FLUSHING OF THE FACE. 295 



The Scotch custom of eating a crust of bread burnt brown is not a bad one. Some- 

 times the efficacy of the charcoal is enhanced by mixing with it an equal quantity 

 of carbonate of bismuth. Should charcoal or charcoal and bismuth fail to remove 

 these symptoms, the substance known as sulpho-carbolate of soda should be tried. 

 It dissolves readily in water, and may be given in doses of fifteen or twenty grains 

 three or four times a day. We often meet with people, generally women, who 

 suffer from what is ordinarily called " spasms." The patient complains of consider- 

 able flatulence and distension, often limited to one part, or at all events most 

 marked at one part of the abdomen, generally on the left side under the ribs. It 

 is accompanied by considerable pain, which is temporarily relieved by the eructation 

 of a little wind, but soon returns, and may last for many hours. This condition 

 is usually relieved by sulpho-carbolate of soda in twenty-grain doses, or, should 

 this fail, some preparation of phosphorus may be tried say five drops of phos- 

 phorated oil on a piece of sugar every four hours. 



Sulphurous acid taken in water, in from five to ten drop doses, often prevents 

 flatulence produced by fermentation, and is especially useful when the gas is 

 abundant. Ten or fifteen drops of dilute hydrochloric acid, a quarter of an hour 

 before meals, will often prevent the occurrence of flatulence following food. A tea- 

 spoonful of glycerine in water three times a day will be found useful. 



Very frequently nothing succeeds in flatulence like assafcetida. For adults a five- 

 grain compound assaf cetida pill may be taken three times a day, or every four hours. 

 In the flatulence of young children unconnected with constipation or diarrhoea, a 

 tea-spoonful every hour of a mixture containing a drachm of the tincture of 

 assafcetida to half a pint of water, will relieve the distension speedily, and is usually 

 taken without any difficulty. When the flatulence is due to constipation or 

 diarrhoea, assafcetida does little good. 



In some forms of flatulence occurring in children, the perchloride of mercury 

 mixture proves useful (Pr. 48). One of the best remedies for the flatulence of 

 children is the old-fashioned dill-water. A tea-spoonful may be given occasionally 

 when the wind is troublesome, or two spoonfuls with a drop of cajeput oil may be 

 administered every four hours. When the child's health is bad, and the digestion is 

 imperfect, generally with annoying flatulent distension, three or four pale, clayey, 

 pasty, stinking motions being passed in the day, a tea-spoonful of the above- 

 mentioned perchloride of mercury mixture given every hour, or, what is even 

 better, one of the sugar and grey powders (Pr. 71) every hour or two hours, will 

 usually quickly effect a cure. 



Nux vomica is more or less serviceable in flatulence of all kinds. A tea-spoonful 

 of the nux vomica mixture (Pr. 44) may be taken every two hours for twenty-four 

 hours or more. 



FLUSHING OF THE FACE. 



This may occur as a symptom of dyspepsia, but it is often met with without 

 any derangement of the digestive organs. Many women, from the sudden arrest 

 of menstruation, or depraved health, or nervous depression, suffer from heats and 

 flushes. The flush usually starts from some particular spot, such as the pit of the 



