364
BUBOES.
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assures us that by this method he has cured diseased testiclesof two or three years' standing, even when ulcerated, andwhen the scirrhus had begun to be affected with pricking andlancing pains.
BUBOES.
Venereal buboes are hard tumors seated in the groin, occa-sioned by the venereal poison lodged in this part. They areof two kinds, viz., such as proceed from a recent infection,and such as accompany a confirmed lues.
The cure of recent buboes, that is, such as appear soonafter impure coition, may be first attempted by dispersion, andif that should not succeed by suppuration. To promote thedispersion of a buboe, the same regimen must be observed aswas directed in the first stage of a gonorrhoea. The patientmust at the same time be bled, and take some cooling purges,as the decoction of tamarinds and senna, Glauber's salts, andthe like. If by this course the swelling and other inflamma-tory symptoms abate, we may safely proceed to the use ofmercury, which must be continued till the venereal virus isquite subdued.
But if the buboe should from the beginning be attendedwith great heat, pain, and pulsation, it will be proper to pro-mote its suppuration. For this purpose the patient may beallowed to use his ordinary diet and to take now and then aglass of wine. Emollient cataplasms, consisting of bread andmilk softened with oil or fresh butter, may be applied to thepart ; and in cold constitutions, where the tumor advancesslowly, white-lily roots boiled, or sliced onions raw, and a suf-ficient quantity of yellow basilicon, maybe added to the poul-tice.
When the tumor is ripe, which may be known by its coni-cal figure, the softness of the skin, and a fluctuation of matterplainly to be felt under the finger, it may be opened eitherby caustic or a lancet, and afterwards dressed with digestiveointment.
It sometimes, however, happens that buboes can neither bedispersed nor brought to a suppuration, but remain hard,indolent tumors. In this case the indurated glands must beconsumed by caustic ; but if they should become scirrhous,they must be dissolved by the application of hemlock both ex-ternally and internally, as directed in the scirrhous testicle.