SCROFULA. 49 



so much vertue, what shall we say of his living image, the inheritor of his cause and 

 kingdom 1 whom though it hath pleased God to deliver out of those dangers 

 that overwhelmed his royal father, yet it was with so long an exercise of afflictions, 

 that though (God be thanked!) he be not now like to eiicrease the catalogue of 

 martyrs, yet he may well be added to the number of confessors. This we are sure, 

 the miracle is not ceased." 



On reading this, it is hard to acquit Wiseman of being as skilful in the arts of a 

 courtier as he undoubtedly was in those of a surgeon, and one cannot but smile at the 

 many excuses to his majesty (" who cureth more in one year than all the chirurgeons 

 of London have done in an age ") which he feels it incumbent upon him to make 

 before entering on the details of treatment which are recommended in those cases 

 which cannot receive the benefit of the royal touch. 



But the reader will have had enough of Wiseman, and will be glad to hear some 

 more modern views on the treatment of scrofula. The great point is to guard 

 against the several consequences of the constitutional condition. The child must be 

 kept from all irritations, and especially it must be properly fed, and must spend a 

 great part of its time in the open. The skin must be kept very scrupulously clean, 

 for any impurity of it may cause, not only troublesome sores and eruptions., but 

 glandular enlargements also. The inflamed joints must be carefully attended to by 

 a surgeon, as neglect of them may lead to stiffening of the limbs, or distortion, or 

 permanent lameness. Glandular enlargements, until they suppurate, are best treated 

 by hot fomentations, but when suppuration has taken place, it is impossible to lay 

 down any rules for treatment, which must depend on the varying conditions 

 which a practised eye can alone recognise. The eyes, if they become inflamed, 

 must be kept scrupulously clean, and every particle of discharge must be removed 

 night and morning by careful and prolonged fomentation. The eyelids may be 

 prevented from adhering by anointing them with some simple ointment, such as cold 

 cream. The strong mercurial ointments are not to be used, except by medical 

 advice^ There is great intolerance of light in these cases, and it is sometimes 

 customary to keep children indoors, and in darkened rooms. This is rarely necessary, 

 however, and we should advise the child being provided with a shade, and a good 

 thick veil, and being taken out of doors whenever it is possible to do so. The 

 application of blisters behind the ears, and still more the employment of a seton, is a 

 measure which is necessary only in the very rarest cases, and would only be warrant- 

 able on he recommendation of a skilled oculist. When ulceratioii of the eyes takes 

 place, there is always some risk of permanent impairment of vision, so that the child, 

 in these cases, ought to have the advantage of early advice. 



There are several drugs which may be given to scrofulous children with 

 advantage. They are, perhaps, the patients who are most benefited by cod-liver 

 <>it, and they often take it with avidity, and thrive wonderfully upon it. Iodine 

 in all its forms is of great benefit, and may be given combined with potash or iron, 

 in the form of iodide of potassium, or syrup of the iodide of iron. Sulphur, too, is 

 often of signal service, and should be given in the form of sulphide of potassium, 

 otherwise known as the Hepar sulphuris, or liver of sulphur. This salt has an 

 offensive odour of rotten eggs, and is suggestive of the famous sulphur waters of 

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