106 TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 



Take of Aloes (roughly powdered), Jiss ; 



Subcarbonate of Potass, Jj ; 



Gum Acacia (powdered), Jj ; 

 Mix together, and add 



Boiling Water, Oj ; 

 If required to be kept for any time, add 



Spirits of Wine, 3J. 



This quantity is sufficient for two ordinary doses. 



It has been, and, indeed, still is^ a great desideratum with 

 us to discover a purge of quicker operation than aloes. The 

 mixture of the extract or the powder of gentian with the 

 aloes, is thought to hasten their operation. The amount of 

 the last must_, however, be diminished in proportion as the 

 former is admitted, the gentian supplying the place of the 

 generally supposed more active drug. 



Oily Purges. — Castor oil has been both praised and 

 abused as a medicine proper for horses : some declaring it 

 to be useful, while others have denied to it any effect beyond 

 that of common oil. In the course of my own experiments 

 with it, a horse having taken a pint and a half purged seven 

 hours afterwards. Another animal I gave a pint, and this 

 did not purge for four -and- thirty hours afterwards; but 

 manifested symptoms which gave cause for alarm, lest in- 

 flammation of the bowels might supervene. To a third, I 

 gave a pint and a half without effect. To say the least of it, 

 therefore, castor oil is extremely uncertain ; and, apparently, 

 not free from danger : so that I would not exhibit it, but 

 for experiment. Linseed oil seems to me to be more potent 

 than castor oil. It is, however, equally uncertain in its 

 operation : added to which it cannot be administered without 

 leaving us in a state of apprehension in regard to the con- 

 sequences. " A bottle of linseed oil had been given upon 

 the previous evening and this provoked the purging, which 

 ceased not but with life.^^ ('The Veterinarian' for 1839.) 

 Common olive oil is, perhaps, the only agent of this 

 class we can exhibit without fear : but then, its power is 

 weak, and its action uncertain. 



Calomel, in large doses, will purge ; but its operation is 



