THE NEW POCKET FAREIER. 87 



cannot be cleansed by any other means, detergent injec- 

 tions must of course be used, such as a decoction of 

 birtwort mixed with honey, or with the simple tincture 

 of myrrh. These, or something else of a like nature, 

 must be injected warm at every dressing, and retained 

 for a little time, at the same time compressing gently the 

 bottom and orifice of the fistula, that the peccant matter 

 may be the more effectually washed away ; and this 

 method must be continued until the bottom of the fistula 

 begins to be conglutinated ; then dress with some mild 

 digestive, to which is added a little of the balsam of Peru 

 or capivi. 



Should this method fail of effecting a cure, the man- 

 ual operation must be attempted, but even this is not to 

 be depended on, unless you can make the incision to the 

 very bottom of the ulcer. Nothing is better adapted to 

 perform this operation than the knife, but whatever 

 instrument is made use of, the skin and flesh that cover 

 the diseased part, must he divided to the bottom ; for 

 when fistulous ulcers are laid thoroughly open, the cor- 

 rupted matter is not only better discharged, but proper 

 medicines are more commodiously applied. If, upon 

 making the incision, a large quantity of blood is dis- 

 charged, you may fill the wound with dry lint, and 

 when the callosities are either pared away with the knife, 

 or wasted by the use of eschorate medicines, the cure 

 will be effected in the same manner as other sim|)le 

 wounds. As for the corrosive injections, which are re- 

 commended by some authors, they can be of no use 

 whatever. Indeed, any person who is acquainted with 

 the manner in which such things operate on the body, 

 will be convinced, that instead of being serviceable, they 

 must aggravate the disease, by making the callosity and 

 hardness of the sides greater and more difficult to be 

 removed. 



