,AND COMPLETE HERBAL 181 
Or A SCIRRHUS ann .CANCER. 
A SCIRRHUS isa hard indolent tumour feated in fome of ‘the glands, as the 
breafts, the arm-pits, &c. If the tumour becomes large, unequal, of a livid, 
blackifh, or leaden, colour, and is attended with violent pain; it gets the name of an 
occult cancer. When the fkin is broken, and a /anies or ichorous matter of an abo. 
minably foetid {mell is difcharged from the fore, it is called an open or ulcerated can- 
cer, Perfons after the age of forty-five, particularly women, and thofé who lead an 
indolent fedentary life, are moft fubje&t to this difeafe. A cancer is often owing 
to. fuppreffed evacuations ; hence it proves fo frequently fatal to women of a grofs 
: habit, particularly old maids and widows, about the time when the menttrual Aux 
ceafes. It may alfo be occafioned by the long-continued ufe of food that is too 
hard of digeftion, or of an acrid nature; by. barrennefs, celibacy, indolence, cold, 
blows, friction, preffure, or the like. Women often fuffer from the laft of thele by 
means of their ftays, which fqueeze and comprefs their breafts fo as to occafion 
great mifchief. This diforder feems often very trifling at the beginning. A hard 
tumour about the fize of a hazle-nut, or perhaps finaller, is generally the firt fymp- 
tom. This will often continue for a long time without feeming to increafe, or giv- 
ing the patient great uneafinefs; but, if the conftitution be hurt, or the tumour ir- 
ritated by preffure, or improper treatment of any kind, it begins to extend itfelf to- 
wards the neighbouring parts, by puthing out a kind of roots or limbs. It then 
gets the name of cancer, from a fancied refemblance between thefe limbs and the 
claws of acrab. The colour of the fkin:begins to change, whiclris firlt red, after. 
wards purple, then bluifh, livid, and at laft black. The patient complains of hear, 
with a burning, gnawing, fhooting, pain. The tumour is very hard, rough, and un- 
equal, with a protuberance, or rifing, in the middle; its fize iacreafes daily, and 
the neighbouring veins become thick, knotty, and of a blackifh colour. The fkin 
at*length gives way, and a thin fharp ichor begins to flow, which corrodes the 
neighbouring parts till it forms a large unfightly ulcer. More occult cancers arife, 
and communicate with the neighbouring glands, The pain and ftench become 
intolerable ; the appetite fails; ‘the ftrength is exhautted by a continual heétic fe- 
ver; at laft, a violent haemorrhage, or difcharge of blood, from ar miabl 
body, with faintings, or convulfion fits, enesdlty put an at asuete 
’ ‘* 
patient’s life. . P 
CURE..---This is one of thofe difeafes for which no certain remedy i is yet kenciatll 
Its progrefs however may {ometimes be retarded, and fome of its mott difagreeable 
ication: ~ One misfortune attending 't } 
{fymptoms Tn mitigated, by proper applications. 
is, that the unhappy patient often concealsit too long: Were proper means we in | 
A . 
RB a 3 
