Bronchitis. — This is the form of inflammation of the chest
that is most prone to become chronic, and to recur as "winter
cough" periodically, attended with profuse expectoration and
shortness of breath. In aged people, the winter cough is prone
to become seriously aggravated by severe weather, under which
circumstances debility rapidly becomes extreme, and the
patient becoming drowsy, and unable to relieve himself of the
phlegm, dies from suffocation.
Treatment. — In the mildest form of bronchitis, or simple
catarrhal fever, the treatment need be little more than what is
practiced for a common cold, such as, for an adult: Ten grains
of Dover's powder, taken at bedtime, and followed by some
simple aperient early the next morning; or, three or four grains
of James' powder at bedtime, together with warm batli or
warm footbath, and warm drinks — such as tea, wine, whey,
&c. If the cough persist^, take of ipecacuanha wine, two
drachms; oxymel of squills, lo drachms. Mix. Take a tea-
spoonful three or four times a day. Apply also mustard ])lrs-
ter to the chest at bedtime. In the feverish colds to which
children are very liable, the above plan of treatment may be
pursued, redu::ing the doses to suit the ages of the little
patients, avoiding the use of the opiate (Dover's powder) in
their cases.
Treatment of Acute Bronchitis. — If the skin be hot,
the cough urgent, and the bicathing accelerated or oppressed
and attended with pain, the surface of the chest should be en-
veloped with hot fomentations, or turpentine stupes, or mustard
plasters. Should the pain be very acute in breathing, the
painfal part might be painted with the blistering liquid and
afterwards covered with wadding, or with spongiopiline, soaked
in warm water. If the pulse be full and rapid, an emitic of
antimonial wine may be given — viz., a teaspoonful every five
MEDICINAL. 309
minutes until vomiting occurs, which is to be encouraged with
draughts of warm water. If the fever be not very high, or if
the patient be not very robust and strong, an emetic of ipecacu-
anha wine, given in the same way, should be preferred, as the
antimonial emetic sometimes proves very depressing. After
these first measures have been carried out, the expectorant
effects of the medicines may be kept up by repeated small
doses — e. g., ten drops of ipecacuanha or antimonial wine every
three hours.
Acute bronchitis occurring in children is to be treated on
the same plan. The following powder is useful for a child
about two or three years of age, where there is much cough
and fever; Take of powdered ipecacuanha, i grain; calomel,
3 grains; nitre, 12 grains; white sugar, 12 grains. Mix, and
divide into six or eight powders, according to the age of the
child, and the strength and severity of the disease. If the
bowels are relaxed by the powders, the calomel should be
omitted. A warm bath should be given morning and evening.
Page 219
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Bronchitis. — This is the form of inflammation of the chest that is most prone to become chronic, and to recur as "winter cough" periodically, attended with profuse expectoration and shortness of breath. In aged people, the winter cough is prone to become seriously aggravated by severe weather, under which circumstances debility rapidly becomes extreme, and the patient becoming drowsy, and unable to relieve himself of the phlegm, dies from suffocation.
Treatment. — In the mildest form of bronchitis, or simple catarrhal fever, the treatment need be little more than what is practiced for a common cold, such as, for an adult: Ten grains of Dover's powder, taken at bedtime, and followed by some simple aperient early the next morning; or, three or four grains of James' powder at bedtime, together with warm batli or warm footbath, and warm drinks — such as tea, wine, whey, &c. If the cough persists, take of ipecacuanha wine, two drachms; oxymel of squills, lo drachms. Mix. Take a teaspoonful three or four times a day. Apply also mustard ])lrster to the chest at bedtime. In the feverish colds to which children are very liable, the above plan of treatment may be pursued, reducing the doses to suit the ages of the little patients, avoiding the use of the opiate (Dover's powder) in their cases.
Treatment of Acute Bronchitis. — If the skin be hot, the cough urgent, and the breathing accelerated or oppressed and attended with pain, the surface of the chest should be enveloped with hot fomentations, or turpentine stupes, or mustard plasters. Should the pain be very acute in breathing, the painful part might be painted with the blistering liquid and afterwards covered with wadding, or with spongiopiline, soaked in warm water. If the pulse be full and rapid, an emitic of antimonial wine may be given — viz., a teaspoonful every five
minutes until vomiting occurs, which is to be encouraged with draughts of warm water. If the fever be not very high, or if the patient be not very robust and strong, an emetic of ipecacuanha wine, given in the same way, should be preferred, as the antimonial emetic sometimes proves very depressing. After these first measures have been carried out, the expectorant effects of the medicines may be kept up by repeated small doses — e. g., ten drops of ipecacuanha or antimonial wine every three hours.
Acute bronchitis occurring in children is to be treated on the same plan. The following powder is useful for a child about two or three years of age, where there is much cough and fever; Take of powdered ipecacuanha, i grain; calomel, 3 grains; nitre, 12 grains; white sugar, 12 grains. Mix, and divide into six or eight powders, according to the age of the child, and the strength and severity of the disease. If the bowels are relaxed by the powders, the calomel should be omitted. A warm bath should be given morning and evening.