82 ASTRINGENTS. 



Powdered squill halfagrain 



Gum ammoniacum, powdered H grains 



Balsam Peru 3 grains 



Benzoic acid 1 grain 



Anisated balsam of sulphur to form a ball. 



Or, the following-: — 



Inspissated white juice of the garden lettuce ... half a dram 



Tincture of balsam of Tolu 1 dram 



Powdered gum arable and extract of liquorice . 1 ounce each 

 Make into balls, and give one night and morning. 



Mr. YouATT has, I believe, found benefit in asthmatic 

 cases from the exhibition of the prussic acid : but the power- 

 ful nature of this remedy requires professional skill when it is 

 administered. 



•*sr*yr*^- 



Astringents. 



Astringents are substances which, from their bracing" 

 quality, are used to check immoderate secretions or fluxes. 

 When used to restrain a flux of blood, they are termed styptics : 

 of this kind are alum, dragons blood, &c. A very useful 

 domestic styptic is puff ball ; so are mole's-fur and cobweb. 

 All these are considered external astringents, and are prin- 

 cipally applicable to wounded blood vessels : but there are 

 internal astring-ents also, applicable to various cases. 



For instance, there appears oftentimes in dogs a secretion 

 or flow of blood from the penis ; now and then it proceeds 

 higher up from the bladder or kidnies. The same also oc- 

 curs in bitches, from the womb or the vaginal sheath. In 

 these cases, a ball composed of two g-rains of alum, with 

 twenty grains of catechu, mixed and given once or twice 

 a day, proves a moss excellent astringent. The superacetate 

 or sugar of lead, also, I have found sometimes useful in simi- 

 lar cases; but I have not ventured to give more than from 

 one grain to two, even to a large dog, which has been re- 

 peated night and morning. When used as an injection into 

 the womb for the same purpose, it often produces violent 



