CHOLERA MORBUS, &c.
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The bread should be toasted till it is of a brown colour, and af-terwards boded in spring water. If oat-bread cannot be had,wheat-bread, or oat-meal well toasted, may be used in its stead.If this does not put a stop to the vomiting, two table-spoonsful ofthe saline julep, with ten drops of laudanum, may be taken everyhour till it ceases.
The vomiting- and purging, however, ought never to be stoppedtoo soon. As long as these discharges do not weaken the patient,they are salutary, and may be allowed to go on, or rather oughtto be promoted. But when the patient is weakened by the evacu-ations, which may be known from the sinking of his pulse, &e. re-course must immediately be had to opiates, as recommended above ;to which may be added strong wines, with spirituous cinnamon-waters, and other generous cordials ; or large doses of diluted sul-phuric acid, which is said to abate the irritation of the stomachmore readily than even opium. Warm negus, or strong wine-whey, will likewise be necessary to support the patient's spirits,and promote the perspiration. His legs should be bathed in warmwater, and afterwards rubbed with flannel cloths, or wrapped inwann blankets, and warm bricks applied to the soles of his feet.
The application of a blister to the stomach will sometimes puta stop to the vomiting. In very severe cases, the external appli-cation of nitric acid has been suggested, as a counter-irritant, as aconsiderable time may elapse before the blister begins to irritate,a practice that has been adopted in that aggravated form of the dis-ease which has lately been developed in Hindostán.
When the violence of the disease is over, to prevent a relapse,it will be necessary for some time to continue the use of smalldoses of laudanum. Ten or twelve drops may be taken in a glassof wine, at least twice a-day for eight or ten days. The patient'sfood ought to be nourishing, but taken in small quantities, and heshould use moderate exercise. As the stomach and intestines aregenerally much weakened, an infusion of the bark, or other bitter*in small wine, sharpened with the elixir of vitriol, may be drunkfor some time.
Though physicians are seldom called in due time in this dis-ease, they ought not to despair of relieving the patient even in themost desperate circumstances. Of this I lately saw a very strik-ing proof in an old man and his son, who had been both seizedwith it about the middle of the night. I did not see them till nextmorning, when they had much more the appearance of dead thanof living men. No pulse could be felt; the extremities were coldand rigid, the countenance was ghastly, and the strength al-most quite exhausted. Yet from this deplorable condition theywere both recovered by the use of opiatest and cordial medicines.
* Take Tincture of Gentian, 1 drm. or
Infusion of Cascarilla. 1J oz. Take Tincture of Columba, I drm,
Make a draught, to be taken three times Mint Water, 1J 02.
a-day. Make a draught, to be taken three timeft
a-day.
t In the Epidemic Cholera of India, the cases which may with most confidence b»trusted to opium, are those in which the primary symptoms are seated, apparently m»he stomach, as indicated by vomiting .ind spasmodic pain in that region ; and in the
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