850 • • • On Medical Kntomolopj. 



of squills be substituted for common vinegar, there will be 

 •formed oxymel of squills, which ought to be considered as 

 an excellent hvdragogue. I cured, in the hospital of Berg- 

 op-Zoom, several persons attacked with anasarca and partial 

 dropsies just be-ginnlng, and manv cedcmatous affections, 

 bv prescribing for them daiiv nothing but one or two ounces 

 of oxymel of squills in two pounds of the infusion of ab- 

 $Ynthium and a chnpin of good wine, of which the patient 

 took altemalelv a glass full every hour. Being persuaded 

 that the best remedies to succeed require to be seconded bv 

 a good regimen, I did every thing in my power to prevent 

 the hvdropical patients from gratifviu'jr their appetite, which 

 is often voracious. Their quantity of bread nerer exceeded 

 twelve ounces ; and the only food I allowed ihcni to add to 

 it was ecr^s, carrots, rice, turnips, and prunes. I could 

 have wished to allow them a little animal food, such as veal 

 or chicken ; but, having at my disposal nothing except beef 

 of an indilTerent qualitv, I was obliged to interdict them 

 from flesh meat altogether. 



Honey, whether employed in its natural state or formed 

 into the different preparations before mentioned, must be 

 chosen exceedinglv white, firm, and oranulated. That of 

 Narbonne possesses all these qualities. The Gatinois fur- 

 nishes some also, which is verv good. The use of yellow 

 liquid honey is confined to lotions and cataplasms. 



I have said nothing of electuaries, confections, conserves, 

 opiates, &c., of which honey is often one of the ingredi- 

 ents, and sometimes the base. The bare mention of elec- 

 tuar)' suggests theriac, orvietan, mithridate, double catho- 

 licum, Sec: and one cannot help being v^xed to see these 

 whimsical compositions still make so conspicuous a figure 

 in the lists of pharmaceutical remedies. 



Though wax seems exclusivclv devoted to the arts, some 

 celebrated physicians have, in certain circumstances, ad- 

 ministered it with success. Jacobi found it very useful in 

 convulsive cough, hematuria, and dvsenl- ry. It is above 

 all in the last disease that the efficacy of it, used internally 

 and under the form of injection, has been confirmed by 

 Dicmerbroek, Vallcriola, and Pringle. Soap serves as a 

 medium for making of it pills or an aqueous solution. 



In certain cases the too speedv union of the lips of a 

 yound or the edges of an ulcer must be retarded, because 

 it mav be followed by disagreeable consequences: at other 

 limes it is necessary to oppose the contraction of the muscles, 

 which continually tend to contract or shut a natural aper- 

 ture. Sponge prepared with wax would not fulfil these 

 8 indications 



