LAND FAMILY DISPENSATORY. dod 169 
with greedinefs fiefh and fermented liquors, while milk is only deemed fit for their 
hogs. The moft proper drink in the {curvy is whey or butter-milk. “When thefe 
cannot be had, found cyder, perry, or {pruce beer, may be ufed. Wort has like- 
wife been found to be a proper drink in the fcurvy, and. may be ufed at fea, as malt 
will keep during the longeft voyage. A decottion of the tops of the fpruce fir is 
likewife proper. It may be drunk in the quantity of an Englifh pint twice a day. 
‘Tar-water may be ufed for the fame purpofe, or deco¢tions of any of the mild muci- 
laginous vegetables ; farfaparilla, marfh-mallow roots, &c. Infufions of the bitter 
plants, as ground-ivy, the fmaller centaury, marfh- trefoil, &c. are likewife benefi- 
cial. “The peafants, in fome parts of Britain, exprefs the j juice of the laft- mentioned 
plant, and drink it with good effect in thofe foul fcorbuticeruptions with which they 
are often troubled in the fpring feafon. 
OF THE SCROPHULA, or KING’s EVIL, 
THIS difeafe proceeds often from an hereditary taint, from a ferophulous puriey 
&c. Children who have the misfortune to be born of fickly parents, whofe contti- 
tutions have been greatly injured by chronic difeafes, are apt to be affected with 
the fcrophula. It may likewife proceed from fuch difeafes as weaken the habit or 
vitiate the humours, as the fmall-pox, meafles; &c. At firft {mall knots appear 
under the chin or behind the ears, which gradually increafe in ‘number and fize, 
~ till they form one large hard tumour. This often continues for a long time with- 
out breaking, and, when it does break, it only difcharges a thin watery humour. 
Other parts of the bodyare likewife liable to its attack, as the arm-pits, groins, feer, 
hands, eyes, breafts, &ec. The white {wellings of the} joints feem likewife to be of 
this kind, They are with difficulty brought toa fuppuration, : and, when opened, 
they only, difsharge a thin ichor. There is not a more general fymptom of the fcro- 
phula than a {welling of the upper lip and nofe, _ BIBT 
CURE..---In this complaint medicine is but of little uf. It has been found, 
. that keeping the bady g ently open, for fome time, with fea-water, has a good effect. 
thing in falt w. ater sand « ‘in ing itin fuch quantities as to keep the body gently 
‘open, will cure a fcrophula, when medicines have been tried i in vain. When falt 
water cannot be obtained, the patient may be bathed in frefh water, and his body 
kept open by {mall quantities of falt and water, or fome other mild purgative, Next 
to cold bathing, and drinking the fale water, we would recommend the. Peruvian 
bark. The cold bath may be weal in fommer,. and the bark in winter. To. an 
adult half adrachm of the bark in powder may be given, in a glafs of ted ine, . 
four or five times a-day. Hemlock may fometimes be ufed with adva af age in 
_ the ferophula. Some lay‘i it down as a a general rule, that the fea-water is = moft Ga 
4 27, : Ae 
37 
