The ship captain's medical guide / compiled by Harry Leach.

  • Leach, Harry.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ship captain's medical guide / compiled by Harry Leach. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    69/128 page 49
    gatives. Give two compound rhubarb pills every other night for a week ; if this does not succeed, an injection up the vent of soap and water, or weigh out 80 grains of soap, knead it well, and tell the patient to pass it cautiously into the vent. Ask every man who complains of constipation if he has a rupture, and, if this be the case, treat him imme- diately as directed in this book (see page 65). Do not persevere with purgatives if the above directions fail; give any sorts of fruits (fresh or preserved) if you have them on board, tell the patient to take a cold bath every morning, and leave the rest to nature. INDIGESTION. This is a very common complaint among sailors, who will come aft complaining of wind on the sto- mach and pain about the belly after meals. Give the stomachic mixture (page 84) twice a day, and a mild purging pill, if necessary, for three nights in succession. DIAEKHOEA. Sailors are often attacked with simple looseness of the bowels, but when an illness begins in this way, look out for fever (as described in page 39), dysentery (page 51), or cholera (page 50). If you cannot satisfy yourself that the looseness is a symptom of any of these diseases, and you believe that the diarrhoea arises from something injurious that has E
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