204 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



with a thin layer of cotton-wool, which should be changed at least once a day. It 

 is often useful to powder a soft corn with oxide of zinc before using the cotton- wool. 



When these preliminaries have been arranged, the corns should be vigorously 

 attacked. In the case of a hard corn, the feet should be well soaked in hot water, 

 and then it should be carefully pared down with a knife, avoiding however making 

 it bleed. The corn is then to be painted over two or three times a day with the 

 arsenic solution (liquor arsenicalis) of the Pharmacopeia. This usually causes the 

 gradual disappearance of the corn. Soft corns may nearly always be cured by 

 painting them with the arsenic solution. They either dry up an^l disappear of 

 themselves, or they undergo such a change that the shrivelled remains may be cut 

 away without pain or inconvenience. The application is unattended with danger, 

 but the solution should be distinctly labelled, and should be kept locked up, as if 

 taken internally, except in very small doses, it is poisonous. 



Some people prefer using, instead of the arsenic solution, a lotion made by adding 

 thirty drops of the tincture of arnica to a wine-glass of water. It should be applied 

 on a little piece of lint, and should be renewed twice or thrice daily. 



COUGH. 



When a man says he has "a cough," he generally means that he has a cold 

 on his chest, or a slight attack of bronchitis. Directions for treating this complaint 

 will be found on pages 158 and 160. One is very often asked what is the best 

 cough medicine. This is a question by no means easy to answer. There are a great 

 many different kinds of cough, and a mixture that acts like a charm in one may 

 prove useless in another. Still, as the proposition is put before us, we must do our 

 best to solve it. The following is a very good general cough mixture : 



Take of Paregoric elixir, 160 minims. 

 Chloric ether, 80 minims. 

 Oxymel of squill, four drachms. 

 Infusion of cascarilla to eight ounces. 

 Make a mixture. Take two table-spoonfuls every four hours. 



This will be found useful, and it generally succeeds admirably, although it is not 

 a universal panacea. 



When the cough is hard and dry, and there is no expectoration, the following 

 mixture will do good : 



Take of Solution of hydrochlorate of morphia, 80 minims. 

 Dilute hydrocyanic acid, 24 minims. 

 Chloric ether, 80 minims. 

 Water to eight ounces. 

 Make a mixture. An eighth part every four hours. 



It is to be used only for adults, and never when there is much difficulty in getting 

 up the phlegm. 



For a dry, hard, irritative cough, nothing does better than the morphia linctus 

 (Pr. 56). It is to be taken in tea-spoonful doses, and only when the cough is 

 troublesome. The Lozenge Pills (Pr. 69) are also very useful. 



A cough, as we have seen, often means no more than a slight attack of bronchitis, 



