John Locke, 1632-1704, physician and philosopher : a medical biography / with an edition of the medical notes in his journals.

Kenneth Dewhurst

Date:: 1963

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: John Locke, 1632-1704, physician and philosopher : a medical biography / with an edition of the medical notes in his journals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$pp- loo-i The same bolus was repeated. 14 Dec. But by all these strengthening and bindeing things I found not that we advanced much towards the perfect cure of his loosnesse, though sometimes it made some litle stop. After this for a weeke takeing noething, and, as I suppose committing errors in his diet in which he was very irregular, his looseness broke out again with violence, and he not sending for me but leting it run on 3 or 4 days without doeing any thing, it came to a perfect lienteria soe that every thing came from him in colour and smel as it went in, soe that when I came to him he could hardly stand and bis tongue faulterd. I presently bled him. Rx. A handful each of Tips of absynth and Lesser Centaury; flowers of Red Rose half a handful; cook in sufficient spring water and Meadowsweet water equal quantities; adding finally \ pint of Astringent Red Wine. Apply a series of hot fomentations of this decoction to the region of the stomach; when the fomentations are finished apply this plaster; Rx: 2 parts each of Gum tachamahac and Caranan [a hard resin]; i part of pressed Nutmeg oil; 1 mix and make a plaster; apply to stomach region. Rx. 6 ozs. of Meadowsweet water; 2 ozs. of Plantain and Purslane water; 2-| ozs. of dried Rose Syrup; sufficient spirits of vitriol to cause a pleasant acidity; mix, make a julep; from this and from the emulsion as it gets thicker he can drink alternatively. 20 Dec. The next day I purged him gently with the extract of rhubarb gr. xv and gave him a paregoric at night. 22 Dec. He had some nephritique pains. For it he dranke syrup of Althaea 2 in barly water and anointed the place. Rx. Unguent of Althaea, 2\ ozs.; oil of scorpions, \ oz.; Distilled oil of Aniseed, gr. vi.; Mix into an ointment; and soe the pain went away, p. 102 2 J Dec. Extract of rhubarb, \ drachm. And thus he recovered and was well soe that he had figurd stools and outward symptoms of health, neither of which he had had since his first being ill till now. 29 Jan. Haveing transgressed in his diet and eat Marcasin which gives loosness even to healthy people sometimes he relapsed and was very ill again. But by bleeding purgeing paregoric plaister and his former diet he recoverd again. The diet I found always best was no flesh and no wine but he would not keep to it, noe, not to plain mutton and chicken. 1 Nux moschata (nutmeg) was used as a stimulant and carminative, and the volatile oils obtained from it were applied externally for the treatment of chronic rheumatism. (T. E. Wallis, op. cit., p. 226.) 2 Syrup of marshmallow root.$