of Phyfick, Ball's Pra<nice of PhyOck, Naval and Military Difpenlk* 

 tory-^in which laft twenty grai&s are ordered for a fingle dofel 



and 



