TREATMENT OF ACUTE DISEASES. 3S1 



have prescribed, with good edict, calomel, in doses of five 

 grains, every six hours, till a copious stool or two has been 

 procured; and afterwards in smaller doses, with occasional 

 opiates, while the fever and gripes have continued. 



Autumnal dysenteries in this country have generally given 

 way to some one or other of the correctors I have mentioned 

 above ; but particularly to an infusion of quassia polygama*, 

 or bitter-wood ; after which I have prescribed the Peruvian 

 bark to strengthen the system. 



In the treatment of the different diseases mentioned in this 

 paper, you have seen the liberal use I make of calomel. I 

 have contented myself with candidly relating to you the ef- 

 fects I have experienced from it, without attempting any 

 theory of the mode in which these effects are produced. I 

 think it necessary, however, to observe to you, that freely as 

 I have administered calomel in different acute diseases, I have 

 seldom, if ever, been surprised with a sudden salivation. I 

 indeed have paid daily attention to the state of the mouth 

 and gums, and as soon as I have observed the latter spongy, 

 and that the tongue was beginning to be moist about the 

 edges, I have desisted from the farther use of calomel ; be- 

 cause I was then certain that a resolution of the disorder was 

 begun, and that my patient was out of danger. 



In answer to your question, how early I got the first hint 

 of the use of calomel in fevers ? I answer, it was my good 

 fortune, for many years, to enjoy the friendship and confi- 

 dence of the late Dr Lind of Haslar ; and it was from his 

 conversation, and the information contained in his excellent 

 work on the Diseases of Warm Climates, that I learnt the East 



* There is no such thing in the shops as Quassia amara. It is the Bit- 

 ter-wood, or Bitter-ash, that is imported, and answers every purpose, per- 

 haps better than the Quassia amara. — Vide Medical Facts and Observa- 

 tions, vol. v. 



3 



