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Tincture of Aloes

Socotrine aloes 1 ounce; liquorice 2 ounces; coriander-seed an ounce; gin 1 pint. Digest in a bottle for a week, shaking the bottle frequently; then strain. The dose for a child is a teaspoonful every morning; for an adult two tablespoonsful, with half the quantity of a strong decoction of the Carolina pink root.

Santonin suppositories (three grains to a sufficient amount of cacao butter) are a certain cure for seat-worms.

The Round Worm Occupies the small intestines, and sometimes the stomach. It is of various lengths, from three fail to remove it, the pink root may be taken in decoction, or in powder, in doses of sixty or eighty grains, to be followed after three or four days by ten or fifteen grains of calomel. Cowhage, in molasses or honey, with a dose of castor oil every third day, has been very highly extolled. In cases where all other means have failed, tobacco leaves, pounded with vinegar and applied to the belly, have produced the desired effect. They are dangerous, however, especially with young children.

The Tape-Worm Inhabits the whole of the internal canal, and sometimes defies all our efforts to get him out of it. Large doses of spirits of turpentine, from one to two ounces, in barley water, have been advantageously employed for this purpose. If the spirits of turpentine be tried, large quantities of gruel or barley water should be used with it in order to prevent its irritating the stomach and kidneys.

Pumpkin seeds, taken largely on an empty stomach, will often expel the worm.

By whatever means these troublesome guests are got rid of, the patient should be careful to strengthen his system and bowels by a course of barks, bitters, wine, etc., and to use a great proportion of animal food in his diet. Repeated purging with calomel is, perhaps, as effectual a remedy for worms as we have, particularly if succeeded by the pink root tea. Inflammation of the Kidneys.

Symptoms. Deep seated pain in the small of the back; urine high-colored and small in quantity, sometimes bloody; sickness at the stomach; vomiting.

Treatment. This will depend upon the cause.

If it proceed from gravel, the plan to be pursued will be detailed under that head. If it arise from any other, cup the back freely, repeat it in ten or twelve hours, if necessary, and put him into a warm bath. Twenty grains or more of the uva ursi, with half a grain of opium three times a day, accompanied by small quantities of warm barley or rice-water, is one of the most valuable remedies we are in possession of. The diet during the attack should consist of mucilaginous drinks only, which must be frequently taken, notwithstanding they may be rejected by vomiting.

Gravel.

Symptoms. A fixed pain in the loins; numbness of the thigh; constant vomiting; retraction of the testicle; urine small in quantity, voided with pain and sometimes bloody. As the gravel passes from the kidney into the bladder the pain is so acute as to occasion fainting, etc.

Treatment. Put him into a warm bath, where he should remain some time. Meanwhile an emollient and anodyne clyster should be got ready, which must be given to him as soon as he leaves it. Cloths wrung out of decoctions of herbs or spirits and water should be applied to the part, and small quantities of warm gum arabic tea or barley-water be taken frequently. A grain of opium every two hours will be found useful. Bicarbonate of soda in twenty-grain doses every three hours, often gives great relief. Strong coffee, without sugar or cream, sometimes acts like a charm in soothing the pain; twenty drops of the spirits of turpentine taken on a lump of sugar every half hour, is said by high authority to do the same. If the irritation of the stomach is very great, the effervescing draught, with thirty or forty drops of laudanum, may be tried. When the pain, etc., is somewhat abated, the bowels should be opened with castor oil. The uva ursi, as before mentioned, is one of the most valuable remedies in all diseases of the kidneys that we have. Blisters in all such cases are never to be applied. Persons subject to this distressing complaint should be careful to avoid acids and fermented liquors of all kinds, including the red wines, beer, pickles, etc. For a common drink soft water, or the seltzer and soda waters, are to be preferred. When any threatening symptoms are perceived, recourse should be had to the soda and uva ursi, with half a grain of opium three times a day, to be continued for weeks.

Inflammation of the Bladder.

Symptoms. Pain and swelling of the bladder, the pain increased by pressure; a frequent desire to make water, which either comes away in small quantities, or is totally suppressed.