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288

SCROFULA, OR KING'S EVIL.

towards the end, half an ounce of sliced liquorice-root and a hand-ful of raisins may be added, which will both render the decoctionless disagreeable, and make it take up more of the bark. Theliquor must be strained, and two, three, or four table-spoonsful,according 1 to the age of the patient, given three times a-day ; but,in place of this, I now use the compound tincture of bark.

The Moffat and Harrowgate waters, especially the latter, arelikewise very proper medicines in the scrofula. They ought not,however, to be drank in large quantities, but should be taken so asto keep the body gently open, and must be used for a considerabletime.

Hemlock may sometimes be used with advantage in the scrofu-la. Some lay it down as a general rule, that the sea-water is mostproper before there are any suppuration or symptoms of tabes ;the Peruvian bark, when there are running' sores, and a degree ofhectic fever ; and the hemlock in old inveterate cases, approach-ing to the scirrhous or cancerous state. Either the extract or thefresh juice of this plant may be used. The dose may be small atfirst, and increased gradually as far as the stomach is able to bear it.

External applications are of little use. Before the tumour breaks,nothing ought to be applied to it, unless a piece of flannel, orsomething to keep it warm. After it breaks, the sore may be dress-ed with some digestive ointment. What I have always found to an-swer best, was the yellow basilicon mixed with about a sixth oreighth part of its weight of red precipitate of mercury. The soremay be dressed with this twice a-day; and if it be very fungous,and does not digest well, a larger proportion of the precipitatemay be added.*

Scrofulous ulcers which liad resisted many other remedies havehealed under a weak solution of nitric acid in water (thirty dropsor Jess of the former to a pint of the latter.) In spreading andirritable sores, the application of an aqueous solution of opium, orof hemlock, and afterwards a solution of zinc, may be beneficial.Where the granulations rise above the surface, and are broad andflabby, and where pressure cannot be applied, the sorrel poulticethas proved useful. The topical application of bruised sorrel leaveshas been recommended in very flattering terms as contributingessentially to the cicatrization of indolent scrofulous ulcers.

In scrofulous sores of an ugly, gleeting, and ill-conditioned ap-pearance, much benefit has been obtained by the application of apoultice made with crumbs of bread moistened with a solution ofabout an ounce of the crystals of soda in a quart of water. Thesub-borate of soda in the proportion of half a drachm to onedrachm mixed with an ounce of spermaceti ointment, or Turner'scerate, has been found an efficacious application to scrofulous ul-cers ; and by such dressings "they have been known to heal in ashort space of time, when other applications have entirely failed.

Medicines which mitigate this disease, though they do not cure

* The applicatirn of the lunar caustic tends very much to promote the cure of scrofulous ulcers, ¿ff.er they have broke, fur jey should never be opened. They will beara pretty free d'iity :! T -'ulic t.;on rf this stimulus, not only with imDUnitv, but advantage. ' ' A. T. B.

t Sorrel, a pou id, to he beaten to a pulp, and applied to the parts affected.