Treatment. — So tar as the causes are under control, all
prejudicial habits or conditions should be avoided by the
patient; all dissipation or excessive work, either bodily or
mental. Regular outdoor exercise, with due protection of the
surface of the body, and of the lungs also, by respirators in
cold weather, avoiding especially sudden change from heated
rooms to cold air. Cold sponging and friction of the surface
of the body will tend to promote the general health. A nour-
ishing full diet should be taken, consisting of meat, eggs, milk;
and, if there be wasting of the body, malt liquor and wine.
Residence at the seaside will often so far improve the health
as to retard the progress of disease; but change of climate is of
little use unless adopted early in the course of the disease. It
will then sometimes save or prolong a life. Temperate or cold
climates are more suitable for consumptive patients than hot
climates.
Of medicines, tonics are those which are most useful. In
the early stages of the disease, iodide of potass is useful — e. g.,
five grains thrice a day with a drachm of tincture of bark. Cod-
liver oil, with some mineral acid, thus: Dilute nitric acid, 20
drops; tincture of gentian, i drachm; water, a wine glass full,
with cod-liver oil, one teaspoonful. Pain in the chest may be
relieved by mustard plasters, or painting with blistering liquid.
Tincture of iodine painted under the collar bones, in the earli-
est stages, diminishes cough and relieves pain.
Convulsions, or Fits, are, strictly speaking, symptoms, not
a disease; thus they are seen in the low weak state of the ter-
mination of disease of various kinds; they are seen in hysteri-
cal excitement, and are caused by the disturbance of parturi-
tion, and of dentition. They occur in apoplexy, in epilepsy,
and other diseases of thp nervous system.
MEDICINAL. , 317
Treatment. — At the time of the convulsions but little can
really be done — cold water may be dashed on the face, and
mustard plasters applied to the soles of the feet and calves of
the legs. In the fits of children — the child's body being im-
mersed in a hot bath — cold water should be poured on the
head from a jug held at a good height. The hot bath, how-
ever, cannot be repeated if the fits recur with frequency; the
cold water can always with safety be poured on the head.
Corns. — Repeated soaking of the feet in hot water and par-
ing down the corn with a sharp knife, then applying nitrate of
silver, and afterwards paring off the hardened black skin.
Corn-plasters, having a hole in the center, give great relief also
in wearing. Soft corns are relieved by soaking in warm water,
and the subsequent application of nitrate of silver. A thick
plaster to take off unequal pressure, is extremely serviceable.
Cough. — See Bronchitis, Consumption, etc.; also List of
Medicines, Expectorants.
Croup. — This is a disease which is alarming, from the sud-
denness of its attack and the rapidity with which its runs its
fatal course if unchecked; but, on the other hand, in the ma-
jority of cases, it is easily checked if the treatment begins imme-
diately it occurs.
Page 226
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
Treatment. — So far as the causes are under control, all prejudicial habits or conditions should be avoided by the patient; all dissipation or excessive work, either bodily or mental. Regular outdoor exercise, with due protection of the surface of the body, and of the lungs also, by respirators in cold weather, avoiding especially sudden change from heated rooms to cold air. Cold sponging and friction of the surface of the body will tend to promote the general health. A nourishing full diet should be taken, consisting of meat, eggs, milk; and, if there be wasting of the body, malt liquor and wine. Residence at the seaside will often so far improve the health as to retard the progress of disease; but change of climate is of little use unless adopted early in the course of the disease. It will then sometimes save or prolong a life. Temperate or cold climates are more suitable for consumptive patients than hot climates.
Of medicines, tonics are those which are most useful. In the early stages of the disease, iodide of potass is useful — e. g., five grains thrice a day with a drachm of tincture of bark. Codliver oil, with some mineral acid, thus: Dilute nitric acid, 20 drops; tincture of gentian, i drachm; water, a wine glass full, with cod-liver oil, one teaspoonful. Pain in the chest may be relieved by mustard plasters, or painting with blistering liquid. Tincture of iodine painted under the collar bones, in the earliest stages, diminishes cough and relieves pain.
Convulsions, or Fits, are, strictly speaking, symptoms, not a disease; thus they are seen in the low weak state of the termination of disease of various kinds; they are seen in hysterical excitement, and are caused by the disturbance of parturition, and of dentition. They occur in apoplexy, in epilepsy, and other diseases of the nervous system.
Treatment. — At the time of the convulsions but little can really be done — cold water may be dashed on the face, and mustard plasters applied to the soles of the feet and calves of the legs. In the fits of children — the child's body being immersed in a hot bath — cold water should be poured on the head from a jug held at a good height. The hot bath, however, cannot be repeated if the fits recur with frequency; the cold water can always with safety be poured on the head.
Corns. — Repeated soaking of the feet in hot water and paring down the corn with a sharp knife, then applying nitrate of silver, and afterwards paring off the hardened black skin. Corn-plasters, having a hole in the center, give great relief also in wearing. Soft corns are relieved by soaking in warm water, and the subsequent application of nitrate of silver. A thick plaster to take off unequal pressure, is extremely serviceable.
Cough. — See Bronchitis, Consumption, etc.; also List of Medicines, Expectorants.
Croup. — This is a disease which is alarming, from the suddenness of its attack and the rapidity with which its runs its fatal course if unchecked; but, on the other hand, in the majority of cases, it is easily checked if the treatment begins immediately it occurs.