216 On Diseases and Accidents of Farmers. 



oil should be rubbed on the belly, and perspiration pro- 

 moted by covering it with flannel, by lying in bed, and 

 drinking freely of rice- water, in which a stick of cinnamon 

 has been boiled. If it be possible to obt^ the inner 

 bark of the slippery elm, it should be infused in water, and 

 the mucilage taken freely and frequently. No article in the 

 materia medica equals this as a demulcent, and its speedy 

 operation in afibrding relief to the pain in the bowels, in 

 d\sentery, has been amply tested. An infusion of the 

 leaves of the bene plant,^ has also been used with signal 

 success. If the pain continue violent after the bowels 

 fcve been well opened, a blister to the belly will seldom 

 fail of relief. In this stage, twenty, thirty, or forty drops 

 of laudanum, may be given at night, if sleep cannot be 

 obtained without it. 



The salts or magnesia must be repeated, at least every 

 other day, during the continuance of the bloody dis- 

 charges. \\ hen they have ceased, and a simple diarrhoea 

 or lax remains, it may be gradually checked by the use 

 of laudanum at night, and a tea-spoonful of burnt brandy 

 and white sugar, taken frequently in the course of the 

 day. The diet in this disease, must consist of the mild- 

 est and most bland food, as arrow-root jelly, jelly of calves 

 feet, w ithout wine ; or, of flour boiled hard, grated, and 

 then boiled in milk with cinnamon, and sweetened with 

 loaf sugar. The utmost attention to cleanliness, in this 

 disease, is indispensable. Nothing offensive must be al- 

 lowed to remain a minute in the sick room : the sheets, 

 linen, and bed clothes, are to be daily changed, and thin 

 lime- wash kept in the chamber utensil. 



In very obstinate protracted cases, it is necessary to 

 touch the movith with mercury. For this purpose, two 

 grains of calomel may be given, night and morning, with 



* Sesamum orimiale. See my account of this remedy in the 

 dysentery. Coxe's Med. Museum, vol. 2. p. 159. Philad. 1806. 



