74 Dr. Hancock on Sarsaparillu. 



whether it cause inconvenience to the patient or not, is of 

 course to be discontinued for a time, — a week or two, and some- 

 times longer, according to the intensity of its action on the 

 patient. When its apparent effects have subsided, we may 

 again commence its use in a small dose, and augment it gradually 

 as before. 



By reflecting on the controul thus acquired over external ul- 

 ceration, it naturally occurred to me, that the same method 

 ought to have its influence in some cases of pulmonary lesions 

 with severe cough and purulent expectoration, as also in ulce- 

 ration of the bladder and other viscera. 



It is true I had but few opportunities of repeating experi- 

 ments proper for illustrating this important point, having left 

 the Colony not long after I had formed the plan here alluded to. 

 My experience in this, however, was such as to afford me the 

 most confident hope of its ultimate success in phthisis and 

 internal ulceration. 



In other cases likewise of obstinate chronic and cutaneous 

 disorders, it is not unfrequently found requisite, especially 

 amongst the negroes, to employ various additional remedies. A 

 preliminary light course of mercury and antimony, nitric acid, 

 iodine, sulphureous fumigation, a grain of opium at night, and 

 the vapour bath occasionally, are amongst the best auxiliaries. 

 The disorders here alluded to, are for the most part of that 

 anomalous description, which it would be impossible to charac- 

 terize by any definite name as being chiefly complications of 

 yaws, leprosy, syphilis, and scrofula, developed in various lesions 

 or affections of the skin, joints, ligaments, and glandular parts, 

 as cutaneous eruptions, swellings, ulcers, &c, in different parts 

 of the body.* 



* Amongst the chief exciting causes of such affections, we should mention ex- 

 posures to vicissitudes of weather, in the rainy season especially, and defective 

 nourishment. The latter cause, however, is not so frequent amongst the slaves 

 as they are usually well fed by their masters, whose interest, humanity apart, is 

 too deeply involved to allow this point to be neglected; and, in case of deficiency, 

 it would be speedily corrected by the inteference of the law, which, in one of the 

 richest soils conceivable, renders it compulsory on the plaster to keep in proper 



