Part 8
TO MAKE TINCTURE OF RHUBARB.--Steep three ounces of the best Rhubarb (pounded) and half an ounce of Carraway Seeds, (pounded) in a bottle of Brandy, for ten days. A table-spoonful in a wine-glass of hot water will generally be enough.
_Compound Tincture of Senna_, has been recommended, especially to those who have accustomed themselves to the use of spirituous Liquors and high living. Several similar preparations are sold under the name of _Daffy's Elixir_--or as much EPSOM SALT, in half a pint of _hot_ water, as experience has informed you, will produce one motion,--a Tea-spoonful (_i. e._ from one to two drachms) will generally do this--especially if it be taken in the morning, fasting, _i. e._ at least half an hour before Breakfast.
_The best way of covering the taste of_ SALT, is to put a lump of _Sugar_ and a bit of thin-cut _Lemon Peel_[98] into the hot water, for a few minutes before you stir the Salt into it,--to which you may add a few grains of grated _Ginger_.
EPSOM SALT is _a very speedy laxative_, often operating within an hour,--does the business required of it with great regularity,--and is more uniform in what it does,--and when it does it,--than any Aperient;--ten minutes after you have taken it, encourage its operation by drinking half a pint, or more, of warm water--weak Broth--Tea--thin Gruel (No. 572), with some salt and butter in it--or _Soda Water_ (No. 481.*) See Index.
"_Nil tam ad sanitatem, et longevitatem conducit, quam crebræ et domesticæ purgationes._"--LORD BACON.--_i. e._ "Nothing contributes so much to preserve Health, and prolong Life, as frequently cleansing the alimentary canal with gentle laxatives."
We perfectly agree with Lord Bacon, and believe that in nine cases out of ten, for which TONIC MEDICINES are administered, _Peristaltic Persuaders_ will not only much more certainly improve Appetite,--but invigorate the Constitution; by facilitating the absorption of nutriment,--which, in aged and debilitated people, is often prevented by the mouths of the vessels being half closed by the accumulation of viscid mucus, &c.
APERIENT MEDICINE does enough, if it increases the customary Evacuation,--and does too much,--if it does more,--than excite one additional motion.
Bowels which are forced into double action to-day--must, consequently, be costive to-morrow, and Constipation will be caused by the remedy you have recourse to to remove it,--this has given rise to a _Vulgar Error_,--that the use of even the mildest Laxative is followed by Costiveness.
_Rhubarb_ is particularly under this prejudice,--because it has been more frequently employed as a domestic remedy,--and unadvisedly administered in either too little, or too large a Dose. It has, however, been recommended by a Physician of acknowledged Ability, and extensive Experience.
"If the Bowels are constipated, they should be kept regular by a Pill of Rhubarb of five grains every morning."--PEMBERTON _on the Abdominal Viscera_, p. 113.
People are often needlessly uneasy about the Action of their Bowels.--If their general Health is good, and they have neither Head-ach nor other deranged sensations, and they live temperately, during the second period of Life, whether they have two motions in one day, or one in two days, perhaps is not of much consequence;--however, that the Alvine Exoneration should take place regularly is certainly most desirable;--especially after _Thirty-Five_ years of age[99], when the elasticity of the machinery of Life begins to diminish.
_To acquire a Habit of Regularity_, Mr. LOCKE, who was a Physician as well as a Philosopher, advises that "if any person, as soon as he has breakfasted, would presently solicit nature, so as to obtain a stool, he might in time, by a constant application, bring it to be habitual." He says "I have known none who have been steady in the prosecution of this plan, who did not in a few months obtain the desired success."--_On Education_, p. 23, &c.
"It is well known that the alvine evacuation is periodical, and subjected to the power of habit; if the regular call is not obeyed, the necessity for the evacuation passes away; and the call being again and again neglected, habitual costiveness is the consequence."--HAMILTON _on Purgatives_, p. 72.
It will facilitate the acquirement of this salutary evacuation,--to take at night--such a dose of an Aperient medicine, as Experience has pointed out, as just sufficient to assist nature to produce a Motion in the Morning.
HABITUAL COSTIVENESS is not curable by Drugs alone,--and is most agreeably corrected by _Diet and Regimen_, those most important, and only effectual, although much neglected (because little understood) means of permanently alleviating _Chronic Complaints_, for which
"Coquina est optima Medicina."
Strong Constitutions are generally _Costive_[100],--that perfect and vigorous action of the absorbents, which is the cause of their strength, is also the cause of their Constipation:--
"Oportet sanorum, sedes esse figuratas."
This ought to make them content,--but the Constipated are for ever murmuring about a habit--which, if managed with moderate care,--is the fundamental basis of Health and Long Life. A little attention to Regimen will generally prevent it--a simple Laxative will suffice to remove it--and neither will be often necessary, for those who observe a deobstruent Diet--take proper Exercise in a pure Air--sufficient liquid Food--and eat freely of Butter, Salt, and Sugar.
The peculiarity of most Constitutions is so convenient, that almost all Costive persons--by attending to the effects which various things produce upon their Bowels--may find, in their usual Food and Drink, the means of persuading their sluggish Viscera to vibrate with healthful celerity.
A SUPPER or BREAKFAST of thin Gruel, (No. 572,) with plenty of Butter and Salt in it,--ripe Fruits, particularly _Grapes_[101],--Oranges,-- Strawberries,--Raspberries,--Mulberries,--Marmalade,--Honey,-- Treacle,--roasted Apples,--stewed Prunes,--Figs,--Raisins,-- Tamarinds,--French Plumbs, &c.;--will almost always produce the desired effect.
Two or three strong _Cinnamon or Ginger Lozenges_, (see page 234,) gradually dissolved in the mouth when the Stomach is empty, will act as an Aperient on many persons.
SALAD OIL is a very pleasant _Peristaltic Persuader_:--by the following means it may be introduced (as a supper) to the most delicate Stomach,--without any offence to the most fastidious Palate.
Put a table-spoonful of Sherry into a wine-glass--on this a table-spoonful of Olive Oil--on this another table-spoonful of Sherry--or rub together a table-spoonful or two of Oil, with the yolk of an Egg boiled hard, (No. 547,) add a little Vinegar and Salt to it, and eat it at Supper as a Sauce to a Salad (No. 138*) of Mustard and Cresses,--or Lettuce,--Radishes,--Button Onions,--Celery,--Cucumber, &c.;--or cold boiled Asparagus,--Brocoli,--Cauliflower,--Carrot,--or Turnip,--Kidney or French Beans,--or Pease;--or Pickled Salmon, (No. 161,) Lobster, (No. 176,) Shrimps, Herrings, Sprats, (No. 170**,) or Mackarel, (No. 168,) or as a Sauce to cold Meat, &c.
You may give it an infinite variety of agreeable flavours; the ingredients to produce which are enumerated in (No. 372) of "THE COOK'S ORACLE."
Hypochondriac people are fond of taking Medicine at certain times, the spring and fall,--at the full or the new Moon, &c. whether they want it or not.--For those in Health to attempt to improve it by taking Physic, is absurd indeed. Remember the epitaph on the Italian Count--
"I was well-- Wished to be better-- Took Physic--and died."
Hypochondriasis--Spleen--Vapours--the Blue Devils--the Bile--Nervous Debility, &c. are but so many different names for those Disorders which arise either from CHRONIC WEAKNESS of the Constitution--or an inconsiderate management of it.--A man who has a strong stamina will bear irregularities with impunity--which will soon destroy a more delicate frame.
We do not laugh at the melancholy of the Hypochondriac,--or consider his Complaints as merely the hallucinations of _un Malade Imaginaire_; but trace the cause of them to either some Indigestion interrupting the functions of the Alimentary Canal--which a gentle Aperient would immediately remove--or the ineffective performance of the Restorative Process--insufficiently nutritive Diet--or depression of the vital and animal functions from anxiety or over-exertion of either the Mind or the Body:--which nothing but Rest and nutritive Food can repair.
The Editor of this little treatise has had from his Youth to bear up against an highly irritable nervous system,--the means he has found useful to manage and support it, he is now recording for the benefit of other Nervous Invalids.
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We advise our Friends--never to call in even the gentle aid of Peristaltic Persuaders,--but when Instinct absolutely insists upon it--some of the Indications of which are, "A disagreeable taste in the Mouth--Eructations--Want of Appetite--Sensations of distention in the Stomach and Bowels--Pains in the Stomach or Head--Vertigo--Feverishness--Restlessness--Peevishness," &c.--but these will often disappear by taking a liquid meal, instead of a solid one, or using more exercise, will often answer the purpose.--Mr. Jones very sensibly observes, "if people will by no means rest from constantly tampering with laxatives, instead of using exercise, the habit of using the _Lavement_ every evening cannot be so destructive, as it irritates only _twelve inches_ of intestine, and spares raking down the other _thirty-nine feet_."--_See Med. Vul. Errors_, p. 44.
RELAXED BOWELS[102] are often extremely unmanageable, and difficult to regulate--and are the principal cause of that _Chronic Weakness_ which is so generally complained of, and of many other distressing Nervous Disorders.
If the Bowels are unfaithful to the Stomach, and, instead of playing fair,--let go their hold of the "Pabulum Vitæ," before the Absorbents have properly performed the process which that grand organ has prepared for them--Nutrition will be deficient; and Flatulence, &c. &c. Giddiness,--Spasms,--Head-ache,--and Back-ache,--and what are called _Bilious and Nervous_ Disorders,--and all the Diseases incident to Debility, will attack you on the slightest cause.
Those who are afflicted with a relaxation of the Bowels, are advised to a _Dry diet_, rather than a _Liquid one_, and must submit to a Regimen diametrically contrary to that we have recommended to cure Constipation.
"Since I lessened my Drink I have been much more costive than I was before, and have for two years past freed myself from a Diarrhœa. Costiveness generally attends dry food in other animals as well as men."--B. ROBINSON, _on Food and Discharges_, p. 82 and 64.
Live principally upon Animal Food sufficiently cooked, and Stale Bread, or biscuit;--instead of Malt liquor (unless it be very mild and good Homebrewed Beer, which is the best of all Beverages) drink Beef-Tea, (No. 563), or well made Toast and Water[103] (No. 463*), with about one-fourth part of Wine, and a little Sugar and grated Nutmeg or Ginger in it;--if the Stomach be troubled with Acidity, or great Flatulence, one-eighth part of Brandy may agree with it better:--_whatever You eat and drink should be Warmed_.--See page 94 on _Siesta_, and page 158.
Be watchful of the effects of the Food which you take,--avoid whatever appears to irritate, and _eat only that which experience has proved acceptable_.
IRRITABLE BOWELS are excited to inconveniently increased action by any thing that the Stomach has either not the ability, or the inclination, to prepare for them,--and _Diarrhœa_ is the consequence.
The easiest and most effectual method of restoring tranquillity in the Bowels--is to be content with a light diet of Gruel, Broth, or Fish, &c. till the return of a keen Appetite assures you, that the Stomach has recovered its powers, and being ready for action, requires its usual supply of solid food.
_When the Bowels get a trick of emptying themselves too often_,--a teaspoonful of Compound Powder of Chalk in your Tea,--or a wine-glassful of the following mixture, taken twice or thrice a day, will generally cure them of it very speedily:--
℞ Chalk mixture, six ounces. Tincture of Cinnamon (No. 416*), one ditto. Opiate Confection, one drachm.
Mixed together.
If Diarrhœa continues obstinate, more powerful Astringents[104] may be necessary.
TINCTURE OF CINNAMON (No. 416*) is one of the best cordial tonics--see also (No. 569) and (Nos. 413 & 15.)
OPIUM LOZENGES, containing a quarter of a grain each, and strongly flavoured with Oil of Peppermint, are recommended to those who are troubled with relaxed Bowels.
STRONG PEPPERMINT LOZENGES are the most convenient portable carminative:--as soon as they are dissolved, their influence is felt from the beginning, to the end of the Alimentary Canal;--they dissipate flatulence so immediately, that they well deserve the name of _Vegetable Æther_; and are recommended to SINGERS[105] AND PUBLIC SPEAKERS, as giving effective excitement to the organs of the Voice,--as a support against the distressing effects of fasting too long--and to give energy to the Stomach between meals.
N.B. _Sixty different sorts of Lozenges_, are made in the most superlative manner, by Mr. Smith, Fell Street, Wood Street, Cheapside.
His _Rose Jujubes_--are a very elegant preparation, which those who have not a remarkably Sweet Breath, are recommended to take the last thing at night, and the first in the morning--the breath smells faintest when the Stomach is emptiest.
His _Mellifluous Aromatics_ are so delicately flavoured, they moisten the mouth and throat without cloying the Palate, Stomach, &c., which is more than can be said of most Lozenges.
_To make_ FORTY PERISTALTIC PERSUADERS.
Take, Turkey Rhubarb, finely pulverized, two drachms. Syrup (by weight) one drachm. Oil of Carraway, ten drops (minums). Made into Pills, each of which will contain _Three Grains of Rhubarb_.
THE DOSE OF THE PERSUADERS must be adapted to the constitutional peculiarity of the Patient:--when you wish to accelerate or augment the Alvine Exoneration--take two, three, or more, according to the effect you desire to produce--_two Pills_ will do as much for one person as _five_ or _six_ will for another; they generally will very regularly perform what you wish to-day,--without interfering with what you hope will happen to-morrow;--and are, therefore, as convenient an argument against Constipation as any we are acquainted with.
_The most convenient opportunity to introduce them to the Stomach_--is early in the Morning, when it is unoccupied,--and has no particular business to attend to, _i. e._ at least half an hour before Breakfast.
_Physic_ should never interrupt the Stomach, when it is engaged in digesting _Food_--perhaps the best time to take it, is when you awake out of your first Sleep--or as soon as you awake in the morning. Moreover, such is the increased sensibility of some Stomachs at that time, that half the quantity of Medicine will suffice.
From _two to four Persuaders_ will generally produce one additional motion within twelve hours.
They may be taken at any time--by the most DELICATE FEMALES, whose Constitutions are so often distressed by Constipation[106], and destroyed by the drastic purgatives they take to relieve it. See also page 224.
Their agreeable flavour recommends them as the most convenient aperient for CHILDREN, whose indispositions most frequently arise from obstructions in the Bowels;--it is not always a very easy task to prevail upon a spoiled Child to take Physic;--therefore--we have made our Pill to taste exactly like Gingerbread.
For INFANTS, too young to swallow a Pill, pound it, and mix it with Currant Jelly, Honey, or Treacle.
ON THE FIRST ATTACK OF DISEASE--it may generally be disarmed by discharging the contents of the Bowels:--IN EVERY DISORDER[107] the main point is carefully to watch, and constantly to keep up the activity of the Alimentary Canal--for want of due attention to this, MILLIONS (especially of _Children_) HAVE DIED OF MEDICABLE DISORDERS!!
FOR BILIOUS OR LIVER[108] COMPLAINTS, (which are now the fashionable names for all those deranged sensations of the Abdominal Viscera--which as often arise from the want, as from the excess of Bile--and perhaps most frequently from _Indigestion_)--and for expelling WORMS[109], for which it is the fashion to administer _Mercury_[110] (which, because it is the only remedy for one Disease, people suppose must be a _panacea_ for every disorder) and other drastic mineral medicines, which are awfully uncertain both in their strength and in their operation.
If, instead of two or three times a week tormenting your Bowels with _Corrosive Cathartics_,--_Hydragogues_,--_Phlegmagogues_, &c., you take one or two gentle PERSUADERS, twice or thrice a day;--they will excite a gradual and regularly increased action of the Viscera--restore the tone of the Alimentary tube--and speedily and effectually cure the disorder, without injuring the Constitution.
There is not a more universal or more mischievous _Vulgar Error_, than the notion, that Physic is efficacious, in proportion as it is extremely disagreeable to take, and frightfully violent in its operation,--unless a medicine actually produces more Distress in the System, than the Disorder it is administered to remove--in fact, if the Remedy be not worse than the Disease, the million have no faith in it--and are not satisfied that they can be perfectly cured if they escape Phlebotomy,--unless put to extreme pain, and plentifully supplied with Black Doses, and drastic Drugs;--they have the best opinion of that Doctor who most furiously
"_Vomits_--_Purges_--_Blisters_--_Bleeds_, and _Sweats 'em_."
To perfectly content them that you have most profoundly considered their case, you must to such Prescription--add a Proscription of every thing they appear particularly partial to!!!
People who in all other respects appear to be very rational--and are apt to try other questions by the rules of Common Sense, in matters relating to their Health, surrender their understanding to the fashion of the Day,--and in the present Century, on all occasions take _Calomel_ as coolly as in the last, their Grandfathers inundated their poor Stomachs with _Tar-Water_.
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TONIC TINCTURE, (No. 569) is
Peruvian Bark, bruised, one ounce and a half. Orange Peel, do. one ounce. Brandy, or Proof Spirit, one pint.
Let these ingredients steep for ten days, shaking the bottle every day--let it remain quiet two days--and then decant the clear liquor.
Dose--one teaspoonful in a wineglass of water, twice a day, when you feel languid, _i. e._ when the Stomach is empty, about an hour before Dinner, and in the Evening. Twenty grains of the Powder of Bark may be added to it occasionally.
To this agreeable Aromatic Tonic we are under personal obligations, for frequently putting our Stomach into good temper, and procuring us good Appetite and good Digestion.
In low Nervous affections, arising from a languid Circulation--and, when the Stomach is in a state of shabby debility from age--intemperance, or other causes--this is a most acceptable restorative.
N.B. TEA made with dried and bruised _Seville Orange Peel_, (in the same manner as common Tea,) and drank with milk and sugar, has been taken for Breakfast by _Nervous_ and _Dyspeptic_ persons with great benefit.
CHEWING a bit of _Orange Peel_ twice a day when the Stomach is empty, will be found very grateful, and strengthening to it.--
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STOMACHIC TINCTURES.
Two ounces of CASCARILLA Bark (bruised)--or dried ORANGE PEEL,--or COLOMBA ROOT--infused for a fortnight in a pint of Brandy, will give you the Tinctures called by those names.
Dose--one or two teaspoonsful in a wine-glass of water.
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TINCTURE OF CINNAMON, (No. 416*).
This excellent Cordial is made by pouring a bottle of genuine Cogniac (No. 471) on three ounces of bruised Cinnamon (Cassia will not do). This cordial restorative was more in vogue formerly, than it is now;--a teaspoonful of it, and a lump of Sugar, in a glass of good Sherry or Madeira, with the yolk of an Egg beat up in it--was called "_Balsamum Vitæ_."
"_Cur moriatur homo, qui sumit de Cinnamomo?_"--"Cinnamon is verie comfortable to the Stomacke, and the principall partes of the bodie."
"_Ventriculum, Jecur, Lienem Cerebrum, nervosque juvant et roborat._"--"I reckon it a great treasure for a student to have by him, in his closet, to take now and then a spoonfull."--COGAN'S _Haven of Health_, 4to. 1584, p. 111.
_Obs._--Two teaspoonsful in a wineglass of water--are a present and pleasant remedy in Nervous Languors--and in relaxations of the Bowels--in the latter case five drops of Laudanum may be added to each dose.
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SODA WATER, (No. 481*.)
The best way of producing agreeable _Pneumatic Punch_, as a learned Chemist has called this refreshing refrigerant, is to fill two half-pint Tumblers half full of Water,--stir into one 30 grains of _Carbonate of Potash_,--into the other 25 grains of _Citric[111] Acid_, (both being previously finely pounded,)--when the powders are perfectly dissolved--pour the contents of one tumbler into the other--and sparkling Soda Water is instantaneously produced.
To make DOUBLE SODA WATER, use double the quantity of the Powder.
_Single Soda Water_ is a delightful drink in sultry weather--and may be very agreeably flavoured by dissolving a little Raspberry or Red Currant Jelly in the Water, (before you add the Carbonate of Potash to it), or a little Tincture of Ginger, (No. 411,)--or Syrup of Ginger, (No. 394,)--or Syrup of Lemon Peel, (No. 393,)--or infuse a roll of fresh and thin-cut Lemon Peel, and a bit of Sugar in the water--or rub down a few drops of (No. 408,) with a bit of Lump Sugar, with or without a little grated Ginger;--a glass of Sherry or a tablespoonful of Brandy is sometimes added.
The addition of a teaspoonful of the TONIC TINCTURE (No. 569,) will give you a very refreshing Stomachic--and ten drops of _Tinct. Ferri Muriati_ put into the water in which you dissolve the Citric Acid--a fine effervescing Chalybeate.
_The day after a Feast_, if you feel fevered and heated, you cannot do better than drink a half-pint glass or two of _Single Soda Water_ between Breakfast and Dinner.
DOUBLE SODA WATER (especially if made with tepid water) is an excellent auxiliary to accelerate the operation of Aperient Medicine--and, if taken in the Morning fasting, will sometimes move the Bowels without further assistance.
If some good _Cogniac_ or Essence of Ginger (No. 411) be added to it, it is one of the best helps to set the Stomach to work--and remove the distressing languor which sometimes follows hard drinking.
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ESSENCE OF GINGER, (No. 411).
The fragrant _aroma_ of Ginger is so extremely volatile, that it evaporates almost as soon as it is pounded--the fine Lemon peel _goût_ flies off presently.
If Ginger is taken to produce an immediate effect--to warm the Stomach--dispel Flatulence, &c., or as an addition to Aperient Medicine--the following is the best preparation of it:--
Steep three ounces of _fresh grated_ Ginger, and one ounce of fresh Lemon Peel, (cut thin) in a quart of Brandy--or Proof Spirit, for ten days, shaking it up each day.
N.B. TINCTURE OF ALLSPICE, which is sometimes called _Essence of Bishop_, for making _Mulled Wine_, _&c._ extempore, is prepared in the same manner.
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GRUEL, (No. 252).