An inquiry into the action of mercury on the living body / by Joseph Swan.
- Joseph Swan
- Date:
- 1822
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An inquiry into the action of mercury on the living body / by Joseph Swan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![receipts Burgundy pitch,Alack pitch, Oxycroceum; Paracelsus-', plaster and compound plaster of lytharge. Now, what difference C,7e 9C3£ c,xPefted from any one of these in preference to another ? Or what better «s the thing from being a compound of so many article.? I he intention of thai kind of plaster called «' a cjarge seems to be, to cause some degree of external irritation, ami to keep the part warm to which it is applied. Whether or not these intentions are realized, I cannot pretend to say: but one tiling is certain, namely, that a great benefit (probably, the whole benefit) is derived from the long rest which a horse almost always has after the charge is once applied. Melted pitch and short wool forma* good a charge assny other more expensive materials, andwiil stick most effectually. Three, and even six months' rest have frequently been allowed after the application of a charge : but rest as usual, is left out of the account, and all the merit falls to the share of a sticking p]aster. Giving recipes for charges, such a, your s, may, to be sure, teach us to make charges of ano- ther description; but, modesty restrains me from declaring what, <tescr.pt i»n is meant, as we horse-doctors are nqt more notorious than other people in the article of moderation. Chapters 3) and 33 (by mistake of the press, the chapters 31 and 32 are entirely omitted in your book)'are sadly encumbered by recpes. If a surgeon or a physician were obliged to consult a large index of a receipt-book before prescribing for a patient, he wortldeut a very sorry and contemptible figure: the same may, 22 eqi'aI JUStl.-' be aPP1,ed to llle attendant on diseased animals! Practice hi medicine should proceed on principles, and not on the sandy baMs of a receipt-book. We have no less than eleven re- ceip s ejected under the single head of « woufids in various parts • ills hard work- to toil through the labour of examining so many and .^receipts, but having made a promise to myself to do it, do it.l will m the best and shortest way I can. After giving the ne- cessary directions for washing wounds from all dirt or other extra- neous matter, we are directed to use recipe 116, composed of *r.ar s balsam, tincture of myrrh, and nitrous acid. This mixture may do very well a* a simple application to the lips of simple wounds; but, surely/you are joking with us when you say. that it not only removes the bruised and putrid flesh, but instantly puts a stop to the gangrenous disposition of the wound. If ni- mous aml be used alone it will not remove « bruised and putrid l. - .T a .W^r,d- and therefore, it is not likely to do so when largely diluted by the tinctures with which vou have ordered it to be combined. All we can say of the mixture is, that it is a very gentle styptic After this comes the UTfli recipe, called « a paste to stop bleeding and, among the articles composing it, we ftnd fresh nettles ordered. Where an artery of any consequence becomes ruptured or punctured, it would require something strong. man a paste of any description, to stop the bleeding in euch a powerful circulation as that of the horse j and where a bleeding](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21457712_0065.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
