DAPHNE MEZEREUM. ORD. XLII. Vepreeule: 19 
continued serous discharge, without blistering; and is thus ren- 
dered useful in many chronic diseases of a local nature, answering 
the purpose of what has been called a perpetual blister, while it 
occasions less pain and inconvenience. 
In this country the Mezereon is principally employed for the 
cure of some syphilitic complaints, and in this way Dr. Donald 
Monro was the first who gave testimony of its efficacy i in the suc- 
cessful use of the Lisbon diet drink.” A few months after this, 
several cases were published by Dr. Russel, then physician to 
St. Thomas’s Hospital, fully establishing the utility of the cortex 
mezerei in venereal nodes. He says, “ the disease for which 
I principally recommend the decoction of mezereon root as a cure, 
is the node, that proceeds from a thickening of the membrane of- 
the bones, which appears to be the cause of the greatest part of 
those tumours, at least when recent.—In a thickening of the 
periosteum from other causes I have seen very good effects from 
it.” But in the nocturnal pains, accompanying syphilis, unless 
occasioned by the node itself, he found it necessary to join a 
solution of sublimate to the decoction.* We may also remark, 
an inch long, and three quarters of an inch broad, macerated a little in vinegar, 
is applied to the skin, over which is bound a leaf of ivy or plantane. This appli- 
éation is at first renewed night and morning till it cauterizes the part and brings — 
on a serous discharge, when a renewal of the bark once in 24 hours’ is found 
sufficient to continue the issue for any length of time. By means of suitable 
plasters, we conceive that it might be applied behind the ears to relieve the eyes, 
and on a larger scale prove an useful practice in sundry diseases.—It must be 
observed however, that it sometimes produces cutaneous eruptions, which Bergius 
attributes to the absorption of the acrid particles of the bark. 1. c. vide Essai sur 
Vusage & les effets de ’écorce du Garou. 
e Ess. & observ. phis. & lit. p. 402. vol. 3. 
f Med. Observ. & Inguir. vol. 3. p. 189. 
t Dr. R. first joined sarsaparilla to the mezereon, but afterwards used the 
following only: 
kK Cort. rad. Mezerei 3} 
Aq. fontan. cong. iss. 
Coc. ad cong. j sub fin. addend. rad. glycyrrhiz. incis. 3j. dos. Ibss quater in dic. 
And by this many of the patients were entirely cured without ever taking mercury. 
