INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH. 263

Some give the extract of the bark with cantharides;but to manage this requires a considerable attention.It is more safe to give a few grains of castor alongwith the bark. A child of six or seven years of agemay take seven or eight grains of castor, with fifteengrains of powdered bark, for a dose. This may bemade into a mixture, with two or three ounces ofany simple distilled water and a little syrup, andtaken three or four times a day.

CHAP. XXX.

INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH, ANDOTHER VISCERA.

ALL inflammations of the bowels are dangerous,and require the most speedy assistance, as theyfrequently end in a suppuration, and sometimes in amortification, which is certain death.

CAUSES.—An inflammation of the stomach mayproceed from any of the causes which produce an in-flammatory fever; as cold liquor drank while the bodyis warm, obstructed perspiration, or the sudden strikingin of any eruption. It may likewise proceed from theacrimony of the bile, or from acrid and stimulating sub-stances taken into the stomach; as strong vomits orpurges, corrosive poisons, and such like. When thegout has been repelled from the extremities, either bycold or improper applications, it often occasions aninflammation of the stomach. Hard or indigestible sub-stances taken into the stomach, as bones, the stonesof fruit, &c. may likewise have that effect.

SYMPTOMS.—It is attended with a fixed pain andburning heat in the stomach; great restlessness andanxiety; a small, quick, and hard pulse; vomiting, orat least a nausea and sickness; excessive thirst; cold-ness of the extremities; difficulty of breathing; coldclammy sweats; and sometimes convulsions and faint-ing fits. The stomach is swelled, and often feels hardto the touch. One of the most certain signs of this

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