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Regimen, etc (When the disappearance)

When the disappearance is sudden in females of a plethoric habit, malt liquors, wine and animal food ought for a time to be excluded from their diet. They should likewise avoid all liquors of a spirituous nature. Regular exercise should be taken and the body constantly kept open by the tincture of senna, Epsom salts, or any other mild laxative medicine.

If giddiness and occasional pain in the head affect the patient, or if there be a visible fulness in the vessels, the application of leeches to the temple will be found very beneficial, and if ulcers should break out in the legs, etc., they ought by no means to be healed up, unless a salutary drain by means of an issue be established in some other part.

Dropsy.

Dissolve an ounce of acetate of potassa in a pint of cold water; take a wineglassful every morning and evening.

For Vomiting during Pregnancy.

The morning sickness is one of the most painful feelings attendant on the pregnant state, and it is one of those which medicine commonly fails to relieve. A cup of chamomile or peppermint tea taken when first waking, and suffering the patient to be still for an hour, will sometimes alleviate the distressing sickness, but should it recur during the day these means seldom succeed.

Two or three teaspoonfuls of the following mixture should then be taken, either occasionally or when the vomiting and heartburn are more continual immediately after every meal: Take of calcined magnesia 1 drachm; distilled water 6 ounces; aromatic tincture of rhatany 6 drachms; water, pure ammonia, 1 drachm. Mix.

Another. Dr. Scellier extols the following mixture as a remedy for nausea and vomiting during the period of pregnancy: Take of lettuce-water 4 ounces; gum arabic 1. scruple; syrup of white poppies, syrup of marsh-meadow root, each 2 ounces; Prussic acid 4 drops. Let an apothecary prepare the mixture. A tablespoonful is to be taken every half hour when the vomiting is present.

If the lettuce-water cannot be obtained, 8 grains of the inspissated white juice (lactuarium) dissolved in 4 ounces of water, may be substituted for it.

Another. The saline mixture in a state of effervescence, with a pill of one or two grains of lactuarium, is by some preferred to the above composition. When the matter brought up is acid, a weak solution of the carbonate of soda may be substituted for the saline mixture.

To relieve Sickness and Qualms in Pregnancy.

Take of infusion of quassia, 1 ounce; cinnamonwater, 4 drachms; aromatic spirit of ammonia, 20 drops; prepared oyster-shells, 2 grains. To be taken at a draught, at twelve and seven o'clock every day.

For Heartburn during Pregnancy.

Take of solution of ammonia, calcined magnesia, each 1 drachm; cinnamon-water 2 ounces; common water 6 ounces. The dose is a tablespoonful as often as required. Head-ache.

When head-ache or drowsiness proves troublesome to a pregnant woman of robust habit, a few ounces of blood should be taken from the arm.

If she be of a weak or irritable habit, leeches ought to be applied to the temples. In both cases the bowels should be opened by magnesia, rhubarb, or some other gentle laxative medicine. Hysteria.

When hysteria or fainting occurs, the pregnant patient should be placed in a horizontal position in the open air. When she is a little recovered a glass of wine in a little cold water should be administered, or what is perhaps better, a few drops of the spirits of hartshorn in a glass of water.

Costiveness and Piles.

To prevent these, women in a pregnant state should make frequent use of the following electuary: Mix together in a marble mortar 2 ounces of the electuary of senna, a drachm of powder of jalap; 2 drachms of cream of tartar, and an ounce of syrup of roses. Half a teaspoonful to be taken every night at bed-time, or oftener, as long as the above complaints continue.

Pregnant women should be particularly careful not to use aloes as a purgative, this medicine being very apt to increase the piles. The same caution is necessary with respect to Anderson's and Scott's pills, the basis of both of which is aloes. If the piles should prove so very troublesome as to prevent the patient from sitting comfortably, leeches ought to be applied to the part; in all other cases simple ablution with cold water, with the use of purgatives as above directed, will be sufficient.

Troublesome Itchings.

Cooling laxatives are likewise proper in this place; also frequent ablution with cold or lukewarm water. If the itching does not specaily abate, a lotion is to be applied to the parts twice a day, consisting of a drachm of sugar of lead in a pint of distilled water.

Swelling of the Feet and Ankles.

Pregnant women are usually free from this complaint in the morning, but suffer a good deal from it towards night.

Prevention. In the commencement it will be merely requisite for the patient to use a footstool, when sitting, so that her feet may never be in a hanging position for any length of time.

Remedy. If there should be great distension, so as to give the sensation of almost bursting, slight scarification may be made with the edge of a lancet; and flannels, wrung out of a hot fomentation of chamomile, are soon after to be applied. A teaspoonful of cream of tartar mixed in water may be taken once or twice daily, to act on the kidneys. It is almost unnecessary to state that this complaint invariably disappears at the period of de- pain and distention of the breasts, shooting fre livery.

Cramp of the Legs and Thighs.

This complaint may be speedily relieved by rubbing the part affected with the following liniment: Mix together (by shaking in a phial) laudanum, an ounce; tincture of camphor, 1 ounce; and sulphuric ether, an ounce.

Cramp in the Stomach.

This is to be avoided by proper attention to diet, which should not be of a flatulent nature, or too hard of digestion. Attention is likewise to be paid to the state of the bowels.

Distention and Cracking of the Skin.

This is very apt to occur in the latter months of gestation, accompanied sometimes with considerable soreness. It is to be relieved by frequent friction with warm oil. Distention of Veins.

The veins of the legs, thighs, and belly are apt to become enlarged in the latter stages of pregnancy. Although no bad consequences ever attend this, it will be necessary sometimes to relieve it by moderate bleeding, and by repeated small doses of infusion of senna, mixed with Epsom salts; at the same time using a spare diet. The distended vein may frequently be relieved by the application of a pretty tight bandage.

Incontinence of Urine.

This very uncomfortable complaint is to be relieved by a frequent horizontal position, but cannot be entirely remedied except by delivery. Strict attention, however, ought to be paid to cleanliness, and much comfort will be felt by the use of a large sponge properly fastened.

Restlessness and Want of Sleep.

In this case, cooling laxative medicines, as the infusion of senna, with Epsom salts, ought frequently to be used. If relief be not soon obtained, small quantities of blood are to be taken from the patient. Opiates ought seldom to be used, as they tend sometimes to increase the febrile state of the patient.

Convulsions.

When a female is disposed to this complaint from a plethoric habit, there will be great fullness and giddiness in the head, in the latter months of gestation; also drowsiness, with a sensation of weight in the forehead when she stoops, or bends forward, accompanied sometimes by imperfect vision, and the appearance of atoms floating before the eyes. In such a case, ten or twelve ounces of blood ought to be taken from the arm, and the bowels are afterwards to be kept open by frequent and small doses of infusion of senna, mixed with cream of tartar, until the above symptoms entirely disappear. Wine, spirituous and malt liquors, and solid or animal food are likewise to be avoided.

When convulsions have occurred, and when there is reason to believe that they are owing to irritation, rather than plethora, it will likewise be necessary to bleed the patient in a small degree, both from the arm, and by the application of leeches to the temples. The bowels are also to be kept perfectly open, and a common clyster, containing from half a drachm to a drachm of laudanum, is to be administered. The warm bath is likewise exceedingly useful; at the same time taking care to strengthen the habit as much as possible.

The Milk Fever.

This fever generally arises about the third or fourth day after delivery. The symptoms are quently towards the arm-pit. Sometimes the breasts become hard, hot, and inflamed. It generally continues a day or two, and ends spontaneously by copious sweats, or a large quantity of pale urine.

Remedies. If it should prove violent, especially in young women of a plethoric constitution, we should abate the inflammation by bleeding; this, however, is rarely necessary. But, in every constitution, the body must be kept open by gentle cooling laxatives, or clysters. The breasts should be often drawn either by the child, or, if the mother does not design to give suck, by some proper person. If the breasts are hard, very turgid, or inflamed, emollient fomentations ought to be applied to them. The common poultice of bread and milk, with the addition of a little oil, may be used on this occasion; and warm milk, or a decoction of elder flowers, for a fomentation. Regimen. The patient should use a simple diet, consisting only of panada, or some other farinaceous substances. Her drink may be barley-water, milk and water, gruel, or the like.

Inflamed Breasts.

When the breasts tumefy, and begin to be uneasy, a few days after delivery, from the milk stagnating, gentle diaphoretics and purgatives are to be used, and camphorated spirits of wine is to be applied, or warm cloths dipped in brandy, are to be put to the arm-pits. Should pain with inflammation come on, apply a poultice of bread, milk and oil, and an emollient fomentation; and in case suppuration cannot be prevented, it must be opened with a lancet. The ulcer is afterwards to be treated according to the common rules for disorders of that kind.

If there be only a hardness in the breast, from coagulated milk, emollient cataplasms and fomentations are to be used, likewise fresh linseed oil, by way of liniment.

Sore Nipples.

Chapped or sore nipples are very frequent with those who give suck. In this case the olive oil is a very proper application; or fresh cream spread upon fine linen; or a solution of gum arabic in water. Collodion, applied with a camel's hair pencil, is the most effectual remedy.

It is almost needless to observe that, whatever applications be made use of to the nipples, they ought to be washed off before the child is permitted to suck. This is not always necessary with collodion.

Puerperal Fever.

Puerperal fever commonly begins with a rigor, or chilliness, on the first, second, or third day after delivery; followed by a violent pain and soreness over the belly. There is much thirst; pain in the head, chiefly in the forehead and parts about the eyebrows; a flushing in the face; anxiety; a hot, dry skin; quick and weak pulse, though sometimes it will resist the finger pretty strongly; a shortness in breathing; high-colored urine, and a suppression of the natural discharge.

Sometimes a vomiting and purging attend from the first, but in general, in the beginning, the belly is costive; however, when the disease proves fatal, a diarrhœa generally supervenes, and the stools at last become involuntary.

The cause of this fever has been commonly ascribed either to a suppression of the natural discharge, an inflammation in the womb, or a retention of the milk.

Remedies. If the belly be costive, an emollient opening clyster is to be administered; and, if