380 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



liquid bile fresh from the gall-bladder. Two or three may be taken as a dose, about 

 two hours after meals, when the stomach digestion is near completed, and the food 

 is passing into the intestines. The capsules imbibe moisture in the stomach, and in 

 cheir soft, swollen condition they probably get broken as they pass into the intestines, 

 so that the bile is landed just where it is wanted. 



Flatulence is sometimes very troublesome in jaundice. Cajeput oil, in three- 

 drop doses, on a piece of sugar, will generally bring up the wind, but, on the whole, 

 it is better to take something that will prevent its formation. Ten or twenty grains 

 of wood charcoal, or a charcoal biscuit or two, will often answer this purpose 

 admirably. Creasote two drops in a pill every four hours sometimes does well. 

 A tea-spoonful of compound spirit of horse-radish in a little water, or and this is 

 even better a tea-spoonful of glycerine, with a few drops of chloric ether, in a 

 couple of table-spoonfuls of peppermint-water, often quickly relieve this symptom. 



The itchiness, which is often a source of great discomfort, will sometimes be 

 alleviated by warm baths, the use of the flesh-brush, and the internal administra- 

 tion of twenty grains of bicarbonate of potash, in water, three times a day. Some- 

 times relief is obtained from acetic acid baths half a pint of acid to three gallons of 

 water. A lotion of chloroform (one part), and glycerine (five parts), often succeeds 

 admirably. Olive oil, the calomel ointment of the Pharmacopoeia, or lotions made 

 by dissolving four grains of cyanide of mercury, or a drachm of cyanide of potassium, 

 in a pint of water, are also useful. Whatever you do, do not get these lotions mixed 

 up with your medicine, or take them by mistake. 



For black jaundice, or malignant jaundice, as it is often called, phosphorus is the 

 remedy. It is indicated when the skin and the whites of the eyes are of a brownish- 

 yellow colour, when there is much prostration, with little bruise-like spots on the 

 body, and when there is scanty, high-coloured urine. The phosphorus may be 

 given in the form of capsules (Pr. 54), each containing -$ of a grain, one every 

 four hours ; or from five to eight drops of the saturated solution of phosphorus in 

 ether (Pr. 53), may be given at similar intervals, in a little milk. The phosphorous 

 capsules are, on the whole, to be preferred. 



When jaundice appears to have been suddenly engendered by moral causes, the 

 rationale of its production is obscure, and the treatment is correspondingly uncertain. 

 The jaundice of new-born infants calls for no treatment, as it causes no incon- 

 venience, and usually passes off in a week or two. For the jaundice of pregnant 

 women, delivery is the natural end, although it may sometimes be removed by the 

 careful employment of aperients. 



Should you send for a doctor in jaundice 1 It is as well to do so, although, truth 

 to tell, you would probably get along just as well by yourself in an ordinary simple 

 case. You are sure to feel very despondent, and it is just as well to have some one 

 to see after you, and make sure that there is really nothing amiss. In the so-called 

 green jaundice, and in jaundice coming on from mental causes, you should certainly 

 have a doctor. If your jaundice lasts over a fortnight, you had better call in some- 

 body, unless you are getting better. 



