, !rv--1p
.::-.4»r


"^
3p^-
r
><&/:■■
&
%'.

€?Jf'
■;.v^i
;**£U
2&S*M
■*t<is>rr'.-v-v ■>'*!&!


feivfe
.*
->,*-
*£^;
j**

.4'v • < ''i-;V'/-
 
Vtff

w		
CJ		
HH		
fc		
o		(i.
GO ^H		o0.
3«		&
§3	1 j	"A p.
HH		fe:
O "		So
H	"'' c	HO
O	*. c	> _,K
Pi	*^ •£	: 8x
p	£5 «■	) fcjQ
QD	^J.c/	! fcfc
          Married.*
  MAyHrOH-BMOYER.~M»rT!«d  on Tue.-
day Evening, Slumber 16th, 18T1. in  HamiN
ton. Ohio. % &v. D.J. Starr, Mb.  Bombo
Mayhugh and Mibs 8a»ah Bmotbb-
    Death of the Kentucky Giant.

  JaMES D. FosfEB, the Kerdueky giant, died

G/thii residence in Portland,  Kentucky, on the

23th inst. in ua fiftieth year of his age.  H, * as
3oren  feet nine  laches high, and was supposed

to b« ha t<iU03t man In the world.  He was born

  A*  ^JUcu.OlllO,
,( C' ■. ^ 5- v

<■ V
°n the  evening of the  16th  of July,  1861
5 apt. J.  W. C. .Smith,  of the 2fith Regiment
5» Miss Lessie Hill, bv Rev.  Wm. McMillen
£ \ the residence of the bride.

| ■Unlike most of soldiers,   Capt. Smith  has

§oluntari]y assumed the discharge of double

g nties—the one military,  the other rantrimo

^[al.   That success may  attend  the  Captain

= id his 1st Lieutenant in both campaigns  is

  e sincere wish of their many friends.
■T
                  Friday.

       superstition about F&Ia§, as a bad day to set
       a voyage, or to undertake anfcnmtter of' par-
       importance, is  universal  among  sailors
«uu ua* passed from the ocean over ni- very-Small
portion oi terra iirnia.            • .    v-t-i^etJlaJ1

 _ The Boston 4drrriisrrmen{\onmaia j#JJallidt
singula* fact, maUtf. ^ster mu^tfTlE-
manon iridoy-he  was nrrcstpi'OTrWay-the
verdict of tb? Coroner's (secret)  Inquest waTmadl
pUb,1c0nF„di,:,-onc0f ,horc,nlar days selected
V his  farndy 10 visn him at the jail was on  Friday
 -tne.rinal cecman of the Executive  was given on
 ■' nclay, and hie execution is to  take place on Fri-
 1 ay.
  EiCEJL,JjBAr   HAiK-W"4A>tf. —Take  one
ounce of borax, half an ounce of camphor;
powder these ingredients fine, and dissolve
them in one quart of boiling water; when
cool, the solution will be ready for use;
damp the hair frequently.  This wash  ef-
fectually cleanses, beautifies, and strength
ens the hair, preserves the color, and pre-
vents early baldness.  The camphor will
form into lumps after being dissolved, bu*
the water will be sufficiently impregnated 
s
/
^./llli,  ■  ^^
0 ?;<**/*■ y
/

^ntffJh
'isf? 
*v*
 
FOK
  Washington's false teeth are to be exhib-
ited at the Centennial, in company and
contrast  with the finest  dental work of
New York. The wonder is, they say, that
any man ever held them in his mouth five
minutes.  The   teeth  are bits  of bone,
scarcely trying to look like teeth, attached
to gold  plate, with strips riveted across to
strengthen the teeth in plate; while coiled
wire at the end of the jaws makes a spring
and assists in opening and closing the ma-
chine. 
 
1ajj
                        NN'S

  DOMESTIC   MEDICINE,

                        OR

            POOR MAN'S FRIEND,

      IN THE HOURS OF AFFLICTION, PAIN AND SICKNESS.

 THIS BOOK POINTS OUT, IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, FREE FROM
           DOCTORS' TERMS, THE DISEASES OF

      MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN,

AND THE LATEST AND MOST  APPROVED MEANS USED IN THEIR CURB,
 AND IS INTENDED EXPRESSLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF FAMILIES IN

   THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN STATES.
                 IT ALSO CONTAINS

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MEDICINAL ROOTS AND HERBS OF

       THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN COUNTRY,

  AND HOW THEY ARE TO BE USED IN THE CURE OF DISEASBS.
    ARRANGED ON A NEW AND SIMPLE PLAN,

BY WHICH THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IS REDUCED TO PRINCIPLES OF

                 COMMON SENSE.
Why should we conceal from mankind that which relieves the distressei
                  of our fellow-beings?
EIGHTH EDITION.
PUBLISHED BY S. & J. PERRY, AND J. McREYNOLDS.
■4*   .  ^  ^i
■£*jjf^M+1.\    SPRINGFIELD, OHIO:                /

Hp V-ifS? &<*•//JOHN M. GALLAGHER, PRINTER.            •■*'-,*

 "+-*miM.-.J-^-'               Jooo.                 ■ ■'* -.■:-&>■'■%*&■■■•&

                                                 •• ■■■>''-'vJ^r^''^
^Iter 
/\vm-ex
  .  WB
    \ZO

    H3Z
Entered according to act of Congress, in 1832, by John C. Gunn, in
  the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the District
  of East Tennessee.




/.-<-
✓,*U   o.Vf,,/  ->•*¥ 6
/


: ,,**-*,
i 
INDEX.
                                                      PAGB
ANGER,         .      -v    -       -       -         27
  Ague and fever,     -      -       -       -       -    184
  Apoplectic fits,          ...               309
  Asthma,            -                                  318
  Abortion,    -          .....       434
  After pains,         .....    459
  Alum root,      .....       524
  American Centaury,        -      -       -       -    576
  Anodynes,      -       -       -      B       -       624
  Anti-Spasmodics,    -                                  624
  Amputation,            ...       -       694
  Amputation of the arm,      ....    696
             of the thigh and leg   -      -       -  £98-699
             of the fore-arm, fingers and toes,     -          700
  Accidents,      .....       661
BILIOUS  FEVER,    ....        -    190
  Boneset,        -        -        -      -      -        541
  Blackberry bush, common,    ...      -     544
  Button Snake root,       -        -                      545
  Blood or Puccoon root,        ....     551
  Butterfly weed, or Pleurisy root,    ...        568
  Bluod letting,         .....     595
  Beer for Consumption,    -      -      -      -         655
COLD BATH,.....164
  Colic,        ......     200
  Cholera Morbus, &c.     -•.-'.       -         203
  Consumption,         -       -      -       -            224
  Catarrh or Cold,         -      -      -     *:i.       274
  Cow pox, or Vaccination,      -      -      -  \ijt  -     339
  Clap,            -      -      -      -                355
  Cancer,              -----     380
  Corns,     -      -          '   -      -       -         385
  Colic,        -      -       -      -      -       423-486
  Cramp,          -      -      -      -       -        426
  Constant desire to make water,        .       -      -     427
  Chills,         -        -       -   ■;--.:■              459
  (lild bed Fever      -      -  .    -       -■■■-., ■  -     463
  Constipation,      -      -       -      •*       -    .     485
  Convulsions or fits,          -      -  •'    -     y.     491
  Croup,         -        -       -       -   .   -■ ■..."     493 
4
INDEX.
   Cholera Infantum, or puking, &c.     ...      497
   Cancer root, Beech drops,         ...         539
   Camomile,         -         -      -      -      -      545
   Columbo, American,       ....         550
   Castor Oil, how to make,      -      -*     -      -      589
   Clysters  or Glysters,       ....         599
   Classification of medicines, &c.       -      -      -      611
   Concussion and compression of the Brain,        -     665-666
   Contusion or blow,            -      -      -      -      664
   Contused Wounds,                -       -       -         673
   Cholera Epidemic,            ....       709
   Compound Accidents,      ....         694
   Catheter,                                                502
DISEASES OF THE LIVER,            -       -         238
   Dysentery or Flux,           ....      256
   Drinking cold water when overheated,     -       -        272
   Dropsy,              .....       277
   Diseases  of Women,      _ -       -       -       -        387
   Diseases of Children,          ....       472
   Dogweod,         .....         522
   Dittany,              .....       537
   Directions for preserving roots, &c.        -       -         590
   Dislocation,        -         -      -      -      -       689
   Dislocation of the lower jaw and shoulder,         -         690
             of the collar bone, elbow, wrist, fingers, &c.       691
             of the thigh,                                   692
             of the knee pan, leg and foot,                    693
   Diabetes, or great flow of urine,          -       -         295
EXERCISE,            -       -      -      t      -       149
   Eruptions of the skin,     - -       -       -       -         299
   Epileptic fits,         - '     -      -      -      -       312
   Ear Ache,         -       -       -       -       -         330
   Exercises of Children, &c.           -       -      -       481
   Eyes, sore,      -       -       -       -       -           488
   Emetics or pukes.     -       -      -      -      -      612
   Eating Snuff,     -      -      -           ,  -   -      637
FEAR,              .....         22
   Food,                .....170
   Fever,&c......178
   False pains,          -       -      -      -      -       430
   Flooding,          -       -      .       -                 431
   Faintings,            -       -      -  .  . \r-  .           458
   Fever of children,         -      -       -       -         496
   Friction,             -       -      ...      607
   Fractures of the bone  of the nose, and lower jaw,           681
            of the collar bone.              .  -      -      682
            of the arm and bones of the fore arm,          #683
            of the wrist and of the ribs,     -       -         684
            of the thigh,              -       -      -      685
            of the bones of the foot.        -        -         688
   Falling of the palate,  '       -                           643 
INDEX.
5
GRIEF,	.	.	63
Gravel and Stone.	i	.	288
Gleet,		i	367
Green Sickness,	-	.	- - 398
Ginseng,	-	.	- ' 525
Ginger,	-	-	581
HOPE,	-	-	24
Head Ache,	-		328
Heart Burn,	-	.	425
Horse Mint,	.	.	588
Hydrophobia, or the bite of a mad		dog,	648
INTEMPERANCE	»		100
Indigestion, or Dy	rspepsia,	-	215
Inflammation of the stomach,		-	261'
	intestines,	-	262
	brain,	-	• 265
	spleen,	-	267
	kidneys,	.	268
	bladder,	-	270
	lungs,	-	641
	breasts of women		460
	during child bed labor;		460
Itch,		.	308
Incised Wounds,	-	-	669
Ipecacuanha,	-	-	546-566
Indian Physic,	-	-	565
Indian Turnip,		-	- ■ - 574
Issues,	-	.	-'. ■" 605
JOY,	-	-	29
Jealousy,	-	-	33
Jamestown weed,	-	.	516
Jerusalem oak,	-	-	536
Jalap,	-	.	571
Jaundice,	-	-	644
LOVE,	-		45
Lax,	-	.	259
Lock Jaw,	-	.■	378
Labor,	-	.	439
difficult,	-	.	■' ■■■>-/' ■-■. 446
directions after,		:.	*;.: t" 454
Lochia,	-	■ -	457
Laxatives,	•	.	618
Lobelia Inflata,	-	.	577
Liverwort,	-	-	636
MUMPS,	-	-	330
Menses or courses	>	.	300
	obstructed,	.	394'
	great discharge	of	.400
	cessation of	'''..	402
Midwives, directions for		. '.'_	, ■*■'■:> 449
Milk Fever,	-	• ' '■'■'	- '- 461
 
6
INDEX.
'ifv'"
Meconium,		477
Measles, : : .; :	>i	503
Mercury, : : : :		634
May Apple, : :	: :	537
Manna, : : :		^59
Mortification,	650-	-701
NERVOUS FEVER,		194
Night Mare, or Incubus,		647
ORIGINAL IMPERFECTIONS, :		478
Ointment for sores, : :		631
Opium, : • :		582
PASSIONS, of the : : :	: :,	21
. Punctured wounds, : : :		671
Pulse, : : :		182
Pleurisy, : : : :		284
Palsy,. : : : :		315
Piles, : : : :	" : 323	-429
Putrid sore throat, : : :		325
Pox, : : :		354
Poisons, : : :		369
Painful affections of the face, : :		376
Pregnancy, and signs of, :	: 41C	-415
cautions during, and diseases of	417	-418
Pain in the head, &lc. :		424
Prickly Ash, or tooth ache tree, :		572
Peppermint, : :		580
Purgatives, active, : : :		616
RELIGION, : : :		74
Rheumatism, : : : :		206
Red Gum, : : :		483
Rue and Balm, : : :		550
Rhubarb, : : : :		561
Rickets.		648
SLEEP, ' : : : :		142
"Scurvy, : : •		281
Saint Anthony's Fire> : :		301
Scald Head, : :		303
Sore legs, : : :		321
Sore eyes, : :		332
Small pqx : : :		342
Scalds and burns, •• : :		383
Sickness of the stomach, : :		422
Swelled legs, : :		425
Stoppage of Urine, : :		427
Sleep, want of : :		428
Swelled leg, : : :	,	462
-Still born, : . :		473
Snuffled, : : :		482
Swaim^s Panacea, : : ;		635
Sudor ifics, : :		630
* Sore eyes of children, . f :		488
 
7
INDEX.
   Scald head,
   Snake root, Seneka,
   Sassafras,
   Sarsaparilla
   Slippery Elm,
   Scarlet fever,
   Sage,
   Senna,
   Sulphurous fumigations, &c.
   Stimulants,
   Sprains,
   Scrofula, or King's Evil,
   St. Vitus' Dance,
 TETTER  OR RING WORM,
   Tooth  Ache,              :
   Twins,
   Treatment of new born infants,
   Thrush,
   Teething,       :        :
   Tobacco  plant,
   Tansy,
   Tonics,                  :
 UVA URSI,            :
   Urine, suppression or stoppage of
 VENEREAL DISEASES,
 WARM OR TEPID BATH,
   Whitlow,
   Warts,            :
   Whites,         :          :
   Worms,
   White Walnut,
  Wild cherry tree,
   Wounds,
  Whooping Cough,
  Wen,
  White Swellings,
YELLOW GUM, 
 
INTRODUCTION.
     Man, in the early days of nature, lived in a state  of
  health, both in body and in mind:  The earth produ-
  ced  its fruits for  him without culture;  there were nei-
  ther irregularities nor inclemencies of the seasons.   In
  a state of innocency, and  under a mild and clement
•  sky, there was nothing to produce disease;  spring was
  perpetual.   Protected by  the immediate  presence  of
  the Almighty, and as yet innocent of any violations
  of his law, he was happy in the enjoyments which the
  spontaneous benevolence of nature afforded him.  But
  he has been  the artificer  of his own untoward des-
  tinies.  He has  transgressed the sacred  laws  of his
  Creator—and incurred the penalties annexed  to his
  own transgressions!  His days are now shortened,
  and encumbered with disease; spring is no longer per-
  petual ;  for him now, '•'•the earth brings forth thorns
  and briers;" and for him the world has been  visited
  with earthquakes,  sterility, storms, and variations  of
  the  seasons, which blight the fruits of his labors, and
  bring mortal diseases and fatal maladies on their wings.
     Among the moral causes that have abridged  the life
  of man, there is  one which merits the attention  of the
  philosopher—it is civilization!   Civilization, by polish-
  ing man, and depriving him of his primitive rudeness,
  seems to have enervated him:—it seems to have made
  him purchase the advantage, at the expense of a mul-
  titude of diseases and miseries to which the first inhab-
  itants of  the world were  strangers—and  with  which
  the savages who  only give  way to the  impulses of na-
  ture are still unacquainted.   Man, in associating with 
10
INTRODUCTION,
his fellow beings in large assemblages, seems in some
measures to have relaxed the strong ties on his earthly
existence; society, by extending the circle of his wants,
by giving greater energy to his passions, and by gener-
ating those  that are unknown  to the man of nature,
seems  to have become  a frightful  and inexhaustible
source of calamities.  But was  not man  born for so-
ciety; did not his individual weakness, and his severe
and pressing wants, make him abandon at an early pe-
riod  the wandering life he had led in the forests in
pursuit of game—and associate with his fellow-man?
Could he not by associating with his fellow-beings, the
better protect his existence, secure his  happiness, and
expand  his  truly astonishing faculties?  There exists
no country,  in which  men are not  found in  a social
state; this is the case even  in the most  remote  and
frightful  solitudes, from the Arabian deserts to the Po-
lar regions.   But cannot  the  social ties of men  be
drawn too close? Witness our large and opulent cities,
where  the  population is immense,  and where assem-
bled  multitudes seem to be  crowded  on each other;
where, although the comforts and luxuries of life are
to be found  in abundance, the horrois of want are ex-
treme!  Are not these extremes always hostile to the
social nature of man; arc  not these large cities contin-
ually the seats of mortal diseases; the abodes of crime
and  immorality; and  are  not physical and mom! de-
pravity, always th-j consequences of such enormous ac-
cumulations of people?
  When men first united, it was \>i small bodies;  and
they passed their  days in innocence  and simplicity.
We  should  not then be astonished if they  were robust7
and  if they  then arrived  to  a great age.   They were
exempt  from  the  greater part of the  diseases which 
INTRODUCTION".
11
affect us, because they had none but natural wants, which
they could always satisfy without excess.  The bever-
age  of nature quenched  their thirst without the aid of
spirituous liquors, and the friendly hand of nature gave
them sustenance; but, in proportion to the increase of
associations,  they  generated  a multitude of fictitious
wants, which continually torment us, their offspring,
and render us unhappy; whence, instead of^those sim-
ple foods which always  prolonged life, man  has  the
poisons  of every chemical  and foreign luxury served
upon his table: and what are the results?  Why—pre-
maturely borne down with infirmities,  and devoured
with remorse, he dies disgusted and exhausted  with ex-
cesses, reflecting on innocent nature, whom he has out-
raged!  The greatest number of diseases  and  infirmi-
ties  are  of our  own begetting; because we have in-
fringed  the  healthy laws  of nature.   Fifteen out of
twenty cases  of sickness, are produced by  ourselves;
it is  by luxury and scandalous excesses, that we render
our existence unhappy, and abridge its length.
  Man is a creature  of habit; urged on by the propen-
sities of his nature; he not only abridges the period of
his life,  but  inflicts  on himself the displeasure of his
Creator.   The rising morn, the radiant noon, the shad-
owy eve, all  tell him as they pass, that  his temporal
existence is short, his advance to eternity rapid!
   When we view man in all  his bearings  and  depend-
encies, we find, and the profoundest philosophers have
done no more,  that he is involved in mystery.  The
greatest  philosophers have only discovered that they
live; but  from whence they  came, and  whither they
are going,  are by nature altogether hidden;  that im-
penetrable gloom surrounds us on every side,  and that
we can seek  in revelation alone,  the only source of 
12
INTRODUCTION.
comfort and explanation.  The seasons are a memento
of life.  Spring, breathing into life the new-born flow-
ers;  Summer,  with his genial warmth, ripening his
luscious fruits; Autumn, with her golden harvest, be-
stowing plenty on man;  and Winter, with icy mantle,
sounding the requiem of the  departed seasons.  First
comes creeping infancy; next merry boyhood and aspi-
ring  youth;  then, resolute and industrious  manhood;
and last of all, decrepit, cold, and declining age; em-
blematic of the winter of existence, the shortness  of
human life.
  Behold the changes  that have taken place  in Ten-
nessee, and  in the  whole western country, within the
lapse of a few short years!   Look  for the wigwam of
the poor Indian, who was once lord of the soil you now
possess: it is gone,  and  his bones mingle with the dust
of his habitation.  The storm of enterprising civiliza-
tion has wreaked its fury on the poor Indian; his land
has passed  into the hands of the  white man, whose
splendid mansion now rests on the graves  of  his  an-
cestors.   His peaceful forests, once the abode of soli-
tude and savage life, in which he  unmolested  tracked
his game, now resound with the festivities of civiliza-
tion, and the business hum of labor.  Those innocent
and forlorn people,  who received our forefathers in the
spirit of friendship,  instead  of being  fostered  by the
genial hand of civilization, have been driven to the feet
of the Rocky or Oregon mountains, and present a sad
and solitary spectacle of their former  greatness!  In a
few more years, the race  of the poor Indian  will  be
forever  extinguished, and  his council fires blaze  no
more: the wilderness has been subdued, and the house
of God has been built, where once ascended the smoke
of warlike and  idolatrous sacrifice:  cultivated fields 
INTRODUCTION.                 13
and gardens  extend over a  thousand valleys  in  the
west, never before since the creation  reclaimed to the
use of civilized man;  in  the enjoyment of civil and
religious liberty, institutions of learning are  hourly
springing forth, diffusing the light  of knowledge, and
establishing the enjoyments and happiness of the west-
ern world.  A few years since, even  within the mem-
ory of many  of the present inhabitants, this  immense
region was a perfect wilderness: the darkened intellect
of the savage, knew God but in the winds and thun-
ders;  on every side, the dark foliage  of the  shadowy
forest waved in the silent majesty  of nature, and  her
noble rivers moved on in silence, with no other com-
merce than the peltry of the hunter savage.   Most of
these rivers are now navigated by steamers,  affording
the quickest facility of transportation, and the most lu-
crative  commerce;  supplying  the  remote interior of
our country  with the  rich  products  of every  foreign
climate; our public roads are covered every year with
the advance guard of civilization, and  demonstrate
what must in a short period be the  result, under our
wise, equitable and politic constitutions of government.
The tree of peace spreads its broad branches from  the
Atlantic to the Pacific;  a thousand  villages are reflect-
ed from the waves of almost every lake and river; and
the west now echoes with the song of the reaper, until
the wilderness and "the solitary  place has been glad
for us, and the desert has rejoiced and blossomed as
the rose."  God,  in the infinitude of his  mercy, has
stored our mountains, fields and meadows, with simples
for healing our  diseases, and for furnishing  us with
medicines  of our own,  without the use of foreign ar-
ticles; and the  discoveries of each  succeeding  day
convince us, that he has graciously furnished  man with 
14
INTRODUCTION.
  the means of curing his own diseases, in all the differ-
  ent countries and climates of which he is an  inhabi-
  tant.  There is not a day, a  month, a year, which does
  not exhibit to us the surprising cures made  by roots,
  herbs, and  simples, found in  our kingdom of nature,
  when all foreign articles  have  utterly  failed; and the
  day will come,  when calomel and mercurial medicines
  will be used no longer, and when we will be independ-
  ent of foreign medicines, which are often difficult to be
  obtained, frequently adulterated, and always command
  a price which the poor are  unable  to pay.  The yet
  uncultivated wilds of our country, abound  in herbs
  and plants possessing  medicinal virtues, and probably
  thousands of them, whose virtues and qualities  remain
  unknown.  The travels of Lewis and  Clarke, led to
  high expectations in every branch of science;  the ob-
  servations and inquiries of these gentlemen, particular-
  ly of Lewis, were directed, among other things, to the
  diseases and medical remedies of our Indians; and
  they have given a large portion of  interesting informa-
  tion on these points.   Much,  however, is left to be done
  by Jthe  wisdom of our  legislative  bodies  on these
% points: for the time is  rapidly  approaching,  when the
  beautiful temple of medical science, will stand divested
  of all quackeries and superstitions, and its rebuilders
  be rewarded by the blessings, the gratitude, and the
  admiration of mankind.
    Professional pride and native cupidity, contrary to
  the  true spirit of justice  and Christianity, have, in all
  ages and countries, from sentiments of self-interest and
  want of liberality, delighted  in concealing the divine
  art  of healing diseases, under complicated names, and
  difficult or unmeaning technical phrases.  Why make
  a mystery of things which relieve the  distresses  and 
INTRODUCTION.
15
sufferings of our fellow-beings?  Let  it be distinctly
understood, when I speak  of professional pride and
avarice, that I do  not intend to  cast an imputation on
all my profession, for want of that heaven-born princi-
ple charity, to  our fellow-beings.  On  the contrary,
we are furnished by history, with many prominent ex-
amples of this divine form of humanity.  Hippocrates
dispensed health and joy wherever he  went, and often
yielded to the solicitations of neighboring princes,  and
extended  the  blessings  of his skill to  foreign  nations.
The great  Bcerhaave did a great deal for the poor, and
always discovered  more solicitude  and punctuality in
his attendance on  them, than on the rich and power-
ful:—on  being asked his reason for this, he promptly
replied—"God is their paymaster."   Heberden's liber-
ality to the poor was so great, that he was once told by
a friend, he would exhaust  his fortune: "no," said he,.
"I am afraid  that after  all my charities  I shall die
shamefully rich."  Fothergill  once heard of the death
of a citizen of London, who had left his family in indi-
gent circumstances:—the doctor immediately called on
the widow, and informed her he  had received thirty
guineas from her husband, while he was  in prosperous
circumstances, for as many  visits; I have heard of his
reverse of fortune—take  this purse—which  contains
all  I received  from him—it will do thy family more
good than  it will do me."    Similar occurrences of the
liberality of this great  and good man, might be given
almost without end: indeed it is said, that he gave away
one half of the income  of his extensive and profitable
business, to the needy  and  afflicted, amounting in the
course of his life, to more than one hundred thousand
pounds.   What an immense interest in celestial honor
and  happiness, must this sum not produce at the great 
16
INTRODUCTION.
day of accounts—the general judgment!   With what
unspeakable gratitude and delight,  may  we not sup-
pose the many hundreds—perhaps  thousands, whom
he has  fed, clothed, and  relieved in sickness by his
charities,  will gaze on their benefactor in that solemn
day, while the supreme  judge accredits those  acts as
done to himself,  in  the presence of  an assembled  uni-
verse!
  But, these good and great  men, have gone where we
must  all shortly follow—and  are now receiving the
rich reward of all their virtues, in that kingdom where
pain and affliction cease.  When we trace the powers
of human intellect, and the monuments of human great-
ness, and all that  genius  has  instituted and labor ac-
complished; when  we trace these  things through alj
their grades of advancement and decline—where is the
pride of man?  Behold in  each successive moment,
the monuments of the rich,  the  great, and the power-
ful—tumbling into  their native  dust—and the hand of
time mingling the proud man's ashes with those of the
menial  slave, so that their posterity  cannot distinguish
them  from each other!  When  the sable curtain of
death is drawn, where is the bright  intellect of genius
—and where are those we have loved and honored?
At the threshhold of eternity, reason leaves us and we
sink, notwithstanding all our precautions,  and the aid
of distinguished physicians.  Yet such is the course of
nature,  that those who  live long, must ouilive those
they love and honor.  Such, indeed, is the course of
nature,  and the condition of  our present existence,  that
life must  sooner or  later  lose  its  associations,  and
those who remain a little  longer, be doomed  to walk
downward to the grave alone and unregarded, without
a  single  interested witness of their joys or griefs! 
INTRODUCTION.
17
It is evident that the decays of age must terminate in
death;—yet, where is the man who does not believe he
may survive another year?
  Piety towards  God should characterise every one
who has  any thing  to do with the administering  of
medicine; nor should any individual ever administer
medicine, without first imploring the Almighty for suc-
cess on his prescriptions—for where is the man, who
can anticipate success, without the aid and blessing of
heaven?  Galen vanquished atheism, for  a considera-
ble time,  by  proving the existence of a God, from the
wise and curious structure of the human body.  Botal-
lus, the illustrious father of blood-letting  in  Europe,
earnestly advises a physician never to leave his house,
without proffering a prayer to God to aid and enlighten
him.   Cheselden, the famous English anatomist, al-
ways  implored the  aid and blessing of heaven  on his
hand, whenever he  laid hold of an instrument to per-
form a surgical operation.   Sydenham, the great lumi-
nary and reformer of medicine, was a religious man;
and Bcerhaave spent  an hour  every  morning  in his
closet, in  reading and commenting  on the scriptures,
before  he entered  on  the  duties  of his profession.
Hoffman  and Stahl, were not ashamed of the  gospel
of  Christ; and  Waller  has left behind  him a most
 eloquent  defence of its doctrines.   Doctor Fothergill's
 long life,  resembled  an  altar from which incense of
 adoration and praise  ascended daily  to  heaven; and
Hartley,  whose works will probably  only perish with
 time itself, was a devout christian.  To this record of
 these great medical  men, I shall add but  one remark;
 which  is, that the authoritative weight of their names
alone, in favor of  the truth of revealed religion, is suf-
ficient  to turn the  scale against all the infidelity that
     3 
18
INTRODUCTION.
 has ever disgraced the science of medicine since its
 earliest discoveries.
   I have seen the flower of life fade, and all its fresh-
 ness wither; I  have seen the bright eye of beauty lose
 its lustre; and my last and best friends close their eyes
 in the cold  and tranquil slumbers of death—and have
 said,  "where are the boasted powers of medicine, the
 pride of skill, the vain boast of science?"—How hu-
 miliating  to the pride of man!  Let every  physician
 put this solemn question to himself:  what will avail
 all the means I can use, without the aid of  the Almigh-
 ty?  All  efforts,  founded  on years of experience and
 study, vanish at  the touch of death; and the hold on
 life professed by the  physician, is as brittle and slender
 as that possessed by his patient: the next moment may
 be his, and those remedies  so  often used with success
 in the case of others, will assuredly fail him in his own
 case at last.  In some  unexpected moment, a wave in
 the agitated sea of life will baffle all his struggles; and
he, in his turn, will be compelled  to  pay  that debt,
which nature has claimed  from thousands of his pa-
tients.  When on the  couch of death, and whilst pe-
rusing the works of Rousseau, the last words  of the
great Napoleon were, in the language of that author—
"it is vain to shrink from what cannot  be avoided;
why hide  that from ourselves, which must at some pe-
riod be found; the certainty of death is a truth which
man knows—but which he willingly conceals from
himself"  We shall all shortly finish our allotted time
on earth, if even unusually prolonged, leaving behind
us all that is now familiar  and beloved.  Numerous
races of men will succeed us, entirely ignorant that we
once lived, and  who will  retain of our existence, not
even the vestige of a vague and empty remembrance! 
        G-UNN'S
DOMESTIC MEDICINE. 
 
OF THE  PASSIONS.
   All the passions of man seem to have been bestow-
 ed on him by an all-wise Creator, for wise and benefi-
 cent purposes; and it is certainly the province of hu-
 man wisdom, to keep them under due regulation.   In a
 moral point of view, when the passions run counter to
 reason and religion, nationally and  individually they
 produce  the most  frightful catastrophes.  Among na-
 tions, if suffered to transcend the bounds of political
 justice, they  always lead to anarchy, war, misrule and
 oppression; and among individuals,  do  we not easily
 trace the same dreadful and  disastrous  consequences?
 With monarchial and despotic governments, we fre-
 quently see the unruly and ungoverned passions of one
 man, destroying and laying  waste whole empires in a
 single campaign, and with democratical or republican
 institutions  of government,  have we  not frequently
 witnessed the terrific consequences, to moral and politi-
 cal justice, which  arise from the  disorganizing and
 turbulent passions of the sovereign  people.  Individ-
 ually and nationally, then, the consequences of misdi-
 rected and  uncontrolled  passions  are precisely  the
 same, as regards every thing connected with  political,
 legislative, and moral justice.
   But, as it is not my intention to enter into a disser-
 tation on  the passions, farther than as they  relate  to
 man as an individual,  and to their influences on the
 state of his physical system, I will first observe, that it
is  of the very highest importance to the healthy action
 of the human system, that the passions  should be held 
 "22           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 in due subjection.   If you  give  way  to  the passions-
 you destroy the finest of the vital powers: you destroy
 digestion and assimilation;  you weaken the strength
 and energies of the heart, and of the whole nervous
 system.  The stomach  is the workshop of the whole
 human frame, and all its derangements are immediate-
 ly felt in the extremeties, and to prove how strongly the
 connection exists, between the stomach and heart, the
 latter immediately ceases to beat, when the powers of
 the former  sink and are destroyed.  Distress of mind
 is always  a predisposing  cause  of disease; while on
 the other hand, a calm and contented disposition, and
 a  proper command over our  passions and  affections,
 are certain to produce consequences which operate
 against all predisposing causes of disease.  Any com-
 plaint arising from great  agitation of mind, is  more
 obstinate than one occasioned  by violent  corporeal
 agitation.   For instance;  eating  and drinking, and
 particularly in the case of drinking,  disease may be
 combated  by  rest, sleep, temperance;  but neither
 temperance, rest, nor even sleep itself, as every one
 knows, can much affect those diseases which have their
seat in the passions of the mind.  I shall not enter into
 the subject of the passions at full length.
                      FEAR.
  Fear is a base passion, and beneath the  dignity of
man.   It takes from him reflection, power, resolution,
anq jMgment; and, in short, all that dignity and great-
ness'SPsoul, which  properly  appertain to  humanity.
It'Ca'S great influence  in  occasioning, aggravating,
and producing disease.  It has been a matter of much 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
23
speculation with me, whether any man is born consti-
tutionally a  coward;—and  my  decided opinion is,
that cowardice and courage are generally the effects of
habit, and moral influence*   I  have frequently seen
brave men, acknowledged to  be such  on  great and
important occasions during the late war, who trembled
at the mere approach of danger, and  acknowledged
their want of firmness.  The  great Duke of  Marlboro'
was once seen to tremble on  the eve of battle;  being
asked by a soldier the cause  of it, the Duke made the
following reply—"my body trembles at the danger my
soul is about exposing it to?"    And does it not appear
surprisingly singular, but no less true, that a man shall
be one  day brave and the next day a coward?   That
there is a close  affinity between the condition of the
physical system and the passions,  there  can  be little
doubt;  the  same  man  who  under  the influence of
opium, would  brave dariger in its most giant form, is
seen to shrink  like a sensitive plant,  when deprived of
that  influence.   There seems  to be a reciprocal exer-
cise  of influence  between the body  and  the  mind,
which by man  is  absolutely  inexplicable;  but of this
we are  certain, that cowardice disorders and impedes
the  circulation of the blood; hinders breathing with
  ^Immediately preceding the great battle of Waterloo, on which was about to ba
suspended the great political and  military destinies of Europe, Napoleon employed a
guide who was well acquainted with the country, to accompany him in reconnoitering
the field of battle, and the  relative positions of the hostile armies.   When the battle
commenced, his peasant guide, who had never before been exposed to the tumultuous
shock of hostile armies, manifested strong and decided indications of fear, by dodging
from side to side at the sound of the shot. Napoleon observed it, and taxed him with
cowardice, which he acknowledged. He then reasoned with him on the absurdity of his
conduct. "Do you not know," said he, "that there is a power infinitely superior to
man, who rules and governs all, and who holds in his hand our destinies!  If this be
true, of which there can be no doubt, you cannot die until your time arrives;  why then
dodge the sound of a ball 1  when ynu hear it,  it has passed you; and besides, when
dodging the mere sound of one shot, you may throw yourself in the way of another."
This reasoning had the effect; it banished all suggestions of fear, and the guide after-
wards rode erect and steady, and manifested no indications of fear.  I mention this
circumstance, to show how much we are under the influence of moral power or the force
of reason respecting both cowardice and  courage. 
24           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

freedom; puts the stomach out of order, as well as the
bowels; affects the kidneys and skin, and produces bad
effects  on the whole body—and it may be  for these
and similar reasons, that the ancients elevated courage
into a moral virtue.  Many persons have fallen down
dead, from the influence of cowardice or  fear; and
can it  then  be doubtful, that  this passion  has much
influence in producing and modifying diseases?  I feel
assured, from  practical  experience,  that in  disorders
that  are epidemical or catching, the  timid,  cowardly
and fearful, take them much  oftener than  those who
are remarkable for fortitude and courage.   Napoleon
was  so  well  convinced of these facts, that when his
army of Egypt was suffering dreadfully from the rava-
ges of the plague, in order to inspire his soldiers with
courage, and to ward off those dangers which might
arise from  the fears of his army, frequently touched
the bodies  of those infected,  with  his  own hands.
Fear weakens the energy or strength of the  heart, and
of the whole nervous system;  the infectious matter has
greater power on the frame at this time—consequently
the system being deranged, loses its healthy action, and
cannot resist and throw off the epidemical disease.
                     HOPE.
  Hope! what a  source of human happiness rests in
the pleasures of hope.  Man cherishes it to his very
tomb.  Take from him hope, and  life itself would be
a burthen!   How wisely has our Heavenly Father
blended in our cup of misery, soft whispers of our fu-
ture exemption from its influence.   Without hope, how
wretched, how miserable  cur existence: what a pow- 
              G-UNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           25

erful effect it has, when laboring under pain and bodily
disorder!   It raises the spirits:   it increases the action
and power of the heart,  and nervous  system; mode-
rates the pulse, causes the  breathing to be fuller and
freer—and quickens all the secretions.   It is, therefore,
proper and advisable, in all disorders, to produce hope
in the mind, if you wish  to have any chance to  effect
a cure.  Is there a being who  lives without this  balm
of consolation, this hope of heavenly birth, which tells
of happier days  in bright  anticipation!  If such  are
the advantages of hope, as to the things of this field of
thorns and briers—this vale of tears—what may we
expect from that  emotion, when it  embraces the cer-
tainty of enjoying felicity with God in eternity.
   When  in ordinary health, and engaged in the pur-
suits of life,  hope  is attended with  many favorable
effects  of  a fortunate event,  without  possessing  the
physical disadvantages:  the anticipation of happiness
does  not  affect  us so excessively  as the actual enjoy-
ment; yet it has frequently produced more  benefit by
its influence on  health, than fortune realized.
                       JOY.
  This is  a beneficent passion; it produces an extra-
ordinary effect, and is of infinite benefit to the consti-
tution, when indulged in moderation; but, if it should
be excessive, or very sudden, it frequently does serious
and lasting injury to persons in good  health; and to
those who  are weak, or afflicted with disease, it some-
times terminates fatally.   The following instance of
the melancholy effects of the  too sudden influence of
joy, will fully exemplify the power of this passion on
     ■4 
26
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
the physical system, even when in  health.  It may be
relied on, as it came very nearly under my own obser-
vation.  A  gentleman in the State of Virginia,  who
had once been very wealthy,  but whose pecuniary cir-
cumstances had  become much depressed, not to say
desperate, as  a  last  hope  of redeeming himself and
his family from distressing embarrassments, purchased
a lottery ticket,  for which he gave the  last hundred
dollars he could  command.  The purchase was made,
under a presentiment, if such it may be  called, that a
certain number would draw the highest prize.  All his
property was then under execution.  When the day
of sale arrived,  his father-in-law and himself took a
walk into the fields, leaving his family much distressed
with their  misfortunes.    A  gentleman on horseback
immediately from Richmond,  rode  up to the house and
asked for Mr. B----, and was  directed by his  wife
where he would  be found.  When  the gentleman rode
up to Mr. B----, without exercising the least precau-
tion, he announced the fact that the ticket had drawn
one hundred thousand dollars!  The effect was such
as might have been expected;  Mr.  B----immediately
fainted, and was with much difficulty, and after many
exertions, restored.  In  the circumstance I  have just
related, the great influence of this passion will easily
be  seen; and I  trust it will  be as distinctly inferred
from it, that excesses of joy are frequently as danger-
ous to the  constitution  of humanity, as those of grief,
if not more so.   I need scarcely remark  here, that to
persons laboring under  disease, as well as to those in
merely delicate health, joyful  intelligence  ought always
to be communicated  with  much caution. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           27

                     ANGER.
  "Next anger rushed—his eyes  on fire!"—Of this
most dreadful of the human passions, had I sufficient
space to allot it, much might be said that would be of
high importance.  There  is no passion  incidental to
humanity, an indulgence in which  leads to so many
dreadful, not to say horrid and  frightful consequences:
         "To count them all would want a thousand tongues—
         A throat of brass, and adamantine lungs."
  I have before remarked,  that all our passions were
intended by the God of nature, if kept under the con-
trol of reason and humanity, to be beneficial to the
happiness of man.  This  position is demonstrable by
reason,  and  sanctioned by  the highest authority—the
word of God himself, "tc/io never made any thing in
vain."   It is not the application of our passions to their
natural, reasonable, and legitimate objects, that consti-
tutes crime, and ends in misery and misfortune.  No—
it is the abuse of those  passions  by unrestrained  and
intemperate indulgence—and the prostitution of them
to  ignoble  and disgraceful  purposes!   Was a noble
spirit of resentment, for unprovoked and wanton inju-
ries, ever intended by the God of nature, to degener-
ate into senseless anger and brutal rage?  A noble
spirit of resentment, upon the strictest moral principles,
was intended to punish wanton  and unprovoked ag-
gression, and by  preventing a repetition of the deed,
to reform the offender.  I am perfectly aware that I
here occupy a new, but  by no  means  an  untenable
ground.  Was the passion of love, the refined solacer
of civilized life; the harbinger of successful procrea-
tive power; the nurse which ushers into life successive
millions of  the human race, ever intended by the God
of nature to degenerate into brutal lust, and to  be 
28           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 followed by a train of venereal diseases,  which cank-
 ers life at its very core, "and visits the iniquities of the
 fathers upon the  children to the  third and fourth gen-
 erations?"   Was the deep-seated  and  natural senti-
 ment of self-preservation,  that essential safeguard
 of man in  every stage  of his moral existence, ever
 intended to degenerate into that childish,  superstitious,
 base, and ignoble passion called  fear?  Was  the
 elevating and ennobling passion of emulation that only
 seeks to rival superior excellence, so honorable to the
 pride of man, and so consonant to  the native  dignity
 of his soul, ever intended to degenerate into a dastard-
 ly passion of envy, which seeks to  destroy by slander
 and defamation, the excellence it has not the honest
 virtue even to attempt to rival?  Those  who  blindly
 decry  the  legitimate gratification of the human pas-
 sions, although  they may do  so from what  to them
 seems the best of motives, ought to be aware that they
 do not arraign the wisdom of Providence, for implant-
 ing them into the human bosom; and they ought, also,
 in all cases, to avoid confounding the natural and legit-
imate uses of the passions, with the  abuses  of their
lofty and powerful energies.  The passions, confined to
their native objects, and, as I have said before, kept in
due subjection to  the restraints of reason and modera-
tion, are essential to the enjoyments, the  preservation,
and the happiness of man;  they only become danger-
ous and criminal when permitted to produce misrule in
the human breast, and are placed beyond the arbitrium
 and control of moral virtue, which is the  true  science
 of human wisdom.
   I remarked in the outset,  that there  was no  passion
known  to  humanity, an  unrestrained indulgence  in
which was so fatal in its consequences to  the peace of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
29
 society, and the happiness of manf as Anger.  This
 deformer of the human countenance and  character, is
 every where to be found;  and its ravages seem coex-
 tensive with its existence; in other words, it seems to
 live through all human life, and to extend through the
 whole extent of society.
   It is even sometimes seen to wrinkle and deform the
 maiden  brow of youthful beauty with a  frown!  But
 do not my fair countrywomen know, that the passions
 never fail to leave  their impress  on  the countenance,
 and that habitual anger will render them more disgust-
 ing  than the witch of Endor?  They may be assured,
 and my  remarks  are not founded  on cursory and
 superficial observation, that the more of native beauty
 there  is  to be found in  the female  countenance,  the
 more easily will it be deformed by the vicious passions,
 and particularly by that demon  Anger.  The female
 countenance is more expressive of the finer, softer, and
 more  amiable passions  than that of  man; in  other
 words, the female face seems to be formed from finer
 materials, and to have been cast in a finer mould, and
 it is  from these causes, that the female face is  more
 expressive of the  moral  feelings, and  sooner  betrays
 indications of a depraved  and vicious  temper.  The
 stern countenance of man, can assume and maintain a
 fixture of expression, under any circumstances; and it
 is the consciousness  of  this  power,  that frequently
 tempts him to  play the hypocrite  and  deluder:—for
 were he  conscious that his face would always betray
 the emotions of his soul, he would never even attempt
 to deceive!   To the practiced eye  of philosophical
 research   and  rigid scrutiny, no  expression  of the
human countenance ever passes unobserved.  To  such
an eye, all the wiles of the  human heart stand unre- 
30
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
vealed; nor can  any subterfuge of counterfeit expres-
sion, conceal the  reality  from its  observation.  The
Scripture  itself sanctions this doctrine:  "A man shall
be known by his look—and a proud man by his gait."
If my  fair countrywomen  would reflect  well  on the
doctrine I have just laid down, they would always cul-
tivate the softer and more benevolent feelings of the
heart;  and always endeavor  to  be in reality, what
they would wish  to  appear; for they may  receive it
as a valuable truth, not to  be controverted by any of
the artifices of self-deception, that they were never
formed by the God of nature for deception and hypoc-
risy : and that the purity and elevation  of their moral
feelings, or the corruption and depravity  of their real
characters, are as easily distinguished from each other,
as is the surface of the  ocean in a settled calm,  from
that same ocean, when lashed into mountain billows by
the winds of heaven.
  Do we not see the  ravages of this moral curse called
anger, in every  department of society?  We  see  it
beneath the domestic roof, embittering  the enjoyments
of the  rich and  poor;  laying waste the harmonious
sanctity of connubial life, and often entailing misery
and misfortune on a helpless and unoffending offspring.
But this is not all.  We see it manifesting itself in its
most horrid  forms,  in  our halls of legislation;  in our
seats of legal justice; and even in our  elections,  in
which  every man  ought to be permitted to act with
perfect freedom,  and without the least accountability
to another.   In all our electioneering conflicts; at least
of late years, we  can see the old and disgraceful max-
im revived and fully acted on:—"those  who  are not
for us are against us;"—as if a  man could  not exer-
cise a  right of selection, and prefer  one man to another, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
3i
 without forfeiting  the  friendship,  and incurring the
 enmity of all the opposite parties.   If we would reflect
 correctly on this subject, we would soon discover, that
 personal friendship and personal enmity ought to have
 nothing to clo with the matter; we would soon distin-
 guish that a real statesman, or an enlightened legislator,
 ought to be the mere tool, for factional purposes, of no
 party whatever.  The  noble and devoted  patriotism,
 which gave birth to our truly great political institutions,
 emphatically forbids, that the American people should
 ever sacrifice to the narrow views of party spirit, what
 was destined by the God of nature, for  the benefit of
 the human race!   This government presents  to Eu-
 rope, a spectacle of no ordinary character; in which
 their statesmen read the future destinies of man, and
 the political fate of nations.  We  are  the  only people
 of any  age  or country, who have  organized  a  truly
 representative  government,  whose  experiments  in
 legislation—diplomacy—and arms,  are to settle the
 important  question  yet undecided, whether the  mass
 of mankind can bear the wide tolerations of political
freedom;  and whether  man, under any circumstances,
 is capable of assuming  and exercising the high prerog-
 ative of  self-government!  For what  a stake,  then,
 against all the monarchies and despotisms  of Europe
 and Asia,  are the people and  this government con-
 tending ;—a stake, as I  before  remarked, in which the
 whole human race are interested!   Before this view of
 the subject, my reader, how do our party squabbles
 and brawls at elections, dwindle down to nothing; to
 less than  nothing!  God forbid! that  I should ever
 seem to turn censor of the age; or assume a dictato-
 rial tone, even in  the cause of truth and moderation.
 I have  been led into a  slight notice of the preceding 
32
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
subjects, by their strong connexion with the moral con-
dition of man, and his too frequent  subjection  to  the
ravages of a most devastating, and I had  almost said,
a most damnable  passion, which  it seems is scarcely
controllable, by all the energies  of reason and  moral
sentiment combined.   Anger was never  yet an evi-
dence of justice, a proof of virtue, or a demonstration
of superior intellect; a mind of elevated endowments,
will always endeavor to correct its sanguinary impulses
and to expel its influence.   The man  of cool reflection,
sees in its unrestrained dominion, a thousand evils which
escape common observation.  He sees that it frequently
fills our prisons with delinquents; that it is sometimes
the cause of endless remorse; and that it often loads
the gallows  with  a  melancholy  victim!  To speak of
other than moral  and religious remedies, for this  dread-
ful malady, would be idle and nugatory.   I  might  tell
you as a physician,  to deluge your head with water as
cold  as the snows of Zembla; I might tell  you to open
every vein in your bodies  to calm the raging and un-
governable impulses of anger; I  might tell you that an
emetic would curb the tumultuous fever of  rage, and
restore you to  yourselves: all these remedies  would
produce but  a  temporary cure;  they  would  be  but
clipping the twigs  from the bohon  upas,  and leaving
the root untouched!  The only sovereign powers or
remedies, if you please, which can be efficient in cor-
recting the evils of anger,  must be sought for in early
education, and in  moral and  religious principles,
instilled into the mind at an early period of life. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
33
                   JEALOUSY.
  This is a passion, the causes of which have seldom
been investigated, although the effects of it are every-
where to be found.  The causes of it  have generally
something to do with love; but not always.  The cox-
comb and  coquette, both of whom are  incapable of
genuine love, may be powerfully affected by jealousy;
yet in both these cases, the lady and gentleman have
only experienced a slight mortification of their vanity,
and love of general admiration.  The wound here  is
not deep,  and is generally  healed  by  the consola-
tory admiration of some other jilt or jackpudding, as
the case may be.  I am not going to speak  of the jeal-
ousy  of the warrior, which is  sanguinary and daring;
of that of the diplomatist, which is politic, cunning and
circumventive; or of that of the  statesman, which is
embittered by spectres and  phantoms of future glory!
Nor will I trouble myself with noticing the jealousy of
the poet, which is harmless, though vindictive; of the
historian, which  is longwinded and  untiring in  the
pursuit of fame;  or of the philosopher and man of gen-
eral science, which  is learnedly dull and heavily inves-
tigative, in the pursuit of truths which eternally elude
human researches!  I shall confine myself to the sin-
gle subject, of that jealousy  which sometimes subsists
between husband and wife,  and which generally ren-
ders both the  objects  of public curiosity,  compassion,
or contempt.
   Marriages  are contracted upon various principles;
such  as the love  of person, the love of fame, the love
of money, &c.   So soon as the rites and ceremonies
of marriage are  duly solemnised, and rendered matter
of legal record, the parties individually acquire certain
rights and privileges, of which it is  a breach of the
     5 
34
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 municipal law to deprive them, as well as a violation*
 of the law of God.   If the love of money induced the
 lady to marry  the  gentleman,  or the gentleman  the
 lady, any deviation of conduct, however indecent and
 immoral on the one part, ought never to be complained
 of on the other, provided the true intent and meaning
 of the compact be complied with, in relation to the cash
 itself!  The  same  doctrines apply,  in the case of a
 marriage contracted on any  other principles.  If the
 fame of either of  the parties,  induces the  other to
 enter into the marriage bonds, and there be no other
 stipulation expressed or implied,  infidelity  to the nup-
 tial bed, profligacy of conduct,  and even  the  most
 indecent deviations from moral  rectitude, ought never
 to make a breach between the parties; the tenor  and
 spirit of the compact  being  complied with,  there is
 nothing more to be  said.   Nor would there be in nine
 cases out of ten, if married persons who are induced
 to captiousness and disagreement, would only be par-
 ticular in  calling to mind, the  real motives which
 operated  in inducing them to  marry.  If the mere
 love of person, without any considerations relating to
 temper,  moral excellence, and intellectual elevation of
 character, were the  leading principle which induced
 the parties  to bear  the yoke of life together, surely
 neither of them have  a right  to complain of the want
 of excellencies,  which  were overlooked,  disregarded
 and absolutely  undervalued in  the stipulations of  the
 compact.  I think this reasoning is fair; and absolutely
 too logical  to be  refuted; and, as I intend this book
 as a family museum of useful instruction and advice,
 I  trust that  what I  have so far said on the subject of
jealousy, and other causes of  domestic discontent, will
 have  its due weight.  What  right have parties  who 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           35

have been improperly matched, or rather those who
have improperly matched  themselves,  to disturb the
peace of whole neighborhoods and  communities, with
their whinings, scoldings, and  recriminations of each
other?   Will these  proceedings benefit the parties
themselves?   Will these bickerings  and brawls, di-
vorce them from each  other?  Will their domestic
disagreements, and  their "fisticuff combats," if they
should happen to be so far advanced in  the "sweets of
connubial love," reflect any respectability or honor on
their innocent  and unoffending offspring?  Will their
neighbors endeavor to  compose their strifes,  and hush
them into peace  with  a  soothing lullaby?  No!  they
will in ten cases out of eleven, be gratified at finding
©ut, that  there  are  others more miserable than them-
selves; and do every thing they possibly can, to inflame
the contest, by taking sides.  Some will take the part
of the  husband; these are generally the gentlemen of
the little body politic;  some will  take the part of the
wife; these are generally the lady-peacemakers of the
neighborhood; and before six months pass round, the
whole country will be  roused to a war of words—and
resemble "a puddle in a storm," &c.
  But, to  conclude the subject of this species of jeal-
ousy, with as  much seriousness as it seems to deserve;
it may be remarked that the passion is generally found-
ed on the tales  and hints of servants, the surmises of
tale bearing gossips, and the  malignant inueradpes of
those who delight in the diffusion of slander and defa-
mation.  There  is a class of people in all societies,
who are  seriously  afflicted  with  a disease called by
physicians "cacoethes loquendi"   It is  a disease that
is generated between ignorance, petty malignity, and
restlessness of  tongue,  which  forbids  the  repose of 
  36           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  society: in English, it  is  the  "disease  of talking.1*
  These people have considerable  powers of invention;
  but, from their ignorance  of the  common  topics  of
  enlightened  and manly  conversation, they seem to be
  absolutely compelled  to  lie their  way into  notice/
  The education of these people, commences at an early
  period of life.  When very  young, just perhaps able  to
  go on  an errand to a neighboring house, they  are im-
  mediately asked on their return home, as to every thing
  they saw  or  heard there;  their answers  are  such as
  might  be  expected,  a mixture  of truths  and lies-
  Finding,  at length, that  their parents are interested  in
  such tales—they commence with telling fibs—and end,
  confirmed and malignant  liars!  Parents, this is es-
  pecially addressed to you;  it is worthy of your most
  serious  consideration.
    But, there is a species of Jealousy, of a most ma-
  lignant  and terrible character, such  as that delineated
  by Shakspeare in his Moor of Venice, which some-
  times takes possession of the human bosom, and shakes
  the throne of reason to its very centre.  This passion,
  or rather^this insanity, seems to me to be  founded on
  almost speechless and unbounded love ; a love  border-
  ing on  absolute veneration and  idolatry.  This is an
  abstruse and intricate subject, and I freely  confess that
  I approach it with unfeigned diffidence.
IC*.  There certainly does exist, in the very nature of man,
  <*ertast!r strong  sympathies and antipathies, for which
  he is absolutely unable to account on reasoning princi-
ples; and  which,  therefore, must be  referred to the
  native inspirations of human instinct.  These sym-
  pathies  and antipathies are  every where to be found;
  nor do I believe there exists on earth, one single indi-
  vidual, male or female, arrived at mature age, who has 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           37

not strongly felt the influences  of these instinctive, I
will not say unerring principles.   They are discover-
able in our choices of dogs, of horses, of farms; in
fact, they are  discoverable  in  all cases, where the
biases  of  self-interest and ambition have no voice; and
where  nature  herself  rules  the empire  of election.
Doctor Fell once  asked Dean  Swift,  what was the
reason, after all the advances he had made to concili-
ate his friendship, that he could not gain him over; and
received the following reply, which speaks a volume on
the subject:
                 "1 do not like you, Doctor Fell,
                 The reason why, I cannot tell,
                 I do not like you, Doctor Fell."
   These attractive  and repulsive principles have been
 felt  by every individual; and the  probability is, that
 their  influence is stronger  or weaker, in proportion to
 the warmth or coolness of the human temperament;
 for I hold it to be  impossible, that so sensitive a being
 as man, can ever  behold  an object  possessed  of any
 strength  of character, and feel  perfectly indifferent
 respecting it.  If these sentiments of attraction  or dis-
 gust, existed only in cases  where  the character  of the
 object portended benefit or injury to  the beholder, the
 matter might easily be  explained, upon $ie rational
 principle of self-interest on the  one  hand, or of self-
 preservation on the other.   Such, however, is not the
 fact;  every man knows from his  own experience, that
 the first  view of an object is pleasing or displeasing,
 attractive or repulsive; and in fact, an object of attach-
 ment  or  disgust  in some  degree,  without the least
 relation  to  the sentiments of self-interest  or self-pre-
 servation.   How  much stronger, then,  must  be  our
 feelings of attachment or disgust  for an  object, when
 we know or believe that the character of that object is 
38
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 to determine, under certain circumstances, the happi'
 ness  or misery  of our  whole lives!   Parents and
 guardians of she  destinies of youth, if you can for one
 moment suspend the delusions which  fascinate you
 respecting wealth and aggrandizement,  I wish you to
 remember;—that the closer in contact you bring those
 who  have no natural affinity for each  other, the
 greater and more distant will be the rebound!   Have
 you  never  experienced  an emotion of  loathing and
 disgust, by being  merely in the presence of an object,
 whose native and unalterable character was repugnant
 to yours?  In other words, have you never experien-
 ced  a moral  nausea of  all the sensibilities  of your
 nature, by being compelled to  an  association  with a
 being whose feelings, whose sensibilities, whose very
 modes of thinking, spoke a language abhorrent to your
 souls!   If you have,  you  can  form some idea of the
 irresistible repulsions, which sometimes  influence the
 conduct  of persons in  the married state; freeze the
 few and cold  affections which habits of enforced asso-
 ciation may have  produced; and which  seldom fail,
 sooner  or later—either  to make  theni  unfaithful  to
each other, or to separate  them forever.   This  is not a
threadbare^ream of the imagination,  a mere chimera
of the fancy; the affections of mankind are absolutely
beyond their control.  How often have you seen instan-
ces in which the purest  and  strongest  sentiments  of
parental duty, and all the efforts of reason herself, have
been unable to overcome a repugnance to the marriage
 bond.  Was  this apparent contumaciousness  the off-
 spring of wilful disobedience,  and  a  fixed design  to
 thwart your intentions of bestowing connubial  happi-
 ness on your  child? no—it was the  struggle  of nature
 herself in deep distress; it was the last effort she could 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           39
make, to prevent  the  violation  of one of the  most
sacred of her laws!
   Seeing, then, as I think has been clearly demonstra-
ted, that human affections are  not under our control,
at least so far as to be influenced by sentiments of duty,
or admonitions of reason, are we not to presume, from
the great variety of motives which influence many to
enter  the marriage  bond, that  thousands are badly
paired and  worse matched?  I think so; and  those
who doubt the fact,  for  their own satisfactory  convic-
tion of error, will do well to investigate the real causes,
of so  much domestic discontent as is every where to be
found; of so many quarrels and connubial bickerings;
and, finally of so many divorces.  I assert it to be the
fact, and it will be supported by the experience of thou-
sands, that wedlock is a perfect hell, and the worst one
we know of on earth, even when surrounded by all the
splendors of wealth and trappings of power, if  it is not
hallowed  by human affections—and  I  assert further,
and am in no way apprehensive  of experimental con-
tradiction, that where wedlock is consecrated by fixed
and virtuou* love, it is and must be a source of high
enjoyment, eve^n surrounded by  the hardships, priva-
tions,  and daily sufferings of labor and drudgery.  I
have often been surprised,  on  going into*some of our
cabins on the frontiers; there was the meat hanging in
the chimney; the  bread-tray on the only table; the
straw bed on a rude frame; the blankets and counter-
panes about the floor, from which perhaps  a dozen or
less of healthy, ruddy  children  had just  risen;  there
was the corn in the crib,  the cow standing with her
head in at the door,  and the meal bag under the bed.
Great God, I have said to myself, is  it possible that
wedded love can exist in  such a  place as this!  But I 
40
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
was soon  undeceived; the whole enigma was  solved
satisfactorily: it had been a marriage of pure and vir-
tuous love untrammeled by the calculations of avarice,
the meanness of false pride, and the groveling aspira-
tions of petty ambition.
   On the other hand, I have frequented  the mansions
of the great, the wealthy, and the powerful; where, sur-
rounded by luxury and wealth, and reclined at ease on
a gilded sofa, love might have held a court superior
in splendor and magnificence to that said to have been
held in the fabled mansions of Jove!  What did I see?
I saw discontent, suspicion, and prying  distrust, lower-
ing in every eye.   I saw that the hearts of the inhabi-
tants of these splendid mansions were estranged from
each other.   I saw the servants in ^varied liveries, gli-
ding in solemn  silence  from room  to  room; nor did
one sound of cheerfulness or festivity,  break the dull
monotony of this  splendid solitude; this gilded, carpet-
ed, and festooned hell  of wedded misery!  I saw the
owners  of all this wealth and  waste of luxury,  take
their  solitary meal; for nature  had denied them off-
spring,  in revenge for a violation of her  laws.  They
approached  the festive board, which was loaded with
luxuries of every  climate, with eyes averted from each
other.  No social converse; no interchange of thought
or sentiment, enlivened the cold and hollow splendor
of the scene.  The servants in attendance helped them;
even the common forms  of superficial  politeness were
unobserved; nor did they recognize the presence  of
each other, unless in stolen and hateful glances.  They
seemed  to sit on thorns; and no sooner was their mis-
erable repast ended,  than the  one betook himself to
the gaming table,  and probably the  other  to  her
paramour. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           41

   These two delineations of life, are  not mere visions
 of the fancy; they are to be met with  in every country.
 They prove conclusively,  that  marriages contracted
 from improper motives, are always followed by conse-
 quences destructive to human happiness  and the best
 interests of  mankind.  All the conflicts,  discontents
 and jealousies  of the married state, may  be traced to
 improper motives for marriage or improper conduct
 after it.  Perhaps there is  one exception; which I
 shall name.   The husband sometimes becomes jealous
 of the wife,  and the wife of the husband, where there
 is no infidelity on either side; from  a  mere conscious-
 ness  of being unworthy of an attachment.  Cases of
 this character frequently occur; and it may generally,
 if not in every instance, be laid down as  a  fixed and
 settled principle in  human nature, that where there is
 no positive  demonstration  of connubial delinquency,
 the  party disposed to suspicion and  jealousy, derives
 these surmises of deviation, from the simple fact of a
 consciousness of being too depraved to  be an object
 of love!  I  am aware that this is a severe and  degra-
 ding sentence, against those  who entertain causeless
 suspicions; but the opinion  is not less true than severe.
 The following is  the routine of reasoning, usually ob-
 served by a man about becoming jealous of his wife.
 "This w,oman  arrests much of the  public attention.
 She  is  every  where  well spoken  of.  In all  public
 assemblies, where I  am considered  a  mere shadow,
she  commands the  most unbounded respect,  and I
 view every compliment paid to her beauty and accom-
 plishments, as an indirect satire on myself  I am un-
doubtedly her inferior in every thing;  and particularly
in sensibility and  intelligence.  I am  conscious of my
own meanness and depravity;  she possesses too much
     6 
42
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 perspicacity and  penetration, not to have  discovered
 my real character—and  cannot love me,—I saw her
 bowed to in the street; she returned  the  compliment
 with a smile.  Yesterday, from  my neglect and inat-
 tention, a gentleman of fine appearance and command-
 ing manners and  address, handed her  to her carriage;
 she thanked him  for his polite attentions—by h----n,
 she never did love me!  At Mrs.  Fidget's ball the
 other night, she attracted general attention; her chair
 was continually  surrounded by gentlemen of figure,
 compared with whom I felt myself a mere cypher; a
 gentleman bowed politely to her in passing,—angels
 and ministers defend me!  It was the gentleman who
 handed her  into her  carriage—and I  am no more
 thought of—I am a lost man forever."  Man of fanci-
ful miseries and imaginary cuckoldom, behold your
 portrait.   This is the light in which the world beholds
 you.
   Having now  in  some measure accounted  for  the
 passion of jealousy, which  is unfortunately too preva-
 lent in this country, I will conclude the subject by some
 general remarks.
   The marriage  compact is entered into  for  two pur-
 poses.  1st.  The happiness of  the parties themselves;
 2d.  The  rearing  and  educating  properly,  the off-
 spring of the  marriage contract. The principles of a
 genuine attachment, such as ought always to  be found
 in wedded life,  can never  exist in any degree  of per-
 fection, unless there  is  a  natural affinity between the
 parties—in temper, disposition,  passions,  taste,  habits,
 and pursuits of mind.  When this congeniality is abso-
 lutely and entirely wanting, the parties will gradually
 and almost imperceptibly become estranged from each
 other, and finally experience the influence of indiffer- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           43

<ence,  and  more  probably of settled and  confirmed
hatred.  In this event, if our laws would sanction the
practice, and if there were no offspring to provide for,
it would  be much  more  consonant with justice and
expediency, that the parties could separate, and else-
where form new and more agreeable engagements.  It
certainly  is worse than useless, to compel persons to
associate together, and that too in the most close and
intimate manner, when they are mutually actuated in
relation to each other, by sentiments  of hatred and
contempt.  According to the present state of things, in
relation to  divorcement, the person wishing a release-
ment from the marriage bond,  must first become pub-
licly and  notoriously infamous; or resort,  as has
been proved by the several late executions of malefac-
tors, to the dreadful alternative of murder.  What a
terrible lesson  do these  late executions  hold out to
society, on the subject of marriage,  and  the  absolute
necessity of its being based on genuine love.
   Many persons marry who only  fancy themselves in
love!  A  little Master or Miss, who would have been
well employed in reading the  fables in the spelling-
book,  gets  hold of  the   "Sorrows of Werter,"  or
Rousseau's "Eloisa," or Petrarch's "Laura," or some
other work of the same character, in which  unfortu-
nate love is delineated in the  colors of the rainbow,
and leads its unfortunate and most melancholy victims
to whoredom and suicide!  With a head full of such
trash, and a heart as tender and susceptible as a  beef-
steak that has been well beaten for the gridiron, noth-
ing  will do the little gentleman or lady but the very
fact of falling in love; and that, too, with the very first
object which presents itself.  Papa and  mamma are
cruel; they will not assent to the match, and the event 
 44           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 is probably an elopement.  Then comes the appalling
 discovery, that the  lady is not quite a goddess, nor the
 gentleman entirely a demigod;  then comes the discov-
 ery, that they are badly  paired, and infinitely worse
 matched; the gentleman becomes tired of the lady, and
 the lady of the gentleman; and finally, their papas and
 mammas have to take them  home and support them.
 I  have known  many instances  of  this kind,  which
 clearly prove, in addition  to what I have noted  above,
 that marriages ought to be predicated on natural  con-
 geniality of character, and as far as possible, sanctioned
 by the exercise of reason  and reflective  power.
   I have mentioned the rearing and education  of off-
 spring, as duties annexed  to the married state.   How
 can such elevated and responsible duties be performed
 by persons who are disqualified  even  from regulating
 their own conduct, so as to  set a correct moral  exam-
 ple?  I am very willing to admit, that teachers of much
 ability  are every  where to be found;  but no influence
 can possibly act on the infant and youthful mind in the
 formation of future character, with half the force, depth
 and durability of impression, as that derived  from the
precepts and examples of parents: and I presume it will
be admitted, that those who are  destitute of the capaci-
ty  to make a judicious selection of partners for life, are
scarcely  capable  of forming the  infant mind.    The
wives of the Greeks and Romans and their  domestic
regulations, were truly  the nurses and the nurseries of
 those two great races  of statesmen and  heroes.   The
 best biographers of Washington, whose moral, political
 and military life,  presents the noblest portrait of  man
 to  be found on the records  of time,  ascribe much  of
 the purity, elevation  and patriotism of his character, to
 the sound judgment and intellectual energy of his moth- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
45
er.   The  influence which  the manners, example, and
precepts of a mother, exercise over the intellectual
dawnings of  the  youthful  mind  and  passions, can
scarcely be appreciated by men of the most acute and
profound observation; a proof of which, in addition to
the millions of others which might  be  adduced, may
be inferred from the remarks made by  the illustrious
and greatly unfortunate captive  of St. Helena, on the
moral and intellectual qualifications of his mother.
  The truth is, and I mention it with no ordinary sen-
timents  of regret, that the education of females in the
United  States, is not only viewed in too unimportant
and contemptible a light, but that it  is absolutely dis-
graceful to the spirit of  our institutions and the
REAL GENIUS  OF THE PEOPLE.
                      LOVE.
   This is  one of the  master passions  of the human
soul,  and  when experienced  in  the  plenitude of its
power, its devotions embrace with despotic energy and
uncontrolled dominion, all the complicated and power-
ful faculties of man.   It was implanted in the human
bosom, for the noblest and most beneficent of purposes,
and when restricted to its legitimate  objects, and  re-
strained  within due  bounds  by moral sentiment, may
be called the great fountain of human happiness.  No
passion incidental to humanity embraces so vast a space,
and such an infinite multiplicity  of objects;—it com-
mences in the cradle with tender emotions of filial
attachment and veneration for our parents; it animates
and accompanies us through all the chequered vicissi-
tudes  of life, attaching itself to every object which can 
46           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

afford us enjoyment and  happiness, and finally, in ac-
companying  us to the last resort of the living, it con-
centrates all its pure and sublime energies at the great
fountain of existence, the throne of the living God.
   Like all other elementary principles of human na-
ture, its essence baffles the keenest researches of philo-
sophy  and  science;  and its existence can only  be
recognized by a consciousness of its presence, and the
effects which are manifested in every department of
life, by multiplied exhibitions of its energies.   It attach-
es the infant to1 its parent, and the domicil of its earli-
est days of helplessness and dependence: it attaches
the youth to the objects of his playful years, to the
companions  of his innocent and  festive mirth, and to
the first objects of his youthful fancy.  Without its
animating influence, as concentrated on objects  of true
glory, the hero would degenerate into a poltroon, the
statesman into a political driveler, and the patriot into
a mere citizen of the  world, without friends—without
home—and without those endearing  and sacred  ties,
which bind us to our native land!  The beneficent and
heavenly  aspirations  of love, are every  where to be
found; they bind the solitary and warlike savage to his
native forests;  the Moor, the Arab, and the  Negro, to
the burning plains of the torrid zone; the Russian, the
Swede, the Norwegian and  Laplander, to the snows
and glaciers of the polar regions, and the courtly and
civilized European and  American, to the refinements
and comforts of the  more  temperate  regions of the
globe.   Without local, relative or personal attachments,
man  would  be eternally discontented with  his condi-
tion; he would become,  like Cain,  a  fugitive and a
vagabond upon the face  of the globe;  in fact, the deep
foundations  of domestic and national society  would 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           47

soon be broken up, and scattered to the winds of heav-
en, were it not for the strong attachments of man for
the objects among which he is placed.
   If you require proofs  of the  truth of this universal
doctrine of love, ask the parent what price would induce
him  to part with  his children; ask  the husband  of a
woman of elevated and noble character, what sum in
gold  or jewels he would consider equivalent to her value;
ask the savage what would induce him to abandon the
dangers of the chase, and the deep and silent solitudes
of nature, and to  reside in your crowded cities, amidst
the hum of business  and  the confusion of assembled
multitudes.  Ask the Samoiede, and Laplander, what
would induce them to  change the fogs and snows of
the north, for the mild and balmy temperature of coun-
tries  presenting eternal spring and  unfading verdure?
They will tell you that  they love their parents,  their
children, their friends, their country.  Man, unlike the
inferior animals  of creation, is indeed the citizen of
every climate; and, his capacities of forming local and
relative attachments, are as varied and extensive as the
powers by which  he overcomes difficulties, and forces
nature  to yield him the  comforts,  conveniences  and
positive enjoyments of existence.
   Philanthropy, or love of our species, is founded oa
favorable perceptions of the purity, the beneficence, the
elevation, and the true dignity of the human character;
nor did ever an individual, of any age  or country, be-
come a confirmed misanthrope, but from contrary per-
ceptions of human nature. A man  who is  naturally a
hater of his species, without having  had his character
soured by the deceptions, frauds and oppressions of
mankind, is  by nature  cowardly,  timid  and selfish.
Nothing great, patriotic, or disinterested, can be expect- 
48
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 ed from such a man; he is cruel, vindictive, avaricious,
 fraudulent and roguish in the extreme;  he only seems to
 have been placed among mankind, as  a sort of stand-
 ard of meanness and demerit, by which we are ena-
 bled to measure and duly appreciate the elevation of
 character and dignified virtues of other men.  There
 are various degrees of misanthropy, in  a  descending
 scale from that which characterized the mind and feel-
 ings of "Timon  of Athens," downward  to the mean,
 sordid, and exclusive self-love, which manifests itself in
 taking all possible advantages of mankind, for the hoard-
 ing  and  accumulation of  ill-gotten  wealth.  These
 pigmy misanthropes, or  haters of mankind on a petty
 scale,  are every where  to  be found.   They are the
 scoundrels who, in all societies, cheat and swindle upon
 every occasion;  they are the men who  will  sacrifice, or
 in other words, purchase at  half its value, on an execu-
 tion sale, the little property of the needy, and who would
 not scruple to rob the widow and the orphan of the little
 that sickness and misfortune had  spared them.   You
 will see these swindling vagabonds, adding hypocrisy
 to their petty villainies, by making an absolute mockery
 of religion itself,  at the communion table.  That insa-
 tiable avarice is a disease of the mind,  there can be no
 doubt, and that this disease requires a moral treatment
 of cure, there  can be as  little question.  If these men
 would  reflect  on  the brevity of human life; if they
 would  consider that their ill-acquired wealth must soon
 pass from their possession, and that death will unload
 them  at  the gates of eternity, surely they would soon
 discover the folly, impolicy, and heinous immorality of
such a course.
  The passion of love, properly  so  called,  or  that
strong  and  indissoluble attachment which  frequently 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
49
 exists between the two sexes, is one of the noblest and
 most powerful emotions thvA ever animated the human
 bosom.   As  I  remarked before,  under the head  of
 jealosy, thispu'o and elevated attachment is the great
 solacer of human life; the harbinger of successful j.re-
 creative power;  the precursor and nurturer of success-
 ive  millions  of the  huiri?.n race;  the  great  moral
parent of all the  iiumerous races  of men to be found
 in every climate of the globe. It is the native of every
 country that has been invaded by the enterprise of man,
 and is found to bloom and flourish in perfection wher-
 ever man has  fixed his habitation.  It finds a congenial
 soil  in the booth of the hunter, the hut of the savage,
 the tent of the wandering Arab, the leafy bower of the
 African of the Gambia, as well as in the  haunts of
 civilization and the palaces of kings.
   As I have remarked under another head, there exists
in the  human bosom, certain  instinctive sympathies
and antipathies, which we are unable to control, either
by the force of moral sentiment or the efforts of reason;
and which are absolutely inexplicable by all  the boast-
ed powers of human  genius. The existence of these
instinctive principles, are only known by our own con-
sciousness, and  the powerful and decisive effects they
are known  to produce.  No two human beings, espe-
cially of different sexes, and more especially  if their
affections were unengaged by previous prepossessions,
were ever yet in the presence of each other for any
length  of time, without experiencing  the force, in a
greater  or less degree, of the sympathy or antipathy
before noticed.  When the attraction is mutually strong,
the parties soon become conscious of a congeniality of
temper, disposition, tastes and sensibilities; this sympa-
thetic attraction has, by some writers  on the subject, 
50
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
been denominated "love at first sight."  When on the
other hand, the physical, moral, and intellectual char-
acters of the parties, are essentially and radically differ-
ent from each other;  in other words, and in more fash-
ionable phraseology, when  the  natural  characters of
the  parties are the antipodes,  or direct opposites of
each other, the repulsive powers of natural antipathy
are so strongly experienced, as to produce involuntary
hatred, if not  fixed and unalterable sentiments of con-
tempt  and detestation.  I am thus particular in giving
my opinions on these subjects, not only because I know
that their correctness will be sanctioned by the actual
experience of thousands, but because  I trust they  will
be of service to many, in disclosing  the extreme danger
to human happiness, which invariably arises from  uni-
ting those to each other, by  merely artificial and facti-
tious ties, whom God and nature have put asunder.  By
opposition  of native  character,  I mean a plain  and
palpable dissimilitude of temperaments, taste and intel-
lectual and moral pursuits.  Can physical and moral
beauty, be in love with physical deformity,  and moral
depravity of character?   Can wisdom and intelligence
be in love  with folly  and  stupidity?   Innocence  and
spotless purity, with guilt and corruption?  Virtue with
vice?  No!
            "Fzce is a monster, of such frightful mien,
            That to be hated, needs but to be seen."
  I am willing to admit, and believe  it to be  strictly
true, that persons  who are characterized by vice, cor-
ruption, guilt,  stupidity, folly, moral depravity, or per-
sonal deformity, may form strong attachments to persons
of diametrically opposite characters:—this would  be
but admitting what every person  knows; that vice and
imperfection, under all their various forms and char- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
51
 acters, if endowed with the common faculties of percep-
 tion, must and always will pay involuntary tributes of
 respect, veneration,  and such love as they are capable
 of experiencing, to  virtue and moral purity wherever
 found.  The love of the depraved and immoral portion
 of mankind, is precisely such as may always be expect-
 ed from such characters; it is selfish, base and ignoble;
 utterly devoid of tenderness  and  consideration for the
 object beloved, it is precisely such love as the wolf bears
 for the  lamb; or the fox for the hen-roost!  It has
 always been matter of much astonishment to me, that
 females of refined sensibility, lofty sentiments of moral
 virtue, and high orders of intellectual power, should
 expect a reciprocation of pure  and virtuous love,  froin
 the scum and  dregs of society,  the  off-scourings of
 brothels, and the hoary and depraved veterans of the
 gaming table!   They might  as well, I think, and with
 much better hopes of success, attempt to extract candor
 from  confirmed hypocrites,  honor from thieves,  and
 humanity from highway robbers.   There is no way of
 solving this enigma, that I know of, but by supposing
 that women of virtue and honor are incapable of dis-
 tinguishing the particular claims which these  gentle-
 men  have to their  detestation and contempt; or by
 presuming that they  always, by the aid of their imagi-
 nations, invest the characters of such men with factitious
 virtues, which have no existence; for I cannot suppose
 they can truly love them, and yet  be fully acquainted
 with their intrinsic characters.  The strength and qual-
 ity of an attachment, must certainly depend, in a great
 measure, on the physical and moral  qualities of the
 object beloved, and on the capacities of a lover to per-
 ceive and appreciate those  qualities.  I am perfectly
convinced, and that, too, from experience, that a woman 
52
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
of moral purity of character, never excites the same
impure sentiments and base passions, that are produced
or excited by a  female  of a  contrary  character, and
whose countenance and deportment betray  indications
of immoral habits and loose desires.  There is some-
thing of immaculate purity; something of the  very
divinity of virtue, in the countenance and deportment
of a woman of chaste desires, elevated moral  senti-
ments, and cultivated intellectual powers, that represses
the low-born suggestions of lust and  depravity, and
awes all the vicious passions into cowardly submission
to the dignity of female perfection.   No man, however
vicious and depraved in  his habits  and pursuits, ever
yet had the impudence and audacity to contemplate the
deliberate seduction  of  an accomplished and beautiful
woman, unless he were under the influence of a species
of libidinous  insanity;  had formed  a contemptible
opinion  of the  female character,  or had  discovered
some vulnerable part  in her armor of chastity and
virtue.
  Few  women, and I mention the fact with  much
regret, are proof against the thrilling  suggestions  of
vanity, the allurements  of flattery, and the  fascina-
tions attendant  on  a passion for general admiration;
they  ought early to be  taught  by  their parents and
preceptors that  true pride, which is  in  reality dignity
of character, is always hostile to the foolish and dan-
gerous suggestions  of vanity; that  flattery, called  by
an old and quaint writer, "the oil of fool," is  a direct
and positive insult;  and that  a female passion for uni-
versal admiration, especially  in  the married  state,  is
hostile to domestic peace, and absolutely at war with
connubial enjoyment and happiness.
   That  flattery is  an  insult, is evident from the fact 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
53
that no flatterer ever yet ventured upon the practice of
his art, without first concluding that the object of his
addresses was a fool;  the truth  is, that flattery is
always addressed  to our  personal vanity, which in
plain language means, a strong propensity to an over-
estimate of our own merits and perfections.  Manly and
dignified  pride, has always  been  found a  specific
against the frivolous passion of vanity, and hence it has
been  frequently said, that a man or woman may  be too
proud to be vain; the fact is, that vanity is  the false
and empty pride of fools!   Napoleon intended  much
when he expressed himself thus to some  of his friends,
"I had  hoped and expected that the French were a
proud nation, but I have found by experience that
they are only vain."  The passion for universal  admi-
ration is  the distinguishing and strong characteristic of
a coquette;  it is the offspring of personal vanity,  begot-
ten  upon  coldness  of temperament,  ignorance  and
folly.  A coquette, in the female world, is what  a cox-
comb is among men, a being void of sentiment, sensi-
bility and intelligence, and utterly incapable of genuine
love.
   The marriages of both coquettes and  coxcombs, in
conformity  with the coldness and shallowness of their
characters,  are  always predicated on other principles
than  those  of attachment  to  the  object. . They are
absolutely incapable of feeling the soft refinements, the
elevated sentiments, or  the deep toned energies of real
love; those people are never in danger of suffering the
tortures of a broken heart, nor can they experience
either much happiness or any  considerable degree  of
misery  in the married state.  The love of general
admiration  is their master passion; and  whenever this
is the case, it is  impossible that  a concentration of 
54
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
affections can take place,  and be exclusively directed
to a single object; fire can never  be produced  from
the separated  and scattered sunbeams, they must be
concentrated by a convex  glass, called a lens, before
they can  be rendered sufficiently  intense to produce
warmth, heat  and combustion.  The love of general
admiration was wisely implanted in the human bosom,
and for the best of purposes;  but wherever it gains the
full possession of the  female breast, it freezes  all the
domestic and conjugal affections, and sometimes leads
to jealousy and discontent, with all their dreadful train
of consequences—in other words, and I wish the sen-
timent to make a well-merited and indelible impression,
the married man  who can prefer the admiration  of
other women  to that of the wife of his  bosom,  is a
traitor to all the hallowed solemnities of the marriage
compact,  and a  cold and calculating violator of the
laws of God!   Nor, on the other hand, is the married
woman less a traitress to connubial love, to the honor
and happiness of her  husband  and family, and to the
best interests of society, and domestic enjoyment, who
can prefer the shallow and superficial admiration  of
fools and  coxcombs, to the deep and  devoted  attach-
ments of a husband, who would not scruple to make a
sacrifice of life itself to insure her happiness.
             "Woman alone was formed to bless
             The life of  man, and share his care;
             To soothe his breast, when keen distress
             Hath lodg'd a poison'd arrow there."
   I have mentioned, that persons  of diametrically op-
posite physical, moral, and intellectual characters, could
never assimilate with,  and become strongly attached
to each other, notwithstanding  the powerful attractions
of the sexual instinct.  By opposite natural  and ac-
quired characters, I do not mean mere contrasts  of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           55  <

mental  and corporeal disposition and  characteristics.
I cannot otherwise  disclose my precise meaning,  re-
specting things which  are direct  opposites, and those
which are only contrasts of  each  other, than by citing
the example of colors.  Black and white, for instance,
are the  opposites of each other, and when placed in
juxtaposition, always pain the eye; but, either of those
colors, when compared with any other of the primitive
colors or even shades, are only considered contrasts.
St. Pierre, in his studies of nature, has been explicit on
this  ingenious and  novel  subject, which  is certainly
worthy  of much consideration.  There seems to exist,
between  persons  of opposite  physical characters, a
decided indifference as regards sexual communication;
or if not a decided  and entire  indifference, there cer-
tainly does  not obtain between them, that arduous and
passionate sexual propensity, which  is  found between
persons who  are the  contrasts  of each other.   I have
remarked in innumerable instances, the strong attach-
ments  which existed  between  persons of contrasted
complexion,  contrasted  colors  of the  eyes and hair,
and especially of strongly contrasted stature and di-
mensions ; and I have no doubt, that the reader  of  this
new, if not very  interesting part of my reflections,  will
recollect very many  instances,, of the existence of mar-
riages voluntarily entered into  from the  strongest of
possible attachments, between persons who in point of
stature and size, were perfect contrasts of each other.
Ask  a  tall, robust and athletic man,  what sort  of a
wife he would choose; and  you will very soon ascer-
tain that his choice would fall  on a  female, the  con-
trasted   reverse  of himself.  In fact, you  will  always
find on inquiry, that a lean man prefers a woman of
size,  and rather large proportions—a short man, a 
56
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE. "
woman of lofty stature, and so on to the end  of the
chapter  of  contrasts  in personal  character.    The
gigantic and brawny Roman warrior, Mark Anthony,
fell ic love with the sylph-like  and fairy form of Cleo-
patra, the cclcbvriied Queen of Egypt, who was remark-
able for being of very diminutive proportions, though
very beautiful; in fact, thousands  of such instances
might be cited from both ancient and modern history.
The contrast  of physical proportions and character,
united in the marriage bond, seems to have been inten-
ded by Providence, to equalize  the breed of mankind,
and to prevent them on  the one hand from running up
into a race of giants, and on the other from degenera-
ting into  a strain of diminutive  and contemptible pig-
mies.
  But on the subject of contrasts, that is not all; con-
trasts in moral and intellectual qualities,  seem  to be
equally favorable  to  love; and here again I  am com-
pelled to resort to figurative language to convey my
meaning.  There are concords and discords in music:
perfect concords always fall on the ear with a dull and
cold monotony; whilst  perfect  discords always grate
harshly on the auditory  nerves, producing  exquisite
sensations which  are  still  more  unharmonious and
disagreeable.   It will not be necessary to say much on
this subject of moral and mental contrasts; I only sug-
gest, that the reader may make his own  observations,
respecting this singular anomaly in the human charac-
ter.  We know perfectly well, that persons of moder-
ate intellectual powers, both male and female, provided
their  tempers and dispositions be gentle and  amiable,
are invariably the objects of love and the most tender
regard, with those who possess uncommonly lofty and
powerful characteristics of genius and intellect.  This 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           57

fact is even so notorious in all societies, as to have be-
come a  proverb; and,  how  often  have we  all  seen
instances in conjugal life, in which fortitude has been
united  to despondency—fickleness and  inconstancy of
resolution, with the most unshaken and  resolute tena-
ciousness of purpose—timidity with consummate bra-
very—and  the highest  order of moral  courage,  with
the shrinking  cowardice  of superstition and  childish
ignorance.  We know these  to be facts, and  can only
account for them on the great scale of divine  wisdom
and providence, by presuming them to be intended for
equalizing the human  species in wisdom  and moral
energy—-and  for forming additional  and indissoluble
bonds  in the social compacts of mankind.
   I have several times mentioned, and I think demon-
strated, so far as the force of facts and moral reasoning
will  go, that  the passion of love is measurably invol-
untary, and  beyond  the  control of  moral sentiment
and reason; nor can there, I  think, exist any doubt, not
only that the strength of the passion  depends on the
peculiar temperaments of  individuals,  but that the dis-
tinctive  tharacieristics of  the  passion or  emotion
called love, are essentially connected with the physical,
moral and intellectual  qualifications of  the objects or
persons beloved.  If, then, the strength  of the passion
is in any proportion to the natural  temperaments of
individuals; and if its peculiar qualities  or characteris-
tics depend on the natural and acquired qualifications
of the objects of attachment, how  ridiculous, absurd,
and perfectly  irrational it must be  for any  man or
woman to expect, that  he or she can possibly be  an
object  of attachment, with any person of rational and
scrutinizing mind, on account of qualifications which
are not possessed, and which  in fact, are known and
     8 
58
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
perceived to be entirely wanting.  I mention the  sub-
ject in this way, and place it in this light, in order to
prevent the exercise of hypocrisy between the sexes,
which is always dangerous in  its  consequences—and
in order, also, that  those  whose happiness in life, de-
pends on their being objects of  esteem, friendship, ven-
eration, attachment and  love,  may see the absolute
necessity of deserving the homage  of such refined and
virtuous sentiments; in other  words, that they may be
deeply impressed with the important and eternal truth,
that  candor, honor, and moral virtue,  are the great
passports to human happiness.  I have often witnessed
the tremulous  solicitude of females, of the  most amia-
ble and exalted  qualities of person and  mind, respect-
ing the public opinion  of.their merits and character,
and frequently  been interrogated by them  on the sub-
ject.   In these cases, I have uniformly answered in the
words of an old Grecian sage, "know  thyself;" and
your opinions of yourself, if correct and well founded,
will be precisely such  as are  entertained  for you,  by
those whose  esteem and  approbation are of any im-
portance.   Genuine and rational  love,  commences in
the natural, and if I may be allowed the expression, as
applicable to human nature, the instinctive sympathies
of individuals for the  society of each other; it is  ce-
mented and powerfully strengthened by the endearments
of sexual enjoyment, of which  I have  before spoken;
and it is crowned with both" temporal and immortal du-
ration,  by the mild purity and unfading lustre of  the
moral virtues, and the  imposing  splendors of genius
and intellectual power.  As I said  before, it is confined
to no particular climate,  and  to no exclusive region of
the globe; its benign influence  is  experienced, as well
among the pok-r snows of the north, as in  the  mild 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.            59

climates of the temperate zones.  It is the exclusive
guests of no particular rank in life: the rich, the poor,
the exalted, the  base, the brave, arc alike participant
in its  genial warmth, and heavenly influence.  In the
words of Lawrence  ebcnio, "no  tint of words can spot
its snowy mantle, nor chemic power  turn  its sceptre
into iron; with love  to smile upon him as he cats his
crust,  the swain  is  happier than the  monarch, from
whose court it has been exiled by vice and immorality."
This  is  that undebased  ana genuine  love, which  is
founded in unlimited confidence, mutual esteem, and
the mild sublimities  of virtue and integrity of charac-
ter.  It illuminates the countenance with the sparkling
brilliancy of soft desire;  and is in fact, the safeguard
of female virtue, and  of chastity itself,  whenever as-
sailed  by unprincipled and seductive fascination.
  With respect to the passion of love,  there is a com-
mon error of  female education,  which will also apply
to the  early instruction of males, of which I must speak
in plain ierms in the conclusion of this subject.  Eve-
ry human  being, at a  very early period of life, from
peculiar modes of instruction, and  the examples pre-
sented to the mind, forms some  idea of the qualifica-
tions  which constitute human  excellence.  If, for in-
stance, at an early period, the parents and instructors of
a female impress upon her mind, that the mere decora-
tion of the person will render her an object of tender
regard, without the  cultivation of her moral and intel-
lectual qualities,  the result will  be, and it cannot  be
avoided, that  aiming at  what she believes to be the
great excellence of the human female  character, both
her moral and intellectual energies will retrograde into
barrenness and insipidity: in other words, she will be-
come  what the  world denominates a  pretty woman, 
60
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
the idol of fools and coxcombs, but an  object of com-
passion,  indifference or contempt, with men of lofty
sentiments and distinguished characters.   Peter the
Great of Russia, on account of her superior intellectual
endowments, chose for a wife, and made her Empress
of  Russia,  a woman of  obscure and  lowly origin.
And in more modern times, I had  the information from
a person well acquainted  with the facts,  we  find the
spirit, discrimination and sound judgment of Peter the
Great respecting the value  of a woman  of a cultivated
mind, revived in  the  person  and character  of Lord
Morgan.  Sidney Owenson, his present wife,  was the
daughter of a comedian on the Dublin stage.  At an
early period, this youthful female discovered  strong
traits of genius of a literary character, and Owenson,
though in impoverished circumstances, determined to
educate his daughter.  He did so; in consequence of
which, she became an object of strong attachment with
a man of distinguished mind,  who preferred her to the
titled and the rich, and she is now Lady Morgan.
  Mrs. Hamilton, a lady of some celebrity,  who has
written much on female education, makes the following
remark on women:  "where there  is no intellect, there
is no moral principle; and  where  there is no principle,
there is  no security for female  virtue."  This is the
truth, but not the whole truth:  had Mrs, Hamilton re-
cognized religion as  an essential requisite in preserving
the moral virtues of women, she would probably have
said all that was necessary on female education.  The
accomplishments of women, ought always to have some
relation to their future duties in life;  but it is  evident,
that the cultivation of their minds, cannot with justice
to themselves and society be dispensed with, no  matter
what may be their future destinies. A cultivated mind 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           61

is a never-failing passport to the best society; it always
insures the extension of friendship and  civility, when
accompanied by correctness of conduct and a virtuous
deportment;  it prevents women  from  becoming the
dupes of artifice, and the victims of seduction; it ex-
pands the heart to all the principles of sympathetic feel-
ing for the distresses of others, and induces a commise-
ration for the misfortunes of mankind; it holds up to a
distinct and scrutinizing examination,  the real charac-
ters of men, and enables a  woman to make a judicious
selection of worth, from a herd of coxcombs and fools,
by 'which,  if wealthy  and distinguished by ^personal
beauty, she may be persecuted with addresses.  It fits
her for the superintendence and regulation of a family,
and enables her to make correct educational impres-
sions on the minds of her offspring.
  The want of mental culture,  among  females of all
ranks in life, has frequently led to disastrous consequen-
ces.   By mental culture, I do not mean those shallow
and frivolous accomplishments which are sometimes
taught at boarding-schools; nor do I mean by a refine-
ment  of the  female  mind, a  proficiency in drawing
roses  which resemble a copper coin,  in  thrumming a
waltz on the piano, or fidgeting through the lascivious
gesticulations of an Italian or French fandango!  I
mean by mental culture, the acquisition of solid accom-
plishments;  those which  can be rendered useful to
domestic policy, be an example to society in the correc-
tion of its  morals, and  reflect honor  on the national
character.   Such  an education  always represses  the
waywardness  of the fancy, and lops away the useless
and often dangerous exuberance of a powerful imagina-
tion ;  it affords a  never failing resource of comfort in
solitude, and finds a healing balm for the wounds of a 
62
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
wayward and unfortunate destiny.  In fine, no woman
possessed of a judicious education, even under the pres-
sure of the most trying  misfortunes,  ever  yet  lost the
just  equipoise between her strength and sensibility, or
became the victim of a  broken heart!
   The exquisite miseries which spring from disappoint-
ed love, and  sometimes terminate in a  broken heart,
(for I am well persuaded there is really such a disease.)
always arise  from visionary creations of the fancy, and
disorders of  the imagination:  in other words, they are
the  offspring of overstrained  and imaginary  concep-
tions, of the  qualifications of the object of attachment;
they are, in  fact,  die melancholy results of an over-
estimate of the virtues and perfections of human nature;
of which the woman of a cultivated mind,  and really
philosophic  acquisitions, stands in no possible danger.
A woman  who cultivates her  imagination, by the un-
limited perusal of novels and  romances, at the expense
of the solid  qualities of her understanding, is always
in danger of  becoming the victim of  a wayward fancy;
and, should she live to have the errors of  her imagina-
tion corrected by practical experience, will have  noth-
ing of the imagination left, but  the ashes of a consumed
sensibility, on which no future attachment can possibly
be  predicated.   A woman  of cultivated mind,  sees
 objects as  they really are—and not as they are clothed
by  an inflamed and disordered fancy;  she knows that
 human nature  is not perfection itself, and  expects noth-
 ing  from it, but what appertains to the natural charac-
 ter  of man;  she knows it to be a compound of weakness
 and strength, virtue  and vice, wisdom and folly—and
 never over-estimating the virtues and perfections of an
 object of  attachment,  her desires  are chastened by
 moderation, and her loves  by the  high-toned philoso- 
              GUNN\S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           63

phy of true wisdom!  Such a woman, unlike the melan-
choly victim of a morbid sensibility, and a high wrought
and disordered imagination, is in no danger of sinking
into  the diseased apathy  of disappointed  love, and
becoming the victim  of partial or  total insanity, or a
disconsolate and broken heart; for which all the mere
medical remedies known to human genius and science,
are but miserable and inefficient palliatives.  Religion,
change of scenery, and attractive and interesting com-
pany, in some cases have considerable influence in
detaching the mind from the concentration of its reflec-
tions on  an  object of deep and vital  love; but, in the
more numerous instances, they have all been known to
fail, and even to baffle all the efforts of friendship and
parental  attachment.   In fact, it seems to me, and I
have paid much attention to the subject, that judicious
education, and a well cultivated mind, acting  as pre-
ventatives to  the disorders of the  imagination, are
almost the  only and  powerful specifics, against the
occurrence of the miseries of disappointed love,
                     GRIEF.
  Tins depressing affection of  the  mind,  called a
passion when  experienced in the extreme, sometimes
degenerates into confirmed  melancholy,  despair, and
fatal insanity.   It is the offspring of so many and such
various causes, that it is  next to impossible to enume-
rate them.   It  is sometimes caused  by cheerless and
gloomy presentiments of the future; sometimes by the
heavy pressure  of present evils and calamities;  and not
unfrcquenlly, by strong and vivid recollections of losses
which  can  never be retrieved.   Against its inroads and 
64
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 often fatal effects on the  health of the  physical system,
 (which are  varied according to the temperament and
 character of the individual,) neither  the internal nor
 external exhibition of medical drugs can  have much
 avail.
   The force and effect which grief exercises and pro-
 duces, in deranging  the functions  of the physical sys-
 tem, seem in a great degree to depend on the poignancy
 and acuteness of those sensibilities which characterize
 the  nervous system.   Where  the nervous  system  is
 tremulously sensible, and easily susceptible of external
 impressions, which is  generally the case  with persons
 of distinguished  genius,  there  is invariably found a
 constitutional melancholy, which delights in retrospec-
 tions of the past, and serious, if not cheerless anticipa-
 tions of the future.  At  an early period of life, these
 persons are  highly susceptible of the charms of nature,
 and also of  her more gloomy and sombre scenery; and
 being deeply sensible of the influence of what to other
 men would  be slight impressions, their feelings always
 exhibit themselves in the extremes of animation or de-
 pression of spirits, for which they themselves are utterly
 unable to account.  In fact, it is not unusual to witness
in the varying sensibilities of these persons, and that
 too, in the lapse of a single day, the reflective calmness
and profundity of the great southern Pacific ocean—
the urbanity and cheerfulness attendant on anticipations
of future prosperity and happiness—and  those storms
of ungovernable and unsubdued passions, whose undu-
 lations resemble the mountain billows of the Atlantic,
when lashed by the hurricanes  and tornadoes  of the
 torrid zone!  This is  not  only the constitutional tem-
perament of true and unsophisticated genius, of  which
so much has been said, and so  little known, but it  is 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
65
also the soil which produces  sensations  of exquisite
happiness and misery;  distinguished principles of mor-
al rectitude and depravity  of  conduct; great virtues
and great vices!
   Seriousness, depression of spirits, melancholy, grief,
despair, insanity, are but the different modifications of
the same passion or predisposition of the  moral facul-
ties, of whose essence we in reality know nothing ab-
stractly, only differing in degree of force and effect, in
proportion to the  strength  or  weakness  of operating
causes.  For  instance;  seriousness and  solemnity of
feeling, are always produced  in a mind  of sensibility
and reflection,  by  the sight of a  dead body;  of the
 human limbs lopped  away in battle;  of the human
 mind in ruins;  and of human  misery exhibited to us
 under any form:   in  these cases the|effects produced
 are only temporary, and usually pass away with the
 removal of the  objects which  excited them.  If, how-
 ever, serious and solemn feelings  be often reproduced
 in the mind, by reiterated exhibitions of objects capa-
 ble of exciting  them,  their impressions  will become
 more  durable,  and soon produce a habitual tone of
 feeling,  denominated  depression  of spirits.  When
 this depression  of  spirits is habitually indulged in for
 any considerable lapse of time, it is apt to gain so great
 an ascendency over the active  and resolute powers of
 the mind, as to  dispose the  person affected with its in-
 fluence, to seek in  solitude  and retirement from society,
 an indulgence  in  inactivity, irresolution  and gloomy
 reflections, which,  becoming fixed, and, as it were, im-
 moveable, settles down into  melancholy.   Seriousness,
 depression  of spirits, and melancholy, sometimes pro-
 duce mental  derangements; but they are generally of
 a harmless, unobtrusive. .•■•ilent, and inoffensive eiiarac 
g(J           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

ter, where the nervous system is tremulous and exceed-
ingly delicate—or where the temperament, if I may be
allowed the phraseology, is characterised by weakness,
irresolution, and timidity.
  Compared with  the above affections, which seem at
first view to have their seat in the imagination, and by
some are denominated hypocondria  in men,  and hys-
terics  in women—grief  and despair  are  certainly
affections of a more active and powerful character, and
much sooner ending in  fatuity or mental exhaustion,
and outrageous or confirmed insanity.
  As I have somewhere mentioned, and the probability
is that the fact will be acknowledged by all well-inform-
ed physicians, by which I mean those who have discov-
ered how little can be essentially known on the subject
of affections of the  mind, the  particular and  direct
influence which these,  and other strong passions have
in deranging the organization of the  brain, cannot well
be ascertained.   All we know7 about  the matter is, that
we cannot  think with accuracy and profundity of re-
search, without a well-organized brain, and that any
derangement of that organization and its natural  func-
tions, produces coequal and coextensive derangements
of the intellectual or mental powers.  The probability
is, that refined, susceptible, and strong organizations of
the brain, considered in the aggregate, have  much in-
fluence in imparting to  the mind, those refinements of
taste, susceptibilities of feeling, and superior intellectual
capacities,  which we call genius, for want of a term
which can  be more clearly understood.   We are per-
fectly aware, that without a well-organized eye. no defi-
nite or accurate ideas can  be  formed of colors—forms
__dimensions—distances : that without a well-organized
and susceptible car, no  clear and  distinctively correct 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC:  MEDICIMJ.            6?
  impressions can  be made, by what we call sounds, or
  vibrations  of  the air,  for  want of a more expressive
  term, on the auditory nerves:  that without a well-cor.-
  structed nasal organ, vulgarly denominated a nose, no
  clear and  distinct  impressions  can be made on the
  olfactory nerves  or nerves of smelling, by the effluvia
  arising  from bodies: that,  unless  the  portions of the
  nervous system which are incorporated with the tongue
 and its appendages, be  unobstructed by malconforma-
 tion  of the  organs  of taste,  no distinctions of flavor
 could be recognized, between sugar, gall, and vinegar;
 and  that unless the nerves which  are spread over the
 cutaneous surface of the body, and particularly that of
 the hands, be perfect both in organization and tone, no
 adequate or correct ideas could  ever be formed of the
 shape, solidity, &,c.  of bodies, with which we come in
 immediate contact.   The fact seems to be, and I consi-
 der the theoretical  conjecture inferior  to none which
 has been published by medical men, that whenever the
 affections of the mind derange the tone and susceptibil-
 ity of the senses,  these  derangements always bring to
 the  censorium, or focal  point of  mental impression,
 incorrect and distorted ideas of external objects, which,
 as in hypocondria, make us believe in  the existence
 of phantasmagoria of a most childish and superstitious
 character.   This is a species of insanity, connected with
 unnatural and painful seriousness—habitual depression
 of spirits—and confirmed melancholy.
  On the other hand, when afflictive impressions are
 made upon the mind, of an unusually active  and pow-
 erful  character, and sufficient to  impair and  partially
 destroy the organization  itself, as in the cases of in-
 tense and  poignant  grief,  or  absolute  and  hopeless
despair,  the  partial  dissolution of the physical  struc- 
68
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
ture and organization of the brain, it is not improbable.
leads to offensive,  mischievous, and terrific insanity,
amounting to absolute phrensy, and finally terminating
in dissolution.   The  fact is,  and it  is well known to
physicians, that  a dissolution  of the organic structure
of the frame, if that dissolution take place in  any vital
organ,  particularly the brain or  stomach,  between
which there exists  a close and almost identical sym-
pathy, decidedly morbid effects are produced  to  the
whole system—physical, moral and mental; in  fact,
the brain may be called the father, and the stomach
the mother of the system.
  I have only as yet spoken  of the influence which is
produced upon the physical functions of the system, by
the passion of grief, and other strong affections of the
same or a  similar character.  The same  effects as
those produced by the passions above enumerated, are
sometimes the offspring of other causes, not connected
in the first instance, with the passions, but which after-
wards operate strongly upon them, and assist in destroy-
ing the nervous,  vital and moral functions and organi-
zation of the system.  We  know perfectly well,  for
instance, that there are many substances which, when
taken into the stomach,  affect the passions strongly by
irritation and excitement—produce morbid  derange-
ments of the physical functions—and, hot unfrequently,
moral and  mental alienations.  The effect of tincture
of cantharides on  some of the passions, when taken
into the stomach, is perfectly well  known; nor  do I
believe, that if its application to the stomach were long
continued,  it would ever fail  to produce  morbid irrita-
tions  and  inflammations,  which would terminate in
functional derangement, and actual dissolution of organ-
ic structure in the brain.  The effect which opium pro- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
69
 duces, where it is used  in  immoderate  quantities, as
 among the Turks,  is well known;  and  that  it not
 unfrequently ends in derangements of the physical sys-
 tem, and  absolute insanity with all its horrors.   Nor
 is the intemperate use of spirituous liquors, used to such
 excess and in  such  immoderate quantities in our *own
 country, far behind the use of opium, in producing the
 same deleterious effects on the brain, through the me-
 dium of the stomach.  Every man who  will tax his
 recollections, will find his memory furnished with innu-
 merable instances, in which a long train  of physical
 diseases has  been followed by derangements  of .the
 intellect, which none of the boasted powers of science
 or medicine could relieve or rectify, merely from the
 immediate use, or rather abuse  of spirituous liquors.
 Have we  not all witnessed instances, in which the
 abuse of spirituous liquors has  produced visceral ob-
 structions  of  a  most  deadly character—and  mental
 derangements which have been confirmed and render-
 ed durable to the end of life?  How is this fixed and
 confirmed  mental alienation to be accounted for, but
 upon the presumption that  those  stimulants, long con-
 tinued, affect not only the nerves, but the organic struc-
 ture of  the brain?   Do we not know that a  fit of
 intoxication is a paroxysm of mental  derangement—
 and that impressions often reiterated will  wear their
 channels in the brain, injure its unrivalled and delicate
 organization, and render those effects durable?   What
 are the effects which immediately follow a fit of exces-
 sive intoxication ?  Are they not the very same as those
 produced by the influence  of the passions  of which I
have before spoken?  Are  they not seriousness, de-
pression of spirits, melancholy, grief, despair,  insani-
 ty?  This  is the point at which I intended to arrive. 
70
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MKDICINE.
 I intended to demonstrate in a plain and simple man-
 ner, that disease, insanity and death,  are produced as
 well by moral as by physical causes;  and that a phy-
 sician ought to ascertain both the state of the body and
 mind, if he really intends to effect a cure or removal
 of the class of diseases just mentioned.  I know it to
 be a common practice with physicians, to listen to long
 details of the physical symptoms of their patients, with-
 out the least inquiry as to the moral or mental causes
 of their diseases; when the fact is,  that  in five cases
 out of ten, arising among persons of sedentary, refined,
 luxurious, studious, and intellectual habits; and among
 delicate females, in seven cases of diseases out of eleven,
 particularly those which are obstructional, the causes
 will be found seated hi  the mind and passions.   I need
 not enlarge on this subject; every man  possessed of
 any experience and common sense, must have observed,
 both on himself and others, the remarkable effects pro-
 duced on the physical system by the mind and passions;
 nor can such an individual be ignorant  of the fact, that
 deleterious substances when taken into the stomach, fre-
 quently operate with immense power  on the passions,
 as well as on the organic structure of the physical sys-
 tem.   The truth is, that although we are well convinced
 of the intimate connexion of the mind  and  body, and
 also of the reciprocal  influence they  always exercise
 alternately over each other, no man has ever yet been
 able fully to develop the mysteries of  that connection,
 or the natural mediums  by and through which they
 operate on and influence  each other;  in  other  words
 all  we certainly know respecting the matters under con-
 sideration,  must be  confined to the effects daily and
 hourly witnessed, in the reciprocal and  varied action of
 the mind and its passions, and the body  and its affec-
tions, on each other. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
71
   When morbid  derangements of the system are de-
 rived  from the action of the mind  and passions, the
 consolations of religion and philosophy are of great
 importance; because they teach mankind, in a language
 not  to  be misunderstood, that  cheerless and gloomy
 presentiments of the future, only unfit us for combating
 and vanquishing  present difficulties:  that the heavy
 pressure  of  present  evils, and  calamities which are
 irremoveable, are  lightened of half their ponderous
 and depressing  influence,  by that masculine fortitude
 which is derived from the inspirations of wisdom, and
 that celestial hope of relief which springs from genu-
 ine religion: and that it is  the  height of human folly
 and weakness, unavailingly to mourn over losses which
 can  never  be  retrieved!   When the causes  of our
 diseases and miseries are connected with physical prin-
 ciples in some degree under  our  control, it becomes a
 moral duty, so far as  it be possible, to  remove them—
 and  that too by physical means: and I am decidedly of
 opinion, generally speaking, and a few individual cases
 which might be enumerated left out of view, that moral
causes of disease and misery are to be combated by
moral means—and that  physical causes of functional
 derangement, and  violations of organic structure deri-
 ved from such causes, are to be combated and over-
 come by physical means.   I am  perfectly willing to
 admit, that the influences of the  imagination, and  of
 the animating passions, are very  considerable in pre-
venting disease,  and  removing  obstructions when not
firmly seated; but I am not willing to allow, that either
 the  imagination or the animating  passions,  can ren-
der flexible the coats of an ossified  artery, or remove
a stone  from the bladder!   The fact is, that the line of
demarcation where moral causes cease to operate, and 
72           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

where the influence of physical ones commences, is a
mystery hitherto too profound and inscrutable for the
boldest efforts of human  genius.   We are well aware
that  many malconformations of the human fetus take
place previous to birth, such  as  in cases of hare-lip,
external impressions on the skin, &c. but at what period
of gestation such  malconformations and external im-
pressions cease to be made, it  is absolutely impossible;
to conjecture with even a probability of truth.
  The following case of the powerful effects  of imagi-
nation, put by Doctor Cypricanus, is recorded in this
work, to place pregnant females on their guard, and to
exemplify  the effects of the  imagination on highly sus-
ceptible materials.   "A female child," says this distin-
guished man, "was born with a wound in her breast
above four inches in length.  It penetrated to the mus-
culi  intercostales, and was an inch broad, and hollow
under the flesh round about the wound; besides which,
there was a contusion with some swelling,  at the lower
part of the wound inside.  The  child came into the
world without any violence; and consequently it did
not receive the wound in its birth; it was caused by the
strength of the  imagination;  for, about two months
before, the mother  had by chance heard a report that a
man had murdered his wife, and with his knife had
given her  a great wound in the breast—at which rela-
tion she changed, but not excessively.  It is not merely
probable,  but absolutely certain, that the child received
the wound in its mother's body, at the very moment she
was  affrighted; because  the wound was  very  sordid,
and  the inside as  well as the  outside beset with slime,
proceeding from  the water in which the child lies in  its
mother's womb—besides which, it had every appear-
ance of an old wound. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
73
   The effects of grief, which is an extremely depress-
 ing passion, and its morbid influences  on the body or
 physical  system,  are  very remarkable.  It diminishes
 bodily strength in general, and  also  the action of the
 heart in particular.  It impedes the circulation of the
 fluids, stagnates the bile invariably, and occasions in-
 durations of the liver;  or by throwing  the bile into the
 circulation of the blood, it produces jaundice or dropsy.
 Grief also diminishes the perspiration, renders the skin
 sallow,  aggravates the scurvy;   and is  particularly
 effective in producing and aggravating  putrid fevers: it
 also disposes persons to being easily affected with fever,
 arising from  excessive irritability,  or  constipation  or
 costiveness of the bowels.   Its effects in changing the
 color of the hair are well known;  and many instances
 have occurred, in which the hair has been turned  from
 a deep black to  gray in a few  hours.  From  grief,
 blindness, gangrene, and even sudden death, or as it is
 emphatically  called, a broken heart,  have not unfre-
 quently resulted.  From  the excess of this passion,
 persons who indulge in melancholy reflections for any
 length of time, become peevish and fretful; and so ex-
 tremely irritable, that their minds find new  food for
 sorrow in every object presented  to them.  Thus the
 whole imagination becomes seriously affected with  con-
 firmed melancholy, sometimes producing nervous fevers,
 or what  is  still more  dreadful, total  insanity.   The
 remedies usually resorted to with  salutary effects, are
 gentle opiates taken with caution;  exercise on  horse-
 back ;  change of scene; the use  of the swing, which
 has in very many instances produced signally beneficial
effects; friction of the  body and limbs with flannel or a
flesh brush—this friction ought to be frequently resort-
ed to and continued, to give impetus to the blood, when          I
     10                                                      ';,: 
74           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

the extremities become cold; washing the body with
strong vinegar, &c.  Mild wines temperately adminis-
tered may be given, and should  they produce acidity of
the stomach and loss of appetite, exercise and  other
tonics ought to be resorted to—change  of climate is
often in desperate cases found beneficial,  also a diver-
sion of the mind from its original imaginations, and par-
ticularly the frequent use of the tepid bath is recommen-
ded : and in cases of the suppression of the menstrual
discharge occasioned by grief, the tepid bath has inva-
riably been found beneficial.  The powerful influence
of the mind  upon the  womb,  when affected by grief,
can scarcely be computed by the best observers; who
generally  attribute to merely physical causes, effects
which are to  be  sought for in the  mind.  But more
will be developed on this important subject, as regards
female diseases, under another  and more appropriate
head.
                   RELIGION.
  This passion  or affection of the human mind, pro-
perly defined and well understood, is a deeply devo-
tional sentiment of awe, veneration and love, for that
inscrutable  Being who created  the universe in his
wisdom; supports  it by  his almighty power; and
regulates the  machinery of nature, in  beneficence
and love to  his creatures.
  Considered merely in  relation  to  his vital and ani-
mal functions, man seems to occupy the highest  point
in the  scale  of animated nature;  but  notwithstanding
this distinguished elevation,  with  some  grand and
distinctive exceptions to the general principles of exis- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
75
tence, and those of a strong and decided character, he
seems  in  many respects to be allied to the inferior
orders of creation.  Like the  merely animal orders of
nature inferior to himself, he is animated by loves and
friendships, hatreds and enmities,—and by all the other
passions and propensities, incidental  to  the merely
animal creation.  In  common with the elephant, the
lion, the dog and the fox, his heart seems to be the seat
of life or vitality, and his brain the censorium of intel-
lectual existence!  Like them he is furnished  with a
stomach to  digest his food—and a heart to propel the
vital  fluid through the arterial  and venous systems.
Like the inferior orders of creation, man  is  suscepti-
ble of the influence of heat and cold, and all the vari-
 ations of temperature incidental to  the changes of the
 seasons;  like them he can be deluged by rains, frozen
 by the snows of winter,  and melted by the heats of
 summer.   Like  them he is subjected  to physical dis-
 eases, which can be mitigated or removed by the same
 means; and like them he  is animated  by strong senti-
 ments of self-preservajion, and entertains an instinctive
 and powerful dread of both pain and dissolution!  But
 here the  parallel between man and the inferior orders
 of creation  terminates;  and  he  begins  to take his
 departure from  their earth-born level, which they can
 never emulate or even follow.
    Man is the only animal in creation, who can raise
 his contemplations  to the Deity,  and  experience  a
 sublime  sentiment of awe and veneration, for the un-
 known  author of his existence.   The only animal in
 creation, capable of experiencing  a strong  solicitude
 for a knowledge of his own  origin, or who can direct
 his views and anticipations to a future existence, beyond
 the boundaries of time!   He is the only being absolute- 
76
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 ly known to himself who can form a  conception ol
 space, which is an abstract idea of infinity; of time,
 which  is an  abstract  conception  of eternity; or of
 plastic and creative power, which leads  to an abstract
 but infinitely  inadequate conception  of the  omnipo-
 tence of god !  Man seems to unite in his moral and
 intellectual composition, the human extremes of strength
 and weakness, wisdom and folly.   In infancy, or when
 not associated with his fellow-beings, he is a naked,
 defenceless, dependent  and timid animal;  exposed to
 diseases of every multiplied character—to dangers be-
 yond arithmetical computation—and to death in all its
 varied and gigantic forms: yet, with all these incipient
 weaknesses, and seeming imperfections  of his nature,
 in the plenitude of life and intellectual power, and when
 associated with his fellow beings in social compact, he
 has satisfied his natural wants;  rendered  himself inde-
 pendent of every thing  but his Creator; driven from
 his presence, enslaved to his purposes, or destroyed by
 the machinery and  chemical  power of his  warlike
 inventions, all animals hostile to his life and his preser-
 vation; and compelled  the  earth, the air, the waters,
 and the woods, to yield  him the sustenance and even
 the luxuries of life, and  to furnish him with the means
of constructing his habitation.  He has  done  more
 By referring his  knowledge of particular facts, to the
discovery of abstract and general principles,  he has
measurably unfolded the elements of science; by which
 he measures the earth, and  discloses the laws which
 regulate the solar system:—ascertains the distances
 and  relative  positions  of the  heavenly  bodies; and
 determines the location of his own globe  among them:
 —discloses the component parts of which the substra-
 tum of the earth itself is compounded, and by an effort 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
77
of microscopic vision and profound sagacity, gives you
a satisfactory analysis of a physical atom!  Nor is this
all: from obscure and imperfect original discoveries in
nautical science, he  has converted the bark canoes of
the wandering savage into vehicles of burthen for inter-
national commerce, and imposing engines of war; and,
instead of the  petty barks of the ancients, by which
they prosecuted an insignificant traffic along the shores
and inlets of the Mediterranean, he has constructed ships
of bulk and strength sufficient to master the winds of
heaven and  the waves of the ocean:—to discover and
colonise new continents: and to make his way in  secu-
rity, through  trackless, unknown, and almost shoreless
oceans, to countries so remote as not even to be found
in delineation  on  the mariner's chart!   Nor  do the
greatness of his discoveries, nor the sublime elevations
of  his character, terminate here.   The progressive
improvements of man in literature, from hieroglyph-
ics,  which  are the  signs of  things, to  the  use of
letters, which are the signs or symbols of sounds, afford
new and astonishing demonstrations of his  powers.
We have proofs before us, if we will advert for a mo-
ment to  the present state of mankind, of all the pro-
gressive stages of improvement, through which he has
passed, in arriving at his present state  of moral and
intellectual  civilization,  and   scientific   and   literary
refinements;  nor need we recur to the empire of  fable,
nor the  fictions of his early history,  to arrive at the
truth.  A collective view of the present inhabitants of
the globe, will furnish ample demonstrations of the
following facts.  In a state of savage and illiterate na-
ture, tradition, as among the Indians of our own for-
ests afforded the only means of communication, between
the present  and  future races  of mankind.    But, in 
 78           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 proportion as man  began  to  progress  in  discoverie
 relating to the arts and sciences, he became disgusted
 and dissatisfied with the errors and  misrepresentations
 of oral tradition  and sought various expedients to per-
 petuate to his posterity, authentic  testimonials of his
 sagacity,  and durable monuments  of his  intellectual
 powers.   Hieroglyphics and pyramids were resorted
 to in some countries, and pillars and public edifices in
 others; but knowing all these to be liable to decay, and
 that their true meaning might be easily misunderstood
 or forgotten, he  was not  satisfied with  a medium  of
 intelligence,  which would revive and  perpetuate  his
 knowledge and discoveries to future times, until litera-
 ture arose to record in unfading characters, the intel-
 ligence, the improvements in  science, and  the  fate of
 past generations.   The discovery of, and the progressive
 improvements in letters, have enabled man to trace his
 species  through all  anterior ages since  the creation;
 nor would  he now, were it not for  literature and  the
discovery of  the art of printing, be enabled to profit
at this advanced period of the world, by the records of
history, and the divine inspirations of religion, virtue
and pure morality, which are breathed  forth in love
and mercy to fallen man, by holy  writ !  It  is from
this divine and inspired work, that he derives a knowl-
edge of all the attributes of his creator ;  of the  immor-
tality of his own soul; and of all the duties he owes to
 God, his fellow-creatures, and  himself.   The reveries
of all the sages and philosophers of antiquity, with the
immortal Plato at their head, sink into  cold insignifi-
 cance, when compared with  the divine consolations
 afforded to man, by that pure and unsophistocated reli-
gion, which is derived  from the word  of God: and
while speaking of the pure  and undefiled religion  of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           79

Jesus Christ, I will first show what it is not: second,
the abuses of its doctrines; third, what it really is;
and fourth, its benefits and consolations, in health and
prosperity, sickness and misfortune.
   The virtues and the boasted wisdom of man, purifi-
ed and  improved  by  the  highest  efforts  of human
reason,  would be  nothing without   the support and
consolations  of the doctrines of the  scriptures.  The
magnificence, splendor  and  sublimity  of  the  great
works of nature, from which  alone, without the divine
inspirations to be found in the word of God, he is ena-
bled  to  form but an  inadequate and  finite conception
of, the attributes of an Almighty  Creator, dazzle and
confound the feeble  efforts of man, in all his  attempts
 to grasp at the divine perfections of his maker—baffle
all the high-toned energies of his reason and  intelli-
gence—and  throw  him  to  an infinite distance below
even an. imaginary  conception of the  deity.   Thus
circumstanced—thus  surrounded  by mysteries which
he cannot explain to  himself-—feeling  a  strong and
deep-seated natural sentiment of immortality; and yet
dreading the cold and silent horrors of the grave—the
 word of God, and faith in Christ alone, can afford him
 support and  consolation in the hour of death;  solve the
 otherwise inscrutable and sublime mysteries of his own
 existence; and  reveal to him the dreadful  enigmas of
 eternity.  In fact, when man surveys with  an attentive
 and  philosophic eye, the vast and complicated machine-
 ry of the universe—when he discovers that all this
 complicated and boundless machinery is subject to the
 irresistible influence of laws infinitely beyond his con-
 ception:—when he essays to embody his own concep-
 tions of the attributes of that being,  who created, and
 who rules  and governs all:—and,  in fine,  when he 
80
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
makes the feeble attempt, unaided by divine revelation,
to identify  his hopes of immortality and future happi-
ness with the unchangeable laws of created nature, so
vast, so boundless, and so complicated as they must be,
he shrinks  back upon his own insignificance,  and in-
voluntarily asks himself,  "am  I  not a stranger to  the
eternal laws of my own destiny?—am I not a stranger
to this God, the supreme creator of the universe?—am
I not lost in the immensity of his works, and the bound-
lessness of his power!"
  Mere  opinions, deduced  from the boldest efforts of
the  reasoning faculties of man,  never yet produced that
genuine religion which  absorbs his affections, concen-
trates his love and  gratitude  on  his divine creator,
regulates his moral and  intellectual  energies for the
production of his present and future happiness, and
makes him satisfied with his own prospects of futurity.
These are  the reasons in all probability, why the an-
cient sages, who  hoped  for and partially believed in
immortality, were unable to satisfy themselves, with
rational and conclusive proofs of the future existence of
the  human soul: these are also probably the  reasons,
and they are founded in the wisdom and providence of
God himself why the  great truths of immortality were
veiled, in all ages, anterior to the  true gospel dispensa-
tion, from the boasted sagacity and reasoning powers
of the philosophers and sages of antiquity:—for, could
these men have arrived  at any definite and certain con-
clusions  on the future  destinies of the human race,
without the moral purifications  of true Christianity, the
consequences would have been dreadful to society and
mankind, as can be easily demonstrated.
  Suppose a man were  enabled by the unaided efforts
of reason,  to demonstrate conclusively to himself,  thai 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
81
annihilation, or an absolute and entire negation of exis-
tence, was his  future and irrevocable  doom:—what
would be the immediate consequences of this appalling
and dreadful discovery!   Would he not feel that every
affection of his soul was dissolved—and that existence
itself was valueless?   Would it not loosen every strong
tie he feels on life—and sicken him with that lapse of
time  which must  so soon  reduce him to  nothing!
Where,  under  this gloomy and  horrid anticipation,
would be his affections for his parents, his wife, his fam-
ily, his country:—what would become of the perform-
ance of his duties as a parent, a husband, a citizen and
a patriot:—where would be  the endearing suggestions
of his own self-love, and his insatiable  desires of pre-
sent and future happiness, under the certain conviction
that the elevated and noble energies of his soul would
explode  and be lost forever, when his  carcase  would
become a clod of the valley.
   But, let it be supposed, that the powers of reason,
unaided by the holy inspirations of scripture, were
capable of arriving at the  certain  conviction of man's
future happiness in eternity;  and that the decree of the
Almighty which awarded to him so auspicious a desti-
ny, was absolutely irrevocable by  his  own conduct:
and what would then be the consequences?   With so
brilliant  a career of future happiness and celestial glory
in full view, would not all  the poor enjoyments of this
life fade away—and even all the splendors of the  visi-
ble creation become to him a blank?  Would he take
upon himself the cares of a family; assume the labori-
ous  duties  of providing for  a numerous offspring,  or
feel  an interest in the common  affairs of mankind ?
Would he experience any  of those  affections  and
friendships, which,  under the present predicaments of
       11 
82
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
life, are of such vast importance to  the enjoyments of
man?   Can the eye which is accustomed to gazing at
the sun, distinguish the darker and more sombre color-
ings of  earthly objects?  But, with  unalloyed  and
interminable happiness beyond  the grave  in  full view,
what in this life would be the  feelings, emotions  and
conduct, of a man subjected to  the pains of disease, the
evils attendant  on  poverty and  want, and  all the great
aggregate of miseries and misfortunes,  with which man
in the present  state of things  is destined to agonize
through life?   Would he feel  disposed  to encounter
gratuitously, evils  and sufferings from  which he could
escape with impunity to happier regions?
  And now let us  suppose, that a man were enabled to
distinguish nothing in  his future  destinies, but a sub-
mission  throughout eternity to  the sufferings  and
speechless agonies of the  damned;  that nothing he
could do would alleviate so dreadful, disastrous  and
horrible a destiny:—and what would be the immediate
results?  Where, to the eye of such a man, would  then
be all the charms and fascinations  of nature, where all
the varied and imposing splendors of the visible crea-
tion?  What delight could he possibly experience in
the performance ef his moral duties, or the practice of
virtues which must terminate  in a future  condition in-
finitely  worse  than  annihilation  itself?   Would not
these dark and  dreadful anticipations of a period which
must soon arrive, be eternally present to his imagina-
tion, with all their attendant horrors?  Would they not
haunt his waking dreams of future misery, and disturb
his midnight slumbers,  with spectral phantoms of the
sufferings of the damned, too frightful and tremendous
for  delineation!   But what, under these  awful  and
afflicting expectations, from which there were no distant 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
83
hopes of exemption, would he the character and con-
duct of this unfortunate and miserable victim?  Would
he not say to himself:—"what to me are all the ties of
parentage,  of offspring, or of kindred; what interest
have I in the affairs of life, the peace and happiness of
society, or the moral conduct and regulations of man-
kind.   Before the setting of to-morrow's sun, my eyes
may close forever on the light of day, on all the objects
which once were dear to my infancy and  youth, and
on all the varied and sublime beauties, which charac-
terize with magnificence and splendor, the mystic won-
ders.of created nature!   For me no morning sun will
ever  again  arise;  for me  no  vernal  music  of the
groves will ever again awake; on my benighted soul,
predestined  to  endless  torments,  no  distant ray of
feeble hope can ever dawn!"-------Sectarians, remorse-
less fanatics, purblind bigots—you who deal with un-
sparing hand and  intolerant  zeal,  the  ineffable and
everlasting miseries of deep damnation  to  your fellow
beings, merely for differing from you in opinion respect-
ing modes of faith and divine worship, behold in this
faithful picture,  the condition  to which your  narrow
and selfish doctrines would confine  the  great  mass of
mankind?   Approach  and behold  a  picture, which
might make  you shudder for your  blasphemous pre-
sumptions, in judging between  erring and  feeble man
and his Maker; and wresting the  high prerogative of
divine and eternal justice, from  the  hands of the Al-
mighty !  If you can for a moment  suspend the  fiery
and vindictive delusions of your intolerance and pre-
sumption, I wish you to contemplate with a dispassion-
ate  and discriminating  eye,  some  farther results to
which your  infuriated and intolerant doctrines inevita-
bly tend.   If you alone are right, and if all other reli- 
84
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
gious creeds  are the offspring  of error,  which must of
necessity terminate in future misery—what allurements
to religion and morality do you hold out, to those who
you say are predestined from all eternity  to the inflic-
tions of divine wrath : and to what a penury of benefi-
cence and love, do you reduce the mercy and affections
of the Deity to man.  Do you suppose  that  the doc-
trines of particular and  exclusive faith, are within the
arbitrium or control of the voluntary powers of human
intellect?   In other words, do you presume that a man
can believe what he  wishes, without divine assistance
sought with purity of heart?   And that he can ever be
the voluntary devotee of religious errors,  thereby  sin-
ning against light and knowledge, and dooming himself
to endless and indescribable torments?  To speak in
plain terms, and without any courtly affectation of lan-
guage  detrimental to the interests of  truth,  can you
suppose that  any rational being since  the creation of
man, ever yet voluntarily consigned his soul  to ever-
lasting  misery,  by  the  entertainment of religious
opinions which  he  knew to  be wrong: the  truth is,
that the supposition implies, not only a contradiction in
language, but an absolute and positive contradiction in
the facts themselves!
   But let us suppose for a moment, that  your sect or
persuasion alone  are right in their faith and  religious
opinions, and that all others professing different modes
of faith, and  different opinions in religion, are in the
entertainment of errors which must inevitably end in
eternal punishments.  Have you ever contemplated the
absurdity of this intolerant and exclusive doctrine; have
you ever viewed it  with an unprejudiced and dispas-
sionate eye, and  traced  its malignant  and desolating
spirit, on the past, on the present, and on future times? 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           85

If you have not, I will make  the laudable  attempt to
burst your narrow and intolerant prejudices asunder;
and to exhibit these disgraceful and dogmatical  doc-
trines in all their native deformities.
   By the Mosaical account of the creation, which we
are bound to believe authentic,  the world is now nearly
six thousand years old; but of the antediluvian races
of men, and also of those who existed anterior to the
gospel dispensation, I will make none but the following
simple and plain remark; that it would hardly comport
with the  common principles of justice,  to consign all
those numerous races of men  to  eternal perdition, for
not believing in doctrines which had never been an-
nounced to them, and to  which they were utter stran-
gers !  Since the  first announcement of the gospel dis-
pensation under our Saviour until the present time, a
period of nearly two  thousand  years has  elapsed;
every half minute of which long period, according to
the most authentic calculations which can  be  made,
has witnessed the birth and death of ten  human  be-
ings!  There are, as nearly as the facts can be ascer-
tained, about eleven hundreds millions human beings
composing the populations on  the globe: now—if you
will ascertain the number of half minutes  which have
elapsed in  two  thousand years, and  multiply that num-
ber by ten, you will have something like the number of
deaths which have occurred since the coming of Christ.
Under this strong, and new, and  most important view
of the subject;  and considering  likewise,  that the im-
mense and measurably  unknown population of both
Africa and Asia, have never embraced the christian
dispensation; that the aboriginal inhabitants of both
North and South America have ever been in the same
uncivilized and  unchristian  condition; I wish you to 
 86           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 inform me, ye bigots—ye fanatics—ye fiery and  intol-
 erant zealots, in the  cause  of a  God  autocratical,
 supreme, and infinitely merciful to  feeble and erring
 man, how many human  beings, out of the countless
 tnyriads who have sunk into the tomb in the long lapse
 of two thousand years, belonged to those little sects
 who doom  all mankind to the horrors  of deep and
 irrevocable damnation, but themselves!   But this is not
 all: according to the  narrow and exclusive principles
 of your religious doctrines, which we will bring nearer
 to  ourselves by an application of them  to the  present
 age, how many human beings, out of eleven hundred
 millions which are now  in existence, according to the
 purblind  and intolerant  dogmas of any  one of your
 exclusive professions of faith,  will be doomed never
 to reach the goal of infinite mercy,  even  through the
 merits of that Saviour who died for the salvation of
 all mankind !  These are views of the  absurdity of
 some of your doctrines, and  of the dreadful  conse-
 quences they would have in tfyeir applications to man-
 kind, too  stubborn for the subterfuges of sophistry, too
 authentic in point of fact for refutation,  and too plain
 for either  denial or evasion.  But, let us advance a
 step farther;  let us contemplate the appalling spectacle,
 which your wild, speculative and visionary theories of
 religion, would present to an assembled universe at the
 end of time!  Let us suppose  a period,  the  great day
 of accounts between man  and his Maker, when an
 aggregation of all the various races of men,  and  of
 all the countless myriads who have existed between the
 commencement and  the  termination  of time,  would
 take place: here all arithmetical  computations  fail:—
 and the human imagination itself expires, in attempting
to grasp at so vast, so  unbounded a  spectacle!   Sup- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE,
87
pose also, that your paltry and disputacious conflicts
here, and  your narrow conceptions of divine justice,
always inadequate and  contradictory because the off-
spring of ignorance, were to be made the irrevocable
standard of adjudication by which countless and innu-
merable millions  of the human race, were to be con-
signed to endless  misery,  ruin  and despair?  Would
not so dreadful an exhibition of the consequences* of
your bigotry and  intolerance,  destroy your  holy zeal
and vindictive rage in the cause of religious and intol-
erant prejudices?   Would not your sensibilities as men,
weep tears of blood and forgiveness  over the miseries
of your fellow men?  Would you  not wish to  revoke
those prejudices against mankind,  which  could  popu-
late the regions of the damned  with myriads of your
fellow beings—disclose  to  you  an abortive though
divine scheme of redemption for fallen man—and tor-
ture  your intellectual vision, with the spectacle of a
ruined creation and an almost solitary God!
  I have now shown,  and  I  think conclusively,  that
the efforts  of human reason,  unaided  by scriptural
divinity,  are utterly incompetent to disclosing to man-
kind the great truths connected  with the immortality of
man:—that without  the  moral purifications of true
Christianity  and  genuine  religion,  such  disclosures
would have been fraught with  dreadful  consequences
to mankind, instanced  in the cases of future certainty
as to annihilation,  future happiness, and future mis-
ery.   I think I have done more; I  think I have shown,
as far as the moral reasoning powers of man can be
applied to incontrovertible facts, that very many of  the
intolerant and sectarian abuses which have crept into
the christian religion, from the bigotry and misdirected
zeal  of  many of its  belligerent  and  inflammatory 
88           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

champions, are utterly inconsistent with christian char-
ity, truly divine worship, and the principles of eternal
justice : in fine, I think I have shown conclusively,
what pure and genuine religion is not !
   As connected and incorporated with dangerous and
intolerant opinions in religion, the abusive consequen-
ces which always flow from such opinions, especially
when under the influence  of the  vindictive passions of
men, require dispassionate consideration. I have said
in another  part of this work, when  speaking of  the
moral philosophy of the passions, that when restrained
within due bounds, and exercised only  in relation to
their native and  legitimate objects, they  were essential
not only to  the existence  but to the happiness of man.
I  now  assert  that the reverse of this  proposition is
equally true; in other words,  that  the passions  when
indulged in to excess, and suffered to produce anarchy
and wild misrule in the human bosom, are fraught with
innumerable miseries and misfortunes to mankind, in
every department of life.
   In sectarian doctrines, which relate  to the entertain-
ment of opinions connected with  the temporal self-
interests of mankind, it  is to be  expected  that  the
passions, in all their excesses, will  always have consi-
derable  influence.  The professors of all the sciences
which relate to the present state of man, are passion-
ately influenced to the conversion of proselytes to their
respective  systems, because on the number of their
converts depend  not only their wealth and  fame—but
in numerous instances,  the very bread  which them-
selves and  their families require  for  daily support.
The same may be remarked, in relation  to the leaders
of all political  partizans—and  to all  other zealots in
political science.  In these cases,  and  many  others 
              CUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           89

 which  might be  enumerated, the stimulation of the
 passions, and all their  disorganizing and dangerous
 excesses, are proportioned to the real or imaginary self-
 interests of man, and to the acute and energetic pres-
 sure of his immediately real or imaginary icants.  In
 all these cases, we can account on rational principles,
 or more properly speaking on logical  ones,  for the
 slander and  defamation with which scientific men  of
 all professions usually load each other—and for all the
 personal enmity, envy  and  malignity, with which the
 low-lived spirit  of groveling  ambition, usually perse-
 cutes a  dangerous and  aspiring  rival!   In all  cases
 where  we can  connect the excesses of the passions,
 and the practice  of intolerance and injustice,  with the
 wants and immediate self-interests of men, there seems
 to  be  some  colorable mitigation for their deviations
 from virtue, justice and moderation : but in cases where
 religion alone is concerned; where  all  the temporal
 interests and  conflictions of self-love are entirely out
 of the question, where the religious faith and opinions
of men are accounts only to be referred to the lofty and
unerring tribunal of God himself; the gratuitous per-
secutions of  men, and their sanguinary zeal in the
 cause of an Almighty Power, who needs not  their as-
 sistance, can only be accounted for upon principles of
 wanton depravity, native cruelty of temper, and innate
 vindictiveness of  soul!  Does the Almighty require the
 sacrifice of the peace of society, and of all the  affec-
 tions  of man for his fellow  beings, in the diffusion  of
 an immaculate and benevolent religion, which express-
ly inculcates—"peace on earth,  and good will to-
wards men?"  If my faith  in the rectitude and purity
of my own doctrines of salvation  be  perfect,  will the
persecution  and  destruction of the religious doctrines
     12 
90
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
of other men, add any further demonstrations of truth
to the support of my  own creed?  You may as well
tell me, ye bigots, and persecutors of mankind for the
love of God, that the sun requires a lamp for the diffu-
sion of his meridian rays—or that by conflagrating the
habitation of a fellow being, you  will build or repair
your own!   Why then consign to everlasting destruc-
tion, and that too  without attempting their reformation,
all  those who may chance to differ from you in reli-
gious faith and  opinion?  Are not those who dissent
from you in religious doctrines and opinions, as ration-
al as yourselves?   Are they less interested in knowing
the truths of genuine christian divinity,  and in practi-
sing on the  precepts which they inculcate, than  you
yourselves are?  Do  you suppose  that any human be-
ing ever existed,  who was  endowed with  ordinary
principles  of rationality, and common  sentiments  of
self-love, who  could  voluntarily  entertain errors  of
opinion in religion, knowing that the profession of such
opinions would eventually consign his immortal soul
to deep and irredeemable misery!  Why, then, perse-
cute men for the entertainment of opinions which are
misfortunes and not crimes?  Why, in  other  words,
do you punish  and persecute erring and feeble man,
for involuntary  errors of opinion,  which,  according  to
your own creeds, will  be  punished in a future  life!
Where are the  credentials, from which you derive au-
thority to sit in  judgment between man and his Maker :
and to assist an omnipotent God, in the execution of
those laws  which  his  own infinite wisdom, at  the
creation, imposed on the universe !!   Under this view
of your conduct, which I place in a strong and correct
light for your own contemplations, with the hope  that
you may be induced  to abandon your abuses of the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
91
religion of the  Savior of mankind, and  to treat your
fellow-men with more lenity and compassion, I must
confess myself utterly at a loss which  to  be most as-
tonished  at,  your ignorance—presumption—or fanati-
cism.  How, ye  bigoted  and  fanatical zealots—how
do  you  reconcile your  inquisitions,  your  burnings,
your persecutions, and your  intolerance in opinion,
with the  mildly compassionate  and humane example of
the Savior of the world;  he who exclaimed amidst the
protracted agonies of the cross, and  while  sweating
drops of  blood to wash out the crimsoned iniquities  of
mankind—"Father forgive them, for  they know not
what they do!"   You are mistaken in attributing  to
pure and holy zeal in the cause of religion, your per-
secutions of those who  differ  from you  in  sectarian
faith and doctrines:  your worldly-minded pride of ma-
king proselytes—your ambition to become conspicuous
among men, as  the  defenders of the true faith—your
secret aspirations after exaltations to high clerical offi-
ces—your love  of worldly distinctions and  temporal
power—and  not unfrequently, your cupidity and ava-
rice, respecting good round salaries for the discharge
of your official functions; these are the energetic and
inflammatory motives, which urge you to your  vindic-
tive persecutions of mankind for opinion's sake; these
are the real causes of your want of charity to each
other, and to mankind in the aggregate.
   I think I have now shown,  in a tolerably clear and
strong point  of view, not only \rhat religion is not—
but also  many  of the abuses  of its  doctrines; let us
now endeavor to understand something respecting what
it really  is.
   "Feeble work of my  hand," says  the Almighty to
his creature man, "I owe you  nothing, but I give you 
92
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 existence.  I place you in the  midst of a  universe
 which bespeaks my wisdom and glory, and I surround
 you with blessings and enjoyments, which ought to- ex-
 cite in  your bosom pure and elevated sentiments of
 love, admiration and gratitude, to that inscrutable Be-
 ing who made you for  the  enjoyment of happiness—
 and placed the objects of those enjoyments within your
 reach.   Your love can add nothing to my felicity, your
 admiration to my  power, nor your sentiments of grati-
 tude to my glory;  and I make you susceptible  of these
 exalted and divine emotions, that you may render your-
 self happy  both here  and hereafter.  The  fidelity of
 your  obedience  to my laws,  will be the test  of your
 own happiness;  and, when you cease  to 'love me and
 keep my commandments,' your breach of my  precepts
 will offend me, and render yourself unhappy."
  Such—according to our feeble  and inadequate con-
 ceptions  of a God of love  and  mercy, are the  mild
 and benevolent sentiments entertained by  him for his
 erring and dependent creature, man—for he expressly
announces  in  his holy  word,  "that he  delights not in
the death of a sinner."—These are some of the conso-
lations of true religion,  which when fully merited by
man, by a strict obedience to the  words of scripture,
and a full and entire faith in the merits of a  blest Re-
deemer, nothing earthly can  destroy.  I do not intend
to  enter  into  a  critical dissertation on the subject of
religion, further than its divine spirit is connected with
the  moral  condition of man, and his physical health
and enjoyments.   We  know perfectly  well, from our
own consciousness, that the mere pleasures and enjoy-
ments of this world, are insufficient to satisfy the moral
desires of  the human  mind, when deeply impressed
with an  unerring  sentiment of immortality.   Give  a 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.            93
man wealth  and luxury unbounded;  load  him with
titles and worldly honors; even clothe him with what
Doctor Young calls "a mortal immortality"—and, like
Csesar when  crowned emperor and invested with  the
imperial  purple, he will exclaim—"and is  this all!"
With respect to the enjoyments of this world, I mean
those which are not connected with the future state of
existence, and sentiments of pure and  undefiled reli-
gion, it is a truth  that has been recognized  by  the
experience of all ages, that their  satiation always pro-
duces indifference, and not unfrequently disgust.  This
circumstance alone ought to  convince us, that  the de-
sires of man and his capacities for enjoyment, are not
limited to this earthly sphere; and that there must be
a  future and more  exalted  state of being, where his
capacities for moral  and intellectual enjoyment will
meet with objects suited to their elevation—and where
the boundless desires  which  he is conscious of in this
life, will  meet with scenes of enjoyment as  unlimited
as those desires.  It was from this view of the subject
under consideration, and probably also from  the strong
impression of the  insufficiency of the  enjoyments of
this life, that the  great Dr. Young  exclaimed in his
Night Thoughts—"man must be  immortal, or heaven
unjust!"   Do we not know  perfectly well,  that when
the physical calls of nature are satisfied, lassitude  and
indifference  succeed?  Do  we  not  also know, that
when  all the pleasures and  enjoyments of this world
are showered on  us in profusion, there  still exist in
the human  bosom, hopes and desires connected with
sentiments of immortality, and objects of a more eleva-
ted and intellectual order of enjoyment than this world
can afford?  The fact is, that the desires, the  capaci-
ties, and the hopes of man as to  futurity—when com- 
94
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
pared with  the utter  insufficiency of the  objects  of
enjoyment actually under  his  control in this  life, go
very far to demonstrate satisfactorily the immortality of
man.  Do the  affections of the brute for its offspring,
like those of man for his relations and friends, survive
the flight of time, and  contemplate a re-union of those
affections in another state of  existence?  The differ-
ence between  the influence of  reason and that of true
religion,  in relation to  the future happiness  and enjoy-
ments of man,  may be satisfactorily explained in a few
words.  Reason teaches man  merely to hope for im-
mortal existence and happiness, whilst pure Religion,
supported by faith in the Redeemer,  and by the faith-
ful practice of his precepts,  assures  him  of  both
future existence and future  happiness.  There  is this
further  difference between reason and religion, and I
think it a very palpable and plain one; reason cannot
influence man's feeble hopes of immortality and future
happiness,  with sufficient  motives for the  practice of
piety and virtue—whilst religion urges him imperious-
ly to the performance of his  duties to his God, to him-
self, and to his fellow-beings, by the certainty of future
rewards and punishments.  These are the reasons why
pure  and genuine christians,  I do  not  mean bigots,
hypocrites,  or intolerant fanatics, are better  citizens,
better  husbands, and  better parents, than  most other
men; and these are the reasons also, why they are the
happier  classes of mankind.  Reason may teach the
existence of a  great first cause, but it is utterly incom-
petent to disclosing his moral attributes of justice, love
and mercy, or to defining for man his particular and
indispensable duties in every department of life.  The
precepts of religion are plain  and easy of comprehen-
sion; they  can be understood and  practiced  by  all 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
95
ranks and grades of men.  Reason, on the other hand,
in attempting an explanation of the attributes of God,
or the duties of man to that God or his fellow-creatures,
is eternally operating on imaginary and unknown prin-
ciples, and  making hair-breadth  distinctions,  which
have  no existence but in the sound of words without
meaning: the errors of reason are founded in the ignor-
ance of man, who knows nothing in reality of the essen-
tial or elementary principles of any one thing in heaven
or on earth.  The scripture says, and any man can un-
derstand the denunciation, "whosoever sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed."   Now I would
like to  see the champion of reason, who can demon-
strate satisfactorily that murder is a crime, and that it
is punishable with death.  But I will put another,  and
more general and comprisive case, which will be quite
sufficient.  Municipal  law  is said to be founded on
reason, which we call the mother of justice.  If reason
be an unerring sentinel, and if law be the perfection
of reason, as it is said to be by learned and profound
civilians, why  have not  six  thousand years  of  rea-
soning  been sufficient  to reduce law to unerring  prin-
ciples of justice;  and  why, at this  late and  refined
period of reason, do we so seldom find two persons "of
counsel learned  in the law," who agree in  opinion
respecting its real principles?   The fact is,  that  in
reasoning on all  subjects involving morals, all we can
possibly arrive at is a high degree of probability, which
amounts to little more than  ingenious and plausible
conjecture.  If the mere exercise of reason be entire-
ly sufficient to disclose to man his duties,  to impel  him
to the performance of those duties,  and to satisfy him
respecting'the all-important  doctrines of  futurity,  why
have the advocates of mere reason so  many doubts 
 96            GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 and  difficulties on all  subjects:—the enigma is easily
 solved; the ignorance of man respecting first princi-
 ples, the doubts he always entertains of the infallibility
 of reasoning  as  a science, and the consciousness of
 being eternally liable to error in his  rational deduc-
 tions, involve him in labyrinths of confusion and dis-
 may, from which no merely human powers of intellect
 or genius can possible extricate him.  While in the
 rise or day spring of life;  while enjoying uninterrupted
 health and prosperity;  and while indulging in antici-
 pations of a protracted  and fortunate term of  existence
 here, the lordly and proud advocate of the all-sufficien-
 cy of reason,  may indulge in theoretical speculations
 which he imagines he firmly  believes inr  But, let him
 become  unfortunate  in his  adventures  after earthly
 enjoyments, and infirm  in his health; let  his  prospects
 of exemption  from  disease  and  misfortune darken
 around him; and in this situation let him approach the
 unknown and mysterious confines of eternity.  Where
 then will be his visionary and theoretical  speculations
 respecting futurity; where  the fortitude which ought to
 support him in his descent to  the cold and silent man-
 sions of the dead; and  where the celestial fire of  hope
 and  christian  consolation  that alone can light him to
 eternal happiness,  relieve his  gloomy apprehensions of
 annihilation,  and  shed   even  a  splendor  around the
horrors of the grave?
   Pure and vital  religion, not that  based on merely
bigoted  and sectarian prejudices, or on frivolous and
 childish distinctions respecting rites and ceremonies, is
infinitely superior to  reason,  in  securing  to  man all
the moral enjoyments of this life, and in assuring him
of those blessings which reason only  hopes for in  futu-
rity.   By pure and vital religion, I do not mean hypoc- 
>               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           97

 risy,  which is the  religion of  knaves, fanaticism,
 which is the religion  of madmen, fear, which is the
 religion of cowardice, or superstition, which is that of
 fools: I mean that pure and elevated sentiment of divine
 love and  admiration for the Deity, which  leads us to
faith  in the great  Redeemer of fallen and degraded
 man, and to the practice of benevolence, virtue, toler-
 ation, and  charity for our  fellow-beings.  This divine
 and ennobling  sentiment, when  experienced in all its
 purity, banishes all the base, sordid, selfish, and ignoble
passions from the human bosom, and elevates man, as
it were, to a communion with his Maker.  It cultivates
 all the  finer affections of  man  for  his feliow-beings;
 makes him a provident  and tender parent; a chaste
 and  faithful husband; a kind and benevolent master,
 and a useful, virtuous, and  patriotic citizen: it makes
him  faithful in his  friendships, virtuous in his loves,
honest in his dealings,  candid in his communications
with mankind, moderate  in his  desires, unostentatious
in his charities,  and tolerant in his opinions.   Fanatics,
bigots, zealots, hypocrites; ye who practice fraud, vio-
lence, hypocrisy, and all  the deceptions and mummery
of priestcraft on the sons of men, and yet dare to call
yourselves the disciples and followers of the immacu-
late Savior of mankind, compare yourselves with this
portrait of a'real christian!  There is a class  of reli-
gionists in every christian country, who are  impressed
with the absurd opinion, that the profession of faith
in  particular sectarian creeds, and the  practice of a
few frivolous rites and ceremonies, are quite sufficient
to entitle them  to  salvation.  The  probability  is that
these people are deceiving  themselves, or making the
profession of religion a mere mask for iniquitous designs
against the  community; for, let  their vicious passions
        13 
           98            GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 t
           or propensities be excited, and themselves  thrown off
           their  guard, and  you immediately discover the  true
           state of the case:  in fact you soon discover them to be
           sensualists,  swindlers and hypocrites.  These  people
 f j          ought always to bear in mind, that those alone are gen-
ii          uine christians, who know the will  of God, and prac-
           ttice its divine precepts: nor ought they  ever to  lose
           sight of the important  and eternal truth—-that it is im-
           possible  to deceive the  Almighty.   Compared  with
           these hypocritical and unworthy professors, whose pray-
 ;          ers are always on the "house tops," and  whose devo-
id          tions are loud and emphatical that they may be heard,
 :J";■          the true christian exhibits an essentially  different and
 11         greatly more elevated character.   He is modest, retir-
 H         ing and unobtrusive, in  his  devotions;  it is  not the
           mere profession  of piety and religion, that  stimulates
           him in the performance of his duties—it is the heaven-
           born consciousness that  his  devotional exercises are
 ? i          acceptable to  his Maker, and that they will render him
 : [          serene amidst dangers and difficulties, animated and
           cheerful under the infliction of disease and sickness,
           and resigned to  the will of his Creator.   To  such  a
           man, disease, infirmities, and misfortunes  in this life
i?          are nothing;  he  is above their influence:  they  can
 •jj,          neither ruffle his passions, nor  disturb the deep and
?f          settled serenity of his soul.  The death-bed of  such  a
           man is not the death-bed of the sinner: even the pre-
           sence of the king of terrors cannot appal  the resolu-
           tions, or shake the fortitude of the man whose reliance
 b          is on the love and mercy of his God.   As a physician,
 1          I some years since, in Virginia, attended at the couch of
 jip         a devout christian, and a sincere  believer in  Christ;
           and was impressed with sentiments which can never be
           obliterated from my  memory by  the  lapse of  time. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           99
The patient  was a poor methodist preacher; he had
been  seriously and dangerously indisposed nearly two
years; and  was  evidently  awaiting the summon  to
"that borne from whence no traveler returns."  Instead
of seeing terror and  dismay  depicted  in  his counte-
nance, which I had often witnessed in the cases of those
who were not christians, all was cheerful serenity and
mild resignation:  no ghastly expression of feature be-
spoke  the terror  of death, no  indications of mental
distress told  of remorse for ill-spent life; nor  did  a
single shade  of gloomy  anticipation, pass over the eye
that was so soon to close in the cold and  silent man-
sions of the  dead!  The  last words of the innocent
sufferer were, and they are deeply impressed on my me-
mory:—"my  life has been devoted to the service of my
God, and the benefit of  my  fellow beings: I await
with perfect resignation to  his will, the call of my Mas-
ter."-------Here  was an  instance of the  consolatory
influence of true religion, which ought to prove conclu-
sively that it is connected with none of the gloomy and
depressing  passions.   In  truth,  it  has  always  been
matter of much astonishment to me, that the consola-
tions which pure religion promises mankind in a future
state  of existence, could ever have produced on the
mind of man  any other impressions than  those  of
cheerfulness,  fortitude and  resignation.   I never could
conceive how genuine religion was  connected,  unless
perverted to the excitement of the gloomy passions, by
misconceptions of the attributes of God, with emotions
of  terror and depressing  apprehensions of  futurity.
Has man not assurances of an exemption from all the
evils and calamities of this  life,  if he be a faithful and
true christian, in a more perfect and elevated state of
being, when -his corruptions shall put on  incorruption— 
100          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and when the mere mortal shall  put  on immortality?
Are  not  the doctrines of true Christianity, essentially
connected with that sunshine of the breast, which we
denominate a good  conscience:—"and which  nothing
earthly can give, or can destroy!"   The christian reli-
gion was never intended  by the Almighty as a source
of grief, mortification and suffering: it is a pure ema-
nation of divine love and mercy towards feeble, erring
and fallen mankind; and was surely intended by divine
wisdom, as an unfailing source of joy, consolation and
happiness, both  here and  hereafter, to  the human race!
I have been more particular on the subject of religion,
than at first view might seem necessary to  the interests
of medical science; but  I  have  been long convinced,
that  the sentiments we  entertain of  a  future life are
not only essentially connected with the moral condition
of mankind, but with the  health  and many  of the
diseases of the  physical system, of which  more will be
said  under the proper heads.
               INTEMPERANCE,
  Intemperance is the offspring of so many and  such
various  causes, that it seems  impossible to enumerate
them, or even to reduce them to anything like scientific
order.   I will commence my remarks on intemperance,
which in its broadest signification means excess in the
gratification of our propensities,  passions,  and  even
intellectual pursuits, by emphatically observing that  it
is generally found  in  strong  and  intimate connexion,
when really traced to its origin, with the pleasures and
enjoyments, as well as with the miseries and misfortunes
of mankind.   I  have  before  remarked under another 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          101

head, that with regard to the  elementary  principles of
the passions,  propensities, and intellectual powers of
man, we know absolutely nothing with certainty; and
that all we can possibly understand with respect to
them, is derived  fiom our consciousness of their exis-
tence, and from the effects  they daily and hourly pro-
duce for our observation.
   Every capacity  or, power  of the human system,
physical and intellectual, when exercised in moderation,
and  with strict conformity to the laws of nature, is pro-
ductive  of enjoyment and happiness: this natural and
moderate  exercise  of our  propensities, passions,  and
mental  energies, when matured into habits of life  and
character, we  call  temperance; and, it is the abusive
degradation of  those  same intellectual powers, pas-
sions and propensities, by their unrestrained and exces-
sive indulgence to the destruction of health and happi-
ness, that  we call intemperance.   I will give  some
familiar examples of the application of these princi-
ples, in  order that  they may be fully comprehended by
those for whom I write.   We are all liable to hunger
and  thirst;  and all of us require sleep, for the renova-
tion  of our  bodily and  mental powers  when fatigued.
These are natural wants; and their gratifications are
always essential to health and happiness.  We all know
perfectly well, for  instance, that when we satisfy our
hunger  and thirst in moderation, and renew the strength
of our  systems, of mind and body, by  sleeping  no
more than the requisite time for producing  those effects,
the satisfaction of these natural wants invariably pro-
duces healthy action of body and mind, attended with
enjoyment and pleasure.   But, on the other hand, when
in eating or drinking, we overload  and surcharge the
stomach with meat and drink, and when in sleeping 
102          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

take more repose than is required  for the renovation
of our bodily and mental systems, our  excesses  are
always  productive of nausea, uneasiness, indigestion,
and stupidity,  and we  habitually  become gluttons,
drunkards, and sluggards, and are a disgrace to our-
selves  and society.  The same doctrine  and mode of
reasoning may be applied to  the passions  of mankind.
When they are indulged  in with natural moderation,
and never suffered to run into riot and excess, they are
always  conducive  to health; and productive of many
of the  enjoyments and  pleasures of life; hut,  when
they gain the ascendancy of the moral feelings and
rational powers, when they prostrate the  bulwarks of
religion and morality, and are indulged in all their
debasing and  destructive excesses,  the progress of the
passions proclaims the  premature decay of  health,
strength, and happiness—and emphatically announces
to the unfortunate  victims of  excess, that they  are
fallen indeed!   In truth,  what has just been remarked
with regard to the natural  wants and passions  of men,
may with strict justice be applied  to the lofty and pow-
erful energies of the  mind itself.  It has been truly
remarked by an  acute  and  profound  investigator of
the faculties of  the mind, that "he who thinks with
great intenseness and  profundity, will not continue to
do  so  for many  successive  years"—and in proofs of
this, I will note some instances which  will have much
weight  in demonstrating the  fact.  Sir Isaac Newton,
who was probably the greatest astronomer and mathe-
matician of his  own or  any other age, several years
previous to the close of  his life, was utterly unable to
comprehend  the meaning of  his own  works; in addi-
tion to which I will notice as  a well authenticated fact,
that the celebrated Dean Swift, the energies of whose 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           103

mind were inferior to those of no literary man of the
same age, several years previous to his death became
a driveler, and confirmed idiot.   Whether it be  true,
that intense, subtile, and powerful intellect, acts  upon
the mere carcase as  a sharp sword does  upon the
scabbard; or whether the mind itself becomes exhaust-
ed  and worn out, by  an overstrained  and continued
excitement of its powers, I  leave for metaphysicians
to determine:—but  we certainly do know, and the ex-
perience of all ages and generations proves the fact,
that excessive mental  exertion not only produces  fa-
tigue and lassitude  in  a few hours, but that if such
exertion be continued  for a few  years in succession, it
invariably  blunts and  wears down  the keenest  and
soundest intellectual energies of  man.  The broad and
comprehensive view I  have just  given of temperance
and intemperance, in  regard to the physical wants,
passions, and intellectual powers of man, I believe to
be the only correct exposition on general principles that
can  be given; because it embraces all the destructive
excesses to which man is prone, and refers  all those
excesses, to the abuses and degradations of his eleva-
ted and noble faculties.
  I commenced with remarking, and I wish the princi-
ple to be kept in view by the  reader, that the vices of
intemperance when fairly traced to  their origin, will
always be found in connexion with the enjoyments and
pleasures, as  well as with the miseries and misfortunes
of mankind.
  Mankind may be distinguished into two great classes
or divisions:- First, those whose  pleasures and enjoy-
ments, and whose pains and miseries, partake so great-
ly of  a physical character,  as  nearly  always to  be
referable  to  corporeal  or bodily functions and sensa- 
104           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

tions: this class is composed of men who are properly
denominated sensualists;  in  other words,  they  are
individuals who can only be rendered happy or misera-
ble through the medium of the senses.   Second, those
whose general characters partake more of the nature
and habitual influence of the  intellectual powers; and
of the emotions and passions of the mind;  and whose
enjoyments, pleasures, sufferings and miseries, are more
intimately connected  with the mind and imagination;
these  may with much  propriety be  denominated men-
talists.  Among the great  aggregate  of mankind, the
reality of the distinction between animal and intellect-
ual man,  as regards  the native basis  of the human
character towards one or the other extreme, is demon-
strable from the  following facts. Hunger  and  thirst,
for instance, are corporeal wants; they are  essential to
the health, strength and support of the  physical or bodi-
ly system;  and  may  be called corporeal or bodily
passions, when they become sO powerful as to  impel
men to gluttony and drunkenness:—desires and propen-
sities  being nothing more, when  considered in relation
to the corporeal  system, than  slighter shades of the
physical wants and passions of men.  Love and ambi-
tion, on the contrary,  are  passions of the  mind and
imagination: they are the offspring of  refined sensibili-
ty, and deep-toned  energies of intellectual character;
and when acting in their native sphere, are so far ab-
stracted from  all corporeal considerations, that they
only occasionally act on the physical wants and pas-
sions,  and  then  only  for  the  attainment  of specific
objects.  When  the  passion of love,  for instance, is
directed to the perpetuation  of the  human species^
which I will remark in passing, was not the case in the
love which existed between Jonathan and  David, the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          105

intellectual passion of love only acts on the sexual and
corporeal functions;  but, I would ask any sceptic on
this point, whether the love of literature, mathematics,
astronomy, or any other science or intellectual pursuit,
has any connection whatever with propensities, wants
and passions, founded on the merely corporeal or bodi-
ly functions  of mankind.  And surely it  will not be
questioned, that the food and nourishment required for
exercising, giving pleasure to, and strengthening the
mind, are essentially  different from those required for
the sustenance,  health,  and strength of the body: and
we all know  perfectly well, in reference to the corpo-
real and  intellectual functions and capacities of men,
that the strong predominance of either class operates
unfavorably and sometimes destructively to the other.
The fact is, that we oftentimes  find the loftiest and
strongest passions and mental energies, connected with
delicate  and sometimes feeble corporeal organization,
debility of stomach, and prostration of strength: nor is
it  unusual to  observe, that those  who possess uncom-
monly high health and physical strength, are frequently
in the  other extreme, as regards  the exercise of the
mind and passions.  But  further;  every man who has
acquired any experience, respecting those  states of the
physical  system  when the mind and passions act with
the greatest  force, must Know that a  full stomach al-
ways blunts the mind and feelings;  and that inanition
or emptiness of the stomach, is favorable to intellectual
operations.  This fact is so well known, that the Creek
Indians,  in all their public deliberations on important
national concerns, use what they  call the black drink,
made of the  parched leaves of the spice-wood boiled,
which vomits them copiously  and produces  the inani-
tion just mentioned;  without  which, they  allege, th«y
     14' 
106          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

are inadequate to deliberating on their national affairs.
Some  medical writer has remarked, that physical de-
bility, and a diseased state of the system, impart, as it
were, a preternatural excitement to the mind;  and in-
stances the cases of Boilieu, Erasmus, Pascal, Cicero,
Galba, Pope, and several others,  who were as  remar-
kable for the feebleness of their  physical constitutions,
as they were for their gigantic energies of intellect: the
same writer  also remarks, that abortive, feeble, and
sickly  children,  almost  invariably  display powerful
characteristics of intellect  when grown to maturity;
and instances the cases of the great Lord Littleton and
Mrs. Ferguson,  both of whom  were seven months'
children: to which he might have  added the  case of
Richard the Third, who, according to Shakspeare's
account, was "deformed, unfinished, and sent into this
breathing world  scarce half made up."  On the other
hand, it has frequently been remarked by men of acute
and  scrutinizing minds, that  high health, great corpo-
real strength, and uncommon muscularity of frame, are
seldom remarkable for subtile and profound genius, or
for an attachment to  purely intellectual pursuits.   This
is so notoriously  true, that the opinions  generally form-
ed by the vulgar, of the persons of men who are con-
spicuous and renowned for great intellectual  powers,
are almost invariably the very reverse of what may be
called  the  corporeally contemptible realities.   In de-
monstration of this fact, innumerable  instances might
be  given, in addition to those found in the persons of
Alexander  of Macedon, Frederick, king  of Prussia,
John Philpot  Curran,  Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamil-
ton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jack-
son, and lastly  the late  emperor Napoleon, who was
nicknamed by his own soldiers,  from his contemptible 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           107
stature and proportions, the little corporal.  I will here
make an observation  on this subject, which I do not
recollect to have seen in any writer.  We are always
to presume, that the soundness  and strength of the
physical constitutions of men, lead to great longevity or
length of days:  and it is a  fact as notorious  as true,
that such  men are seldom or never possessed of much
mind; in  other  words,  the  sword is  not  sufficiently
sharp  to cut the scabbard.  I am acquainted with  a
man,  a pauper, of this county, who is said from good
authority to be one hundred  and ten years of age, who
I was informed on enquiry, never even in the meridian
of life had more than  a very ordinary  mind: and
Thomas Parre, who died in London on the 16th No-
vember, 1635, aged one hundred and fifty-two years, it
is said was greatly noted for having been a  man  as
remarkable for his deficiency of mental energies, as for
his lascivious and  sensual  propensities.  "It was  ob-
served of him,"  says the London  Medical Museum,
"that  he used  to eat often, both by night and  by day,
taking up  with old cheese,  milk, coarse bread, small
beer,  and  whey; and  which is more  remarkable,  he
ate at midnight, a little before  he died.  Being open-
ed after his death, his body was still found very fleshy;
—his  breast  hairy; his genitals  unimpaired, which
served to confirm the report of his having  undergone
public censures  for his incontinency,"  &,c.  &c.   I
would by no  means wish to be understood, that there
are no individuals possessed of high health and great
physical strength, who are remarkable for strong intel-
lectual powers; Newton, Johnson, Shakspeare, and a
thousand other instances  might be given as exceptions
to the general  rule just  noticed; but  w,e  are all well
convinced  not only that high health and strength lead 
 108          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 to corporeal  amusements and pursuits unfavorable to
 intellectual improvement—but that debility and disease
 act  in various ways extremely favorable to accessions
 of mental strength.  In  the  first place,  debility and
 disease  lower the tone of those passions which impel
 us to active exertion and amusement; in  other words,
 they impose a powerful restraint on the physical appe-
 tites and propensities—circumscribe us to amusements
 and pursuits connected with the operations of the mind,
 confine us to the company of our elders, whose superior
 experience and knowledge are beneficial to our intel-
 lectual improvement; and "by keeping up an action in
 the brain, in common with other parts of the body, they
 tend to impart vigor to the intellectual faculties."
  From what has been  said, I  think it will appear
 evident, that from both natural and accidental circum-
 stances,  there is a  distinction to be drawn  between
 those men whose pleasures and  pains are connected
 with physical  or corporeal character, and those whose
 enjoyments and miseries are more intimately associated
 with the powers  and passions of the mind: and it was
 for these reasons that I alleged in the outset,  not only
that intemperance was the offspring of various  physical
 and  intellectual  causes, but that  when traced to  its
origin, it would generally  be found in strong and inti-
 mate connexion, as well with the pleasures and enjoy-
ments, as with the miseries and misfortunes of mankind.
This is a view of the subject  of  intemperance and its
 causes, which I  presume  has  never before been taken
 by any writer; and although it must  of necessity, like
 every  thing else human, be subject  to imperfections
 both in  data and  conclusions, yet it  may  have some
 salutary tendencies.   It may possibly invite the atten-
 tion of the learned, to further and more satisfactory 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
109
 investigations of the subject; it may exhibit the neces-
 sity of seeking for the real causes of intemperance,  in
 removing its habits and effects from the human system;
 and it may invite society to the exercise of more lenity
 and compassion, when  laboring for  the reformation of
 its unfortunate  and melancholy victims.  Abuse and
 degradation were never yet influential in reforming the
 intemperate; for, what interest did  any man ever yet
 feel, for the preservation  of that which he has been
 convinced,  by abuse and  degradation, was of no esti-
 mation or value?  Intemperance is confined to no rank
 in life; to no  particular grade of genius and intellect-
 ual  power, between  a  Socrates and an idiot; it is
 found in the hut of the savage, the haunts of the learn-
 ed,  the  hovel of the beggar,  and in  the palaces  of
 kings; its causes are  as  various as the capacities of
 man for enjoyments and pleasures, and as multiplied as
 the  various miseries and  misfortunes  to which he is
 subjected through life: what a  farce then it must  be,
 for any  physician to attempt  to remove the different
 causes  of intemperance, without knowing what those
 causes are, and by the application of one specific reme-
 dy  to  such an infinite variety of causes.  Would you
 attempt to  remove  diseases of the mind,  by merely
 physical remedies?  Would you, on  the other hand,
 hope for the removal  of merely corporeal diseases, by
 the  application  of intellectual  means?  Would  you
 soothe the mental anguish of remorse, without the con-
 solations of religion, and assurances of divine forgive-
 ness?   Would you, in other words, attempt to destroy
a poisonous variety of plants,  without  striking  at the
roots of their existence and vitality?
  The  mere pleasures  of sense, as well as those of
the intellect, are  susceptible of being rendered more 
 110          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 intense, by the application of stimulants: in the  varied
 and endless catalogue of stimulating powers, are to be
 found all the great allurements to dissipation and con-
 firmed intemperance;  but it will  hardly be contended,
 that  one  grade  of  stimulants,   possesses the  same
 strength and  adaptation  of allurement, with  all  the
 varieties of mankind.  Physically speaking, one man's
 system is excited to pleasurable sensations by snuff, the
 system of another by tobacco, of another  by wine, of
 a fourth by spirits and opium, of a fifth by highly sea-
soned and stimulating food, &,c.  &c;  and we  are all
perfectly aware,  that  a  persistency in the use  of any
or all the above stimulants, will sometimes degenerate
into a confirmed  habit of intemperance in their use,
too strong  for the restraints of either the moral or in-
tellectual energies of the self-devoted victims.   You
will frequently  hear the  devotees of any  or  all  the
above excesses, execrating the very agents they employ
in wearing down  their  constitutions  with incidental
diseases  and  premature  decay,  and moralizing  with
the finest touches  of elocution on the heinousness and
immorality of such dangerous and degrading excesses;
and what does all this prove?  Why  it demonstrates
conclusively, that the habits of dissipation and intem-
perance, like  all other derelictions from the standard
of nature and philosophic  moderation, are to be resis-
ted in  their  first  formation,  and  before they  can
acquire the resistless force of torrents,  before which all
human resolutions, and efforts of preservation, sink to
rise no more!   There are two periods of  human life;
there are two  marked and distinct periods in the pro-
gressive excesses of dissipation and intemperance.  In
the rise  of life,  we act  upon  every thing around us,
from a confidence in our own strength, and a conscious- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          Ill
ness of being able to master  and shape our own desti-
nies: in the decline of life, when the  physical, moral,
and  mental energies begin  to fail, we act  upon less
resolute  and less  confidential  principles;  in  other
words, we merely act  on the defensive, and resort to
expedients for warding off* diseases, dangers and death.
These  two periods are strongly marked in the lives and
characters of all men;  from the General, who achieves
victories in his youth, and sustains  defeat in his old age,
to the  man of intellectual powers and pursuits,  who,
like the immortal Milton, writes a "Paradise Lost," in
the meridian of life and  intellectual resolution,  and a
"Paradise Regained," when the tremors of old age and
irresolution  have crept  over  him.  This is  a  faithful
picture of a man of dissipation and intemperance.  At
first he adventures on an excess, partly from the attrac-
tive force of the allurement, and partly from the con-
sciousness of moral and  intellectual resolution to  with-
stand any temptation to dangerous indulgence.  In the
formation of intemperate habits, this is precarious and
hostile ground:  the scripture says, "let him who stands,
take heed lest he fall."   The  habit of intemperance is
of slow or rapid growth, in  proportion to the strength
or weakness of our resolutions to withstand temptation.
Where many and  strong  motives combine  to  retard
our progress in excesses  of intemperance, we advance
slowly  and almost  imperceptibly to  self-destruction.
When the animations of youth, and the convivialities
of  conversation, are sufficient for the  production of
pleasurable sensations: when we are highly suspectible
of impression from the varied charms  of nature; and
while the brilliant prospects  of a long  and  animated
life, seem "to bid an eternal Eden smile around us,"
the  temptations to degrading intemperance are  only 
112
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
those which enhance the intensity of other pleasures.
But, in  proportion as all these fairy prospects fade on
the vision; in proportion as the repetition of these en-
joyments  causes us to lose the sentiment  of novelty,
and especially when satiety of such enjoyments produ-
ces lassitude and  coldness, we invariably  descend to
more sensual and intense expedients, for renewing sen-
sations  of pleasure:  and unfortunately  for mankind,
those expedients are too often connected  with the dis-
sipations and intemperance of the glutton, the epicure,
the opium-eater, and  the drunkard.   This descent to
confirmed  habits of  intemperance,  in  all  its  varied
stages of  degradation, need not  be delineated; these
graduated debasements are visible in every department
of society, and are so  common, as  almost  everywhere
to have lost their novelty and impression.
   I have not yet spoken of  those  dissipations, which
seem to be connected with the energies and passions of
the mind; and compared with which, the intemperate
excesses of the mere animal  appetites and passions of
man,  dwindle into  a comparatively insignificant and
ordinary character.  Where the character of an indi-
vidual is  decidedly intellectual, there always will  be
discovered at  an early period  of life, a  strong native
propensity to an indulgence  in intellectual pleasures,
and in those passions which are more closely allied to
the mental powers.  I mean here  those  pleasures of
the mind, which  have their  rise in the memory, the
understanding, the imagination, &c. and those which
are the offspring of an indulgence in those passions of
the mind, which we call  love,  hope,  ambition, &c.
With regard to the pleasures of memory, they are as
various and unlimited  as the objects  by which  we are
surrounded  in nature; they comprise every thing cog- 
GUiNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE:
113
nizable by all the senses of man, the impressions of
which can be stamped upon  the retentive faculty; and
they embrace also, those recollections of our own con-
duct, which  are fraught with the  pleasures of a good
conscience.   It is absolutely  impossible to define or
limit  the pleasures of memory:  they embrace our pa-
rents, our early friends, and all the objects of our youth-
ful attachments;  the houses  in  which we were born
and educated, the haunts of our youthful and innocent
diversions, and all  the objects  of our early pursuits.
The  pleasures of memory also  comprise all we have
learned of the heroism, the magnanimity, and  the in-
telligence, of the great warriors and sages of antiquity;
they in fact embrace all the recollections of the mind,
in its recognizance of all the objects and  events which
have  ever been pleasing to us:  and  they particularly
afford us happiness from a review of a well-spent life.
But are there not pains, as well as pleasures of mem-
ory?   There are;   and  here commences the cata-
logue of dissipations, the first impulse to which is to
be found in  the mind.  Was  it an inherent baseness
and brutality  of native character, that rendered Robert
Burns intemperate?   Was it a bestial love  of the
liquid poison  which finally destroyed him, that  origin-
ated and confirmed those habits of intemperance which
sent him  to  an early grave?   No:  his dissipations
commenced  in the convivialities and  pleasures of a
refined, delicate,  and superior mind;  and were con-
firmed into habits of intemperance too stubborn for the
control of his moral  energies, by the  lowliness of his
fortunes, the poignancy and  vulgarity of his sufferings,
and the pains of his memory!  Why do we see a
man like  this, the  prey of  a morbid  and confirmed
melancholy?    And  why  do  we hear him warbling
       15" 
114          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

forth  his  distresses, when contemplating objects yet
dear and painfiilto  his memory, in  the  following in-
spired and tender strains: "ye  mind  me  of departed
hours—departed, never to return!"  The fate of Ro-
bert Burns has been the fate of thousands whose names
are lost to fame, and who have sunk into obscure and
lonely graves, unpitied and unknown.   Thomas Paine
once  remarked, that one  of  the greatest miseries  of
human life, consisted in not being able to forget what
it was painful to remember.  Mr. Paine's character was
highly intellectual; his whole life had been devoted to
conferring  political  benefits  and  moral  miseries on
mankind:  and it is not  merely possible, but  highly
probable, that the desertions  of society on account of
his theological writings, and the pains of his memory,
led to those confirmed habits of dissipation and intem-
perance, which ultimately destroyed  him.   But  the
instances just submitted to the reader, are but two out
of thousands which might be adduced, to  prove  the
influence of the pains of memory, in originating and
confirming fatal habits of dissipation and intemperance.
How many millions have  sunk into the vortex of in-
temperance, from the influence of those pains of mem-
ory, called  an  accusing conscience?   Physician—
"canst thou minister to a mind  diseased," by medical
prescriptions which can only  affect the body?
   The pleasures and pains of the understanding come
next under consideration; and present such a field for
the investigation of philosophy, as can only be delinea-
ted in outlines.  Curiosity is the first passion, or rather
emotion of the human understanding; it leads the mind
to the investigation and scrutiny of all the objects of na-
ture and art which present themselves to man, betwixt
the cradle  and  the  grave: the emotion or passion of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           115

curiosity does more; it leads us to the investigation of
objects beyond the boundaries of time, and impels us
to attempt a revelation of the great enigmas of eternity
itself!  The mind of man is naturally attached to truth,
and always experiences pleasure in the discovery of it,
when the  disclosure is  found beneficial to  comfort,
health, fame, or to  enjoyments of any description; in
all these  cases, and innumerable others, we experience
what may be called the pleasures of the understand-
ing.  But has not  the human understanding also its
pains?   I think so; we  all know perfectly well,  that
the period of death must arrive : and does not  this  cer-
tain anticipation give pain  to thousands?   Is not the
fear of death painful?  I will admit that the uncertain-
ty of the moment, wisely and benevolently hidden from
us by Providence, in some  measure  blunts the painful
anticipation of death; but what are the mental  pangs
of the convict, who is given to  understand,  that he
must be  executed to-morrow!   Both the pleasures  and
pains of the understanding, have relation to  the  dis-
covery of truth. Suppose a man be bitten by a serpent,
of whose character he knows nothing; is he not alarm-
ed?  Suppose that he immediately discovers the reptile
to be harmless;  do not the  mental pains  of alarm
cease: and does he not  experience  pleasure from the
consciousness of  security  from  danger?   Here  the
pleasure of the understanding is derived from a benefi-
cial discovery: but suppose he ascertain that the reptile
by which he has been assailed is  of a venomous  and
fatal character, and  that he  clearly  understand  his
immediate destiny to be death, are not his mental  pangs
identified with the pains of the understanding?   I have
not space, in a work like this, to go  into a philosophi-
cal detail of the important truths connected with  this 
116
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 subject; and regret to be compelled to differ from the
 authority of the great  Doctor Rush, who alleges that
 the pleasures of the understanding have no antagonists
 in pain.  A knowledge of facts, is the aggregate amount
 of the truths acquired  by the operations of the under-
 standing :  where these acquisitions of knowledge de-
 velop consequences beneficial to human enjoyment and
 happiness, they are always  productive of pleasure to
 the mind, through the medium of the understanding:
 but where by the operations of the understanding, the
 mind is brought into  a full view of  dangerous and
 disastrous consequences, the results are always painful
 and  unhappy.  This I believe  to be a  full and fair
 statement of the case;  and were it not, I  would like to
 know, what influence  in the religious reformation  of
 mankind could possibly be derived  from faith in the
 belief of future rewards and punishments!   Ignorant
 of consequences, what to man would be  the happiness
 or misery of either prosperity or misfortune?   And
 how are either to be calculated  without the  operations
of the understanding?—can a man even  calculate the
results  of a plain  question  in arithmetic, without the
 operations of this mental power?  It is alone by the
pervading and subtile powers of the understanding, that
we are enabled to feel the realities of either  intellectu-
al pain or pleasure, happiness or misery.   The memo-
ry of man, acts  upon  nothing but  facts and  events
 which are past and gone;  but the understanding oper-
ates  also on the  present condition and circumstances
of mankind, and even extends its views to  futurity; and
 these are the reasons why the pleasures  and pains  of
the understanding, are more intense than  those of the
 memory.  These are also the reasons why we are led
 astray by the festivities of present dissipations and in- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
117
 temperance; and  these are also the true reasons, why
 we resort to the banquet and the flowing bowl, to drown
 both past and present sorrows connected with the mind.
 Thus we see, that both joys and sorrows are  capable
 of producing habits of intemperance and dissipation:
 Physician, can your medical drugs restrain those joys,
 or remove those sorrows which spring from the  mind
 itself, when all the maxims of moral wisdom and philo-
 sophy have failed ?  No; you must resort to the restrain-
 ing  powers,  and  the consolations  of  religion  and
 morality.
   The pleasures  and pains  of the imagination, com-
 mence  where those  of the  memory and the under-
 standing terminate: and there is this  specific differ-
 ence between them; the  powers of the  understanding
 and memory operate on facts and probabilities, while
 those of the imagination riot in the wild excesses  of
fiction, romance, and absolute improbabilities.  The
 range of the human imagination seems to be unlimited;
 and  what is very extraordinary, and something difficult
 to be accounted  for, its vigor  and  creative  powers,
 seem to be proportioned to the weakness and want  of
 cultivation of  the  understanding.   All the  records
 which have  descended to us from very ancient times,
 seem to favor the presumption, that the empire of ima-
 gination, fiction, and romance, in  the dark  periods  of
 antiquity, gave a  tone and  character to the  human
 mind; and that the early records of history only teem
 with  romantic fictions which  defy  belief,  and  with
 delineations of prodigies which  never existed, because
the philosophic investigations of the understanding
had not yet corrected the errors of the  imagination.
It was probably for these reasons, that Homer, in his
"Illiad," admits and describes a plurality of Gods; and 
118          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

that Ossian's fancy saw  the ghosts of departed heroes
who had been slain in battle, half viewless among the
clouds of night.   Had the progress and improvement
of Homer's understanding, enabled him to arrive  at
the sublime conclusion which announces the existence
of one great first cause, he never could have delinea-
ted in  poetic numbers the distinctive characters of his
fictitious deities;  and, had  Ossian not been  ignorant
enough to  believe in ghosts, his imagination never
could  have  deceived him in  the  belief, that  those  of
his forefathers were witnessing from  the  clouds, the
sanguinary horrors of his battles!   The fact seems  to
be, as I have said before, that the empire of imagination
commences  where the matter of fact and  philosophic
operations of the understanding  and  memory cease;
for I  think  it  will not  be contested, even by  men  of
ordinary intelligence, that it is impossible to  imagine
the existence of a thing which we are convinced has
no being;  or to fancy a thing to  be  true, which we
know to  be a falsehood.  Can any man  imagine that
sugar is bitter, gall sweet, or that two  and two make
five?   No: the truth is, that a knowledge of facts and
realities destroys all the frost works  of  fancy  and fic-
tion, and demonstrates  clearly that  philosophy  and
science have nearly extinguished the fire of poetic ge-
nius.   In other words, few men can be poets in this age
of philosophic  improvement, who  will  not borrow  or
steal from the old writers, or who cannot find  subjects
of poetic inspiration, on which little or nothing  is  or
can be certainly  known.   Newton or Locke would
have cut as contemptible  a figure in poetry, as Homer
and  Ossian would have exhibited in  astronomy  and
metaphysics.
   We all know,  that the fire of the  imagination  is 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          119

weakened  and destroyed by old  age and experience;
and that those who always deal in fictions are always
the victims of folly.  The pleasures of imagination are
always the most brilliant and powerful in the youthful
mind; and the reasons are obvious.   This is the  peri-
od when all impressions made on the mind, by disclos-
ing to  us  the opening  beauties of nature, and the
imposing splendors of creation, are entirely  novel and
without alloy.  This is  the period  when none  of the
cares and  anxieties of life, overshadow and begloom
the fairy prospect of fancied and endless felicities to
come;  and this too is the  period, when our youthful
friendships are untainted by a knowledge of the base-
ness and selfishness of mankind—and our loves of the
supposed divinity of the  female character, are unalloy-
ed by those appalling discoveries of experience, wisdom,
and philosophy, which teach us that every thing human
is imperfect, and unworthy of our idolatrous devotions!
These are  the reasons why  many modern  philosophers
have been  of opinion, that the state of savage and un-
cultivated nature, as regards a more refined condition
of the human mind, is much more conducive to human
happiness than any other; for say  these men, "where
ignorance  is bliss, it  is  surely folly to be  wise."  If
these delusive fascinations  of the imagination  could
continue through life, uncorrected by the bitter lessons
of experience  and wisdom; or  if  man could  be  so
educated, as never to seek or experience happiness but
in the realities of life and nature, the wild delusions of
fancy would never lead his judgment astray in the pur-
suits of happiness; nor would he ever be  discontented*
with  the moderate enjoyments which the realities of
existence afford him.  But one of  the most difficult
lessons in wisdom and philosophy, is to be able to ac- 
120
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
quire and preserve through life that balance of charac-
ter which preserves to us the innocent delusions of the
fancy, without suffering them to interfere with,  and
ultimately to destroy our rational attachments  to the
colder realities of life.  It is the want of this just equi-
poise, between  philosophic moderation and strength  of
judgment, and the acute sensibilities allied to a cultiva-
ted imagination, that constitutes the real vortex in which
so many men of enlightened and lofty genius have sunk
to rise no more.  Relying on the pleasures of imagina-
tion for  happiness in  early life, never  dreaming  that
they  are in a  world of sad  realities, which will in-
volve them  in  misfortunes against which nothing but
the exercise of prudence and judgment can guard them,
and continuing to enjoy the  present  moment, without
looking forward to the probable and untoward  contin-
gencies of futurity—they are never aroused from their
brilliant and illusory visions of fanciful and imaginary
happiness, until they are overwhelmed with real mise-
ries and  misfortunes, and  pressed upon by those impe-
rious calls of  want and  necessity, which cannot be
silenced by visionary or imaginary means.  Here com-
mence those pains of the imagination, those lacerations
of sensibility, and those  horrible anticipations  of  real
and unmitigated  suffering, which no  human language
can describe, and which  are  so often seen to goad the
man of genius  and superior endowments to dissipation
and intemperance, and precipitate him to all the despe-
rations attendant on ruined fortunes, and an early grave!
This  is the vortex that has swallowed thousands of the
greatest  men  that ever existed;  this is  the bottomless
ocean that  has engulfed  millions of  the brightest and
most useful men  that ever had existence.  It is  useless
to speak of the love of liquor  being the cause of intern- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          121
 perance, as applied to men of lofty and powerful ener-
 gies of mind, and it is worse than useless to attempt
 the reformation of such  men, without knowing and
 reachigf the real causes of their derelictions.  Nearly
 all  that has been  written on  the subject of intemper-
 a:ic3,  has been superficial and nugatory, and confined
 to the mere contemplation of  its effects.   Would you
 prescribe remedies for the mere effects of a disease,
 without knowing  and striking  at  the  real causes?
 Would you attempt to guard yourself against the point-
 ed dajger of an assassin, without paralyzing the arm
 that held it to  your bosom?   I will  admit that you
 may remove the diseases and  habits of intemperance,
 where  they  are  merely connected  with the corporeal
 system and physical sensations of men, and have  noth-
 ing whatever to do with  the mind, by the  administra-
 tion of medical drugs, which will act on that corporeal
 system, and by the  substitution of new bodily habits for
 old ones; but beyond these points you cannot go by
 physical means, when you advance  on the confines of
 the mind, and the intellectual  passions.  Here you are
 in a new region, and must adapt your means to the
 origin and nature of the disease, you must empJoy the
 moral powers of dissuasive eloquence, the  divine con-
 solations of religion, held out by scripture to erring and
 repentant man, and  its  denunciations against the con-
 duct of the self-destroyer; you must employ the max-
 ims of philosophy, and the admonitory precepts of true
 wisdom, you must  soothe the victim  of  intemperate
 despair, with reasonable hopes of a better fate, instead
 of irritating him by abusive and  degrading denuncia-
 tions, &c. &c.   But, as this is a most important subject,
 I will endeavor to  elucidate it a little further.  When
the causes of disease are connected with the mind and
     16 
122
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
its passions, mere physical restraints and even punish-
ments will amount to  nothing  in  attempting  a cure.
There is a class of mankind, I will  admit, who, like
children whose moral susceptibilities cannot be acted
upon, must be restrained from excesses, and even  the
commission of crimes, by ignominious corporeal terrors
and  punishments; this  class of men always possesses
more of the physical or  corporeal, than of the moral
and mental character, and must be acted on by pillories,
whipping-posts, and  sometimes gibbets.   But  terrors
and  punishments which  merely affect the body, have
no influence with those men whose minds and passions
are morbidly affected, or those who are under strong
moral impressions of rectitude of conduct.  The whole
range of martyrs, who  have suffered unspeakable tor-
ments in the cause of religion and  patriotism, demon-
strates these facts.  Would you  then attempt to restrain
from  intemperance, by mere corporeal and physical
means, the man whose mind and its passions are affect-
ed?   Certainly not;  every man  whose character is
decidedly intellectual,  feels  that his native  dignity is
outraged and degraded by corporeal and ignominious
restraints or punishments, and will in nine instances out
of ten, destroy  himself to escape from his own senti-
ments of degradation.  While  the genius of conquest,
in the person of Napoleon, was lowering by successive
victories all the national banners of Europe, a French
soldier of the line presented himself to the Emperor,
and desired to  be shot.  When interrogated as to his
reasons,  he replied  that  he had been  sentenced to
receive ignominious corporeal punishment  for some
misdeed, rather than to submit to  which, he  preferred
death:  the impression  made on the mind of Napoleon
was  such, that  ignominious  corporeal punishments 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          123

 were  immediately abolished  throughout the French
 armies.
   It is almost needless to remark, on those passions of
 the mind, called hope, love, ambition, &,c.—that they
 are alfproductive of pleasures and pains, in proportion
 as their influence is bounded by  moderation, or char-
 acterised  by excess.   The pleasures  of hope have
 been  finely  celebrated by Campbell;   ana* are well
 known to have a powerful  influence in blunting  the
 miseries and misfortunes of mankind during life, and
 even in illuminating their anticipations of a happy im-
 mortality  beyond the grave!  But  the pleasures of hope
 have their counterpoise  of evils  and  miseries;  and
 when  indulged  in to excess, or founded on visionary
 and impossible  principles, frequently terminate in dis-
 appointment and despair.   Here  wisdom, fortitude,
 religion and philosophy, are probably the only essential
 and efficient preventatives, against these intemperate
 palliatives of disappointed hope, which  have led thou-
 sands  to  drown themselves,  their fortunes  and their
 miseries  in the  bowl.   The miseries of despair  and
 disappointed hope, are seldom the  portion of those
 whose educations have  been moral  and judicious, or
 who have been early taught to distinguish the realities
 of life, from those illusive and visionary expectations
 of it, which never can be realized  even  by the greatest
 prosperity.  The visionary gildings with  which youth-
 ful feeling and animating anticipation invest the untried
 scenes of life,  always dissolve before  the  lessons of
 wisdom and experience;  and  where these privations
 are followed by positive misfortunes from which there
 exists no  hope  of redemption, intemperance almost
invariably succeeds, as the only remedy by which tem-
porary alleviation can be  obtained.  But this conduct 
124
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 is founded in short-sighted and desperate policy;  be-
 cause, to  the  mental pangs of misfortune, are always
 added the miseries of corporeal disease.
   Love is likewise  an intellectual  passion, and, like
 hope, is productive of pleasure and pain, happiness and
 misery.  I have before spoken of. this passien, as con-
 nected  with the enjoyments and  happiness cf man; it
 now becomes my-duty to take a  brief  view of  the
 sombre colorings of the picture, end to develop  some
 of the causes with which its miseries are  connected.
 Love is always founded on perceptions of real or ima-
 ginary perfections; when this elevated and ennobling
 sentiment is based on the perception  of qualities which
 really exist, it invariably leads to happiness, and  is an
 unerring indication of  superior wisdom;  but when it is
 founded in errors of the  imagination, and in the false
 perception of merely visionary qualities which have no
 existence, it generally  eventuates in misery, and is a
 decided mark of overweening stupidity and folly.  The
 first step to misery, in wedded love, where the qualities
 of either of the parties are not sufficiently noble to sus-
 tain the  passion, is  the discovery of  blemishes  of
 person, disposition, mind or character, which were  not
 known previously to marriage.  This discovery produ-
ces a chill of  the affections,  which Jeads to a  more
narrow  and scrutinizing investigation of  the causes of
 our having been deceived.  If they are found to have
 originated  with ourselves, we invariably undervalue
 and detest our own judgment, which  would suffer us
 thus to be deceived, and immediately become dissatis-
 fied with  ourselves;  and it requires  no great  exercise
 of wisdom to know, that those who are dissatisfied with
themselves, are displeased with all those around them.
 On the contrary, if it is found  on investigation that  we
.5- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          125

 have been deceived by the hypocrisy of the individual
 to whom we are tied by bonds which death alone can
 dissolve, contempt and detestation are  the inevitable
 consequences; for it is no more possible for  a man or
 woman  or moral discernment to  love an unworthy ob-
 ject, knowing it to be sue!:, than it is for a human being
 to  hate  the presence of virtue combined with .peerless,
 beauty.   Here then commences that series of domestic
 and conjugal miseries, winch defies  and baffles the
 power of mere  language to describe:  and the parties
 soon  become estranged from, and  perfectly hateful to,
 each other.  Home becomes a hell;  the tavern  and
 gamingtables are resorted to;  to bad  company habits
 of intemperance succeed, and the  event is, death by
 confirmed habits of intoxication, or life embittered by
 negligence, disease, poverty and want!  I am the more
 particular in mentioning the effects of "love to hatred
 turned," and in tracing those effects to their causes, not
 only because the picture which is true to life  may be
 instrumental in  preventing deceptions and hypocrisy
 in courtship, but because it may have a tendency to
 illustrate  the eternal  truth, that no miseries  can ever
 be  drowned in  the midnight bowl, unless the  chalice
 contain the poison of death itself!----1 said  that love
 was always founded on the perception of real or vision-
 ary perfections;  with that founded on amiable and noble
 qualities, I have here nothing to do, because it is al-
 ways permanent, and always unshaken by misfortunes.
 This  position requires no  further proof than  can  be
 found  in every  country, and  in  the sphere of every
 man's  observations on life.  Where, however,  the at-
tachment is founded  on illusory  perceptions, it is  not
only short-lived  in itself, but eternally liable to  destruc-
tion by variations of fortune.  Some  persons, indeed
V 
126           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MF.DJCLM.;

all individuals of the human species are formed  by
nature for enjoying  the felicities  of attachment and
love.  With these elementary principles, and  with a
heart alive to the tenderest sensibilities, the devourer of
novels and romances, in which the human charade^1 is
invested with  perfections that never  pertained  to it, is
peculiarly liable to miseries amHnisfortunes in love,   I
say once for all, and/wish it to be borne in mind by th&
reader, that 410  inordinate  and excessive passion, not
even that  of love itself, was ever tne offspring, of cor-
rect perceptions of human nature, such as it.really is.
Where is the  maii)or woman of reflection, who  does
not know  that  human nature is^not perfection; and
who is not perfectly  convinced, that it is  a compound
of personal  and  moral beauties and imperfections.
Those who are in time made acquainted with these
philosophic truths, and have early learned to know that
man is a compound, to say the best  we can of him, of
virtue and viqe, strength and weakness, wisdom and
folly, will never experience any of t|ie passions in their
extremes.   Their loves and hatreds, thek. friendships
and enmities, and indeed all their other  passions, are
true to nature, and therefore always characterized by
moderation.  Loves and hatreds are  only felt in the
extreme, because in the former case we  are blind to
imperfections  which  really exist; and because in the
latter instances, we shut our  eyes against many noble
traits of character, which would mitigate  our unquali-
fied hatreds.   The same may be said of our friendships
and  enmities,  and indeed of  all our  other  passions:
even  the  sneaking scoundrel  avarice, if he did not
overrate the object of his desires, would abandon  his
swindling propensities, and relax his  gripe on the mise-
ries and misfortunes of mankind.   It is the immoderate
I 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
127
overrating the objects of our passions, that produces
all their excesses; against which  no human being can
be guarded, unless through the medium of wisdom and
intelligence, which alone can stamp the genuine value
on every  object of human desire or pursuit.   Few in-
stances arc to be found on record, where the  miseries
of disappointed  love  have  been experienced in the
extreme, by persons whose  errors of imagination had
been  corrected by experience, and  the acquisitions of
true wisdom;  and even where  all the agonies of dis-
appointed love have  been felt  in their excesses, they
produce different effects  upon the different  sexes.  On
woman,*they induce a  disposition for retirement and a
solitary life, which sometimes ends in confirmed melan-
choly, sometimes in insanity, and  not unfrequently in a
broken heart.  With man, on the other hand, the ex-
cesses of unfortunate love produces very different effects,
they urge him to mix in crowded assemblies, in the
hum of business,  and  in the  haunts of men; they dis-
pose him to attempt a forgetfulness of his miseries, by
exploring new scenes of life, in  countries  t« which he
is  a stranger, by - encountering the dangers  of the field
and flood; and by drowning the memory  of his mis-
fortunes in the oblivion of the bowl!
   Of the miseries  of ambition,  and the  excesses to
which they lead, the space allotted will not allow much
to be said.   Like love, the passion  of ambition, both
in moderation and excess, depends for strength on the
value we set on subjects of ambitious desire. To those
whose wisdom teaches them the true value of earthly
objects, the passion  of ambition  is always  productive of
enjoyments; but when an over-estimate of the objects
of ambitious pursuit, arises from false though dazzling
perceptions  of  those  objects,  the  passion   always 
128          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

acquires an uncontrolled dominion in the human breast,
producing  misery to the individual, and frequently the
most  dreadful  desolations  to  society and  mankind.
When ambition  is confined to  moral bounds, in other
words, where it is restricted to dohig[good,it becomes
a powerful auxiliary to religion and morality, and to
the peace and happiness of mankind.
          "Duf, talents angel bright, if wanting ivortli,
          Are shining iustruinents in fdse ambition's hand,
          To finish faults illustrious, and give infamy renowuP*
Where ambition is  laudable, and restricted to benefi-
cent and moral  objects, it serves to dignify and adorn
the human character:  and even where thus character-
ized, it meets with failures and disappointments, it pro-
duces  no  serious and lasting miseries to its votaries.
The real passion of ambition is of a heaven-born char-
acter;  it is founded in a strong desire to be remember-
ed with gratitude  and admiration by  posterity  and
future  ages—and is the legitimate  offspring of a  vital
and deep-seated sentiment of  immortality!  We see
its indications in every department of life, and in every
age of the world.   The monumental  inscriptions  of
ancient times: the mummied catacombs, and the great
pyramids  of Egypt  themselves bear witness of the
universal prevalence of this all-absorbing sentiment of
immortality, and of the dreadful comtemplations which
accompany the  anticipations of being swept from hu-
man memory by the hand of time!  The  desire to be
remembered, is as obvious in the school-boy who in-
scribes his name on a V:cg cr a rock, as in the lofty and
headlong   careers  of  Charlemagne,  Alexander  and
Napoleon:—who desolated nation:.; and overturned em-
pires, to give their achievements to  posterity and future
ages.—When the  passion  of ambition,  of  whatever
grade, or  to whatever objects  directed,-is disappointed 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          129

in its expectations, it invariably leads to dissatisfaction
with life and mankind, and frequently plunges its vota-
ries into the vortex of intemperance and  debauchery.
These effects are not only confined to the ambition of
men possessing  lofty  and powerful energies of mind,
whose objects of ambition  are correspondent in eleva-
tion, but they are discoverable in all the inferior orders
of society, and in all the subordinate ranks of intellect-
ual power:  they are in fact as observable in the Ceesar
who is disappointed  in the possession of an imperial
crown,  as in the  humble votary of  literature  and
science, or the hook-fingered and swindling  devotee of
avarice, with whom  wealth is the idol  of adoration!
Let any of  these men, be finally and permanently  dis-
appointed in the first and  great objects of their ambi-
tion, and  if they are destitute of resolution, fortitude,
wisdom,  and philosophical  energy of intellect, they
invariably sink  in the whirlpool  of intemperance, de-
bauchery, and sottishness :—Alexander the Great died
from the  influence  of a fit of intemperance, because
probably he had  no more worlds  to conquer; and  it is
needless to advert to  the thousands of instances which
every where present  themselves,  of men  of all ranks
and grades  of life, who sink into insignificance  and
obscurity, from the effects of intemperance, brought on
them by disappointed ambition.
   I have now,  I think, shown some ©f the  various
causes  of intemperance, and  probably to the satisfac-
tion of reflecting men, traced some of  them to the
physical and mental  constitutions of men: as far as it
is  practicable to be  done by observations of mere
effects.  In this  brief essay, by no means correspond-
ent with the importance of the subject, I  have neither
followed  nor profited by the  hacknied theories which
        17 
130
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
have heretofore been published; I have endeavored to
view human nature such as it is, and to remark the
developments of the causes of intemperance, such as
they have appeared to me in my medical pursuits;  and
if I have not been as successful as might be desired by
medical men who are the real friends to humanity, I
may at least have furnished some materials which may
be useful to such fathers of the profession as Mitchell,
Physic, Hossack, and many others, who are engaged
in developing the mysticisms of medical science, and
rendering them intelligible to mankind. 
              REMARKS,
          preliminary to the

MEDICAL PORTION OF THIS WORK.
  I have now done with the passions most material to
be thought of  in  a work like this.  I think I have
spoken of them as  they deserve; and as being the real
causes of very many and obstinate diseases;  and I
also think, without any sort  of  vanity on the subject,
that I have taken  views of  them  which are not  only
new, but such as will be satisfactory to men who are
pleased  with  common sense, and  matter-of-fact dis-
closures, instead of visionary theories, and old doctrines
that have been worn thread-bare by repetition.  Where
I have found  the essences of the passions beyond the
reach of investigation, I have freely confessed the truth;
being determined not  to veil my ignorance of what is
most likely hidden  from us by divine wisdom, by  long
sounding words which when explained  would make
men of  common sense laugh  at medical quackery, and
by technical  language which means next  to nothing.
I have spoken of the passions as I have seen and  wit-
nessed their effects on  the human system, and on the
peace and happiness of society generally; and particu-
larly  as regards intemperance, or  rather  excess  in
fear—joy—anger—jealousy—love—grief—religion—
gluttony and drunkenness, I have ventured to go as far
into some of  the remote and constitutional causes  of 
132
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 them,  as  I possibly could without running into mere
 theories, not supported by the experience of mankind.
 In treating of them I  have been limited much by want
 of space; and have therefore in some instances, been
 compelled to comprise as much information as possible
 in a few words: and I must also observe here, that on
 intemperance, religion, love, jealousy and anger, I have
 extended  my remarks further than  on the  rest of the
 passions;  because I consider them  of vastly more  im-
 portance to the health and happiness, and to the dis-
 eases and miseries of mankind, than all the rest of  the
 passions put together.   I have classed religion and
 intemperance under the head of the passions, because
 all our desires and aversions become  passions, when
 they become too strong to be controlled and moderated
 by moral sense and reason; and if even these were  not
 the facts, mere names are nothing but blinds, frequent-
 ly placed by the learned between the  reader and  the
 realities of things, to  conceal the naked poverty and
 barrenness of the sciences, as  professed by  literary
 men.   If our education consisted more in a knowledge
 of things, and less in a knowledge of mere words than
 it does, and if the great mass of the people knew how
much pains were taken by scientific men, to  throw dust
 in their eyes by the use of ridiculous and high-sound-
 ing terms, which mean very little  if  any thing,  the
learned professors of science would  soon lose much of
their mock dignity, and mankind would soon be unde-
ceived, as to  the little difference that really exists  be-
 tween themselves and  the very learned  portion of  the
community.  I am the more particular on this subject,
not because I wish to lower the  public opinion respect-
ing the real value of medical knowledge, but  because
the time has arrived when the hypocrisy  which has 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           133

attached itself to religlvn, the pettifogging dissimula-
tion which  has crept into the practice and science of
law, and the quackeries which have so long disgraced
the practice and science of medici.ie, are  about to be
scattered  to the four winds of heaven, by the  progress
of real knowledge, and the general  diffusion of useful
intelligence.  The great body of the people are begin-
ning to find out as I remarked in substance in my  dedi-
cation—that when  we take from the learned  sciences
all their technical and bombastic language, they imme-
diately become plain common sense, very easily  to be
understood  by all ranks of men.  I have  also said in
that same dedication, and I now repeat it,  that the
really valuable materials in medicine, and those which
are the most powerful in  the cure of diseases^-are few
and simple, and very easily to be procured in all coun-
tries;  and on this subject I will say something  more
which may probably be  considered new.   I  not only
believe, that every country produces, or  can be made
to produce, whatever is necessary to the wants  of its
inhabitants—but also whatever is essential to  the cure
of diseases incidental to each  country; it is by no
means probable, that an all-wise creator  would create
man with wants  he could not supply, and  subject him
to diseases  for  which there were no remedies  to be
found in nature, and in all the different  countries and
climates of which he is an inhabitant.   If such  were
not the facts, how miserable would be the condition of
the human species; eternally harassed by  the calls of
wants which could not be satisfied,  and  afflicted with
diseases for  which they could .find neither the means
of alleviation nor cure!  How did the Indian nations
of this country become so populous  and  powerful, un-
less from finding the means of supplying their wants, 
 134          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 and of mitigating and curing their diseases, on the soil
 and in the countries which gave them birth?  The fact
 is, that this  country, like all other countries, produces
 spontaneously, or  can  be made  to  produce by the
 genius and industry of its inhabitants, all that is requir-
 ed by the wants of the people, and all that is essential
 in medical science; and the sooner we set about find-
 ing out, and fully exploring  the resources of our own
 country, the sooner will we be clear of the abuses and
 countless  impositions  in the  adulteration of medical
 drugs; and the sooner will we be exempted from indi-
 vidual and  national   dependence on other nations.
 There are many drugs that come from abroad, that are
 made good  for  nothing, by  adulterations or mixture
 before they reach us, or lose their virtues by long stand-
 ing and  exposure;  and any  professed druggist  if he
 will tell  you the truth, will  tell  you the same; and
 these among many others, are the reasons why I  mean
 to be very particular  in showing you, as  respects the
 plants and roots, &c. of this country, not only how
great are  our resources, but  how easily we can evade
roguery and imposition, and obtain pure and unadul-
terated materials in  medicine, if we will be industrious
 in developing the real resources of this country.   The
 science of botany, like many others I could name, has
 dwindled  into  mere  mummery  and hard sounding
 names of  plants, &,c.   I can find you, indeed you can
 easily find them yourselves, very many individuals pro-
 foundly learned in botany, who can tell you all  about
 the genus and species of plants  and herbs, and can
 call them  individually by their long Latin names, who
 can tell you nothing whatever about their use to man-
 kind, or whether they  are poisonous or otherwise; and
 I want  to know whether such information, or  rather 
GUNN'S DOxMESTIC MEDICINE.
135
such want of information, is not mere learning without
wisdom,  and science  without  knowledge.   But why
need I speak of the science of  botany alone, as having
sunk into frivolity and superficial nonsense; the same
may be said of many other of the sciences, which were
in their origin and  early progress useful to mankind.
Real knowledge consists in understanding both what
is useful  and what is  injurious to mankind; and true
wisdom amounts to nothing more than appropriating to
our use whatever is beneficial,  and avoiding whatever
is injurious to our enjoyments  and happiness: this is
the true distinction between common sense and non-
sense; or if you will have the  same idea in finer lan-
guage, between wisdom and folly.  For the common
and useful  purposes of mankind, the refined fripperies
and hair-drawn theories of mere  science, are of no use
whatever;  indeed they never have had  much other
effect, than to excite a stupid admiration for men who
pretended to know more than the mass of mankind:
and it  is  this stupid admiration, this willingness to be
duped  by the impudent pretensions of science and
quackery combined, that has  led to impositions and
barefaced frauds upon society, without number.  Wher-
ever artifice is used, it is either to cover defects, or to
perpetuate impositions and frauds; and  if you wish to
know how much of this artifice is in vogue in  the
science and practice of medicine, ask some physician
of eminence to give you in plain common English, the
meaning of those mysterious and high-sounding names
you see plastered on  bottles, glass jars, gallipots and
drawers in a drug store, or doctor's shop.  There you
may see in large and  imposing capitals—Datura Stra-
monium, which simply  means  Stinkweed, or  vulgarly
Jamestown weed : Tanacetum  Vulgare, which in Ehg- 
 136         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 lish means Common  Tansy:  Chenopodium  Anthel-
 menticum, good heaven! what a name for Jerusalem
 Oak : Spigelia Marilandica, which means nothing more
 nor less than Pink Root: Alium Sativum, which means
 Gloves of Garlic: and who would ever suppose, unless
 he were  previously initiated into the sublime mysteries
 of the "Physicians' Materia Mediea," that  Cantharis
 Vittata was the Potato Fly—that Hcdeoma Pulegioides,
 was merely the common plant Pennyroyal: that Phy-
 tolacca Decandra was nothing but Poke weed :  that
 Panax Quinquefolium was nothing  but Ginseng:  that
 Rubus Villosus meant in plain English, the Blackber-
 ry:  that Egpatorium Perfoliatum  was  nothing but
 Bone-set: that Polygala Seneka was Snake Root: that
 Laurus  Benzoin was no more than Spice-wood: that
 Asarium Canadense  was Wild Ginger: that Babtisca
 Tinctoria was only another name  for Wild Indigo:
 that Hydrastic  Canadensis was  nothing  but  Yellow
 Root:  that Podophyllium  Peltatum was merely the
 May Apple, or common Jalap of the shops : Sanguina-
 ria Canadensis, was  no more than the Puccoon or
 Blood Root, well  known to  every  old woman in the
state : that Cornus Florida  was nothing but Dogwood:
that Gillenia Frifolliata was merely Indian Physic: that
Symplocarpus Foetida was nothing but  Skunk Cab-
bage : that Anthemis Cotula  was the Wild Cammo-
mile: that Lobelia Inflata  was nothing but Wild To-
bacco : that Comptonia Asplenifolia was only the Sweet
Fern:—and so on to the end of the chapter.   But, on
consideration  of the importance  of  this information, I
 will add  a few more instances of the shameful  imposi-
tions practised on the mass of the people, by the quack-
eries connected with  Medical Science.  They are as
follows:—Oleum Ricini, meaning  Castor  Oil: Un- 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          137

 guentum  Picis  Liquidae  meaning  Tar  Ointment:
 Oleum Tereginthinse meaning the Oil of Turpentine:
 Zanthoxylum  Clava Herculis meaning  the common
 Prickly Ash of our country:  Sal. Nitre meaning  Salt
 Petre:  Tartarized  Antimony meaning Emetic Tar-
 tar : Sulphate Soda meaning nothing but Epsom Salts:
 Ruta Graveslens meaning our common Garden Rue:
 Salva Officinalis, the  common Sage: Sambucus Ni-
 gra,  common  Elder:  Serpenlaria  Virginiana,  Vir-
 ginia Snake Root: Myrtis Pimento, common Pepper:
 Ulmus Americana,  meaning Red Elm:  Aqua Calcis
 meaning Lime Water: and Carbo Ligni, Charcoal of
 Wood!!  These, I think, are fair specimens of the use-
 less  technical terms  and phrases,  with which the
 science of medicine has been  encumbered by a policy
 hostile to the interests of every community;  in  which
 the reader will easily distinguish, if he will look one
 foot beyond his nose, not only that big words and high-
 sounding phrases are not  superior wisdom, but  that
 three fourths of the whole  science of physic, as now
 practiced and imposed  upon  the  common  people,
 amounts to nothing but fudge and mummery.   In  fact
 it has always seemed to me, whenever I have reflected
 seriously on this  subject, that all  these hard names of
 common and daily objects of contemplation, were  ori-
 ginally made use of to astonish the people; and to aid
 what  the world calls learned men, in deceptions and
 fraud.   The more nearly we can  place men on a level
 in point of knowledge, the happier we would become
 in society with each other, and the less danger there
 would  be of tyranny on the one hand, and submis-
sion to the degradations of personal slavery on  the
other:  nor are these all the benefits that would certain-
ly arise  from  a  more  equal  distribution  of  useful
     18 
138          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

information among the people.  We all know perfectly
well, and if we do not we ought  to do  so, that there
are two ways of acquiring a greater name than com-
mon among men.  One is by putting  on affected airs
of superior wisdom, and the concealment of weakness
and ignorance, to which all men are subject: and the
other is, by exhibiting to the  world, great and useful
energies of mind and character, of which nothing can
be a more decisive proof, than success in our under-
takings.  But this is not all; the less we know of the
weaknesses and imperfections of what  the world calls
great men, the more we are disposed to overrate their
merits and  wisdom, and to become their humble follow-
ers, admirers, and slaves.  This  is the reason why I
wish to  impress upon your minds, the  simple and  im-
portant  truth, that there  is not so great a difference
between men as there appears to be; and that you are
always to find out  in the characters of men, the differ-
ence between impudent presumption, which  seeks to
blind you  to defects, and  modest  and  unassuming
merit, which is above hypocrisy and  deception.   On
the other hand, I wish you to remember, that the more
we know of the ignorance and  weaknesses of great
men, ignorance and  weaknesses which they all have,
however they may  try to hide them, the more easily
we will feel ourselves on a level with them, the less  we
will be compelled to think of their assumed superiority,
and consequently the less danger there will  be of our
becoming their most humble followers, their tools of
dirty purposes, and in fact their slaves.  The fact is, if
we would always strip the fine coat, the ruffled shirt,
the well-blacked boots, and what would  be better than
all, the hypocrisy  and  presumption, from about those
who pretend to lord it over us; and if we could always 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
139
 hit the true medium  of truth  and justice, in forming
 our opinions of each  other, there would  be much less
 fraud  in  this world than there is:  for you  may rest
 assured, and I desire you most  particularly to fix it in
 your memory, that no man or junto of men, ever yet
 attempted to cheat or impose  on your credulity, with-
 out first forming a contemptuous opinion of  your dis-
 cernment; in other words, all  attempts  to cheat and
 deceive  you, are direct  insults to  your understand-
 ings.   With these remarks, in which I have been  as
 plain as possible in point of  language,  in order that
 you might the better understand my meaning, I will
 now go on to describe to you, in as  plain language as
 can be made use of, all the diseases we  are  most lia-
 ble to in this country, and all  the  best remedies for
 those which are brought to us from other countries.   I
 intend also  to  describe particularly  all the roots, and
 plants, and so on, which we have about us in our gar-
 dens, barn-yards, fields and woods, which are useful in
 the cure of diseases.  These will be  important consid-
 erations, because  I am convinced we  have  many
 things the most common about  us, that  as medicines
 are as good  as any in the world, and  the knowledge
 of which  by the  people  themselves, will enable them
 to cure their own diseases in many  instances, and avoid
 many and great expenses.   The language I will make
 use of, as I  said before, will  be extremely  plain, the
 object  of  the work being, not so much to instruct the
 learned as the unlearned;  nor  will I  regard  in the
 slightest degree, any  of those petty  critical  remarks,
 which  may  be made on such  language, provided I
succeed in adopting language which can be understood
by those for whom this work is intended.   And  here 1
cannot avoid remarking, that since this work of mine 
140          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 was  commenced, and measurably  finished,  I have
 received from New York, the first number of a period-
 ical work on the same plan that this is, to be written
 by some  of the  greatest  medical men in the United
 States, some  of  whom are Mitchell, Hossack,  Mott,
 McNeven, &c.   These gentlemen, as well as myself,
 are convinced that the time has come, when all  the
 mysteries  and  technical language of  the science  of
 medicine, must be  made  plain to the people  of this
 country, and when the old frauds and  quackeries  of
 the profession must be  laid down, and discontinued  in
 practice.  I am gratified, that men whose names have
 so much weight, have undertaken to  make the science
 of medicine plain;  because otherwise I  should have
 stood alone in the great attempt, and had to contend
 with all the petty  critical remarks, of all the petty pro-
 fessors of  the science^ and all those who wish to make
 a mystery, of what every man in the community is fully
 able to understand if well  explained.
  Before concluding these observations, it  may not be
improper to make  some remarks, intended  for the  more
youthful portion of those into whose hands this work
may fall.   Some  of  the diseases I am  compelled  to
mention and explain, necessarily  relate to a sex whose
weaknesses and delicacies of constitution, entitle them
to the highest respect, and  the most tender considera-
tion : nor can any youth be guilty of a more flagrant
breach of humanity, nor more  completely disclose a
brutal and  unfeeling disposition, than by manifesting a
 wish to turn into  unfeeling ridicule, the diseases and
 calamities of women: I would at once pronounce such
 a young man a brute, a poltroon, and a coward.  But
 I am confident there are few if any such in this coun-
 try, because there are few or none who will not recol- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           141
lect, that their  venerable  mothers were of the female
sex, and that they have probably sisters and other rela-
tives of the same sex.  I wish the younger  portion of
my  readers also to  recollect, and I most respectfully
request them to do so—that when perusing my book,
on  the various  diseases to which the human body is
liable,  as to their uncertainty of  life, and the  slender
thread on  which it  bangs, I wish them to remember,
how unknown to them are the vicissitudes of  the world;
how easily they may be thrown into strange lands,
destitute, friendless, and afflicted: I wish  them  to en-
grave  on their minds, that sacred rule  of  doing  all
things  to others, which they would wish others should
do  unto them:  that they  would always let the tear of
sympathy drop for their fellow creatures in affliction
and distress, and always let their hearts melt at the
tale of human  woe, for which God will bless them in
all  his works. 
ON  SLEEP.
            "What better name may slumber's bed become?
            Night's sepulchre, the universal home.
            When weakness, strength, vice, virtue sunk supine,
            Alike in naked helplessness recline;
            Glad for a while to hea,ve unconscious breath,
            And wake to wrestle with the dread of death.'1''

   To exist as it were between death and life; to rove
in imagination, unfettered  by the cold and strong reali-
ties of waking existence, through a boundless realm of
visions which  seem real;  this  is  what we call  sleep,
without knowing much of any thing about its causes.
The real cause of sleep has been a matter  of much
guessing and speculation with medical men;  even very
learned philosophers  have disagreed  in opinion re-
specting the cause of sleep, and nearly all  the little we
know on the subject is, that  when  the sable curtain of
night is drawn around us,  the mind and body worn out
and exhausted by the fatigues of the day, sink into soft
repose.
   Napoleon, whose genius  seemed capable of seizing
every subject of contemplation  with a giant grasp, re-
marked, while distinguishing between sleep and death,
that sleep was the suspension of the voluntary powers
of man:—and that death was a  suspension  of those
that were involuntary.  This  was  probably the most
correct distinction  between sleep  and death, that has
ever to my  knowledge been drawn by any man; and
I will  endeavor to explain as clearly as  possible, what 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
143
I think he intended by it.   When we lie down to sleep,
we voluntarily exclude the operation of the senses; in
other words, we see nothing, hear  nothing, feel noth-
ing, smell nothing, and taste nothing, and endeavor to
think of nothing—this is  as  far as we can go  in the
matter, for no man can possibly tell when he falls asleep,
or in other words, when  an  entire suspension of the
voluntary powers  of the  body and mind take place.
While in this  situation, however,  we know that the
sleeper  breathes, that  his  heart  beats, that the blood
circulates, that  the stomach digests its food, and  that
perspiration takes place: now, as the will of the sleeper
has nothing to do with these matters,- they depend upon
the involuntary powers of  the human system, and when
these powers cease, death takes place.  This is as far
as we can  go as regards sleep  and  death, for as to
dreams  and their causes, all we can  tell  about them
simply is, that during sleep the mind  and  imagination
act with such brightness and power, as to leave strong
impressions on the  waking memory;  I say  the mind
and  imagination, because we not only distinguish ob-
jects as if they were present, but because  we can and
sometimes actually do reason about them and that too
very correctly.
   It  is  impossible for us to enjoy good health, unless
 blessed with sound and refreshing sleep: without sleep
 the whole frame is thrown into disorder, and a strong
disposition to disease; and the  mind is much confused
 and weakened.  Without the due  repose of sleep, the
appetite for food  is depraved and sometimes lost; the
health and  strength fail;  and the spirits become dis-
tressed  and melancholy  in the extreme.   The acrid
matter  is thrown off during  sleep, insensible perspira-
tion is increased, and the  body increases in growth in 
144          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
  a greater degree than when awake and actively em-
  ployed.  You are much taller in the morning when
  rising  from a refreshing sleep, than during or after a
  day of severe fatigue.  Sleep assists much  in the cure
  of  diseases,  and may be  considered,  if  sound and
  refreshing, a favorable symptom  of recovery  in sick-
  ness.   It is  a welcome visitor in fevers, because  it
  diminishes the rapid motion of the blood, and conse-
  quently cools and refreshes the system.  It is of infin-
  ite benefit in  dysentery or flux, because it restrains the
 frequency of the stools; also  in female diseases—in
»consumptions, rheumatisms, pleurisies, and in flooding;
 in  fact, the cure of almost  all  diseases requires sound
 and refreshing sleep, and so well  known was this fact
 to  a physician of  great eminence, that  he seldom  or
 never gave his patients operative  medicines, before he
 had produced sound  sleep by the  administration of an
 opiate.   The body receives nourishment during sleep;
 and this is the reason why the growth is greatly promo-
 ted  by  sleep: all men who are inclined to obesity  or
 fatness  sleep  much.   All  young  plants grow  in the
 night time; indeed all young animals grow in the night
 while sleeping; and  this is the reason  why children
 require more  sleep than grown persons.
  I have  already told you in my introduction, that man
 is a creature of habit, and may therefore  accustom
 himself to almost  any thing  by practice.  Napoleon
 had an  alarum watch, for the purpose of awakening him
 at any  hour  he chose.  During a campaign,  one of
 his field officers entered  his tent at two o'clock  in the
 morning,  having some important business  with him.
 Contrary  to his expectation, he found the emperor up
 and dressed,  and  employed in  laying off the plan for
 the battle of the next day, and addressed him thus:— 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          145

 "You are up  late, emperor."   "O no," said Napoleon,
 "I have just  risen;  my  sleep is over."  After calling
 for his  coffee, his usual practice immediately on rising,
 he communicated to the officer the method he had fol-
 lowed  to ascertain  the  time of sleep required  by his
 constitution.  "I had," said he, "been  accustomed  to
 awake  every night, after sleeping five or six hours, and
 to continue awake  during  the remainder of the night.
 This led me to  believe that I remained longer in  bed,
 than nature and my constitution required; and deter-
 mined me by this alarum  watch, to abridge my hours
 of sleep ten minutes each night, by rising ten minutes
 earlier.   I soon discovered how  much  sleep  nature
 required by the length  of time I slept  soundly, which
 was only five hours.  I have since continued this prac-
 tice, and find my health good, and nature sufficiently
 restored and  refreshed by it.   When in actual service,
 and  my mind much employed, my usual time of sleep
 is but four hours, from eleven till three inclusive, <fcc."
 As in all  other  cases, too much or too little sleep, pro-
 duces injury to  health and  strength of body and viva-
 city  of mind and  feelings.   The  bed in which  we
 sleep for comfort and health is very important: the use
 of feather beds, particularly in the summer season, is
 extremely unhealthy; and how persons can lie snoring,
 soaking and sweating, in a large feather bed for eight
 or nine hours at a  time, which is usual with many of
 tiie  wealthy  people of the western country, is to  me
 perfectly astonishing; and  I wish them to understand
 distinctly, that  by so doing the following consequences
 inevitably follow:—their  flesh becomes  soft,  flabby,
* pale, and  weak: the  digestive organs of the stomach
 become relaxed, feeble, and of no account, as is proved
 bv the want  of appetite; in fact, the whole muscular
        19 
146          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
and  nervous systems, become so  impaired and lost in
tone and vigor, as  to be incapable of performing the
duties  assigned to  them by nature.   A matress made
of shucks, nicely cleaned and "hackled, forms a delight-
ful bed for summer; and if you  would enjoy sleep to
the extent which is essential to  health and strength,
avoid a feather  bed as you would a plague, and sleep
on matresses of some kind, or on a straw bed, or even
pick out the softest  plank in the floor and stretch your-
self on it.  It is worthy of observation that most per-
sons who sleep  hard, are more healthy and lively than
others:  look at the Indians  who sleep  on deer and
bear skins: look at soldiers who sleep on blankets; and
at wagoners, who always  on journies, sleep on hard
matresses on the floors of  houses, or  on the hard
ground  in tents.  And it is worthy of particular re-
mark, that a hard bed promotes digestion, and prevents
incubus or night-mare, that demon of indigestion which
is a scourge of thousands.  All asthmatic persons, or
in other words, those  who have the phthisic, should
sleep hard,  and in refreshing and pure  air; feather
beds in close rooms are murdering thousands of these
people  by inches.   Many people  are subject at night,
to palpitations of the heart, shortness of breath which
seems to threaten suffocation, great anxiety and depres-
sion  of spirits,  uneasiness for which they cannot  ac-
count,  tremors, and  so on,  usually called nervous.
These people ought always to  sleep on hard beds and
in pure air:  and they ought always, in warm weather,
to wash or sponge their bodies with cold  water, taking
care immediately after  to wipe themselves  dry with  a
coarse towel, and  then  to use the flesh-brush; this
course of proceeding will, just before going to bed,
produce sound  and refreshing sleep. Warm bathing 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
147
of the feet before going to bed, is of infinite service in
causing sound  sleep; the bath ought to have a little
salt in it, and to be continued fifteen  or twenty min-
utes ;  after which the feet ought to  be  wiped dry, and
well  brushed with  a flesh-brush:  persons subject to
cold  feet, and those much advanced in age, will find
much benefit from the flesh-brush, and from wrapping
their  feet in well dried flannel before going to bed.
When we lie down to sleep every painful thought and
unpleasant circumstance, should if possible be banish-
ed from the mind;  and we should always  endeavor to
turn  our meditations into channels, which will leave
tranquil and soothing impressions behind  them when
 we fall asleep.  Dr. Franklin's rules for sleeping well,
 and having pleasant dreams, are very plain: he says—
 "Eat moderately during the day, and avoid heavy sup-
 pers ; sleep  on a hard bed with  your feet to the fire,
 especially in very cold weather; and above all, during
 the day take sufficient exercise.  If you awake from a
 sense of uneasiness or  accident, and cannot again
 compose yourself to sleep, get out of the bed and throw
open the bed-clothes, and expose your naked  body to
 the action of the cold air, there is no danger of taking
 cold.  When the cold air becomes unpleasant, return
 to bed; your skin  has  by this time discharged its per-
 spirable matter, and you will  soon fall asleep, and your
 slfcep will be sound and refreshing.  I have frequently
 tried this method with success, and find after exposing
 my  body to the cold  air, a  quick  desire to  sleep. I
 therefore recommend  it as free  from any danger of
 taking cold.   Persons unaccustomed  to  this method
 should gradually accustom themselves to a free  circu-
 lation  of air.   The higher and  more  airy the bed-
 chamber, the better for health."   As man is the crea- 
 148          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 ture of habit, he may bring himself gradually to  bear
 almost any exposure; but great and sudden changes in
 our habits should always be avoided.  Small close bed
 rooms, and particularly bed curtains, should always  be
 avoided, and for this reason, in close rooms and cur-
 tained beds, you breathe  unchanged air, which has
 become impure from previous  breathing.   As  boiling
 water  does  not grow hotter  by long boiling, if parti-
 cles that receive greater heat can escape,  so living
 bodies do not putrify and become corrupt, if the parti-
 cles as fast as they become corrupted, can be thrown off.
  Nature always expels much bad and corrupted  mat-
 ter, by the pores of the skin and lungs: you may easily
prove this to yourself, if your nose is sufficiently sharp,
by catching a scent of the  breath  and sweat of many
persons.  In a free and pure air, the corrupted  perspi-
rable matter from the skin  is immediately carried off;
but in a close room or  bed, or in a dirty bed even  in
pure air, these particles of  bad matter are not carried
off, and  sickness is nearly always the  consequence.
Dirty rooms and  beds cause a great deal of disease,
and persons cannot easily be too cleanly in their habits
if they wish to be healthy;  but I will say more  on this
subject when  I come  to speak of baths.   In close
rooms  or dirty beds, we breathe  the same  bad and
corrupted air,  over  and over again, so that  at every
moment  it  becomes more  injurious.  Confined air,
when saturated or filled with perspirable matter,  must
 remain with us, and produces  many  of  our diseases.
 Persons who are inclined to be fat, or who are in reali-
 ty so, should sleep on hard  beds—take a  great  deal of
 exercise—never sleep more than five or six hours—and
 use well the flesh-brush, particularly over the  joints.
 By these means, together with a proper regimen, which 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          149
means food  and drink, the bulk of the body may be
reduced, and the flesh made firm and strong.
  Nothing undermines and destroys  the health  and
constitution with so much rapidity,  as want of sleep:
gamesters, courtezans, debauchees, and in fact all those
who lose much sleep, prove  by their pale and  sallow
complexions,  the  want of "nature's sweet  restorer."
Many instances have been known in London and  oth-
er large cities, where the  waiters and servants in gam-
ing  houses, have become absolutely insane or crazy
for  want of sleep.  A person by long sitting up  and
losing  sleep,  may  at length become unable to sleep,
from extreme irritability of the nervous system; there-
fore persons  of an irritable habit  should  always be
cautious of such circumstances.  I  have  known many
instances of apolexy being produced by want of sleep:
persons should, therefore, when such cases are appre-
hended,  bathe  their feet  in  warm  water when  they
lie  down, and  take a dose  of cooling medicine,  such
as Epsom Salts; or in case of fever, loose a little blood.
and take a slight opiate.   More, however, will be said
on the subject of sleep, and its diminution and excesses,
under the head of  exercise.
                   EXERCISE.
   If  you would  enjoy  health, take exercise  and be
temperate, and if you attend to these  things properly,
you  will  have but  little use for either  physicians or
medicines.—Temperance, exercise,  and rest,  are  the
sure guarantees of sound health and vigor, if you have
naturally a good constitution, and almost the only sure
means of amending and preserving a weak and defi- 
150          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

cient one.  Persons who take proper exercise, and
combine  that exercise  with  temperance, are seldom
sick; and those  who fly to medicines on every trifling
cause of complaint, in nine cases in ten, might relieve
themselves by abstaining  from food for a  short time,
living on  light diet,  and taking as  much exercise  as
will cause perspiration, without impairing their strength
by  excessive  fatigue.   Exercise,  for  the  purpose  of
producing perspiration, and throwing off the cxcremen-
titious or  bad master from the system, is much  better
than any  merely medical means; not  only because it
is the means which nature herself prescribes, but be-
cause,  unlike  medical drugs generally, it  strengthens
instead of weakening the system.   We are always to
suppose, from  the fact of the horrible fetor or stench,
which arises from the bodies of those on whom  fevers
have just  been broken, that  the retention of that bad
matter in their  systems contrary to nature,  was  the
real cause of their febrile or feverish disorders; and
does it not follow, that by  getting clear of  that matter
by natural means, before it has time to accumulate and
produce malignant and  obstinate diseases,  is  much
better than to force the vital organs into a destructive
action for  producing the same effect?   In other  words
—do you  not know, that when  you force the  stomach
into laborious action, or indeed any other vital  organ
of the system, that you always  weaken and impair its
energies, and  lay  the foundation of many  diseases to
which the system under other circumstances would  be
a stranger?  A person of common size and in good
health,  will  perspire  or  sweat, from three to four
pounds' weight in twenty-four hours, if proper exercise
betaken;  and the fact  is, that there is more in propor-
tion of all the fetid matter of the system, discharged 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
151
from the skin in perspiration or sweat, than there is by
the stool and the urine combined:  and can you not as
easily see as I can tell you, that unless this bad matter
is thrown off from the body by exercise and perspira-
tion,  that the fluids of the body will  become greatly
corrupted, and all its vessels oppressed and morbidly
irritated, and that disease must and will follow?  There
is no  witchcraft about the diseases to which we are
all liable; they are all matters of plain reasoning be-
tween the causes and  effects, to the full understanding
of  which, every man is as  competent as  any other
man.   Are  we not witnesses daily and hourly, of the
beneficial effects of exercise, in the cure of diseases in
which both medicines and medical men have failed?
Half the diseases of delicate women, and in fact near-
ly all the diseases connected with  hysterics and hypo-
chondria, arise from want of due exercise in the open,
mild, and pure air.  Instead of  stewing in a close room,
and indulging in moody and gloomy anticipations, and
instead  of lying in a huge feather bed until nine or ten
o'clock  in the morning, dosing through morbid dreams
and vainly  courting  sleep,  the woman of  delicate
nerves and  infirm health, and  the gloomy hypochon-
driac, who has probably not sweated for months togeth-
er, ought to spring from the feathered couch at daylight;
view  the opening and brilliant landscapes  of nature,
just kindling into hfe and  beauty  under the beams of
the rising sun—and breast the pure mountain breeze!
  I have just told you, that exercise will not only pre-
serve your health if you have a good constitution, but
that it will frequently give healthy action and strength
to a weak and deficient one.   Cicero is described by
Plutarch, as being  at one period of his life, thin and.
weakly;  so  much so indeed, from the  debility of his 
 152          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 stomach, as to be able to eat but once a day, and that
 a very small quantity.   In this debilitated and weakly
 condition, he  travelled to Athens  for the recovery of
 his health, and so great were the effects of his exercise,
 that together with the gymnastic exercises of the place,
 he  became firm and robust, and his voice, which had
 before been squeaking and harsh, was changed for
 melodious, deep and sonorous tones.  The same wri-
 ter,  Plutarch, describes  the  great  Roman warrior,
 Julius Csesar, as being  originally  of  very  delicate
 health, pale and soft skin, and  of very feeble constitu-
tion by nature, and subject to fits; but that by a military
life, using coarse  diet and great  exercise, he not only
 became inured to the hardships and exposures of war,
 but  healthy,  active, vigorous  and strong.   It  is not
 worth while to give any more instances of the powerful
 influence which exercise has on the human system;  if
 you wish to know  more  about it, look  at the brawny
 arms and  strong chests of sailors, who are  always
pulling  ropes,  and  contending with the winds and
storms of the ocean; look at  the  strong figure  of the
sturdy woodman, who makes  the  forests bow  to the
sound of the axe; and indeed all those persons who are
engaged in active and laborious callings: and then, by
comparing these  people with  those who are always
confined to their houses, to books, and sitting postures,
and  trades  which prevent them from moving   about,
you will be able very easily to see the effects of exer-
 cise  much better than I can  describe and tell  you of
 them.  I feel  confident in saying, that  by exercise on
horse-back for women, and exercise on foot for men,
 together  with  some attention  to food and drink, this
dreadful   disease  called   dyspepsia  or  indigestion,
 which paralizcs both body  and mind, and makes exis- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          153

tence itself a burthen, together with the whole train of
nervous diseases to which we are subject, may be cured
completely without  the  aid  of medicine, by  laying
down and following systematic  rules of exercise, rest,
and diet.
   All  the quack  medicines  for cleansing the blood,
which you perceive in the newspapers, are mere im-
positions  on  the  public.  Such  medicines have  their
day, and then die off to make room for new catalogues,
without any benefit except enriching the imposters who
invent them.  The  sure remedies  for  impure blood,
and consequent eruptions of the skin, are  those which
nature  prescribes, and which  simply  are,  exercise,
temperance, and cleanliness of person;  if  you will
mind these things, you need care nothing about cos-
metics and  lotions, and such nonsense, which  always
sooner or later do immense injury.  We see daily and
almost hourly, persons who have been accustomed to
exercise and labor in their youth, changing  their for-
mer modes of life for those of ease, refinement, wealth,
and  idleness, &c.—and  we  very  soon also  see, that
these persons immediately begin to  sink  into  all the
diseases  which arise from corrupted habits of body,
merely for want of their accustomed  exercise and ac-
tive habits; diseases to which they would probably not
have been liable, had they continued in their original
habits of exercise and useful industry.  We  see them
immediately  laboring under  morbid eruptions  of the
skin, jaundice, nervous irritability, palsy, indigestion,
consumptions, and heaven above knows what more
diseases too  tedious to name.  In all these  cases,  let
me urge upon you the vast, unspeakable importance of
exercise, and regular diet, by  which last I  mean, never
touching spirituous liquors of any kind.  Follow the
       20 
 154          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 French rules in these respects, and you will enjoy all
 that  sprightly vigor of mind, and buoyant elasticity of
 health and feelings for which that people are celebrated
 in all parts of the world.  The French people, from
 their  habitually  taking exercise, and  nearly always
 being temperate in eating and drinking, are exempted
 in a great degree from those diseases which arise from
 want of exercise, gormandizing on strong food, drink-
 ing spirituous liquors, and sleeping immoderately and
 in close chambers.  In these respects, nearly all the
 rest of the world ought to take lessons from them.   We
 all know very well, that due exercise and rest, combin-
 ed with light  and  temperate eating  and  drinking,
 always produce cheerfulness and  serenity; and how do
 they do so? Why, simply by preventing obstructions
 in the system; and by  removing them  whenever they
 present themselves.  You  seldom find  a Frenchman
 gloomy, oppressed in his feelings, despondent—no;  and
 for these good reasons, he seldom omits to be active in
 his movements; to take exercise  and  proper rest, and
 above all, he seldom eats heavily, and immediately lies
down to snore away ten or twelve hours, to the exclu-
sion of  exercise  beneficial to health.   We all  know
very well,  that sluggardism or sedentary habits,  and
want of exercise in proportion to our strength, produces
uneasy and bad sleep, costiveness of the bowels, a dry
 and feverish skin, and a thousand other things connect-
ed with  obstructions;  and we all know just as well,
 that exercise duly taken, will always  produce sound
 and easy sleep, that it  has a tendency to  open the
 bowels  and to keep them open  and regular, and to
 remove obstructions of the skin, of the lungs, of the
 liver,  &.c. &c. to the end  of the chapter: and yet we
 will lie  in bed, or sit about in  a  close warm room, 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          155

  breathing an atmosphere sufficient to poison us, and
  gorge  our systems with medical  drugs, enough to
  destroy the  whole tone and energies of the stomach
  and  bowels!   I say again, instead of the  medicines
  always  used  to  remove  obstructions, to make sweat
  flow, to make the blood circulate freely, and to excite
  all the healthy sensations and excretions, take exercise
  in the pure air, live temperately on light diet and drink,
  never provoke sleep by any other  means  than natural
  ones, and sleep no more than  is necessary to renovate
  the system.  Under such circumstances as these, you
  will have no use for mercurial purges, or any medicines
  save those of a simple and harmless character.  Morn-
  ing and evening are the  proper hours  for taking exer-
  cise: rise  early and walk from one to two  miles; in
  the evening also devote an hour to  exercise in the open
  air.   You  may  also use weights  of from five to six
  pounds, which when taken into the hands are  to be
 thrown  backward  and forward so  as  to  produce an
 action in the chest;  this exercise is properly adapted
 to persons of weak breasts, and  particularly to females.
 I have frequently seen  persons  so  extremely  weak in
 the  chest, and what  we  call  short-winded, as to be
 unable to  ascend the smallest hill without getting  out
 of breath, and who by the use of those weights a short
 time, have become so much improved as to be enabled
 to ascend the highest hills without inconvenience or
 oppression of the chest.   The great objects of exercise,
 and  it  will always have those effects when judiciously
 taken,  are to increase and regulate the  secretions and
 excretions, by the skin,  the kidneys,  &,c. &c—to give
power  to the muscles, to  impart tone and strength to
the nerves, and where a person is fat and unwieldy in
size, to reduce  the superfluities of  flesh and fat; to 
156          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

reduce the quantity of blood, and to make it thinner and
lighter.  The other benefits resulting from exercise are,
good appetite, good and  easy digestion, tranquility and
serenity  of mind and feelings, pleasant and refreshing
sleep, astonishing  increase of  strength and  wind  in
breathing, &c.—I  have seen a  boy on the Mediterra-
nean, his carriage being filled  with passengers, run by
the side  of his horses at considerable speed for ten and
fifteen miles together, without being fatigued at the end
of the journey, or being the least oppressed for want of
breath.  These  boys subsisted on a  few  bunches  of
grapes, and a small flask of wine, daily, both of which
they carry suspended from their necks.  The cheerful
disposition of these poor boys, and their great  breath
and strength convinced  me fully of the great benefits
arising from diet and exercise.   The advantages of the
training system,  are not confined to pedestrians or
walkers—or to pugilists  or boxers alone; or to  horses
which are trained for the chase and the  race  track:
they extend to man in all  conditions; and were train-
ing introduced into the United States, and made use of
by physicians in many cases instead of medical  drugs,
the beneficial consequences in the cure of many disea-
ses would be very  great indeed.
          WARM  OR TEPID BATH.
  It is impossible to find language  to express in ade-
quate terms  the importance of this powerful preserver
and restorative of health—this great and almost inde-
scribable luxury, the bath.
  Considering its importance  to  the  preservation of
health and  the cure of very many of our most afflict- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          157

ing diseases, I am  truly astonished that  the warm or
tepid  bath  should  be  so  little used in the western
country.
   Warm  baths are such as have a  temperature be-
tween the 76th and 98th degrees of the thermometer;
but persons having no thermometer, indeed there is no
need  of  one for regulating  the temperature of the
water,  have only to consult their own  sensations in
entering the bathing tub; because their own tempera-
ment in contact with the water will immediately advise
them of the temperature required: the only inconveni-
ence that  can ever  be  experienced  in using the warm
bath, will be in being compelled to leave its comforts.
The usual time of  bathing is from  twenty  minutes to
half an   hour; but with  regard to time, it  is not
material:  the feelings and sensations of the bather will
better determine this  point than I can tell  him.  The
warm bath, contrary to the general opinion, does not
heat the body; it has on the contrary an opposite effect,
inasmuch  as it obviously abates the  quickness of the
pulse, and reduces  the pulsations in proportion to the
time we remain in the warm water.
   When persons have  travelled a  long  journey, and
feel much fatigued, or overheated by exposure  to the
sun, or their minds are much disturbed, the bath will
be found an  excellent remedy for  invigorating the
whole  system, and at  the same time  reducing the
irregular and quick action of the blood.   Indeed I feel
confident, that in thousands of instances, if the bath
were used in the first symptoms of those  irregular and
feverish feelings which prey upon the mind and body,
very many persons would  escape sick beds.  During
my practice in Virginia, I escaped the fever prevalent
in Botetout county, called the  lick fever, in several 
158          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

instances after having felt distinctly all the symptoms
of that disease, by the speedy use of the warm bath and
gentle  purgatives of epsom salts.   Had I not used the
bath, I feel confident  I  could  not have escaped this
dreadful and malignant disease, being exposed during
its prevalence, in attendance on a great many patients.
The warm bath is of very great utility, to  persons
troubled  with eruptions  or  breakings out of the skin,
such as itch, and indeed venereal sores.   In hypochon-
driacal hysterics, and  in insane cases—and in fact on
persons laboring under madness, the beneficial effects
of warm baths are always visible:  in scorbutic and old
ulcers  or sores, when attention has been  paid  to regi-
men, the utilities of  the bath  are equally  great.  In
palsy  and  all nervous diseases, I recommend warm
bathing as one of the most effectual remedies.—Doctor
Charleton,  of Bath, in England, states, that out of nine
hundred  and ninety-six  paralytics, most  of whom had
resisted the powers of  medicine, eight  hundred and
thirteen were benefitted by the application of the warm
bath at the hospital of that city.  In a great variety of
chronic or  inveterate complaints, such as bilious disea-
ses, derangements of the liver, and of the stomach and
digestive functions, it is impossible to describe to you its
useful effects; and I solicit you with every sincerity of
heart, to  use the warm bath individually and  in your
families, as one of the efficient preventives and  cures of
disease which is in every man's  reach.  In using the
bath with some system and regularity, you will ward off
many hours' confinement by ill health, save the  expense
of many a doctor's bill,  and prevent you from having
a  ruined constitution, and a  stomach  worn  out by
swallowing medicines: for I do assert, without fear of
contradiction, but by the ninnyhammers of the pro- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
159
fession, that if the  warm bath were more frequently
used, with proper abstinence from food, on the approach
of fever, and many other diseases which  I shall enu-
merate under their proper heads, in five cases in ten,
medical  assistance  would  not be required.  In all
cases of debility from spasms—in pain—in cholic—in
cramp—and in anxiety and restlessness, the bath will
relieve and tranquilize  the system.  In  hectic or con-
sumptive fever, I have  found  it of great benefit from
the fact of its lessening the heat: and most particularly
beneficial,  when the liver was  connected with this
dreadful disease.   In  dyspepsia or  indigestion, this
terrible disease which  makes  life itself a  burthen, the
bath is a valuable assistant and comforter in the cure.
All young persons  who manifest a disposition to stop
at  a  premature point  of  growth, in other words to
remain pigmies for life, should use the bath; because it
always promotes the growth of the body, increases the
proportions of the limbs, and adds much to the muscu-
lar powers.  On the  subject of barrenness I have
reflected much, and as it seems to be the anxious wish
of many of the  wealthy to have  offspring, the remark
or seasonable hint, that the bath  is admirably adapted
to the  want of increase of family, may be  quite suffi-
cient without descending to particulars.
   The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Germans, as well
as  the Persians, Turks, and modern Egyptians, enjoy
the  comforts and benefits procured by bathing, in  a
degree of which  we can scarcely form an idea.   The
French owe much of their cheerfulness and vivacity of
disposition to the warm bath;  and you could not  inflict
on  Frenchmen, or  French females, a greater punish-
ment than to deprive either of the warm bath which
they always prize as a component part of their existence. 
160
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 The  soft, delicate  and beautiful skins, for which the
 French females are so much celebrated, are very much
 owing to  the  tepid bathing, being far  preferable to all
 die cosmetics and other preparations sold  for the pur-
 pose of whitening and beautifying the skin.  The habits
 of persons are very  different  as to  perspiration  or
 sweating:  some perspire  very much, and  others very
 little:  from some no offensive  effluvia arises in perspi-
 ring, whilst from bodies of others there arises a perfect
 fetor—and I must here say, that of all possible putrid
 smells, that arising  from the perspiration of the human
 body is the most dreadful;  and to such  persons as have
 a fetid perspiration, I do most certainly know, that the
 frequent  use of the warm  bath  would be  of immense
 service.  It would not only prevent strangers becoming
 disgusted with their society, but be a great  auxiliary in
 promoting their health, and removing that most  un-
 pleasant  smell which salutes  the  nasal organs with a
 perfectly sepulchral stench ! This uncleanliness, or want
 of cleanliness, exhibits itself as frequently in the draw-
 ing rooms and festooned halls of  the great and wealthy,
 as in  the  humble cottages of  the obscure  and needy;
 and sometimes produces disgusts  which neither  time
 nor circumstances  can remove.  Let me, then, again,
 and with  every desire for your  happiness, and every
 delicacy of sentiment I am master of, urge upon you
 the simple fact, that cleanliness is the very  best of per-
fumes—and that all those which are imported from the
 east, are inferior to  the pleasant and native smell of the
 skin, when perfumed by the use of soap and water.   I
 ought here perhaps  to close my remarks, but I feel it a
solemn duty I  owe to  my  fellow beings to be candid,
 and as I  have pledged myself to  do, to inform them
plainly of whatever I know to their advantage.   I have 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           161
 absolutely known many matches in wedlock, complete-
 ly destroyed by the discovery of a want of cleanliness
 ■—and many married  persons rendered miserable and
 highly obnoxious to each other, by this lazy, indolent,
 and I will add this dirty trait  of character: for  it is
 well  known to all keen observers of mankind,  that
 moral purity  and cleanliness  of person, are  nearly
 always found combined.
   Every family, rich and poor, ought to have a bathing
 machine, improperly called a tub. It is easy of  con-
 struction, and very simple, being in shape like a  child's
 cradle without rockers, about six feet in length,  and of
 width sufficient easily to admit the body, with  a  hole
 in  the bottom near the  foot, to let the water pass off
 after being used;  it may  be constructed of wood or tin,
 and if of the latter, ought to be  painted to prevent  rust.
 Where it is made of wood  plank, the seams or  cracks
 ought to be filled with boiling tar or  pitch to prevent
 leakage.  Rocks properly cleansed previously to being
 heated in  the fire, afford very easy means of heating
 the water to any temperature, and will always  enable
 the bather to take the bath with  very little trouble.
  Most  wealthy  persons  imagine, when  they have
 furnished their mansions with splendid mirrors, Tur-
 key carpets, sophas, and  various  other decorations,
 which soon tire after the novelty  of seeing them ceases,
 that all things are complete;  but, I say, that unless they
 have a small room appropriated to bathing, in  which
 the necessary apparatus can be found  fitted up for  use,
 their houses want one  of the most necessary appenda-
ges of comfort and health:  and  that they ought to be
charged with the responsibility of many diseases  which
afflict their families, for want of this fountain of health.
The construction of public baths has, from the remotest
      21 
 162          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 ages, been considered an object of national  attention;
 and most sincerely and ardently do I desire, that Nash-
 ville—a city of public spirit and  cordial support  of
 every thing  useful—a city  whose kind hospitality en-
 dears it to  the warm recollections  of every stranger
 who  visits that metropolis—may  shortly  construct a
 Public Bath, whose beautiful structure will be admired
 as a public ornament, and its utility fully established  as
 the harbinger of health to its citizens, which may oper-
 ate as an example in the introduction of this luxury
 into the western country.
  The warm or tepid bath should  be used about twice
 or three times a week in summer;  in winter once a
 week is sufficient.   It ought to be used in  the morning,
 at noon, or when going to bed.
  Having now given a concise account of some of the
 benefits of this bath, I shall  next show, by a brief state-
 ment of facts, the  method of bathing practised by the
 hardy Russians.   They have  sweating or vapor baths,
 which are resorted to by persons of  all  classes,  rich
 and  poor, free of expense, because these baths  are
 supported and kept up by the government.  Here min-
 gle  together  the  beggar, the artisan, the  peasant,  and
 the nobleman, to  enjoy the luxuries of the  steam or
 sweating  bath, in both  sickness  and health.   The
 method pursued to produce the vapor bath, is simply
 by throwing water on red hot stones in a close room,
 which raises the heat from 150 to 168 degrees, making
 when at  168—above a heat capable of melting wax,
 and only  12  degrees below that for boiling  spirit of
 wine.  In this tremendous  and excessive heat, which
 on an American would produce suffocation, the Rus-
sian enjoys what to him is a comfortable luxury of the
vapor  bath, which shows  clearly, as  I  have before 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           163

observed, the wonderful force of habit among mankind.
In these bath houses are constructed benches, on which
they lie naked, and continue  in a profuse sweat for the
lapse of  one  and sometimes two hours, occasionally
washing or pouring over their bodies  warm or cold
water.  During the  sweating stage, the body  is well
rubbed or gently whipped with leafy branches of the
birch tree, to promote perspiration by opening the pores
of the skin.  A Russian thinks nothing of rushing from
the bath room dissolved in sweat, and jumping into the
cold and chilling waters of an  adjacent river:  or dur-
ing the most piercing cold to which his country is liable
in winter, to roll himself in the snow; and this without
the slightest injury.  On the contrary, he derives many
advantages from these sudden changes and  abrupt
exposures;  because he always by them  hardens his
constitution to all the severities of a climate, whose
colds and snows seem to paralize the very face of na-
ture.   Rheumatisms are  seldom known in  Russia;
which is  certainly owing to the  habit of thus taking
the vapor bath.   The great and sudden transition from
heat to cold, seems to us very dangerous and unnatural;
but I have no doubt the Russians owe their longevity,
their healthy and robust constitutions, their exemption
from  certain mortal diseases, and their cheerful and
vivacious tempers, to these baths, and their generally
temperate mode of living.   A learned writer has justly
remarked, and not without cause, that it is much to be
lamented "this  practice  of bathing  should have fallen
into such disuse among the modern nations of Europe;
and that  he most sincerely  wishes it might again be
revived in our towns and villages."   When  we  look
back and see the  benefits that the old physicians deriv-
ed from this remedy of nature's own invention,—and 
164
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
the many cures formerly effected by  the  use  of the
bath, and that Rome for  five hundred years together
had few physicians but baths, we  cannot avoid being
astonished that they should ever have fallen into disuse,
from the prejudice and negligence of mankind.
                  COLD BATH.
  The cold bath is one of the most important medicin-
al remedies presented from the friendly bosom of nature.
The cold  bath means  cleansing or washing the body
with cold water, of a temperature varying  from the
33d to the 56th degree of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
or the usual  warmth  of our river water during the
summer months: but the entrance of spring-branches
into the river should be  avoided  by persons  bathing,
because it produces a  sudden change of temperature,
from an agreeable warmth to a cold and chilling sen-
sation.
  Bathing in cold  water during  the warm season, is a
preventive against diseases, particularly fevers, by lessen-
ing the heat of the body; it cleanses the skin from its
impure and  acrid contents, thereby removing a prima-
ry source of disease: the bath braces the solids which
were before  relaxed by heat, restoring and tranquilizing
the  irritability  of  the nervous  system, and  greatly
exhiliradng  and cheering the spirits with an increase of
strength and bodily  power.   If the bath has been ser-
viceable, you  will  quickly feel after leaving the water
and rubbing well with a coarse towel, the most pleasant
glow or increase of heat, with a delightful serenity and
cheerfulness;  but if the  bath has been injurious, you
will feel  the contrary  effect  to  that which  I  have 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           165

 described : and you must of course discontinue its use,
 and apply the  tepid or warm  bath  in its stead: the
 effects  produced by the cold bath when they prove
 injurious to  the bather, are directly the contrary to
 those which I have before described—such as heavi-
 ness and depression of spirits—respiration or breathing
 becomes impeded—livid  or dark  appearance of the
 skin—nails purple—the lips change their florid appear-
 ance to a pale or purple color—and  the  countenance
 assumes a cadaverous  or  ghastly color, accompanied
 with  headache.  In  such  a case, the  bather should
 immmediately take plentifully of warm toddy, made of
 spirits of any kind;  or if a cramp in the stomach, which
 sometimes takes place from the cold bath,  thirty or
 forty drops  of laudanum for  a grown person, with
 warm toddy,—together with the application of  warm
 salt to the stomach, will give immediate relief.  Moder-
 ate exercise should always be taken after bathing, so as
 to restore the equilibrium  of the circulation, and pro-
 duce a  reaction in  the vessels and  muscles.   The
 morning is the best time for bathing, or two hours be-
 fore sunset, if in a river, as the water has then from the
 rays of a summer sun, acquired  an agreeable warmth.
 When the sun has disappeared, or evening begins to
 throw her mists over the  waters,  it  is imprudent to
 bathe, owing to the dampness of  the atmosphere, which
 is apt to produce a  chill followed by fever.
   The  rules for bathing are, to enter the bath  on an
 empty stomach; or, in other words,  some time  after
 eating—wet the head first, and  if the bathing-place is
 free from impediments, dive in head foremost, so as to
 make the impression uniform;   for you  will feel the
shock less  by boldly entering it,  than by reflecting and
acting slowly and timidly, by which  you might produce 
166
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
dangerous consequences by propelling the blood from
the extremities to the head, inducing appoplexy.
  The time of remaining in the  bath should always
be short, and must  be  determined by  the constitution,
and the feelings of the persons themselves, as healthy
persons may continue in the bath longer than those who
are weakly and in bad  health.   It is improper and un-
safe to remain in the cold water longer than a quarter
of an hour at most, during the hottest day in  summer,
as the principal object in cold  bathing is the influence
and effect produced by the first impression made on the
system:—and should  the cold bath  be  advisable  in
spring or autumn, which is  sometimes the case, one or
two minutes at most will be sufficient;  when the bath is
necessary at these seasons, it  will be  advisable to use
the shower bath as hereafter described.
  On the use of the cold bath considerable judgment
is required, as many serious and  lingering  complaints
have been produced  by the  injudicious  use of this
remedy, and many diseases brought to a fatal termina-
tion  by its improper application.   I  shall,  therefore,
describe as plainly as possible the different effects pro-
duced in the different constitutions, and the diseases for
which it is beneficial.
  On aged and thin persons  it acts more powerfully
than on corpulent and  fat persons; therefore a fat and
young person can remain double the time in the bath to
one that is old or of delicate constitution.  The remark
which I have before made should be  attended to  by
persons of stout or corpulent habits, particularly those
of short necks should always  wet the head  and enter
the bath  courageously,  so as to prevent the determina-
tion of blood to the head: persons of  sanguine temper-
ament should be particular as to these instructions. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          167

  Persons whose lungs are affected, or those laboring
under breast complaints, should by all means avoid cold
bathing;—because by using it they always advance the
disease, and cut short the thread of life.   In oppressions
of the breast, or difficulty of breathing, short  or dry
coughs, &c. the bathing in cold water is  highly detri-
mental and  improper—obstructions also in women, or
stoppage of  the  menses or courses—also persons of a
scorbutic habit, or those afflicted with old sores or ulcers,
or vitiated state of the system, gout or rheumatism, preg-
nant women—in hemorrhages or discharges of blood
from the lungs, in all kinds of inflammation internal and
external, the cold bath is dangerous, and frequently con-
firms disease which ultimately results in dissolution or
death.  Its  benefits are always  found in a debilitated
state of the system, when unconnected with the diseases
I have mentioned;  particularly those whose  systems
have been relaxed by sedentary habits, requiring tonic
or strengthening remedies.  I have frequently in one
or two dangerous cases used the cold bath with females
in an advanced stage of life, when nature was about to
leave them,  or in other  words, when a heavy flooding
from the womb was about to take place.
  The application of cold water, and frequently ice,
has been resorted to in profuse discharges of blood from
the womb,  with considerable advantage,  cold  water
being a powerful astringent.  When infirm or aged per-
sons take the cold bath, they ought to take moderate
exercise before  using it, so as to increase or produce
the action of the vascular system, for by this moderate
heat,  you produce reaction under the shock,  which
might  not otherwise  take place.   Understand  me, I
mean gentle exercise, not such as to produce sweating,
although it is perfectly safe to enter the cold bath after 
168          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

a moderate walk  or ride.  It would be highly danger-
ous to go in the water when sweating, or laboring under
fatigue; because your body, from fatigue, is losing heat
rapidly by sweat; but it  would  by this lose  suddenly
what remains of heat;  and,  therefore, you counteract
the benefits which would otherwise result from a judi-
cious use of this valuable remedy  if properly applied;
therefore neither  previous  entire rest, nor exercise to
overheat, can possibly be proper.  But go between these
points moderately and you will receive  all the advan-
tages the  cold  bath  of this description is capable of
bestowing on the "human species.
  The cold  bath  is sometimes used as a shower bath
with  great success; it means the falling of the water
from a height of seven or eight feet, in a shower similar
to rain.  The construction of this bath is very simple:—
fix a box that will  hold water, or a large tub  will
answer;  bore the bottom  full of  holes  with a large
gimblet—let the box or tub be placed above your head,
the distance  above mentioned, and let the water be
thrown in, you being stripped of your clothing—or from
delicacy to exposure of your person, have a  box made
with a trap-door underneath, so that by pulling the string
the trap-door will fall by a hinge, and permit the water
to fall on your body.  In the northern cities the shower
bath is constructed in  this way, so that the water is
always ready in the  box, while  you are preparing by
stripping yourself, when by pulling  the string when you
are ready, you will receive the bath  on your body.  The
shower bath produces the best effects when used early
in the morning, after which you should take a moder-
ate walk, or  exercise on horseback.  By making the
water salt, that is  with common salt, well mixed, it will
be doubly beneficial, answering the  fine effects produced 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          169

 by  sea bathing.  In such a  case, the  salt should be
 boiled the night before with water, to give it the strength
 and qualities of sea water.  After leaving the bath, rub
 well with  a coarse  towel.   The advantages of this
 method are greatly  superior to  the  other  methods of
 bathing, where the effects required to be produced are
 powerful; for  although  the  bathing  in  a river covers
 the surface of the body  more uniformly, yet this cir-
 cumstance  by no means detracts from the excellence of
 the former, because those  intermediate parts which the
 water has not touched, receive an electric and sympa-
 thetic impression, in  a degree  similar to those brought
 into actual contact, and as  every drop of water from
 the shower bath operates as  a partial cold  bath, its
 vivifying shock to robust individuals  is more extensive,
 and better  adapted  than any other method of bathing.
 I will now describe  why  this bath  is better than the
 common method of bathing, together  with its safety and
 advantages. In the  first  place,  the  sudden falling of
 the water may be used as  often as you like—prolonged
 or shortened at pleasure  according to your  feelings,
 your constitution, your  disease,  or your gratification.
 Second:—your head  and breast are much secured, and
 as it descends to your hands  and feet, the circulation is
 not impeded, breathing is less difficult, and a determina-
 tion of blood  to the head  and  breast is prevented.
 Third:—when the water  falls in  this way by single
 drops, gliding in succession over the body, it produces
 the most thrilling and delightful sensations, stimulating
 the whole system.  It being always easily obtained and
 near at hand, gives it additional  advantages.   Lastly:
 —the degree of pressure from the weight of water is
 prevented, nor  is the bath dangerous—the  fluids and
circulation never being interrupted by it.  Besides—it
       22 
170          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

is  free from  injuries to which bathing in rivers and
creeks exposes us.  In closing my directions, and ad-
vantages from the shower bath, I recommend the salt
bath particularly, as one of the finest remedies in fits,
in deafness, and  for rickety children, or those  afflicted
with a disease called St. Vitus' dance, a nervous affec-
tion.  The great benefits  resulting from  the judicious
use of the  shower bath, have been fully felt  and ac-
knowledged in the city of  New York, by the first and
ablest physicians of that city of improvements and great
discoveries in medical science.
                      FOOD.
  Food means any thing, which, when taken  into the
stomach, goes to  the  support and nourishment of the
human body;  and we all know perfectly  well, that all
other animals, as well  as man,  require food to give
them support,  health, and strength.  All animals below
man, seem to be confined to particular kinds of food to
support  them; and this appears to be the reason why
naturally  wild animals  are  confined  to  particular
climates, unless under the care of  man: and  the simple
truth, that man makes use of so  many  different kinds
of food, shows that his  Maker intended  him to  live
every where, and to have dominion over all the beasts
of the field, the fowls of the air, &c. as the scripture
expressly  says.  But I will endeavor to  explain  this
matter a little further, so as to  be more easily under-
stood.   Fish cannot live  out of the water, birds cannot
live  out of  the air; nor can any mere land animal,
such as the elephant, the lion, the horse or the cow, live
in either the air or the water: and further still, on thia 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          171

 same subject, we see very plainly, that a sheep cannot
 eat meat, a wolf or  lion cannot eat grass, &c.  In
 fact, you may look at all the animals in nature, and you
 will see as I said before, that all below man, are con-
 fined to the particular countries and places where they
 can find food and shelter from their enemies; and that
 to man alone is given the whole surface  of the globe,
 because he can live every where on it, and easily find
 subsistence or food to support him.   He can  eat fish
 from the waters, he  can eat birds from the  air, he can
 eat the animals of the land—the herbs, and  vegetables,
 and roots, and grains, of the field and  woods, &c. &c.
   I shall now endeavor to explain as  plainly as possi-
 ble, because every  person is interested in knowing it,
 what physicians call the "process of digestion," which
 means, in other words, the changes  which our food
 goes through when taken into  the stomach.   First, the
 food being masticated or chewed, and  mixed  in the
 mouth with the spittle  called the saliva and  air, is next
 received in the stomach, where it is  exposed to the
 action of a kind of liquid called by physicians gastric
fluid, which is a powerful solvent of animal and  vege-
 table matters.  After remaining in the  stomach  a short
 time, it becomes a soft gluey mass, having undergone a
 change or decomposition in the stomach, which may
 be termed fermentation.   From the stomach it passes
 into the intestines, where it is subjected to the power or
 action of the bile: here it undergoes still further chan-
 ges, by forming a white milky  fluid, called by medical
 men chyle.  This milky fluid is sucked up by a numer-
 ous quantity of lutle vessels called medically absorbent
 lacteals.  These little vessels are in the intestinal canal,
 and all the food as it passes is subject  to the influence
 of  the  mouths  of  these  little  vessels, which suck up 
 172          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 this milky fluid called chyle.  These little vessels have
 many communications; so many  that it is impossible
 to trace  them—being  formed with  such  delicacy  of
 structure, and so very small:—after many communica-
 tions with each other, they at last end in one common
 trunk, fronrLwhich the chyle is conveyed into the blood
 near the heart.  It is here mixed with the blood, and
 becomes subject to the power of the heart and arteries,
 or, in other words, large blood vessels.  It is  then cir-
 culated through the lungs: here  many changes take
 place  by breathing the air or common atmosphere.
 After this it joins with the great circulating mass, and
 becomes itself blood, this being the great fountain from
 which the body is formed and  strengthened.
   Food, then, we see very  plainly is intended to sup-
 port nature, promote  the growth, and to give strength,
 and to renew the waste of the system.  The structure
 of man's body, his  inclinations, his instincts, and the
 gastric fluid, intended to digest both animal and vege-
 table  food, show that the Creator has intended man  to
 receive his  food from the  animal and vegetable king-
 doms. But of vegetable and animal food, animal is the
 most nourishing.  It is putrescent and stimulating, and
 highly injurious to live on any length of time, without a
 due proportion of vegetables; for it overheats and stim-
 ulates so much, as at length to exhaust and weaken the
 whole system, which in the first instance, it gave vigor
 and support to.  Persons who have lived for any length
 of time on meats, become oppressed, heavy  and lazy;
 the tone of their systems is impaired, the breathing  is
 hurried on the least exertion, the digestion is destroyed,
 the breath smells  bad,  the  gums swell, the limbs lose
 their action and become swelled, and soon break out in
sores, (this disease is called scurvy,) and  sailors arc 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
173
much subject to it on a long voyage when  deprived of
vegetables.
   A German received a  premium of twenty thousand
pounds sterling for introducing sour krout or pickled
cabbage into the British  navy.   This vegetable is an
antedote or preventive against this  dreadful disease
called scurvy, which  for a length of time destroyed
thousands of seamen on long voyages, who were com-
pelled to subsist on salt provisions.  All acids are con-
sidered good in scurvy.   A diet of vegetables entirely
is not sufficient to raise the human system to all the
strength and vigor  to which  it is susceptible:  and
when used alone without any meat produces flatulence
and acidity of the stomach, muscular and  nervous
debility, and a  long train of hysterical and hypochon-
driacal disorders.   This  shows the importance of a
proportion of each being intended for man.  We  find
some Eastern nations, who live entirely on vegetables,
seldom robust but very active.  This accounts in  part
for the cheerful disposition of the French, whose vege-
table and animal food are generally mixed, and  boiled
to the softest consistency.  A mixed diet of vegetable
and animal food is therefore  best suited to the nature of
man.  The proportion of  these  must  be regulated
according to the maaner in which they agree.   Persons
who are fat, plethoi ic, or sanguine, should use but little
animal food: those,  on the other  hand, who are weak
and  nervous, may use more animal food.  In all inflam-
matory and acute (diseases, where inflammatory  action
exists, meat is hurtful.   Meats which  I shall hereafter
describe are benfficial, more  so  than vegetables, for
persons who are  subject to indigestion; particularly
wild meats such as venison,  or any  wild game such as
birds whose flesh is white; the partridge, quail, pheasant, 
174          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

wild  turkey, &c:  the  flesh  of  these  is  of  a most
agreeable and delicate flavor, little heating, and when
young, very nourishing and easily digested.  In fact, all
wild animals are more easily digested than tame ones,
with the exception of  water fowls, and such as live on
fish, &c. whose flesh is oily, strong flavored, but heavy
and difficult to digest, &c.  By the abuses of cookery,
by which  I mean the  uses of high seasoning and  sau-
ces,  the simplest  food may be  rendered  heavy  and
indigestible.   The frog is not used in this country, but
looked upon with  disgust, and to name it as an article
of food would almost turn the stomachs of many.  In
France, on the contrary, it is considered  as one of the
greatest delicacies, and  frequently sells at a guinea a
dish.   The hinder legs alone are made use of in France,
and other countries where it is made  an article of food.
The flesh has a  white  and delicate appearance, and
there are men in  France who obtain a  livelihood by
catching them.  I have frequently seen them engaged
in this employment, which is very simple: they bait a
hook with a  piece of red flannel  or  silk, at which the
frogs will bite like fish, and  are thus as  easily caught.
I have merely mentioned this, not by way of recom-
mending them as a diet, but  to  show  the variety of
tastes and habits  of different  counlries.   The flesh of
the soft-shell  turtle, which is caught in our own waters,
is tender and nourishing, and more to be considered as
one of the delicacies of Tennessee, than any thing else
we have;  and if  properly  dressed, affords a  most
excellent dish, and one very  easy of digestion.  The
flesh  of all young animals  is  the best and most easily
digested:  mutton  or lamb, next to the flesh of the  kid,
is superior to any known.  Veal is delicate, and better
than beef as  to digestion; but neither can be  good for 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           175
persons of weak  digestion.  I have mentioned venison
as being very easy on the stomach;  indeed it is so very
easy  of digestion, that I think dyspepsia itself might
be cured  by it, when accompanied by the exercise of
hunting the  animal which affords it.  Pork  is a food
which is  too much  used in Tennessee, by persons of
delicate and  feeble constitutions.  There is more pork
meat used in East  Tennessee than  in any  part of the
United States of the same population; and it is to this
voracious habit of  gormandizing pork at every meal,
we are to attribute the many serious forms of conges-
tive  fever  which prevail here, to  say nothing  about
scrofula,  palsy,  appoplexy,  indigestion,  and  so  on.
Pork is a food highly nutricious, but from the fat with
which it abounds, by no means easily digested.  It is
in fact  the strongest of all animal  food, producing to
weak and delicate  stomachs, acidity and unpleasant
belching or eructations;  and, therefore, should be cau-
tiously used by persons laboring under dyspeptic symp-
toms or indigestion, and those whose bowels are weak.
Pork can be alone  adapted to men who labor hard,
because it requires activity and great exercise to digest
it.  Bacon is a coarse heavy food, and also difficult of
digestion:  and like pork, only  fitting food for persons
who have  to labor hard.  Ham  is also  a heavy and
strong food, and should be carefully avoided by all per-
sons of weak stomachs, even when it is cured in the
very best manner.  The  young pig is more wholesome,
and affords a much more delicate and light food  than
the old animal.   The rabbit and  squirrel afford an
excellent dish, easily digested, and  admirably suited to
the stomachs of those who are delicate and yet require
animal food.   But the fact is, all persons  who have an
impure  state of  the blood, those who have  sores, or 
176
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
wounds, or breakings out on  the  skin, should  by all
means refrain from  the use of all animal  food, and
particularly from pork.   Fish, as a diet, is difficult of
digestion;  it  is of  all animal  substances  the most
putrescible,  and ought  not to  be allowed to  weak
patients, or persons recovering from acute diseases—
and the reason why dyspeptic persons  should avoid it
is, that the fat of fish is  harder to digest than the fat of
any  other animal, and  quickly becomes rancid.   It
frequently disagrees  with many constitutions—produ-
cing flatulence or wind—sickness  and weight at the
stomach—and sometimes vomiting: and I have  fre-
quently known it to  produce a general disorder of the
whole  system, accompanied  with  short  but  regular
paroxysms of fever, and sometimes a breaking out on
the body resembling the nettle rash.—It is a very com-
mon saying, in allusion to the use of spirits, after eating
plentifully of  fish, that  it requires something to swim
in; this shows that it is  a dangerous diet to more than
sickly, delicate,  and dyspeptic persons.  Fish which
abound in oil, called the red-blooded fish, are more
stimulant  and nutritive  than any other;  but  much
heavier and more apt to disagree with the stomachs of
weakly persons than any other:—the fact is, that dys-
peptic persons ought to avoid fish altogether, and under
any  possible forms of  cookery.   Diet depends very
much upon  the  manner in  which it is cooked.  The
most  simple  food  may  be  converted into poison, by
the pampering and  studied artifices  of epicures  and
cooks.  This is the reason why the French cookery is
superior  to that of the English, or even to our own.
The French use all the innocent  herbs and plants of
the garden, while the English and  Americans season
their food with highly stimulating spices, calculated to 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          177

 destroy the coats of the stomach.  During my resi-
 dence in France, I recollect but two cases of dyspepsia
 or indigestion.   This is certainly owing to the manner
 in which  the French live.  The qualities and quanti-
 ties of our food, with the manner of cooking it, should
 be  strictly attended to; and by so doing  we  would
 escape some of the  most dreadful  diseases incidental
 to human  life.   The more simply  we  cook and dress
 our food, the less of it the stomach requires to be satis-
 fied;  for by stimulating the  stomach with seasonings,
 we produce an  artificial appetite, and  rouse  it to  the
 requisition of more food than the system requires; and
 by overloading  and oppressing its powers, weaken and
 finally destroy them.  To enjoy good health, we ought
 always  to leave the table  with some appetite;  nor
 ought we  ever to partake  of any dish, however palata-
 ble, which we know  from experience to disagree with
 us.   The  more plain the food we use, the more easily
 will it be  digested, and  the less  we  will desire,  The
 various dishes given at parties, consisting of pies, pud-
 dings, tarts, ice creams,  floating  islands, sometimes
 called, and very properly, trifles, &c. &c. are just so
 many  poisons calculated to destroy the stomach, and
 intail  upon the dyspeptic a life of misery  and disease.
 In the western country I have  witnessed,  especially
 among females,  that the disease  called dyspepsia  or
 indigestion prevails very  much.   I would,  therefore,
 particularly urge upon them, as they value their health
 and  lives, to avoid all this farrago of fashionable des-
 serts;  for  by so  doing,  and living  temperately and
 abstemiously,  they will establish firm  constitutions,
 which will be entailed  on their offspring, extend  to
themselves  the  inestimable blessing of health,  and
enable them to reach  the winter of good old age. 
178
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
    FEVER; AND  GENERAL  REMARKS.
  It is almost impossible to describe fever  correctly,
because it shows itself in so many various  ways and
forms.   To judge of its presence, we are to notice par-
ticularly the following appearances and  indications:—
the state of the pulse—the skin—the color of the face
—the  change of feature—the eyes—the tongue—the
breathing—the  appetite—the state of the stomach and
bowels.  There  is generally great thirst, and pain in
the head—soreness all over the body, as if  beat with
a stick, or as if a person were fatigued after a hard
day's work—a desire  to sleep constantly—and some-
times a great increase of strength accompanying fever.
By these symptoms you  are  to  judge of  this  disease.
  The most distinguished medical men have differed
in opinion as to the cause of fever: and to this day, I
must honestly confess, that physicians are much in the
dark as to this subject.  Doctor Brown, a distinguished
physician  of Europe, thought it arose from  a want of
stimulant  in  the blood  vessels—or an excess of it.
Doctor Rush, our distinguished countryman, thought
there was  in fever but  one disease; morbid or convul-
sive action in the blood vessels.  Doctor Chapman,
Professor  in the University of Philadelphia, thinks that
most diseases originate from  the stomach.  My experi-
ence in medicine convinces me that this eminent practi-
tioner  of medicine is correct.  The first impression is
made on the stomach by medicine, which acts instantly
by sympathy.  It is the general reservoir which receives
those medical remedies by  which the  disease is to be
subdued;  consequently there is great sympathy between
the stomach  and the  whole system—and  many cases,
supposed  to be liver diseases, on a minute examination,
you will find to originate in  the stomach.  It is impos- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          179

 sible to describe the close connexion between the liver
 and  the  stomach.   On  this subject  particularly, pay
 attention to the  stomach first, and you will discover the
 primary cause of the disease: I will therefore describe
 plainly and faithfully, the symptoms of such fevers as
 are common amongst us, so that with a little care and
 common  judgment, the reader will be enabled  to dis-
 cover by the symptoms, the causes of such fevers as
 prevail amongst us: nor do I consider  that  those fine
 and hair-drawn opinions of fever, given  by physicians
 generally, are of any  benefit to mankind, but, on the
 contrary, serve to bewilder and lead astray.   The great
 secret of medicine is  to discover the  first cause of
 disease, and in  the next place to apply the remedies
 properly; and to do these  things as they ought to be
 done, let your judgment be  exercised with  clearness,
 caution  and firmness;  and  to give you firmness, be
 conscious that you are endeavoring to  act for the best
 —as there  is not  so  much difficulty in medicine as
 many imagine, if you will but  attend to the  causes of
 the diseases, and watch the effects of  the  remedies.
 The fact  is, that a man of good  common sense and
judgment, who will take his station at the bed-side of
 the patient—be minute in his enquiries as to  the habits
 of  that patient—know when and how he was taken
 sick—ascertain all  the apparently small  particulars as
 to  the pains first complained of; and  without what is
 called a  learned college education, you will, in nine
 cases out of  ten succeed, when mere theorists who
 prescribe for  the names of diseases, without  under-
standing them, will absolutely fail.  On conversing with
a sick person, ask the following questions, if  the situa-
tion of the patient enables him or  her to answer; and
after  waiting the subsiding  of  any strong excitement 
180
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
your presence may  create.   How  were you taken?
When were you taken?  Where did you feel the first
pains?   What  were your  feelings  for several days
previously to being taken?  Is your  mind disturbed in
any way?  What are your general  habits?   Are you
temperate in eating  and drinking?  What  have you
eaten for several days before being taken sick?   How
and when have you  been exposed?   Do you recollect
how you felt when you were taken sick?   What has
been your  general health?  Or,  if the patient be a
female; have you been regular in your monthly peri-
ods?   Is there any  suppression of  urine?   This is a
delicate matter with females;   because from delicacy
of feeling they frequently conceal  it.  How is the state
of your bowels?  These are important matters, and
require candid statements from  the sick.   By  thus
minutely enquiring  into the state of the system, you
strike at the root of the disease,  and get on the right
track; for  thousands have been  killed  by physicians,
for want of this accurate knowledge, or mistaking the
disease.  There are  many other  circumstances which
should be known; and which your good judgment will
not fail to  point out  to you: and  I need not add, that
the  necessary  information  should  be  obtained  from
some experienced person of the  family, if the  patient
should be in a delirium, or too young,  or too sensitive-
ly delicate to give it.  From  what  I have  before ob-
served, that fever shows itself in so many various forms,
 you will see at once the necessity of knowing the true
 causes, if possible,  which  assisted in producing the
 disease.  Let  me,  therefore,  implore  you  not to be
 alarmed in administering medicine in fevers, or in fact
 any other diseases where good and  sound judgment is
 required;  you need not fear, if you will but pay good 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
181
attention, and have confidence in yourself: I allude  to
such  diseases as are common  amongst us, because
there are cases  which require a very excellent physi-
cian; and  under such  circumstances,  the  heads  of
families need not be told the absolute necessity of hav-
ing such a one.  To give an evidence of the insuffi-
ciency of mere theories, with which boys  come from
colleges, I will take the liberty of stating an occurrence
of early life, which transpired with myself, in the prac-
tice  of medicine.  In  the  State  of Virginia,  my first
patient was an old  gentleman of distinction, Col. Willis.
His  unbounded confidence in  me, when taken sick,
induced him to employ me in  preference  to  his old
physicians.   The Col. was  a   man of full  plethoric
habit, and had been taken with violent bilious fever.
I  bled  him copiously; puked and purged  him, with
small doses of emetic tartar, to  determine to  the sur-
face, or in other words to produce a  moisture on the
skin, and thereby lessen the fever.  But all my reme-
dies  were unsuccessful; for the truth  was  I  did not
know his constitution, or habit;  and to describe to you
my feelings on this occasion would be impossible—and
here vanished all my theories, for want of a little sound
judgment and practical knowledge.  To the informa-
tion  given me, however, by a faithful servant who had
attended on him more than thirty years, I was indebted
for  his  recovery.  He stated  that while he  was in
Philadelphia with his master, he had a similar attack,
and  was attended by Doct. Rush: that the Doct. had
given him warm brandy toddy—for, said he, "my mas-
ter always loved a little  brandy,  and  most generally
enjoyed himself."  I took this  seasonable  hint from
honest  Bob, whose  information had dejroyed all my
college theories, and taught me to scrutinize the consti- 
182           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

tution and habits: for in little more than fifteen minutes
after I had given him some warm  toddy, he broke out
into a fine sweat, and soon entirely recovered.  I after-
wards related  the anecdote  to  the  Cof. himself, who
after laughing' heartily at the joke, assured  me that
Bob was certainly right.  I shall close these general
remarks on fever, by giving you the key to medicine,
or the art of distinguishing the true state of the system,
without  which it would  be  impossible  to administer
medicine with certainty of success.
                  THE PULSE.
  This is  indeed the key of medicine; for without
authentic and minute information on the subject of the
pulse, it is impossible for you to proceed to  administer
medicine to  the sick  with any certainty  of success.
But I shall describe  it to you plainly, and in words  of
such  common use,  that any person of common sense
can understand this great secret of medicine in the
art of judging disease.
  The meaning of the pulse, is the beating or throb-
bing of an artery;  there being no pulse whatever  in
the veins.  The meaning of an artery is a large blood-
vessel,  branching out into smaller ones, which carry
the blood  from the heart to the ends of the body;  in
other words,  to the points of the fingers and toes, where
they join with the veins, which bring the blood back
again to the  heart: as I said  before, the arteries throb
or beat, and  the veins do not.  By pressing your mid-
dle finger  hard on  the vein,  you will  feel the artery
beat under it distinctly.  Every time the heart beats, it
throws a column of  blood into the arteries;  then again
a 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
183
the heart contracts or draws up, and a fresh portion of
blood is forced  on  into the arteries.  Reflect for a
moment on this wonderful machine, the heart; it goes
with greater regularity than any watch, and at the rate
of about four thousand one hundred and fifty strokes
every hour.  The swelling and  contracting  of the arte-
ry, then, constitute  what I mean  by the pulse; and
therefore you may find the  pulse  in any  part of the
body where the artery runs near enough to the surface;
for instance at  the  wrist—the temple—bend  of the
arm—under the lower end  of the thigh—under the
lower jaw—and on  the top of the instep of the foot.
In different persons, although  in perfect health, you
will find the pulse differ very much: the usual  standard
of health,  however, is from 75  to  80 strokes in a
minute.—In children it is much quicker; and in old
persons it  is more  slow  and  weak.   Owing  to  the
decreasing energies of the heart as you advance in age,
it becomes less and less capable of propelling the blood
through the arteries, which  occasions the medical term
debility, meaning weakness.   By  running,  riding,
walking, jumping, eating, drinking, speaking, joy, anger,
&c. you increase  the pulse: and in like manner you
diminish the pulse, by fear,  grief,  depression of spirits,
want of food, frequent stools,  flux, or  any thing else
that tends to weaken the system.  In feeling the pulse,
you must  make allowance for all these things; and
always  wait until all momentary emotions of the mind
and passions have subsided and passed off
   1st. A full, tense, and strong  pulse, terms used by
physicians, is when you find that the artery resists the
pressure of your fingers—feels full—and swells boldly
under their pressure.  If,  added to these,  the beating
be rapid and quick, the pulse is  called full and strong: 
184          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

if slow, it is called weak and fluttering, and an irreg-
ular pulse.
   2d. A  hard and corded pulse, is that in which the
artery feels  like a string drawn tight; and when you
press it with your fingers, it gives considerable resis-
tance.
   3d. The soft and intermitting pulses, give their own
meaning by name, and are very  easily  distinguished
from  each other;  as  in  cases of great weakness, lan-
guor of circulation, or on the approach of death.
   4th. When the stomach and  bowels  are oppressed,
it  frequently produces an  intermitting pulse, which
sometimes also arises from an  agitation of the  mind.
A vibrating pulse,  acting under the  fingers like  a
thread, as if the artery were smaller, with quick pulsa-
tions, but very weak and irregular, may be considered
as proving a highly  dangerous state of the  system :
you will know this pulse by its being accompanied with
heavy and  deep sighs, difficulty of breathing, and  a
dead and  heavy languor of the eye.  By being atten-
tive to the instructions  given above, no man can be at
a loss to distinguish the different states of the pulse, by
which different diseases are indicated, as well as their
different stages,
              AGUE AND FEVER.
  This disease  generally  makes  its visit in the fall
season of the year; and those who live on the rivers or
low lands, are more than  others subject to its ravages.
There are three  stages of this  disease, which are in
substance the same thing, differing  only in  the intermis-
sion or length of time in which they make  their attacks. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          185

   The first—is that which comes on every twenty-four
hours:—this is called by Doctors, quotidian.
   The  second—is that which comes on every forty
hours:—this is called  tertian.
   The third—comes on every forty-eight hours, and
is called by physicians, quartan.
   I have merely mentioned these stages, in  order that
I  might describe  the  disease  more plainly, for  the
remedies and the treatment for the cure are  the same;
and the  only difference between them simply is, as to
their severity and time of coming on.  If very severe,
the remedies should be  the most active:—on the contra-
ry, if mild and gentle, remedies less active and power-
ful will answer.
   I have said above, that there are three stages of this
complaint—the cold—the hot—and the  sweating.
In the first, there is much yawning and stretching, the
feet and hands become cold,  the skin looks  shrivelled,
you seem to lose the use of your limbs by  weakness,
your pulse  is small and frequent, you dislike to move,
and finally take a  chill succeeded  by  a cold shake.
This  shake continues  about ten or fifteen minutes,
according to the severity of the attack.  In the second
stage, as the chill and shaking go  off, a pain in the head
and back comes on, succeeded by flushings of  heat.
You now begin to burn with heat and thirst, and desire
that the covering be removed that you may feel the cool
air.  Your face is red, your  skin dry, your  pulse  be-
comes regular, hard and full.  In severe attacks, where
the blood  determines to the  head,  I have  frequently
known delirium for a time.  In the  commencement of
the third and last stage, the intense heat begins to sub-
side, moisture begins to break  out  on the  forehead,
gradually extending itself over  the  whole  body,  the 
186
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
fever abates, thirst diminishes, breathing  becomes free
and full, desire to make water, which  deposits a sedi-
ment in the urinal or pot:—you then feel considerably
relieved as the sweat  increases, which soon  restores
you to your usual feelings and sensations, except great
weakness  and extreme prostration of strength.
                    REMEDIES.
  In the cold stage, take warm teas of any kind, pro-
vided  they are  weak—such  as  sage, balm,  hyssop,
ground ivy, &c. &c.:  make hot applications to the feet;
and if you will  apply  a  bandage, wound round the
right foot and leg, from the toes to the groin, and anoth-
er bandage, wound round the opposite or left hand and
arm, from the fingers to  the  shoulder, drawing  both
pretty  tight,  so as to  compress the muscles  without
impeding  the circulation of the blood, the shake will
be much  shortened by it; but you must not omit to
loosen these bandages gradually, as the shake is going
off.  In many instances, the Ague and Fever can  be
entirely cured, by taking  immediately from  fifty to
sixty  drops of laudanum, with a few drops of pepper-
mint, in warm tea of any of the kinds mentioned above,
on feeling the commencement of  the chill;  and  as
soon as the hot stage  approaches, continuing  to drink
the warm  tea plentifully, with  a little acid of any kind
in it.   If during this hot stage, the fever runs very high
with considerable pain in the head, the loss  of  some
blood would  be proper. The  object being, however, to
bring on as early as possible  the sweating stage, put
into a  pint of the tea  or warm water, from four to five
grains of tartar emetic, and give two  or three spoon-
fulls occasionally, so  as to produce slight sickness of
the stomach, which will promote and aid the sweating
stage.   My practice in this disease  is, on  its  first ap- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           187
pearance  to  give  a puke of tartar emetic—for dose
refer to the table.  After cleansing the stomach, I give
an active dose of calomel and jalap—and if that is not
sufficient, I follow it with  some  mild  purge, such as
salts, castor oil, or  senna and manna.   Supposing, then,
that the stomach and bowels are  freed from their im-
pure contents;  the  skin moist,  and the  body  kept
moderately open by gentle purgatives: it will then be
proper to give the dogwood bark, the wild cherry-
tree bark, and poplar-tree bark,  I allude to the large
swamp poplar.  These three kinds of bark are to be
boiled in water, until their juices are extracted, and the
water  then given cold to the patient, and in such quan-
tities as the stomach will bear.   This disease is some-
times succeeded by a low, lingering, and constant fever;
this must always be removed before the extract of the
different kinds of bark  just  mentioned is given;  nor
ought  it ever to be given  in any paroxysm of fever,
however slight—because in  such cases it invariably
does material injury.  From causes depending  on the
constitution at the time of taking this  disease, it is
sometimes extremely difficult to cure;  and persons who
have  had  it  more than twelve months, have  placed
themselves under  my care.  In these cases, when the
various remedies above noticed have failed, I have used
with great success the cold salt bath, as directed under
the head of cold  bathing.  When a bathing machine
cannot be had, a strong  brine poured over the naked
body in the morning when rising, is the best expedient
that can be used;  always taking care to wipe the body
perfectly dry with a coarse towel; after which it might
be well to return again to  bed for an  hour, before
taking the morning meal, immediately before  which,
any common bitter, such as  tansy in spirits, may  be 
188
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 taken.  When the disease is of long continuance, elixir
 vitriol is a good remedy, and may be given in doses of
 eight  or  ten  drops, in a wine or stem glass  of cold
 water, during the days on which the cold bath  is used.
 I do not think it necessary to take the barks, as before
 described, when an ague-cake or hardness, termed by
 physicians an enlargement  of the  spleen, has taken
 place; in such a case, use a tight broad  bandage round
 the belly, with a padding of wool or  cotton immediate-
 ly over  the hard cake in the side, and take care  two
 or three times a day to rub the place well with a coarse
 woollen cloth  or flesh-brush.   This is called  friction
 by physicians,  and friction will be the  more properly
 kept up by the wearing flannel next the  skin.
  It will be proper here to state, that  in some cases
 where the dogwood  bark, the  wild  cherry tree bark,
 and  the swamp-poplar bark, prepared as I have men-
 tioned, disagree with the stomach, which is sometimes
 the case from  long sickness,  the tea  or  decoction may
 be rubbed on  the skin of children or delicate persons,
 and will produce an excellent effect.   Another method
 of operating by the skin, with children and delicate
 women, is as follows: have  a jacket  made to  fit  the
 body, line it with the kinds of barks mentioned, which
 can easily be  done, and  cause it to be  worn next the
 body.  Both these modes of  operating by the skin, have
 been  known to produce  fine tonic or  strengthening
 effects, in cases of obstinate  and long standing.
  I shall  now conclude  these remarks, by giving  the
 method of treating this disease by the Spaniards in the
 island  of  Cuba.   I  there  witnessed its  unbounded
 success; and in no instance  in which the remedy was
fairly tried, did I ever  know  it  to fail  of success.
 Make  a good  sized  cup of strong  coffee, sweeten it 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
189
 well, and  mix with it an equal quantity of  lime or
 lemon  juice.  This juice may be had  at any of the
 stores, doctor's shops,  &/C—the dose to be  taken just
 before the shake  is expected to come on, and  must be
 drank warm, and on an  empty stomach.  This simple
 and always practicable preparation, may  be relied on
 as a most valuable  remedy.   But the Spaniards of the
 island of Cuba,  are not  the only persons  acquainted
 with  this powerful and efficient remedy.  It is noticed
 in Doctor  Pouqueville's  travels in the Morea, as fol-
 lows:—"I have often seen intermitting fevers subdued
 entirely, by a mixture of strong  coffee  and lemon, or
 lime juice, which is a successful remedy all over this
 country.  The proportions are three quarters of an
 ounce of coffee, ground fine—with two ounces of lemon
 juice and  three  of water, the mixture to  be drank
 warm and fasting."—I quote from memory, but with a
 perfect assurance of being right.
   It may be well before quitting the subject of Ague
 and Fever, to mention  for the information of my read-
 ers, the late practice  of  physicians—which  is as
 follows:—as soon as the  chill has somewhat subsided,
 take a good dose of calomel—see the table.   Next__
 when the fever goes off, and you commence sweating,
 take two grains  of quinine, which  is the extract of
 Peruvian bark.   This quinine or extract of bark, must
 be mixed with  a tea-spoonful of Epsom or other salts,
 and taken in  water as  you would take common salts.
 Take this  dose every  two hours, until  you take five
 doses; but you must omit to put in  the salts,  so soon
 as the bowels have  been freely moved; because a con-
 tinued looseness of  the bowels would  carry off the bark
 before it could operate on the system.   Should the fever
not go off  in six hours, take a dose of castor oil to 
190
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
carry off the calomel—and  then as soon as the fever
has left you, take the quinine or extract of bark, as
before directed.
                BILIOUS  FEVER.
   Bilious Fever is  nothing more nor less than  the
Ague and Fever just before  described, under some-
thing of a different modification or character:—that is
to say, in  Ague and Fever there is at certain times an
entire intermission or stoppage of the disease; whereas,
in Bilious Fever, there is nothing more than an abate-
ment or lowering of the fever for a time.  The analogy
or likeness between  them is so strong, that in both
cases the patient is taken with a chill; and the little
difference that does exist  between  them in the  outset,
consists in the  simple circumstance, that the pulse in
Bilious  Fever is more tense and full.  If, however,
the attack of Bilious Fever be severe, the skin becomes
very hot after the chill, and  sometimes of a yellowish
hue;  there is likewise  great pain in  the  head;  the
tongue changes from white  to brown, as the fever in-
creases the eyes acquire a fiery color and  expression,
and the whites have a yellow tinge; the light becomes
painful  to the patient, and he requires the room to be
darkened; his bowels are very costive, and his urine
highly colored; by these symptoms, any man of com-
mon sense may be enabled to distinguish bilious fever.
                    REMEDIES.
   This formidable and  dangerous  disease, may in
most  instances  be easily  subdued, if you  will divest
yourself of irresolution and timidity in the commence-
ment of the  attack:—I make this remark, because I 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          191

 have witnessed many instances, in which timidity and
 over-caution  in  the  treatment  of this disease, have
 proved fatal to the sufferer.—You are to depend on the
 lancet; and in the next and  most important  instance,
 on purging  well with  large doses  of  calomel and
 jalap.  On the first appearance of this disease, give a
 good puke of tartar emetic,  so as to cleanse well the
 stomach—taking care to make its operation fully effec-
 tive, by giving warm camomile tea.   When  the fever
 comes on, bleed freely, and  regulate the quantity  of
 blood drawn,  by  the symptoms and the severity of the
 attack: then give or administer, if to an adult or grown
 person, twenty grains of calomel and  twenty  of jalap;
 and if that is not sufficient, repeat the dose with thirty
 grains  of calomel, and work it  off if necessary with
 castor oil—salts—or senna and  manna: for dose see
 table of medicines.   By these active purgatives, given
 in time, you will, in nine cases out of ten, give relief in
 a few hours;  nor keep your  patient lingering perhaps
 for weeks, and at length lose him.  The administration
 of small doses of calomel, say of eight  or ten  grains,
 has been productive of  all the injury that has disgraced
 the profession respecting the use of calomel, for several
 years past.    A  large dose always  carries itself off;
 whilst a small one remains in  the system, and frequent-
 ly does much  mischief,  if neglected to be carried  off by
 castor oil, or some laxative medicine; therefore, let me
 urge you, as you  value the recovery  and life of your
 patient, to  give  active  and   powerful  purgatives  of
 calomel.  The only danger in this disease, arises from
 giving tonic  or  strengthening medicines, before  the
stomach and  bowels are completely  cleansed  by an
evacuation of their contents.  If the fever should still
continue,  notwithstanding  the administration of the 
192
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 foregoing  medicines, my plan is to follow Dr. Rusli't!
 famous  prescription, of ten grains of calomel and ten
 of jalap; the frequency of which prescription with the
 Doctor, procured him among his students the ludicrous
 nickname of "Old Ten-in-ten."  But the fact is that
 this dose, after  the stomach  and bowels have been
 thoroughly cleansed, acts well  upon the skin, and as a
 purge, and drives the  sweat from every  pore, thereby
 lessening and finally breaking the fever.
   During  this fever, generally speaking, the skin is
 obstinately dry;  and it therefore becomes important,
 that a determination should take  place to the surface
 —in other words, that a moisture or sweat should take
 place on the skin, for the purpose of breaking the fever:
 therefore the nitrous powders should be given.  The
 directions for making them are: to sixty grains of salt
 petre, add  sixteen grains of calomel, and  one grain of
 emetic tartar.  Mix them well together  by pounding
 them very  fine; divide  them next into eight powders;
 and  give one of them, in a little honey or syrup, every
 two or three hours. Emetic  tartar, made weak with
 water and given  at intervals,  will  produce the same
 effect;  antimonial wine  and sweet spirits of nitre, mix-
 ed equal quantities, and a tea-spoonful  given occasion-
 ally, or  every hour, will have the same effect;  for
 antimonial  wine is nothing more than  emetic tartar
 mixed  with wine, and  sweet  spirits of nitre is made
from salt petre.  Ipecacuanha, in doses of one or two
 grains, repeated every   two  or three  hours, is also a
good remedy to produce sweating.   In this disease you
 will  sometimes have an obstinate, severe and  tedious
case; in  which you will find that the most active pur-
gatives will not answer  your wishes and expectations.
Here the warm bath combined, will be found excellent 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           193

 in relaxing the system and taking off the strictures of
 the vessels: and when you make use of the bath, be
 particular in  making it of a temperature pleasant to the
 patient.  Always  follow  the bath with  injections or
 glysters,  made of warm  soap-suds;  or  molasses  and
 water, pleasantly warm  but not hot, to which may be
 added a  little vinegar; these injections  will cool the
 bowels, and  remove  from the  larger  intestines  any
 offensive  matter.
   When the fever is on, the sponging or wetting the
 body with cold vinegar and water, will reduce the heat
 of the body, and  be a great source of comfort to the
 sick person.  If there is a pain in the head, cold appli-
 cations of vinegar  and water will be of much benefit
 in relieving the violence of the pain.  On the decline
 of this feyer, night sweats sometimes occur; in these
 cases  use elixir vitriol, and gentle exercise in the open
 air.  In Bilious fevers, a want of sleep and watchful-
 ness often occur: the warm bath and a pillow of hops,
 and the room kept dark  and all things quiet, will no
 doubt  procure the  desired tranquility; and if no in-
 flammatory action or considerable fever exists,  a dose
 of laudanum  may  be administered.   The misfortune
 in the  country is, that many persons who come to sit
 up with the sick, talk so  incessantly  as to prevent the
 sick person  from having the repose necessary for pro-
 moting a speedy recovery:—and  it may be important
 here to remark, that whenever laudanum or opium is
 given,  the person must be  kept undisturbed and perfect-
 ly quiet.—When the stomach is  irritable, warm mint
leaves  stewed  in spirits and applied  to the pit  of  the
stomach,  will  be  proper—and then  if the irritability
should  continue, the application  of  a  cataplasm of
       25 
194          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

mustard seed, or  a large blister, will  infallibly  relieve
the irritation, and quiet the stomach.
   I  have now  taken a comprehensive view  of this
disease, and given plainly and simply the remedies, and
shall close with the following remarks.  If the calomel
taken in this fever salivates, you should not be alarmed
or uneasy, but consider it a source from which you
have derived safety to your patient; for when  Bilious
fever is dangerous, the  sooner salivation takes place,
after the stomach and bowels have  been thoroughly
cleansed,  the  safer for the patient.  It is to produce
this effect, that physicians give small doses of calomel
every two hours,  say from one to two grains, in any
kind of syrup; for when salivation is produced, you
may consider the danger of the patient at an end, the
rest depending  altogether on  care  and good  nursing.
After good  purging, without salivation, I  have found
good nursing  and  kind attention the best and  most
salutary medicine.  Cooling drinks, slightly acid, will
be proper: and when the fever is subdued,  cold camo-
mile tea may be given as a drink, or  a bitter made
with dog-wood  bark, poplar bark, and Virginia snake-
root, may be given as a cold tea, in  small quantities,
as the stomach will bear.
               NERVOUS FEVER.
  This fever carries in its title or name, its true char-
acter;  because it affects the whole nervous system, and
produces  a tremulous motion of the body and limbs:
the system  seems to  be  sinking; there is a clammy,
cold, and  unnatural perspiration or sweat on the skin,
and the  pulse is extremely weak.  Next, the  sweat 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          195

subsides,  and the skin becomes dry and hot to the
touch; and at the same time, the arteries of the tem-
ple and neck throb and beat with considerable action.
The sleep is very much disturbed and unrefreshing; the
countenance sinks or seems to change from its natural
expression  of  feature,  to  a ghastly appearance; the
tongue becomes dry, and frequently trembles, when put
out, and with the teeth and gums, soon becomes cover-
ed with a dark buff-colored scurf; the spirits flag, and
the mind  broods over the  most melancholy feelings,
without knowing the cause; the sight of food is very
^unpleasant and sometimes disgusting, the stomach be-
ing generally much debilitated and weak; the difficulty
of  breathing  becomes  very considerable, and  some-
times the hands are glowing with heat, whilst the fore-
head is covered with sweat.   The symptoms consider-
ed  very dangerous are, a constant inclination to throw
off the cover; a  changing of the voice  from its usual
tone; great vigilance or watchfulness;  picking at the
bed-clothing;  inability to  hold or retain the urine;  in-
voluntary discharges from the bowels; hiccupping; a
muttering as if speaking to one's self; a wild and fixed
look, as if the eyes  were  rivetted on some particular
object; if these latter symptoms occur, there is little to
expect but that the case will  terminate fatally.
   This fever originates from putrid animal and vegeta-
ble matter  mixing with the air and atmosphere we
breathe, such for instance as the decaying  vegetable
and animal matter arising from stagnant mill-ponds or
any other ponds; or from filth and dirt, and want of
personal cleanliness; or from any thing  else that tends
to weaken  the system  materially.  This disease also
arises from Bilious Fever, mentioned  before; which,
when of long standing, sometimes changes into nervous 
196
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
fever:  and I have known it to remain in the system ten
days before it broke  out violently, having come on so
slowly and gradually as to produce no alarm.
                     REMEDIES.
   The lancet, or in other words  bleeding, in this
disease is certain death: no inducement whatever could
prevail on me to  bleed in Nervous or Typhus Fever.
Bleeding has been recommended by some physicians,
when inflammatory symptoms  appeared in  the first
stage of the disease;  but  I  positively assert  that it is
wrong, and denounce  such a doctrine as dangerous to
the last degree; the fact is that in nineteen cases out of
twenty, bleeding in this disease will result  in death.
There are two important considerations to be noticed
in this fever: the  first  is—when it originates in itself
at the first cause; and the second is—when it turns or
sinks from Bilious Fever, to  a nervous or Typhus.  In
the first  case, give a  puke of  Tartar Emetic, or of
Ipecacuanha—see table for dose—which  mix  with
water  until  it is  dissolved, say in six  or eight  table-
spoonsful.  Next give a table-spoonful every ten minutes,
until copious vomiting is produced, encouraging  the
puking after it  has commenced, by drinking  freely of
warm camomile tea, or warm water—the object being
to cleanse  the stomach.   Then attend  to the  bowels
with laxative medicines, such as rhubarb, cream-tartar,
Epsom salts, &,c.  so as to free or throw off the contents
of the bowels, which, when in a costive state, increases
irritation and fever.  You must, however, by  no means
produce heavy purging—it is dangerous; and your own
good sense will show you that it is a disease of debility
and weakness.  The object is merely to keep the bowels
gently open, say by one or two stools a day, which will
be quite sufficient.   I always give glysters made of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
197
thin gruel of corn meal, strained with a tea-spoonful of
hog's lard in them:  they arc to  be given milk-warm
from a bladder or pipe, and carefully thrown up into the
bowels—look under the head  "glyster," and those
who do not understand the matter will find it explained.
  In  the second place, when this  disease sinks from
Bilious Fever to a  Nervous or Typhus Fever, you
will find the last part of the symptoms to agree with
the sinking state of the system, and  requiring moderate
tonics, or stimulous and strengthening medicines.  The
danger of this fever,  is in proportion to the weakness
which attends it; and, therefore, you will easily see the
importance of early supporting the system by stimulants,
such as good wine, warm toddy, &c.  This distinction
of  the sinking state of  the  system, must be  obvious,
and sufficiently plain to be observed by every person of
common sense.  But I  will still  explain further, in
order that no  mistake  can possibly be made,  in the
course to be  pursued; and shall state  accordingly the
following directions.   Stimulants—in other words, com-
mon spirituous  liquors, such  as whiskey, rum, brandy,
&,c.—must be made palatable to the  patient, which must
be given regularly, and varied as to  quantity, according
to what the case may seem to require.  If they increase
the pulse considerably, so as  to occasion restlessness, a
dry tongue, attended with thirst, a flushed face, in  other
words, increased fever, they are improper, and you must
discontinue their use.   On the contrary, if they produce
refreshing sleep, a pulse slower, softer and more regular,
and the patient feels  sensible  of relief—you are to con-
tinue the use of stimulants sufficiently to support and
strengthen your patient,  adding at  the same time gen-
erous diet, and a pill of opium at night to procure rest:
see table for  dose.  Blisters applied to the extremities, 
198          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

or cataplasms made of mustard and strong vinegar, will
be highly necessary in a sinking state of the system.
   If the head is affected with delirium, keep cloths con-
stantly applied to it, wet in the coldest water and vinegar,
changing them as they become warm : and if the deliri-
um should  still continue, a blister applied to the head,
after shaving off the hair, will be necessary.   If purg-
ing takes place in this disease, which it sometimes does,
it must be stopped by laudanum or opium, given in small
but frequent  doses, increasing or diminishing  them as
necessity may require: for, if the  purging should con-
tinue  in this  complaint, which  is weakness or debility,
your  own  good sense must  teach you, that it would
speedily terminate in death from increased  debility or
weakness.  The late remedy used  by physicians, which
is  called quinine, or extract of Peruvian bark, is a good
remedy, from the fact of its taking up less room in the
stomach than the bark in substance. This quinine or
extract must be made into pills with some kind of syrup;
and must contain from one grain to  one and a half of
the extract, and given three or four times a day, as the
system may be able to bear the  doses.   The extract is
a  powerful tonic or stimulant, and may sometimes be
difficult to  be obtained: in this event the black snake-
root, commonly called Virginia snake-root, should be
used; its virtues are  not merely considerable, but highly
valuable in this disease, combined  with dog-wood bark,
or even without it;  and I recommend it in  preference
to any  remedy.  The form of administering it  is in
decoction,  or as a tincture—that is,  mixed with spirits
of some kind.  This root is perfectly harmless, except
when high inflammatory action exists;  that is to say,
considerable fever.   In the secondary stage of fever,
where the  skin has  been obstinately dry, I have used 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          199

this little root with unbounded success, not only in this
particular disease, but in all  fevers; and also where
the symptoms indicated rapid  prostration and death.
Encouraged  by my success in its use, I earnestly re-
commend that it be adopted in fevers generally, and
more particularly in  those I have described.
   The  salt  bath, made as directed under the head of
bathing, similar to sea water, is as valuable a remedy as
can possibly be  used, in that state of the system when
the heat of the body  requires lessening: or if you would
prefer it, you may sponge the body well with  cold water
and vinegar.  These remedies by bathing or sponging
the body, you will recollect are only to be used when
there are no chilly or cold sensations; for if there are
such, they would probably prove fatal: and you are also
to remember, that they  are  to  be used  with as little
fatigue  as possible to the  patient.  This disease is fre-
quently marked  with extreme weakness of the stomach,
called by physicians  debility;  in  this case common
yeast will be highly beneficial, administered every three
or four  hours—say two table spoonsful: and if the stools
are very offensive, you may add a tea-spoonful of com-
mon charcoal to the yeast.  By this the offensive state
of the bowels will soon be corrected; and to insure the
perfect  knowledge of the reader on this subject, I will
remark, that if the  yeast and charcoal produce good
effects,  the pulse will rise and become slower  and fuller,
and the burning heat of the skin will subside.  Under
these circumstances, the  remedy should be  continued.
I shall now finish my remarks on Nervous Fever, which
have been extended  to a greater length than  was at first
intended, in consequence of the recollection  that it is a
very  common malady in Tennessee.   Doctor Currie,
and many other eminent practitioners of medicine, have 
200           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

given the best testimonials and favorable results, in the
first stage of this fever, from the use of the cold bath, or
in other words from throwing cold water over the body,
wiping dry, and returning to bed immediately.  From
the experience of so many distinguished men, I yield to
their judgment; but, from my own experience, I should
prefer the salt bath, as before mentioned—or sponging
the body with vinegar and water made milk-warm; this
however, is  never  resorted  to, until  the stomach and
bowels have been freed of their contents: or medically
speaking, which means the same thing, until the whole
alimentary  canal has been evacuated.
                      COLIC.
   In this disease the belly is considerably swelled, and
seems to be bound round tightly with a chord; and there
is also a disagreeable feeling about the naval, belching
of wind, costiveness, and frequently the most excrucia-
ting misery.   I have had many cases, in which a cold
clammy sweat has been produced on the forehead by
the intense sufferings of the person afflicted.  This com-
plaint comes on without fever, but if it continues  it will
produce fever, and perhaps inflammation, unless soon
relieved.  It arises  from wind, termed  by  physicians
flatulence—from  indigestible food that has  been taken
into the stomach—from acrid bile—from hardened fa>
ces, which  means the stool—by suddenly stopping the
perspiration, or sweat—or from getting the feet wet—or
from exposure—or from  worms—and lastly, from the
application of poisons to the  stomach, of  a metallic
nature—by which I mean metals under various  forms
and preparations. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          201
                     REMEDIES.
   If the colic is produced from wind, which you will
 know from belching, or from a rumbling noise in the
 bowels, or from the ease you experience by a discharge
 of wind,  a tumbler of warm whiskey toddy, made with
 warm water, sugar and spirit—to which may be added
 peppermint, or strong mint tea, or tea made of ginger,
 calamus,  dog-wood  blossoms, give relief   The appli-
 cation of warm salt to the  belly  will give ease immedi-
 ately, or  until  more powerful remedies can be given
 If the stomach is  much distressed, an  application of
 garden mint made warm by stewing it, and  applying it
 to the pit of the stomach  is excellent.  You will then
 immediately,  if necessary  to  the  relief of the  person
 afflicted,  give a simple clyster, made after the following
 directions: a  quart of thin gruel, made  of corn meal
 and  strained; to  this add a table-spoonful of hog's
 lard, and another  of common  salt, which must  be
 thrown up about milk-warm into the  bowels. For
 further directions as to clystering, look under that head
 for instructions, as to  the  apparatus to be made use
 of.  If the pain still continue, and the person be corpu-
 lent or fat, bleed and  give the warm bath immediately.
 If you have no bathing vessel, or tub large enough to
 put the body in, apply cloths  dipped in hot water and
 wrung out, as  warm to the  belly  as they can be  borne.
 If the above remedies fail, give a tea-spoonful of  castor
 oil, and in it put fifteen or twenty  grains of calomel; and
 if there is yet no relief, give one grain  of opium and
 ten grains of calomel, and  continue the clysters.   But,
if the pain does not yet abate,  laudanum must be given
 in large doses, both by the  mouth and by  mixing it in
the clyster.  The doses of laudanum must be increased
gradually until relief is obtained; and 1 have given  as
       26                                 8 
202
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
much  as  a  table-spoonful  before  I could effect my
purpose.  If the misery be excruciating, to a grown
person  I  begin with fifty or sixty drops in mint tea—
and when relief is  obtained, I give a  good dose of
castor oil, and clyster to open the  bowels: this prac-
tice has been  generally successful.   The practice of
the Baltimore Institution, as directed by Doctor Pater-
son  when professor there, was in  desperate  cases to
give a simple clyster as before mentioned, omitting the
salt and lard—reducing the quantity  to half a pint of
gruel,  and putting  into it fifteen or twenty grains of
emetic  tartar  and injecting it into the bowels.   This
remedy I tried in Virginia, in two  or three desperate
cases of colic, with perfect success; but it should never
be  used, unless the situation and violence of  the  case
demand its administration: it is an aetive and power-
ful  remedy, and may  be  relied on in  urgent cases.
Persons who  are subject to this dangerous complaint,
should be  very cautious as to their diet or food, abstain-
ing from  every thing that disagrees with them;  and
above all, they ought to avoid costiveness, or in other
words they ought to go to stool every day at a certain
time, and solicit nature to perform her duty—for by so
doing, a habit of evacution will be at length produced,
which will overcome the  most  obstinate  costiveness:
and to produce a stool, a piece of hard soap about half
the  length of the finger,  may be  introduced up the
passage.  In all obstinate  cases, which seem not to
yield to common remedies, examine the passage  of the
fundament with the finger, so that if there be any hard
lumps of  excrement they may be removed—for while
they  remain,  all your purges  and  clysters  will be
useless.
   A spirituous infusion of the berries or of the bark of 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          203

the prickly ash, is made use of in Virginia in violent
colic, and is a good remedy.   This tree is a native of
Jamaica and other tropical countries, as well as of the
United States, and grows to the  height of sixteen feet,
and is about twelve inches  in diameter.  It somewhat
resembles the common  ash, and the bark  is covered
with sharp prickles.   The  fresh juice expressed from
the  root, affords certain relief in colic, and what is
called dry belly-ache.  The important fact was  dis-
covered in the West Indies, by watching a female slave
who collected the root in  the woods, and gave  two
spoonsful of the juice to a  negro suffering  under  that
colic called  the dry belly-ache, 4 at  intervals of  two
hours.  It occasioned profound and composed sleep for
twelve hours, when all sense of pain and suffering had
vanished; and the cure was completed by giving an
infusion of the expressed root in water by way of diet
drink.
  CHOLERA MORBUS, OR PUKING AND
                    PURGING.
  This disease is generally  produced  by the food
becoming rancid or acid on the stomach; and  if from
an over quantity of bile, the purging and puking will
show it, by the discharges being intermixed  with a
dark  bilious matter.  This disease  is  also  produ-
ced  from  breathing damp air; or from  being expos-
ed to inclement weather; or from getting the feet wet:
—but mostly from eating such food as disagrees with
the stomach  and  bowels.   The mind has a powerful
influence  in  this complaint; and I  have frequently
observed in my practice, that the disease was produced 
 204           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 in many  cases  of females in delicate  health, by  the
 passions of the mind, as well as  by sudden stoppages
 of the menstrual  discharge.  The disease generally
 commences  with  sickness  of  the stomach—painful
 griping, succeded  by  heat and  thirst, quickness and
 shortness  of  breathing, with a  quick and fluttering
 pulse.  When the  case is  dangerous the  extremities
 become cojd—the perspiration or sweat is clammy and
 cold—there is also cramp, and  great  changes  and
 irregularities of the pulse, which, when accompanied
 with hiccupping, are strong evidences of the approach
 of death.
                     REMEDIES.
   Apply  to the  stomach and belly cloths  steeped in
 warm  water, or in spirits in which camphor has been
 dissolved;  or you may apply a warm poultice, made of
 garden mint stewed; or a  poultice made of mustard
 and strong vinegar, will be  found of  great  service
 applied to  the stomach; or  a  blister of cantharides or
 Spanish flies:  and in extremely dangerous cases, where
 it is not practicable  to draw  a blister in the usual way,
 do not hesitate  to scald the part with boiling water, at
 the same time applying hot rocks  or bricks to the feet.
 Give hot whiskey toddy, or that made of  any other
 kind of spirit; let it be strongly mixed with peppermint,
 or ginger, or calamus; and  let chicken water or thin
 gruel  be freely taken  by the patient.  Give clysters
 made by pouring boiling water on the inner bark of
 slippery elm, or those made of flax-seed  tea, either of
 which  must be  thrown  up into the bowels milk-warm.
 See under  the  head of clystering, for the manner of
 administering this operation.—The first object  in this
dangerous  complaint is, to  cleanse  the  stomach and
bowels of any offensive matter—after which  the giving 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          205

of thirty-five or fifty drops of laudanum in mint tea
will be proper; and  if these should not arrest the pro-
gress of the disease, make a clyster of a table-spoonful
of starch and a half a pint of warm  water, in  which
put a tea-spoonful of laudanum, and throw  it up the
bowels as directed under the head "clyster."   If this
does not give relief in fifteen or twenty minutes, repeat
it again—and again.
  If the person who is attacked is of a full habit, that
is, fat, stout and vigorous, the loss of some blood by the
arm,  and  the warm bath  will  be necessary.   If the
attack be moderate, a good dose of calomel will gener-
ally put a stop to it—for this will evacuate the bowels,
operate as  a stimulus, and  remove the diseased  action.
   Very frequently this disease appears as a symptom
of fever; and then of course you  are to treat it as you
would any other kind of fever.   In all cases, after using
laudanum  to relieve your  patient,  particularly when
you have used it to an extent,  it is proper and necessa-
ry to give,  after relief, a good dose of castor  oil.  Per-
sons  who  are subject to this sudden and dangerous
disease, should  be cautious as  to what  kind of food
they indulge in; and should be very particular in avoid-
ing the causes which produce it; because by  impru-
dence, the disease may return with double violence and
danger.
   The rapidity with which cholera morbus proceeds,
requires the remedies to be promptly applied;  for the
disease is, generally speaking,  highly dangerous, and
soon terminates the life of the sufferer, unless relief is
speedily obtained.  A few hours' suffering, in severe
cases, weakens the patient surprisingly; and, therefore,
you will easily see the great importance of nourish-
ment of a light,  stimulating, and strengthening kind, 
206          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

being given.  Besides attention to nourishing diet, wine
with any kind of bitter ought to be given, or cold cam-
omile tea three or four times a day, the dose a wine or
stem glass full, or elixir vitriol, ten drops three times a
day, in  the tea made of black snake-root, or Virginia
snake-root:  besides all which, flannel ought to be put
on next the skin of the patient.  But, in concluding my
remarks on the treatment of this complaint, I must urge
the particular necessity of the warm  bath  and clysters,
as almost certain means of relief, if properly and timely
administered.
                 RHEUMATISM.
  This painful and excruciating disease, in which the
poor sufferer drags out a miserable and wretched exist-
ence, is quite frequent throughout the western country
—and particularly in  East Tennessee.  I shall commu-
nicate respecting this disease, in which I have had much
experience, such remedies as will, if properly managed,
succeed in entirely removing it from the system, unless
anchylosis  of the joint has been formed;  for in such
a case nothing can possibly be done with it.   Anchylo-
sis means a stiff joint: this state of the system is exhibited
generally  under the form of Chronic Rheumatism, of
ten  or fifteen years standing.   In every case where the
patient can,  in the slightest  manner, move  the joint, \
have  no hesitation  in saying  the cure  can  be made,
if attentively and properly managed, according to the
various methods of treatment laid down, which are as
follows.  Embracing the general mode of treatment as
used by physicians, and the method I have invariably
followed with unbounded success in Virginia  and Ten-
j 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          207
nessee, hundreds are now living in both states who can
attest or  prove, that  they have  been entirely cured of
this disease  by me, of many years standing, after they
had become entirely helpless, and unable  to walk or
move without  assistance.  There are two diseases, or
rather two different stages of this disease: one of which
is called inflammatory, and the other chronic—the first
is accompanied with fever, and  the other,  the last, is
nearly or quite without fever, and of long standing.
  Rheumatism is brought  on by exposure to the cold
and wet; by sleeping in damp places; by remaining too
long on the damp ground; by sleeping in a current of
air  at night, immediately under  an open window; by
exposure to the night dews; by taking off a warm dress
and putting on a thin one; by being greatly heated, and
becoming suddenly cool, thereby checking the perspira-
tion or sweat.
  There is a disease called by physicians, Rheumatic
mercurialis, which means Rheumatism produced by
the improper  use  of Mercury; that is,  by  permitting
the Mercury to remain in the system, without giving the
proper remedy to  carry it off, which is flour  of sulphur.
This  flour of sulphur is nothing  more than Brimstone
purified, and pounded or ground very fine like flour; it
is the true and certain antidote against mercury; as you
will find explained under the head of Sulphureous Fu-
migation—or a sweat produced by the use  of sulphur.
  First.—Inflammatory Rheumatism is to  be relieved
in the first stage by bleeding; as  you will perceive by
the fulness of the pulse, and by the person afflicted being
of a robust and full habit of body; here it will be neces-
sary to bleed freely from a large orifice.   If the heat is
great, you must proportion  the loss of blood according
to the violence of the symptoms;  and you must repeat 
208
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
the bleeding on the second day, if you find it necessary
from the violence or continuation of the inflammatory
symptoms,  which  can easily be  distinguished by the
pulse, the feelings of the sufferer, and lastly by suffering
the blood to cool.  If the blood, when cool, has on its
surface a huffy coat of a yellowish hue, it denotes a
highly inflammatory state of the system; but, in bleed-
ing, you must take care not to  go so far as to produce
debility: and, therefore, after the  first  bleeding, which
must be regulated entirely by the violence of the attack,
it will be proper to give an active purge of calomel and
jalap, twenty grains of each, mixed well together, and
afterwards  with any  kind  of syrup.  This  should be
carried off by gruel, or warm balm, sage, or dittany tea,
if possible, to produce gentle sweat or moisture on the
skin.   If then the disease does not begin to yield, give
another purge of ten grains of calomel and ten of jalap,
mixed  well, and given as  before  directed.   This will
procure purging, and a copious perspiration or sweat.
You will find now, that by  moderate purging, so as not
to debilitate or  weaken the  patient, the complaint will
begin to subside,  or  perhaps  entirely.   These  mild
purges must be of epsom salts, glauber salts, senna and
manna, or  castor oil.  If your patient at  any  time
gets weak from purging, give warm toddy made of any
kind of spirits;  or if  you  wish effectually to check the
purging, give twenty or thirty drops of laudanum or a
pill of opium :  see table for dose.  This will  arrest or
put a stop to the purging; and if there is any griping,
put the  laudanum  when you give it in some strong mint
tea.  When the joints are  very  painful, and the skin
red, swelled and inflamed, cup over the parts: see  under
the head of cupping for the operation—which is very
simple  and easily performed.  Cupping freely will be a 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE          209

useful remedy.   The inflamed or swollen parts, should
be  kept wet with cloths dipped in vinegar made milk-
warm : and at night a poultice made of rye flour, mixed
with vinegar and warm water, will give much relief.   If
the inflammatory symptoms are considerably removed,
a pill of opium or a dose of laudanum, (see table  for
dose,) will procure the rest or sleep so much desired in
this afflicting complaint.  The parts which are painful
should be well rubbed with a liniment, made of two
table-spoonsful  of laudanum—two of spirits of harts-
horn—mixed over a slow fire in four table-spoonsful of
butter without any salt in it: this being put into a bottle
and corked tight, must be used three times a day, at the
rate of a tea-spoonful each time, and the parts kept well
covered with flannel.  These remedies should be used
separately or together,  as they may afford the afflicted
person relief  The diet should be very  light and cool-
ing; this being a matter of great importance.  By strict
attention to this, you wiH be enabled to get quickly reliev-
ed, and save the taking a vast deal of medicine.  In fact,
while inflammation  prevails, the less the patient takes of
nourishment the better; and solid and  animal food  are
both to  be avoided:  No spirits, wines, or stimulating
drinks whatever are permitted in this state of the sys-
tem : and even when the afflicted person is getting better
he must take only such nourishments  as are necessary
to support the system and recruit its  powers—for by
imprudence in diet a relapse may take place of a dan-
gerous and languishing nature.
  Second.—Chronic Rheumatism, as  distinguished
from that  called inflammatory rheumatism, has little or
no fever.  Chronic means, when the  fever or inflamma-
tory action, has nearly, or, indeed, entirely subsided.   It
is  sometimes  brought  on as a  mere consequence of
       27 
210          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
inflammatory rheumatism—and sometimes it proceeds
from cold and exposure, or from the system being pre-
disposed to it by some old disease; for it frequently
steals on so gradually, that the patient bears with it until
the pain seats itself in some particular joint, or part,
giving the most excruciating pain.  When fairly seated
by length of time, it usually prevents the sufferer from
using his limbs, and from the misery attending it through-
out, large lumps or swellings are produced by it: these
are the symptoms by which you will know chronic rheu-
matism.
  This  slow,  obstinate, and painful  disease, must be
treated as follows: First—the bowels are to be kept open
by the simple laxative of sulphur.   A tea-spoonful must
be given of a morning, mixed with honey, on an empty
stomach—and one  at night, if necessary to keep  the
bowels open.  One or two purges a  day will be suffi-
cient: avoid  the damp ground, and also getting wet
while taking sulphur; because it opens all the pores of
the system, and under these  circumstances  becomes
dangerous.  This medicine is truly valuable in this dis-
ease, and too much can hardly be said in its favor; nor
is there  any danger in it,  if you will but keep from the
wet and damp. You may  occasionally vary the treat-
ment, by giving epsom salts in the room of sulphur, but
it must be in moderate doses.  The next object in curing
this complaint is, to keep up a gentle moisture on the
skin, in  other words a gentle sweating; and for this pur-
pose I shall give you a remedy which is very simple;
and which in itself has cured hundreds, both of rheu-
matism and pains generally.  Take one ounce of gum
guiacinn and two drachms of saltpetre, put these two
articles, after pounding them together, into  a quart of
old whiskey, and give a table-spoonful in a  little cold 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
211
water, three times  during the day.  This dose is for a
grown person.  If the stomach be weak, lessen the dose
in proportion—and so on for a delicate or weakly per-
son.   It acts as a powerful stimulant—produces gentle
sweatings, &,c.   By continuing in the use of this simple
remedy, in which there is no danger, I have effected
cures in cases of long standing, several of which were
considered hopeless.
   The principle to be pursued in removing this com-
plaint is  very simple: it is either by moderate or  by
profuse, which means large sweats.  Take a blanket, or
any thing which will prevent  the steam from passing
off, and put hoops into it, in the same manner that you
would into a partridge net, so as to keep the blanket, or
whatever else you use, on the stretch.  Let the bottom
hoop be large enough to cover the tub, or whatever other
vessel you use:  let the next hoop be something smaller,
the next one smaller  still, and  so  on up to the top one,
which must be large enough to  admit the head to be put
through.   This  machine, or whatever else you  may
please to  call it, must be long enough to cover the body
without touching it, except at  the  neck, where it must
fit so close as to prevent any steam from escaping, which
migiit affect the nose, face, or any portion of the head.
In this situation, the patient being enclosed in the case-
naked : let him sit or  stand, with hot rocks placed under
him; on  which so as to confine the steam to the body,
let the following extract be gradually and very slowly
poured.  Four or five days before you wish to give this
bath, take a  quart of whiskey, and  put into it half an
ounce of saltpetre, one ounce of seneca snake-root, well
bruised, and half an  ounce of sulphur in a quart bottle.
This liquor must be poured very slowly, or rather drop-
ped through an aperture in the  blanket on the rpcko; by 
212          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

which a powerful sweat will be produced, which must
be continued for a quarter of an hour, if the patient be
not too weak to bear it so long.  When the patient is in
this bath, if any faintness or sickness takes place, the
bath is to be stopped, the patient wiped dry, and imme-
diately put to bed: and if much debility or weakness
seems to exist, you must stimulate with warm toddy,
made of any kind of spirits, with warm water and sugar.
In my practice in Virginia, for five years I used this steam
bath with unbounded success; and in some cases which
I considered  absolutely hopeless, cures were produced.
By the effects of the vapor or steam bath, as just describ-
ed, I was  induced to try its effects in two cases of
inflammatory rheumatism, in which one of the patients
was unable to move without  assistance for six months
previous; all the usual  remedies  in  that stage of the
disease having been tried without any benefit.  John
Sypold, a  man of about thirty-five years of age, of a
full habit, a  resident of Montgomery county, Virginia,
was hauled to me in a wagon nine miles, laboring under
inflammatory rheumatism.  His situation was truly mis-
erable, from the  most severe and excruciating pains.  I
determined, with his consent, and after explaining to
him my doubts as to the final  issue  of his case, to try
the following experiment.  I bled him freely from both
arms; and his situation  was such as to require five per-
sons to assist me in getting him into a wooden case I
had constructed for the purpose.   His pain was so
severe as  scarcely  to admit of his being turned over;
but as soon as the steam was put in  operation on him,
he became tranquil—and in ten minutes a profuse sweat
broke out on him, which  produced great relief.   He
had continued in the  bath  fifteen minutes, when I pro-
posed to  have him removed:  but the pleasantness of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         213

his sensations  induced him to desire me to let him
remain:  he said  that those were the only moments in
which he had  experienced a relief from pain in six
months.   After continuing in the bath half an hour, he
descended without assistance  covered with sweat: his
body was then rubbed well with coarse towels, and his
joints also, with the liniment  I have before  described,
made of hartshorn, laudanum, and butter without salt.
I  gave Mr. Sypold  the bath three times, making each
time shorter; in  two  weeks  he was entirely relieved
from  pain, and in three  months he  walked to Lynch-
burgh with  his wagon, a distance of sixty miles, and
returned, without experiencing the  least return of his
disease.   Hundreds have since been relieved by me in
Tennessee, of this disease, by this remedy of the bath,
as just described—and in chronic cases, by the simple
use of gum guaiacum  as already mentioned. I  shall
now proceed to give the common remedies, as used by
physicians in this complaint, many of which are valua-
ble, and afford speedy and salutary relief
   In all  local affections,  distinguished by stiffness, and
want  of power to move the joints without considerable
pain, rub the part well with  the liniment before men-
tioned—or with  opodeldoc—or whiskey, in  which red
pepper or mustard  has been  infused or soaked—and
with  these or either of them, rub the joints  or places
affected with a brush, continuing the rubbing for some
time, the longer the better; and use  inwardly the gum
guaiacum as before directed.   The poke berry bounce,
made by putting the  ripe berries into whiskey, and
using a  wine glass full  of it every day is of service.
The seneca snake-root is also valuable in this disease,
by boiling an ounce of  it  in a quart of water, over a
slow (ire or on coals; stewing it down to a pint or less, 
214           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and  taking  a table-spoonful of it occasionally through
the day: you may increase the dose  as the  stomach
will  bear it.  Fat  light-wood, steeped in spirits, and
taken  in small  quantities, is also  serviceable.   Tea
made of sarsaparilla, and drank freely, is a good reme-
dy;  or take  a large handful of rattle-snake root and
bruise it well—put it into a quart of spirit and  let it
steep by the  fire  for several days;  and of this take a
wine glass full every morning.
   In the stage which I have lately described,  which is
chronic rheumatism, the patient is frequently, by hav-
ing  had the  disease a  long time,  reduced  to  great
weakness:  if so, he should use some bitters to  strength-
en the system;  such as  dog-wood  bark, wild-cherry
tree  bark, and poplar bark, in equal quantities in  whis-
key, or spirit  of any kind—old if possible;  or if spirit
disagrees, make a tea, and use it three times a day—a
wine glass full; or cold camomile tea same  quantity;
or take eight or ten drops of elixir vitriol, in a wine or
stem glass  of cold water, three times  a day.   In this
state of the system, horse-radish and  mustard will  be
proper to use with  your food.  Your diet should be as
usual—no change is necessary in chronic rheumatism.
Exercise is important, if the patient can possibly have it
—and flannel should be  worn  next to the skin.   The
warm salt  bath, as described  under sea or salt bath,
will be of great utility in this state  of the  disease;  or
you  may use it by pouring over the  body three times a
day, strong salt  and water, made milk-warm.  If the
above remedies should not relieve, after a proper and
patient trial  of  them, recourse must be  had to the
French  Remedy,  called  Sulphureous  Fumigation.
For instructions look under that head. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           215
        INDIGESTION, OR DYSPEPSIA.
   This common and  most afflicting  disease, so much
disturbs and deranges  our moral and physical  nature,
that it is difficult to determine which suffers most from
its attacks, the mind or the body.  From the variety of
shapes which this complaint assumes, it is very difficult
to describe it in a plain and comprehensive manner; in
fact, it is  so  frequently associated in close connexion
with  other diseases to which it  bears a strong resem-
blance, particularly those of the  liver and  bowels, that
in many cases it deceives the most experienced and
intelligent physicians.   This complaint, like the gout,
may  be said to be  no respecter of persons: from the
prince to the beggar, you can see misery inflicted, with-
out discrimination of persons or ranks,  by this demon
of human suffering, indigestion—under whose influ-
ence the body is tortured for years, and the mind con-
tinually wrecked in a troubled sea of the most unhappy
and melancholy feelings.
   This disease originates in a great variety of causes;
among which it  is often found associated  with a dis-
eased  state of  the  liver.   Persons who  have used
spirits of  any kind  to excess*  or  stimulants of any
description,  such as spices  or highly seasoned food,
and those also who  have used tobacco to great excess,
by which the coats and functions of the stomach have
been impaired and debilitated, are liable to  indigestion.
A costive  habit, acquired by permitting  the bowels to
remain 4oo  long without evacuation, will bring on this
formidable malady; and persons who are long confined
to any stationary or sedentary business, without taking
the necessary exercise, are  generally submitted to this
disease called  Indigestion.   When the complaint is
firmly seated in the stomach, it is  marked  by  eructa- 
216
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
tions or belchings of wind;  gnawing  and disagreeable
sensations at the pit  of the  stomach; risings of sour
and bitter acid into the throat, occasioned  by the food
not being properly digested;  great irregularity of appe-
tite, which is sometimes voracious  and at other times
greatly deficient; and a sinking and oppressive debility
or weakness of  the  stomach.   In addition  to these
symptoms of indigestion, on gratifying the appetite at
any time, the stomach in  a  short time afterwards be-
comes oppressed with  sensations of weight  and full-
ness ; the head becomes confused; the sleep very much
disturbed; the  bowels very  irregular and costive; the
urine high colored; and  the poor victim commences
taking medicines for  relief, and brooding in dejected
silence  over  thousands of  unhappy  retrospections of
past life, and countless melancholy anticipations of the
future, in which death in all its attendant and imagina-
ry horrors, stands conspicuous  and appalling.   Nor
are these the only miserable indications of indigestion;
I have  known  many  persons whose tempers  and dis-
positions have  been materially affected  by indigestion;
so much so, indeed, that they were incapable of describ-
ing their own sensations;  and who, when ridiculed by
their friends, in merely  pleasant raillery, as hypochon-
driacs, have wished their  sufferings were  ended by a
close  of their existence!
   If the liver is connected with  this  disease  called
indigestion, a dead  and heavy  pain will be  felt in the
right  side: the water deposited  in the  urinal or pot,
will have, on cooling  and  settling, a brick-dust colored
sediment, which, if permitted to remain any  length of
time,  will adhere in rings of a reddish hue to  the inner
sides  of the urinal; a pain will be felt in the  top of the
shoulder and back of the  neck; the feet and hands will 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          217

frequently get asleep, from  want of regular and ener-
getic circulation; the  complexion  will become of a
yellowish  hue or tinge; great and general  uneasiness
of the whole system will be felt; and sometimes, when
the  liver is greatly diseased,  occasional puking will
come on—in which last case, a diseased state of the
liver being evident,  I must  refer the reader  to that
head.
                     REMEDIES
  In the removal or cure of this disease, great reliance
is always to be placed  in the systematic regulation of
your diet, as to the times of taking food—the quantity
of that food—and the qualities to be taken; and any
person  laboring  under indigestion  will soon discover,
that regularity and temperance, in fact  abstemiousness
in eating and  drinking, will be productive of as many
benefits  to the sufferer, as  want of system and intem-
perance will  be  of serious  injuries,  and dangerous
consequences.  I am decidedly of opinion, with regard
to dyspepsia, that by withdrawing the causes of irrita-
tion  from the stomach, and  applying  such remedies as
will  have the effect of lessening irritability of the gen-
eral  system, unless the  patient be entirely too much
exhausted, nature  would effect a cure without the aid
of that  farrago of medicines generally  swallowed  in
this  complaint:  and  I wish  it here  to  be  distinctly
understood, that  unless  those  who are  tortured with
indigestion absolutely  relinquish all  excesses  of the
table and  the bottle, no cure  can be  hoped  for or
expected.
  Doct.  James Johnson,  of the .Royal  College  of
Physicians, has correctly and elegantly described the
remedies for indigestion, in nearly the  following lan-
guage: There is a great error committed almost every
       28 
218          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

day in this disease, which is, by flying to medicines at
once, whenever the  functions of the stomach and liver
appear  to  be disordered, and  the  food  imperfectly
digested.  Instead of taking purgative  medicines day
after  day, we should  lessen and  simplify the food, in
order to prevent the formation of such things in the
body, as will assist to produce and  increase the disease;
but in attempting to induce a patient to adopt this rule,
I am  aware that great prejudices are to be overcome.
The patient  feels himself getting weaker and thinner;
and he flies immediately to nourishing food, and tonics
and strengthening medicines for  a  cure;  but he will
generally be  disappointed in the end by this  plan.
From four  ounces of gruel every six hours, under
any state of indigestion, he will  derive more  nutri-
ment  and real strength, than from half a pound of
animal food, and a pint of the best wine.   Whenever
he feels  any  additional  uneasiness  or  discomfort, in
mind  or body,  after eating, the patient has erred in
the quantity  or quality of his food, however restricted
the one or select the  other.  If the food and  drink
irritate the nerves of the stomach, they must be redu-
ced and  simplified down even to the gruel diet  above
alluded to.   I have known  the dyspeptic patients gain
flesh and strength, on half a pint of good gruel, taken
three  times in twenty-four hours, and gradually bring
the stomach  step by step, up to the point of digesting
plain animal food   On a biscuit and a glass of water,
I have  known persons  who  were  afflicted with this
disease  to dine  for months in succession;  and on this
small portion  of food,  to obtain a degree  of strength,
and  a serenity  of mind, beyond their  most sanguine
hopes.   You will perceive,  that  in  all the different
forms of indigestion, diet  is the first  thing, and the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          219

principal cure in this  disease; and rely upon  it, for I
assert it from sad experience in my own person, that it
is  absolutely vain to  expect  a cure, unless you have
courage and  perseverance  to reap the fruits of such a
system as I have laid  down to you in diet, and not to
change it,  however  strongly you may  be tempted by
the luxuries of the table, and  the seductions of convi-
vial society; and when you have escaped the  miseries
of this worst of human affliction, you must be extreme-
ly careful how you deviate from the  right diet which
has restored you  to health; for no disease is so liable
to relapse as indigestion.  An  unrestrained indulgence
in a variety of dishes, or in vegetable and  fruit, or a
debauch in drinking,  will be  certain of making  the
poor  dyspeptic  patient pay  dearly,  in  suffering  and
wretchedness of feelings, for his straying from the cor-
rect path of  temperance  and  propriety.   The least
over-exertion of the stomaeh, caused by its being over-
loaded or too highly stimulated, will be certain to cause
you  to be on the stool of  repentance  for  some  time
afterwards.   As soon as you have the least reason for
supposing  that  you are  laboring under  indigestion,
commence first  with  an active purgative consisting of
ten grains of calomel, ten of  rhubarb in fine powder,
and ten of  aloes  likewise finely powdered.   These
three articles are to  be mixed  well together, and made
into pills, with honey or syrup.  After  this purgative
medicine, which is intended to clear the stomach and
bowels of all their unhealthy and  injurious  contents,
which always when present keep up a constant irrita-
tion in the stomach  and intestines, no more very active
purges are  to  be  given—because  the frequent and
almost constant employment of  active  purges, always
do more harm than good, by unnecessarily weakening 
 220          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 the system:  one satisfactory evacuation by stool in the
 course of the day is quite sufficient; and by more than
 this the stomach and bowels are teased, thereby produ-
 cing  debility—the  real  parent  of morbid  irritation.
 When this disease of body is avoided, and  the stomach
 and bowels at the same time kept sufficiently easy and
 clear, and the temperate  abstemiousness I  have advis-
 ed strictly followed, the poor sufferer under indigestion
 may  confidently expect an extinguishment  of the
 flames of his torture.
  A little rhubarb root chewed at night—or the follow-
 ing simple pill will be of service.  Take of rhubarb in
 powder half a  drachm, of  Castile soap one  drachm,
 and of  ipecacuanha in powder  half a drachm—mix
 them  well together in honey or any syrup, to which
 add a little powdered  ginger to make  the  mixture
 pleasant to the stomach;  make it  into thirty pills, one
 of which you  must take every  morning, noon, and at
 night; this will give a tone to the stomach  and bowels.
 but as an alterative; and keep them gently open—this
 is an innocent and most useful pill, and will afford great
relief, with proper exercise  and  diet.  A  tea-spoonful
or a table-spoonful of common charcoal, pounded very
fine, and taken three times  a day in a tumbler of  cold
water, is an excellent remedy in this  complaint.  This
article is made in a proper manner, by taking a lump
 of common charcoal made of any kind of wood, and
burning it over  again in an iron ladle or skillet, to a
red, heat: then suffering it to cool—and pounding  it as
 before directed.  This coal  powder ought  to be imme-
 diately put into a bottle and corked tightly, in order to
 exclude the action of the air on it—and whenever any
of it is used  as before  mentioned, the cork ought im-
 mediately to be returned to the  bottle.  The quantity 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          221

of the charcoal  used, must be regulated so as to  pro-
duce moderate  operation  by stool.   I have knownr
hundreds relieved by this simple and innocent remedy,
when the diet has been properly attended to, after many
other remedies  had been  tried in  vain.   Physicians
call this pounded charcoal, carbo ligni, in their learn-
ed prescriptions; which I have often found very pow-
erful in relieving diseases  of the  liver,  when  other
remedies had  totally failed.  Epsom salts and magne-
sia, in  equal  quantities, ground fine in a  mortar, and
given in  doses  of a  tea-spoonful in a glass of  cold
water, every  morning on  an empty stomach, is also a
fine remedy in dyspepsia and indigestion—and if neces-
sary at any time to have the bowels  gently opened, will
always be found beneficial  and effective.
  When the stomach and bowels have been kept free
from irritation for  any length of  time, by  the mild
treatment I have laid down; when the  tongue becomes
clean; when the sleep becomes more  refreshing; and
when the mind becomes tranquil, the spirits something
animated, and the head clear, fresh beef made into a
weak soup,  may be ventured on,  with a  little well-
boiled chicken; by this diet you may gradually try the
powers of the stomach, and know by your feelings how
much  they will  bear without injury.   If  it produce
uneasy feelings, such as before described, to either the
mind or body—or to both—within the  day or night of
this  trial of  animal  food, it should  be  lessened  in
quantity.  If that will not  do, you must entirely relin-
quish it,  and  resume the old diet  of gruel.   When
animal food can be taken, without producing any pain
and uneasiness, you may gradually increase it according
to your  feelings.  Begin  with one ounce of animal
food, and  gradually  increase the  quantity,  but  with 
222          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

great caution.  After a while you may venture on sim-
ple food, so that by degrees your stomach may acquire
some strength  and firmness, which it will now do be-
yond your most sanguine  expectations;  but  you  must
always  remember, to eat just such  a quantity as will
produce no  uneasiness or  languor after eating; no
unhappy feelings of body or mind during  digestion.
It is quite unnecessary for me to  enumerate  all the
kinds of food which it will be improper for you to eat; I
have already explained to you, that the most simple
food is the best.  Milk and rye-mush is an excellent
dish in this complaint; and I have known many persons,
who, by using it six  months together, without any ani-
mal food, have been entirely and permanently cured.
No  hot bread  is to be used at all; stale bread and
biscuit,  the older the better, but without any  butter, are
very good in this complaint.  How often  have I been
asked by my  dyspeptic patients this question:  Is  it
impossible to cure indigestion without resorting to low
and very abstemious diet?   I have always said it is im-
possible—and I now repeat it, for  the ten thousandth
time; and those who think otherwise, will  find, if they
act up to their opinions, that after spending their money,
and making apothecary shops of their bodies, that all
the medical remedies in the  world, without very tem-
perate and abstemious living, are not worth one  cent!
Always have patience: there must be time for every
thing, and particularly for the  cure  of indigestion—
Reflect  on the length of time, and the great variety of
causes which produce  this disease,  and you will  soon
see that it cannot be cured in a few hours, or in a few
days.  The stomach, like  a weary traveller worn down
by fatigue, requires rest, tranquility, and cooling diet,
to allay the feverish state of the system, produced by 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
•223
high and  long-continued excitement, and perhaps by
terrible excesses!
  Cold water is the only proper drink; and to persons
who have been accustomed to  the use of spirituous
liquors, some gentle bitter  may  be taken, but in very
small quantities. But in respect to drink, I am perfectly
convinced that  water alone is the best drink for persons
afflicted with this disease of the stomach.  After a com-
plete change has taken place in the system, by a low,
regular, and very abstemious diet  for some months—
the patient will find, if it will agree with his stomach,
which his  feelings  will  soon tell him, immense benefit
from taking a mixture compounded of equal quantities
of the root of  the poplar, the bark of the wild cherry
tree, and the bark from  the root  of the dog-wood, with
a small portion of black snake-root, made into bitters
with old whiskey or very old rum.   This bitters  must
stand four or five days  before being taken;  and then
given in small doses, diluted with water; three times in
each  day—but if  it occasion any  unpleasantness of
feeling or  sensation  in the stomach or head, it must be
immediately discontinued.   Tonics, or strengthening
medicines, are  never to  be  given in the fever stages of
indigestion, or while the slightest irritation exists, or the
consequence will probably be, an  inflammation which
will terminate fatally.
  The warm or tepid bath should  be frequently used
in this complaint, taking particular care to rub over the
stomach well with a brush in the bath, and a coarse
towel immediately on leaving it.   For bathing, and the
manner of preparing the warm or tepid bath, look under
the head  warm bath.   Injections or clysters of simple
milk and  water, luke-warm, or of warm water with a
table spoonful of hog's  lard mixed with  it, thrown up 
224          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

into the bowels, occasionally, will be of much  service
in this disease: because they will remove any irritable
matter which may remain in the lower intestines, thereby
lessening one of the greatest enemies you have to con-
tend with, which is morbid irritability.  For clysters
—look under that head.  Clysters, constantly used with
the warm bath, will obviate or do away the necessity of
taking medicines by the stomach, and very much expe-
dite the cure of the afflicted sufferer.   In this disease,
the acid or sour belchings may be corrected or removed,
by the simple use of magnesia or chalk: a tea-spoonful
of either of which articles, may be taken in a wine or
stem-glass of cold water.   . he charcoal, prepared as I
have before  mentioned, is also well  adapted to remov-
ing this unpleasant  and  irritable state of the stomach
arising from acid.   I have  now  given a faithful, plain,
and full description  of this tedious  and most afflicting
malady, called dyspepsia or indigestion—together with
an account of the most approved remedies for its re-
moval.
                CONSUMPTION.
  Consumption spreads  its ravishes in the haunts of
gaiety, fashion, and folly—but in the more humble walks
of life, where the busy hum of laborious industry is
heard, it  is  seldom known.  In the last  stage of this
dismal waste of life, although there are many means of
alleviating, in some degree, its miseries, there is neither
remedy nor cure for this  disease—and yet so flattering
is consumption, even when very far advanced, that the
unfortunate victim frequently anticipates a speedy recov-
ery, and  is  preparing for some distant journey for the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          225

renovation of health, when in a few days, perhaps a few
hours, his wearied feet must pass the peaceful thresh-
hold of the tomb, and his body sink to everlasting rest.
Thousands are yearly falling in the spring-time of life
by  the untimely stroke of this most fatal of diseases,
and although medical men have for ages  been endeav-
oring to put a stop to its ravages, I assert it without
fear of contradiction that in  the last stage of consump-
tion, there  is no  remedy within  the whole  circle  of
medical science, that will cure the disease; but I have
no doubt the period will arrive, when this formidable
enemy of the human species, will  be subdued by some
common and simple plant, belonging to the vegetable
kingdom, which is at this period  totally unknown;  for
1 have  always  been impressed with a decided belief,
that our wise and beneficent Creator has  placed within
the reach of his feeble creature man, herbs and plants
for  the  cure of all diseases  but old age,  could we but
obtain a knowledge of  their real  uses  and intrinsic
virtues.  I wish  it to be distinctly understood, with
respect to what I have said of this disease, that I mean
Consumption alone, and entirely unconnected with any
other complaint.   The  cure of  consumption should
always be  attempted in its forming state,  before it pro-
duces  active symptoms  of cough, or  matter  from the
lungs,  or inflammatory or hectic  fever.   I have often
seen this fatal complaint cured by attention to it, in the
first symptoms, but  how  often are they  permitted  to
steal  gradually on, creating no  alarm or uneasiness,
mistaking it for a simple  cold, until  it makes consider-
able progress, and the complaint becomes permanently
seated  in  the  system.   Consumption can easily  be
distinguished from any  other disease  by  the  following
symptoms:—the patient complains of weakness on the 
226
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
least bodily exertion, the breathing is hurried, oppressed
on ascending  any  steep place, the  pulse  small, and
quicker than natural, a feeling oj^ightness as if a cord
was drawn across  the chest; slight, short, dry cough,
becoming  more troublesome  at  night;  a spitting of
white frothy spittle termed by physicians mucus.  As
this disease advances, the  spitting becomes more copi-
ous and frequent, and sometimes streaked with blood,
of a tough, opaque or dark  substance, solid and of a
yellow or green color, having  an unpleasant or fetid
smell  when thrown on burning coals, or if this matter
is put into  pure water it sinks to the bottom of the
Vessel;  by this simple test, you can easily distinguish it
from  mucus which has no smell, and separates  into
small flakes, and floats  upon the surface of the water
—thereby enabling you to judge as to the progress or
formation of this complaint.
   Consumption  is  considerably  advanced  when the
following symptoms occur: a pain in the chest, and in
the side, which is  increased  by exerting the voice by
long or loud talking;  pulse  is quick  and hard, gener-
ally from  one hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen
strokes in a minute; the urine or water is highly color-
ed, and deposits in the urinal or pot a muddy sediment;
the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet have
a dryness and burning sensation; the cheek, and fre-
quently both  cheeks,  have  a flush or  reddish hue,
exhibiting itself about  the  middle of the day.  This
flush  lasts for  one  or two hours when a remission takes
place until the evening, when the feverish symptoms
again return, accompanied frequently by a shivering or
cold  sensation, continuing  until after midnight, then
terminating in a profuse perspiration  or sweat occasion-
ing great prostration or weakness.  In the last stage of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          227
Consumption, the whole countenance assumes a ghast-
ly cadaverous look, tjae white part of the eyes have a
pearly and unnatural appearance, while the eye itself
beams with sparkling animation and  lustre;  the cheek
bones  are prominent, the mouth and throat resemble
or look like  that of a child having the thrush; the
legs  swell, the nails are of  a  livid  or purple color;
frequent purging, ending in  profuse sweating, cough
hollow, difficulty of  respiration or breathing, and the
patient has a restless and  disturbed slumber; during
sleep  a curious noise  is made from the  throat, like
suffocation, occasioned  by the collection of matter or
pus in the throat and  mouth; when  these last symp-
toms   make  their  appearance, the   period  is  fast
approaching  when the unhappy sufferer will  lay his
weary and aching head in the calm and peaceful man-
sions  of the  dead.   The alarming increase of  Con-
sumption in the United States, affords  an ample field
for medical  research;  the  bills of mortality taken in
the various cities show  the  immense  number who die
in the flower of life, by  this merciless disease.   In
three  years the number of deaths in the British me-
tropolis, is stated to be fifty-two thousand, two hundred
and thirty-seven; and among these,  were, under the
general head  of consumptions, seventeen thousand five
hundred and  fifty-nine—making the number  of deaths
annually in London, by Consumption, three thousand.
   The rapid  progress made in our country by this fatal
complaint, is  sufficient to serve  as a warning to  every
parent, and head of a family, in order to avoid  those
causes, which, sooner or later, end in this unmanagea-
ble disease.   The causes which produce Consumption
are, exposure to cold and damp air, using tobacco to
excess, either by smoking, chewing, or by using it in 
228          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
snuff to clean the teeth, acting as a powerful stimulant,
thereby  producing irritation;  the  use  of spirituous
liquors  to  excess;  obstructions and inflammations of
the lungs;  the suppression of natural discharges, par-
ticularly the  menstrual discharge or courses; scrofula,
diseases of the  liver and stomach, and unfortunately,
receiving a hereditary disposition or taint to this disease
from father or  mother.   The narrow chest and  high
shoulders,  weakness  of  the voice,  whiteness  of the
teeth, fairness of complexion, and light hair, have  all
been observed to accompany a predisposition to con-
sumption.  Much reliance, however, cannot be placed
upon these signs, except where a number of them con-
cur in the same person.  While the empire of fashion
bears so arbitrary a sway, and the followers of pleasure
are bound  by the fascination of example,  and the con-
tagious  influence of that spirit, which insinuates itself
into the  bosom of each and every one of its votaries,
so long  will the sage  precepts of wisdom  be unheeded
till the emaciated form, the glassy eye, and  hectic blush,
speak in language  too  strong  for  utterance, that the
disease  is  established, and  the yawning grave stands
ready to receive its  devoted  victim.   I hardly know an
object of more  tender concern  to the anxious parent,
or  the medical  adviser, than a  young and beautiful
female in the pride and spring of youth, and strength
of intellect, borne down by  the invasion of a malady,
which has so often  selected  for its sacrifices the most
amiable  and interesting beings  of  God's creation.
And when,  moreover, all this can be traced  to one
single act of imprudence, one offering on the altar of
fashion, who  can forbear to utter a sigh, when they
behold a lovely  woman, laced  to such a  degree as to
impede  respiration  or breathing!   As well might the
i 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
229
hardy Russian or Laplander, amongst his snows pre-
tend to brave the severities of his icy climate  in the
flowing robes of tropical indolence, as a female  to
indulge in the Grecian costume or dress, under the
influence  of such a  change as we experience  during
the winter and "spring months.  This predisposing de-
bility for  Consumption  runs in  families, and may  be
traced from generation to  generation—moving  on the
leaden pinions of unshaken  time, without a remedy to
arrest its course.
                    REMEDIES.
  The  cure  for this formidable  complaint  is  to  be
attempted by a removal to a warm climate at an early
stage of the disease, and to  attend to the  preservation
of an equal temperature in the atmosphere which the
patient breathes—a sudden or frequent alteration  of heat
and cold  is fatal to an irritable consumptive system.
If  possible consumptive persons should remove to a
warm climate the moment a predisposition is discover-
ed; a change to a  warm  or temperate atmosphere
during the winter months, may be  the means  of re-
moving  the predisposing cause to this complaint; it is,
however, to  be regretted,  that this change is often de-
layed until a late period of the disease, when the strength
is so much exhausted  that  sufferers cannot take suffi-
cient exercise to assist the climate in restoring health;
it is then too late, and the  unfortunate victim  of this
complaint had better remain at home, for by leaving it,
he  is  deprived  of the attention  and society  of his
friends, and exposed to  much  unnecessary fatigue and
anxiety of mind. If the disease is so far  advanced as
to  prevent the patient from going out of doors in the
winter months, his  chamber or  room should be kept
warm at an even temperature  by a stove;  the unpleas- 
230
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
ant smell which frequently arises from a stove in a close
room may be removed by burning tar upon it; this fumi-
gation or  vapor,  constantly inhaled  or breathed, is
considered by physicians as a valuable remedy in con-
sumption ; the usual method of inhaling the vapor or
steam, is by putting a small quantity of tar into a coffee-
pot or earthen vessel, which is  to  be heated,  and the
fumes inhaled from the  stem of the vessel.   This sim-
ple but valuable remedy,  allays the violence of the
cough, and produces a free and copious discharge of
mucus or matter;  inhaling of the  vapor arising  from
warm  water with  a little  vinegar added to it, several
times during the course of the day, will assist in promo-
ting the discharge and  tranquilize  the cough.  These
valuable but simple remedies should not be omitted in
this complaint.
  Bleak winds, night air, and  exposure of every kind
must be strictly avoided; the body should be well defend-
ed by wearing flannel next the skin, also the feet  properly
secured from the damp; frictions,  or in other words,
rubbing the  whole  body with a brush  or coarse towel
from fifteen  to twenty minutes in  the morning, and at
night, will be of great service in this disease, the friction
to be continued twice a  day as long as the complaint
lasts.   As nothing tends more to aggravate  the symp-
toms of a Consumption, at an early stage of it, than a
aesponding  mind,  brooding  over   real or  imaginary
calamities, every thing should be done to cheer the spir-
its, such as cheerful society, music, &c. &c.   Be careful
to regulate the bowels, if possible by diet, and by friction,
(as before described,) but if recourse  must be had to
medicine, let it always be mild, and in no larger  doses
than are necessary to discharge or move the bowels; for
this purpose clysters of  simple  milk and  water thrown 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
231
up the bowels, or warm water, with a tea-spoonful of
hog's lard will be proper:—for clystering and the method
of administering them look under that head.  Rhubarb
root chewed in small quantities at night will produce a
motion, epsom salts and  magnesia mixed  and ground
fine  in a  mortar, dose a tea-spoonful in half a pint of
cold water—or a table-spoonful of common charcoal
pounded very  fine in the same quantity of water—for
the method of making and preserving this innocent but
valuable medicine, read indigestion.  The consumptive
patient  should daily   take as  much exercise as his
strength will admit of, except when the weather is unfa-
vorable.   The best exercise will be riding on horseback,
but if this produce fatigue, substitute the  use of some
kind of carriage, or a swing, so constructed as to admit
a chair in it, for the patient to recline or rest when fati-
gued.  In my practice I have used a large basket of a
sufficient size to admit a small bed to be placed in it;
the patient can lay at full length, and receive the advan-
tages to be derived from the swing, without experiencing
any fatigue.   This basket is about six feet in length and
two feet in width, having six handles by which it is sus-
pended to the  ceiling with ropes, or in  any convenient
place, free from damp  or moist atmosphere.   In what-
ever way exercise is taken, the greatest care must be
observed to guard against cold in any manner whatever,
for this important reason: tubercles  or  ulcers of the
lungs are formed in winter in cold  climates, and  their
progress to suppuration kept back  in the  summer, and
this is the cause why I urge your removal to a warm
climate at an early period of  this disease, for when
tubercles or ulcers become permanently  seated in the
lungs, the case may be considered incurable; but palli-
ative remedies may be given  with proper diet, and 
232          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
change of climate, so as to prolong the life of the unfor-
tunate victim  of the disease.  I shall explain for the
satisfaction of my reader what  is meant by the lungs,
and their structure.  In anatomy it denotes the viscera
or lobes in the cavity of the breast by which we breathe;
they are connected with the  neck, and situated on the
right and left side of the heart; being furnished with
innumerable cells which are formed by  the descent of
the wind-pipe into the lungs, those bronchial tubes com-
municate with each other;  and the whole appears not
unlike a honey-comb.  The most important use of the
lungs is that of respiration or breathing, by which the
circulation of  the blood is supposed to be effected; the
evacuation of the faeces or excrement, and urine, greatly
depends on  the constant action of the lungs, but like-
wise the sense of smelling is enjoyed by inhaling the
air;  and it is chiefly by the organic structure of these
vessels, that  mankind are enabled to speak;—lastly, they
perform the office of excretion, and expel those useless
matters, which, if retained  in  the system, would be
productive  of fatal  consequences.  The treatment of
consumptive persons must be regulated according to the
manner in which the disease shows itself; an energetic
course of practice by the physician in the first stage or
symptoms of this disease, may be the means of saving
the life of his patient, or in other words preventing con-
firmed consumption.  If there is a pain  in the side, or
breast, accompanied by  cough with fever, the patient
should be bled immediately; the quantity  of blood taken
must be regulated by the constitution, strength and hab-
its of the person.  Bleeding should be continued every
third day, if the inflammatory  symptoms continue  to
 exist, regulating the  quantity of blood by the  strength
and  feverish  state of the patient.  I have  generally 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          233

 found in my practice, that after bleeding moderately the
 symptoms considerably abated, the fever diminished, less
 pain in the breast or side, cough relieved, and the respi-
 ration or breathing much improved; after the inflamma-
 tory action is  subdued, apply a blister over the  breast
 and side, if necessary  from pain;  this blister is to  be
 kept discharging or running, and should it heal, put on
 another; the object being  to continue a drain or run-
 ning as much as possible—similar to a seton or rowel—
 as you value the life of your patient, enforce a rigid and
 low diet, of the most simple nature, for hundreds  die
 from imprudence in this respect, who might be relieved
 if they could but have courage and firmness to live  on
 gruel and milk and avoid altogether animal or stimula-
 ting food.  I have had an opportunity  of testing  the
 effects of low diet in Consumption, and I feel fully satis-
 fied that it is highly essential in the cure of this disease.
 In the early stage  of this alarming  complaint give  an
 emetic or puke,  of ipecacuanha—see table for  dose;
 and  repeat this emetic  once or  twice a week as the
 obstruction or case may require;  this is to be continued
 through the disease and much benefit will result from
 it, for I rely very much on  emetics  in my practice  in
 Consumption; for the purpose of moderating the irrita-
 tion  of the system  and  allaying  cough and fever, give
 small doses of  tartar emetic of half a grain dissolved
 in a  small quantity of flaxseed tea,  balm or sage tea,
 slippery elm tea, marsh mallow tea, any of which may
 be used; the tartar  emetic must be gradually increased,
and  given at intervals until the irritation  subsides;  if
the tartar emetic affects the stomach or bowels, add a
few drops of laudanum to each dose.  By a little caution
■he emetic tartar may be gradually increased with much
      30 
234           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

benefit to the patient by lessening the fever, allaying the
cough, and producing expectoration, or in other words,
a free discharge from the breast; as an active and valu-
able expectorant, much benefit will be derived from the
Indian turnip.  This valuable plant is very common in
the Western States, grows in meadows and  swamps,
six or eight inches high, purple leaves three in number,
roundish berries, of a light scarlet color; the root  of
this plant boiled in milk is a valuable remedy; or take
of the peeled root one pound, and three pounds of loaf
sugar, pound them well together  in  a mortar so  as to
make a fine powder, and take a  tea-spoonful  twice  or
thrice a day as the case may require; Gum Arabic, or
peach tree gum, will answer, held in the mouth to allay
the cough.  Cooling medicines through the whole course
of the complaint will be proper, particularly nitre, equal
quantities of epsom salts and magnesia mixed, pounded
fine in a mortar, doses of a tea-spoonful to be given in
half a pint of cold water will cool the system and keep
the bowels in a laxative state;  the dose to be increased
if necessary  to act  on the bowels.  In the advanced
stage of this  disease the patient is  usually much weak-
ened  by night  sweats;  this  should be checked  by
administering the following pills: copperas—called  by
physicians,  sulphate of iron—one grain, rhubarb one
grain, gum myrrh two  grains, oil of cloves one drop;
these pills should be repeated three or four times a day;
and ten or fifteen drops of sulphuric acid, or the  same
quantity of elixir vitriol, taken every two or three hours
in a cup of flaxseed tea, when the febrile symptoms are
severe.  Pills composed of sulphate of  copper, one
grain,  ipecacuanha  one grain, made into  a  pill, and
repeated every three hours, is a valuable remedy;  infu- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          235
sion of wild  cherry-tree bark, made with cold water,
tar water, and cold camomile tea, are all good strength-
ening remedies in this stage of the complaint.
   A purging attends this disease which is very exhaust-
ing, ending in profuse sweating, as before mentioned, for
as soon as the one is stopped the other too frequently
comes on, producing thereby an extreme degree of
weakness.  When this  takes place, use opium united
with a small  quantity of ipecacuanha or sugar of lead,
if the disease is severe:—see table for dose.  An infu-
sion of galls, or  tormentil root, with cinnamon  and
gum Arabic, will check the purging.  About this stage
of the  disease  the mouth and  throat are filled with
sores, similar to the  thrush; here astringent gargles 01
sage tea, a little borax and honey, to  wash the mouth
and throat, will be proper, aided by  tonic and astrin-
gent medicines, are the only hope of giving relief in
this last stage of Consumption.  My practice is, to give
opium to a considerable extent;  increasing or decreas-
ing it, as  the situation  of the case may require.   By
this valuable medicine,  we have it  in our power to
protract the period of life, and to lessen the distress of
the patient.  The inexpressible delight produced by
opium, when the poor sufferer is prostrated, can scarce-
ly  be  described.  It always soothes the irritations of
the  cough,  and mitigates all those  symptoms  which
cannot be removed.  The influence  it exercises  over
the  mind and imagination of  the patient  no human
language  can describe.   In some constitutions, opium
disagrees with  the patient, and  produces restless and
irritable feelings.  When this  is the  case,  recourse
must be had to  other sedatives  or soothing  remedies;
for instance, to garden lettuce;  which is fully equal to
opium in  producing a mitigation of pain, and in allay- 
236          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

ing inordinate action.   For the manner of preparing
this valuable remedy, which every one is in possession
of, see the head Garden Lettuce.
  Iceland moss has, also, for some time past in Europe,
been resorted to as a valuable palliative in Consump-
tion;  and more  recently in the United  States, it has
acquired considerable reputation in this disease.  But
like all  other boasted  remedies,  the powers  of this
herb have  been most probably overrated.   It,  how-
ever,  not unfrequently  proves  highly  beneficial,  by
strengthening the patient, diminishing the hectic symp-
toms, and allaying the cough.   It  has another impor-
tant advantage.   It  strengthens  the digestive powers,
without producing a constipation or costiveness of the
bowels.  This medicine is quite  innocent: the Laplan-
ders use it in various ways, and  among others as food.
When employed as an  article of diet, they bruise this
moss, and  steep  it  in  several successive  waters: by
which  means they extract  its bitter qualities, and  it
then affords them a highly  grateful food, of a soft and
glutinous consistency, similar to  jelly; but the method
of preparing it for consumptive  persons is as follows.
First wash  it well in clean  cold  water; then boil one
ounce of the moss, with a quart of water, over a slow
fire—and while  stewing, add  of liquorice root, cut up
very fine, two drachms,  or about as much as the size of
the  middle  finger.   A tea cup full of this medicine must
be  drank four times a  day.  Or—if the taste of this
preparation is too disagreeable, you may boil a quarter
of an ounce of the moss in a pint of milk for ten* min-
utes, and take the  milk for  breakfast and  supper—
always taking care, that the  quantity be not disagreea-
ble  to the patient's stomach.  For  a description of this
moss, and where it may be  had,  see Iceland Moss. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          237

   Lichen or lungwort, which grows on the bark of the
white oak tree, and which looks like a shell or skin, is
said to  possess the  same  medical qualities as  the
Iceland  moss.  It is  called lungwort, (I had  almost
forgotten to remark,) because of its strong resemblance
in shape to the human lung.  A tea made of a handful
of the lungwort to  a quart of boiling water, and used
as a common  drink, is not  only a  good palliative in
Consumption, but when made into a syrup with honey,
is very beneficial in hooping cough.
   Doctor Hereford of Virginia, a gentleman  of distin-
guished  reputation as a physician, has made some
interesting communications in the newspapers, relative
to a plant called liverwort, which  he presumed to be
effectual in the cure of Consumption.   For a descrip-
tion of this plant, and the method of preparing it, look
under the head Liverwort.
   The Doctor is certainly entitled to be considered the
first who made use of it in the cure of Consumption;
and his communications on the subject will entitle him
to the thanks of posterity—if for no other reason, than
that it has been found an  excellent palliative remedy in
this dreadful disease.  So high at one period was the
excitement of the public feeling, respecting the virtues of
this little plant as a certain cure for Consumption, and
so great was the demand for it, that it was frequently
sold at Nashville for the enormous price of five dollars
an ounce.  After some time, it sunk greatly in price in
this country, being discovered to be very plentiful in the
mountains of Tennessee.   Like all other boasted reme-
dies, which have been called specific cures in Con-
sumption,  the  liverwort  is  only considered a good
palliative—a mere  alleviator of the  miseries of  the
disease. 
238
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
         DISEASES OF THE LIVER,
  The liver is  much more frequently the seat of dis-
ease, than is generally supposed, even by many physi-
cians of reputation and experience.  The  functions  it
is designed to perform, and on the regular exeadion
of which depends  not only the general health of the
body, but the  powers of the stomach,  bowels, brain,
and whole nervous system, show its vast and vital im-
portance to human health.  When the liver is seriously
diseased, it in fact not only deranges the vital functions
of the body, but exercises a powerful  influence  over
the mind and  its operations, which cannot  easily be
described.  It  has so close a connection with other
diseases; and manifests itself by so great  a variety of
symptoms of a most  doubtful character—that it mis-
leads, I  am well persuaded, more  physicians even of
great eminence, than any other vital organ.  The inti-
mate connexion which exists between the liver and the
brain; and the great dominion which I am persuaded
it exercises over the passions of mankind, convince
me, and has long since done so, that many unfortunate
beings have committed acts of deep and criminal  atro-
city, or become what fools term hypochondriacs,  from
the simple fact of a diseased state of the liver.   I am
well aware, that the  remark just made in allusion to
the crimes of  mankind, will by many be considered
new and daring: to these  men I answer, that my  busi-
ness is with truth, regardless of consequences.  But to
proceed with my subject:—I have long been convinced,
and it may be added  from experience, that more than
one half of the complaints which occur in this country,
are to be considered as having their seat in a  diseased
state of the liver.   I will enumerate some of them.
Indigestion—stoppage of the menses—disordered state 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          239

of the bowels—affections of the head—lownesss  of
spirits—irritable and vindictive feelings and passions,
from  trifling  and inadequate  causes,  of  which  we
afterwards feel ashamed—and  last, though  not least,
more than three-fourths of the diseases enumerated
under the head consumption have their seat in a dis-
eased liver.  I will ask  you, reader of the  particular
description for whom  I write,, is not this a most fright-
ful  catalogue?  But  I will add one  more  of these
general indications of a  diseased liver, before I speak
of the symptoms of those particular diseases to which
I at first intended to  direct  my  attention.  Under the
head "Intemperance,"—page 55—I have spoken on that
subject, in  general and philosophic terms; but I neg-
lected to mention under  that particular head, that  a
diseased liver is frequently the cause of intemperance,
and sometimes the effect of it; and I will now remark,
that in either case, when the disease has arrived at a
great  height  and strength, it is  next to impossible to
reform the drunkard, without absolutely operating on
him for  a  disease of the liver, by medical  remedies
which will  actually affect  his physical  system.   I will
also remark  here, that many of those men  who are
called  confirmed drunkards, are only men  laboring
under a disease of the liver,  whose influence they can-
not possibly  resist by any moral power they possess,
without the means 1 have just  mentioned, or  medical
aid—and this may be the reason why Doctor  Rush
once alleged, that drunkenness was a disease.
  How often do we see men, who in their moments of
sobriety,  confess to their  friends and families  their im-
proper courses, with a full determination to refrain, and
no  doubt with  every sincerity of heart,  who, after
refraining from liquor a  certain time, become restless, 
240          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

fretful or irritable, and  depressed  in spirits; now, I do
know, that in hundreds of instances, the love of liquor
is not the cause of their becoming again intemperate.
You will hear those  men attempt to  describe  the
wretchedness of their feelings when they abstain from
liquor; they cannot do it: Now, reader, must not this
be a disease, with which the mere  love of liquor has
nothing to do?
  There are two strongly marked forms of diseased
liver, requiring entirely different  courses of treatment
to effect  a cure:  one is called acute  and the  other
chronic.   The first is known by  inflammatory symp-
toms or fever, accompanied with  slight chill, and very
much resembles an attack of pleurisy, being character-
ised by pain in the right side, which rises to the point
of the shoulder.   On  pressing below the ribs on  the
right side, you will feel the pain more severe.  There
is sometimes a sharp, and sometimes a dull heavy pain
about  the collar-bone;  you have painful  and uneasy
sensations on lying on the left side, difficult respiration
or breathing,  dry and hacking  cough, sometimes  a
vomiting or puking of bilious matter, your bowels are
costive, your urine or water of a deep saffron  color,
and  the  quantity made  quite small, great thirst, tongue
dry and  covered with  a white  fur, hard and  frequent
pulse,  from  ninety to one  hundred in a minute, and
sometimes intermitting,  skin  hot and  dry;  and after
several  days'  continuance of the  disease,  the skin
and whites of the  eyes put on  a  yellow color.  On  a
close examination of the blood drawn  from  the arm,
you will  find its appearance  somewhat singular.  Be-
fore it begins to coagulate or  congeal, and while  the
red part  is settling to the bottom—and  before the buffy
or yellow coat  is fully formed,  it  looks of a dull green 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           241
color;  but, immediately after the full formation of the
upper coat, it  changes from a dull greenish hue  to  a
yellow.
  In warm climates, the liver is more apt to be affected
with inflammation, than any other part of the body;
this is owing to an increased secretion of bile, from the
stimulus of heat, and several other causes.  The  liver
is the  largest,  and most  ponderous or heavy of the
abdominal viscera  or  entrails.   In adults, by which I
mean grown persons, it weighs  about three pounds—
and serves to purify the  blood, by secreting or taking
from it the bile.  Its situation is immediately under, and
connected with the diaphragm,  generally called the
midriff; this is a muscle which divides the thorax or
chest, from the abdomen or belly.  When inflamma-
tion  of this organ takes place in hot climates,  it  is
a highly dangerous disease;  which, when spoken of by
physicians, is called hepatitis.   When physicians only
mean general disease of the liver, they call it, in equal-
ly general terms, hepatic  derangement.   The disease
of the  liver sometimes  terminates in the formation of
matter  in  an abscess, which has to  be discharged, of
which  more notice will be taken in the proper place.
  Chronic:—a term applied to  diseases which are of
long continuance, and most generally without fever.  It
is the opposite disease  to the acute.  When this stage
exists,  the complexion and countenance  put on,  or
rather  assume, a morbid or diseased appearance.  You
will  experience, frequently, a giddiness  or swimming
of the  head;  a general weakness, and dislike to motion
or exercise; frequent headache;  indigestion; flatulency,
or belching of wind from the stomach, with acid taste
in the  throat and mouth; pains  in the stomach;  your
skin and  eyes will be of a yellow color, similar to jaun-
       31 
212          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

dice; your urine will be high colored, depositing a red
brick-dust colored  sediment in the urinal or pot, and
frequently your water will be mixed with a ropy mucus,
and when left some time in the vessel, will form a pink
streak round  its inside; and your stools will be the
color of clay.   By  attending to these  evacuations, their
color will be almost a certain characteristic or mark of
this disease:  observe, however, that  when  you  chew
rhubarb root,  it will always give your stools  this light-
yellow color;  you will experience a dull heavy pain in
the region of the liver, extending to the point of the
shoulder, and a  great  loss  of  appetite; your whole
system  will be  oppressed with  an unusual sense  of
fullness; on examination by pressure, there will be felt
an enlargement and hardness of the liver; and  in some
cases,  there will be experienced great oppression  of
respiration or breathing.   I must remark, that the
symptoms which  I have here described, as indicative of
the chronic stage of this disease, will always  depend
yery much on the length of time the  disease has been
making its ravages  on  the system, for it may be com-
pared  to  the  midnight assassin, who steals on your
hours of  rest and  security,  with noiseless  foot—and
deals you the deadly blow!  The truth is, that chronic
affection of the  liver, is a far more  common  form of
disease in the  United States than the acute.  A  disease
of the liver, of  the acute form, is  produced by all
causes  which  excite  inflammation  or  fever.   The
chronic form  of this complaint, is generally  produced
in the United States, by the excessive  and  imprudent
use of spirituous liquors.  A residence of any continu-
ance in hot countries, or even in warm climates, where
a free and unrestrained course of living is indulged,  is
almost certain to produce the disease; intermittent 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          243

fevers of long continuance, are also apt to produce a
■chronic stage of the liver;  but I am compelled to say,
if I must speak with candor, that I believe more than
two-thirds of the whole number of liver complaints in
£he United States, may be traced to hi temperance.
                     REMEDIES.
   For an acute inflammation of the liver, you are to
depend principally on the prompt and  immediate use
of the lancet, by  bleeding the patient "freely, according
to his  age, his strength, and the vfolence of his pains.
After the bleeding, give an active purge  of calomel and
jalap—see table for dosa   If this does not diminish the
pain, bleed again  and give an active dose of calomel at
night, and  a dose  of epsom  salts  in the morning.
After  the first copious bleeding, I have generally, by
giving an active dose of calomel and jalap, succeeded
in lessening the  violence of the complaint; but  if it
still continued severe, I pursued moderate and frequent
bleedings, with doses of calomel at night, and epsom
salts in the morning, and decreased the bleeding gradu-
ally until I stopped it.   Apply, also, a large blister over
the liver, which will assist in mitigating and lessening
the pain in the side.  Also, cup freely  and  daily over
the liver; it will be of great benefit by drawing off the
blood from the interior.  For cupping, look under that
head.   Small doses of emetic tartar in this stage of the
disease, given occasionally  in balm  or sage tea, from
one to two grains, will  determine  to the surface, or in
other words, produce moisture of the skin, and thereby
relieve the  feverish symptoms.   In  this stage of the
complaint particularly—and indeed through the whole
course of the disease, the warm bath will be found one
of the finest remedies.  Indeed, too  much  reliance
cannot well be placed on warm bathing, accompanied 
244          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
by friction—by which I  mean, rubbing the body well
with a brush, immediately after leaving the bath: the
truth  is, that  this friction ought, by no means, to  be
omitted by the patient; I can from experience vouch
for its beneficial effects.
   After following the course of practice which  I have
here laid down, and the disease still continuing obsti-
nate, which it frequently does when  it has been of long
standing, you   must depend  on mercury.   When  I
speak of this medicine, do not be alarmed or frightened
at its name;  for,  with the rules which I lay down,
(read under the head Mercury,) it  will be as easy to
manage this medicine  as a dose of epsom salts: and
the various injuries  which  result from this valuable
medicine, for without it, it would be impossible to prac-
tice medicine with any kind  of success, arise from its
abuse:  in fact, the  injuries  sustained by  its use are
owing to a want of cure, and administering it on every
trifling occasion, when medicines not so active would
answer a much better purpose.
   There are various preparations of mercury; but, at
the head of this article for removing this disease, stands
calomel—and thousands of empirics or quacks of
the United  States, who publish  in  every news-journal
some long-named remedy to  cure diseases without the
use of mercury, are the  very fellows  who  use  it most
in some disguised form:  and indeed it becomes in this
way  truly  dangerous;  for the patient, regardless of
weather or exposure, having  no knowledge of what he
is constantly  using, destroys  instead of benefits  his
health—or, in  removing  one disease, lays  the  founda-
tion of another still  worse in its consequences.  This
medicine is the only sure and positive remedy, that
can be relied on for the removal of the diseases of the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          245

liver, when permanently seated in that organ;  and so
powerful and  necessary is it for the correction of its
disorders, that it is called by a distinguished physician
—the  key of the  liver.   In administering this medi-
cine/there are various ways of introducing it  into the
system, which must be done according to the stage of
the disease, and the symptoms of the chronic form.  If
violent, active mercurial preparations must be used
constantly, and  steadily  given.  If the symptoms are
gradual and not dangerous, the medicine must be in pro-
portion to the state of this disease, and of a  milder
form of mercurial  preparations.  By reading under the
head of Mercury, you will there see the different forms
in which this mineral is prepared—and that it may be
given to act promptly or mildly on the system.  My
course of practice  in  this disease, has  been to  employ
the use of calomel from  an early stage of the disease,
after having purged the bowels well frequently by its
use alone or combined with  jalap.   I generally  admin-
istered in small doses, say from one to two grains every
three hours, until salivation  took place: or to act with
more mildness, about the size of a nutmeg of mercuri-
al ointment, {oil of baze,) was rubbed over the region
of the liver, every  night until salivation was produced.
I make use of the words, "oil  of baze," because they
form the name by  which the country people usually ask
for the  article in the  shops. When this takes place,
you will know it by the following circumstances:  you
will spit freely;  the salivary glands will become enlarg-
ed, and the throat  sore, the gums tender, and the breath
have an offensive and peculiar odor, &c.
   In rubbing  the ointment over the region of the liver,
if any pain or uneasiness is produced by it, which is
sometimes the case, you must rub it on the inside of the 
$46          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

thighs.  In some constitutions, calomel disagrees with
the patient;  I have had such cases frequently.  When
this is the case, and your patient's situation requires it,
recourse must be had  to a milder preparation of mer-
cury—the blue pill.  For the method of making this
pill, look under the head of Mercury.   The  usual
method of administering this mild and gentle prepar-
ation is, by giving a pill twice or three times a day,
morning, noon, and night.  If the symptoms  are less
urgent, twice a day will suffice—and  if very mild and
gradual, a pill at bed-time will be sufficient.  Pursue
this course steadily, until the gums  are affected, or a
copperish taste is experienced in the mouth : this must
be kept up gently until the disease is subdued, or some
visible effect is produced  upon the system.  After the
effect is produced, stop  the use of mercury—and give
time to see the advantage you may have derived from
your  course  of practice.   The blue pill,  although a
mild preparation, is not without its inconveniences.   It
sometimes occasions  griping  pain in the  bowels, by
which it will at times  run off, without producing the
effect intended, which is an approach to—or salivation
itself—so as  to induce  a  change or alterative  effect on
the liver.  If this be  the result, a  small  portion  of
opium or laudanum will check this griping, and prevent
the pill  from passing off without  producing the effect
intended and desired.  Where there  are uneasy and
unpleasant sensations  produced  by  these  medicines,
particularly when Dyspepsia, or  Indigestion is  con-
nected with a diseased liver, which is very frequently
the case in the United States, there  is a considerable
degree of morbid or diseasod sensibility in the stomach
and bowels, which can generally be removed by joining
some innocent  and gentle anodyne with  them; but 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          247

where  this morbid sensibility does not exist, the  ano-
dyne ought to be omitted.  When this slow and gradual
mercurial taste can be  kept up in the mouth for some
time, without actually producing a great flow of spittle,
or salivation, great benefit will be felt by the patient:
and I have always found, on an actual salivation being
produced,.the symptoms entirely removed, and a cheer-
fulness and  change of feeling so different, as at  once
to inspire that confidence of returning  health, which
can alone be communicated  by the prudent and care-
ful  use of  this valuable specific.  Persons  who are
prejudiced against the use of mercury, and there are
many who entertain an unfavorable opinion of its use,
whether from having observed its injurious effects from
bad treatment, or  from the terrible and unfounded tales
which are daily circulated  respecting it, I cannot say,
have never witnessed its innocently beneficial effects in
diseases of the liver, in as many instances as I have.
The fact is, that  I have known those  very persons
travel one hundred miles to obtain relief "without the
aid of mercury," from  some published  quack medi-
ciney who always  met mercury under some  disguised
form.
   But,  without those  whose  prejudices are not to
be removed respecting the use of mercury, I shall give
such remedies as are highly recommended in this  com-
plaint, by some of the most distinguished physicians of
Europe and the United States.  The late experiments
made  with  the medicine I am about to recommend,
have proved by their influence  in the practice, equal
to mercury—in fact, they prefer its  use  in the first in-
stance : for, say they, "if it  does not succeed, which is
not apt to be the  case,  it leaves the  system in a much 
248           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

better situation for the use of the last and certain reme-
dy—mercury."
  This medicine is nitric acid; and may be obtained
at any doctor's shop, or  wherever medicines are sold,
at a very trifling sum. This article, in its pure state, is
perfectly colorless, and transparent  as pure water.  I
have frequently received  it  from the northern cities of
a slight straw  color; but this is not so good as  that
which is perfectly pure and  transparent—and is, in fact,
nothing more nor less than aqua fortis.   It is made of
sulphuric acid, which is merely  oil of  vitriol—and
nitrate of potass, which   is  no more than simple salt
petre.  Nitric acid, in its  pure state, should be cautious-
ly handled,  or  it will destroy your  clothes, and  stain
your hands  of  a yellow color  which cannot be washed
off.  It is used by the country people generally, to color
the stocks of their rifles.  I suppose this  caution  will
be sufficient.   It becomes  quite harmless, after being
diluted or mixed with water.  The method of using
the nitric acid, or aqua fortis, is as follows:—a quart
bottle of water may be made  agreeably sour, that is, to
suit the taste of the patient, and sweetened with sugar
so as to make  it  a pleasant drink.  Take as much of
this drink from your bottle during the twenty-four hours,
as  your stomach  will   bear  without  inconvenience.
Sixty drops of this nitric acid, will be sufficient for a
quart of water.  This medicine, like mercury, must be
gradually continued, until some visible effect is produ-
ced on the system.   This will be felt by an affection of
the mouth  and glands,  and excite spitting, similar to
mercurial preparations.   In all constitutions  of a scor-
butic  or scurvy  habit, or  those laboring  under  great
weakness,Jthe  nitric acid will be a better  remedy  than
A 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           249
 mercury;  because it acts as a tonic or strengthening
 medicine, at the same time that it tends to correct the
 scorbutic affection.
   In several cases, in which I have had opportunities
 of trying the nitric acid in the form I have mentioned,
 it has always had beneficial effects, with the exception
 of the single case of a lady of delicate and irritable
 stomach:  she was compelled to discontinue  its use,
 from the acidity it produced  on her stomach.  This I
 endeavored  to  remedy, by  gentle  emetics or  pukes,
 intended to cleanse the stomach of its impurities; and
 by afterwards giving magnesia, and charcoal, and such
 other articles, for the purpose of neutralizing or destroy-
 ing the acid.  All, however, did not succeed, and I was
 compelled to desist.   From this practice, and general
 experience, I apprehend no other difficulty with regard
 to the beneficial effects of the nitric acid  in chronic
 affections of the liver, than the simple fact of the patient
 being unable to take it a sufficient  time to produce the
 effect desired.  In such cases as the above, therefore,
 much benefit will  be  experienced from the use of the
 nitro muriatic bath.
  This valuable and grateful remedy,  is by far  too
much neglected  in the United States.  The reason of
 this neglect I apprehend  to be, because its application
 is  considered to be  attended with some  trouble.  I
 recollect a circumstance  in point.   I directed  one  of
 my patients to bathe his feet  every night on going  to
 bed in  this  bath: "What,  doctor," said  he,  "every
 night?"—"or every other night," said I:  he exclaimed
—"How much  trouble!"  This is the reason, I  have
 no doubt, why this simple but valuable preparation is
so  much neglected.   But to those, who, like myself
have  witnessed  the surprising cures produced by its
       32 
250          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 use, the trouble will be considered a matter of no con-
 sequence.   I shall, for the satisfaction of my reader,
 relate a case.
   Mrs. Stoner, wife of John Stoner, of Botetourt coun-
 ty, Virginia, was in the last stage of this disease; and
 had been attended by several distinguished physicians,
 who treated her case for consumption.  At the time her
 husband called on me to visit her, his object was mere-
 ly  to  procure the administration of  some palliative
 remedies, to soothe her cough, and relieve her obstruct-
 ed  respiration or breathing, which had nearly suffoca-
 ted her several times: he entertained neither hope nor
 belief, that any medical assistance could, by any possi-
 bility, permanently relieve her.  In truth, from what I
 had heard of her case, I candidly stated to Mr. Stoner,
 that my visits would only be a  useless expense; and
 advised such remedies as were calculated to allay irri-
 tation.  Two or three days afterward,  Mr. S. made a
 second application, and to  gratify an affectionate and
 tender husband, and a numerous and highly respectable
 connexion, I consented to visit her.  On my arrival, I
 found her situation, as I at first supposed, to be critical
in the extreme; in fact, the last stage of consumption-
hollow cough—breathing very difficult and obstructed
—constant expectoration, or discharge of matter, occa-
sionally streaked  with blood—regular  paroxysms  of
fever,  accompanied with  flushings at  mid-day, and
toward evening  terminating in  profuse sweats—diar-
rhoea or dysentery—in fact, her case  was  such an
exact resemblance of  the last stage of consumption,
that the most experienced and skilful physician would
have been deceived.  I remained all night; and  very
attentively  examined  this,  (as  I at  first  supposed,)
hopeless case.  About  midnight  she requested some 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          251
 /
nourishment, which was immediately prepared, and of
the lightest kind.  She had hardly swallowed it, before
it was rejected  or thrown up: and for the first time, I
observed the extreme  irritability of her stomach.  On
inquiry, she stated that from her first attack the slight-
est food would oppress her stomach  with a  sense of
burning and fullness, and become sour, accompanied
with the most unpleasant sensations, until what she had
eaten was rejected and thrown up.  I now questioned
her minutely, as  to all the  symptoms from the  com-
mencement  of the disease; and her answers fully con-
vinced me, that the liver was the primary seat of the
disease.  Fully impressed with this  opinion, although
debilitated  in  the  extreme, and reduced to a mere
skeleton, and so weak as almost to faint on the slightest
exertion, I  determined, even  in this  last and almost
hopeless stage, to try the nitro-muriatic bath.   Fear-
ful that the  bath, in the usual way, would be productive
of fatal consequences immediately on its application, I
hesitated some  hours;  but with the consent of herself
and her family, having candidly stated to all parties my
serious doubts as to the success of the remedy in this
stage of her case, I proceeded to the use of the bath in
its mildest form, by suffering her hand alone to remain
in  it  for fifteen or twenty  minutes.  In five minutes
after  her hand was in the bath, she complained of great
 uneasiness  in the region of the liver, which gradually
 subsided after withdrawing her hand.  This night she
 rested  well.  The following  morning,  expectoration
 was greatly  increased.  This day I  placed  both her
 hands in the bath : there was immediately great oppres-
 sion ; her nervous system became much agitated; and
 her extremities were becoming very  cold.   I immedi-
 ately  removed her  hands from  the bath—and she 
 252          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

fainted.   There was now much increase of pulse;  and
 great oppression of breathing,  almost amounting to
 suffocation.  On a sudden, as if by a convulsive effort,
 she  threw up about a  pint of yellow bile, similar in
 color to the yoke of eggs.   The oppression from  this
 time ceased;  her  breathing became slow, easy,  and
 regular: and, by a  continuance of this bath, gradually
 persevered in, and moderately increased to sponging the
 whole body with it—and lastly to using  it as a foot
 bath, she  improved  daily—and in eight weeks  I  had
 the satisfaction of seeing her attending to  her domestic
 concerns, in tolerable health, which gradually improved
 until she  was  entirely restored.  The strength  of the
 bath I used, was about equal to weak vinegar and wa-
 ter.   For the period of about six weeks, during which
 I was engaged in performing this cure, the relative of
 this  lady,  the  Rev.  Mr. Crumpecker, pastor of the
 Dunkard  society, an individual whose character as a
 christian,  a philanthropist,  and  a  man  of integrity,
 would do  honor to  any age or country; together with
 his friend John Stoner, sen. were  absent  on a visit to
 the State of Maryland.   On their return,  they were
 astonished to find Mrs, Stoner, of whom they had taken
 leave for  eternity, in the  vigor of comparative health
 and strength, and attending to all her domestic affairs.
 I mention the  names of these gentlemen particularly,
 because when they peruse my report of Mrs. S toner's
 case  as treated by me with the nitro  muriatic bath,
 they will confirm the fact of her entire recovery from
 the use of this bath.   It may be necessary to state, that
 Mrs. Stoner's  diet  consisted of milk and water,  and
 mush and milk; and nothing stimulating;  being entire-
 ly restrained from animal food.
   The nitro-muriatic bath is formed, by mixing equal 
                GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          253

   parts  of the nitric  acid and muriatic  acid together.
/   You must pay strict  attention to the following directions,
   or your carelessness will produce unpleasant consequen-
   ces.   When these two acids come in contact, that is to
   say, when  they are poured  together,  without  having
   been previously mixed with water separately, a gas, or
   volume of what appears to be smoke, will immediately
   fill the whole house.  This gas has a very disagreeable
   smell, and is dangerous to the lungs.  The proper man-
   ner of mixing them  is, first, to fill  a glass bottle about
   half full of cold water; next, you must put in one of the
   acids, and shake it  up with  the water;  then you must
   put in the other acid, and  immediately cork the bottle
   tightly, occasionally shaking the acids together.  This
   will prevent the unpleasant smell I have mentioned, and
   retain the virtues  of these medicines, if you keep your
   bottle  well corked:  the fact is, that none other than
   glass bottles with stoppers of the  same material, can
   keep these acids in.
     Having stated to you how this nitric acid is made, it
   is necessary also to communicate the method practised
   in  procuring the  muriatic acid.   It is  distilled from
   nothing more than common salt, by means of sulphuric
   acid, or in other words, oil of vitriol.  It ought  always
   to be kept with wax over the cork, so as to prevent the
   fumes from escaping;  they are very unpleasant, and in
   large  volumes suffocating.  But  when either of these
   acids is mixed with  water, as I have before directed,
   and the other then added, they lose all unpleasant effects,
   and become nothing more than strong acid, like vinegar,
   and water.  You will easily perceive by these directions,
   that you may make  the nitro-muriatic bath weaker or
   stronger, as you may  think proper.  The bath  is very
   easily made at any time; for by mixing some acid from 
254          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

the bottle before mentioned, with water pleasantly warm,
to about the strength of vinegar and water, you  have
the bath.  Bathe the feet and legs in this bath, from ten
minutes to  half an hour, according  to  the strength of
the patient, immediately before retiring to bed.  If the
patient be very weak, bathing one hand a few minutes
will be sufficient; if a little  stronger, the  whole  body
may be sponged with the acid; and if still stronger, the
feet and legs to the knees may lie bathed, according to
the circumstances and times just mentioned.  A narrow
wooden bucket or box, sufficient to  admit the feet and
legs, and to  permit the  bath to reach the knees, would
be advisable: it would be a saving of the acid, the requi-
site strength of which can always be tested by tasting it.
You may preserve the bath or acid in an earthern crock,
or in any glass vessel, and by warming it again, continue
to use it when required.
   It is impossible to specify the time this bath should
be used; this must depend on the effect produced, and the
strength  of  the patient.   The  object is, to bring the
system moderately and gradually under its influence;
which is easily done, because it may be made so inno-
cent, by applying it very  weak, as  to be borne in the
most delicate state  of the patient.  I have witnessed
persons being immersed  in it up  to  the  chin for  half
an hour; while others, who were very weak  and  ner-
vous, were strongly affected by the immersion of one of
the hands.   The great advantage of this bath is, that
you may regulate its strength to any point necessary.  I
have no doubt it would be highly beneficial in indiges-
tion, and in all depraved states of .the biliary secretion,
producing melancholy and  despondency  of  mind, or
in other words, hypochondriasis.  The nitro-muriatic
bath will be found  also a valuable remedy to females. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          255

This bath, or the nitric  acid  taken  by the stomach,
ought always to be very much diluted with water; and
if any very considerable effects are produced, the use of
it ought to be stopped for a week or two, and gradually
resumed again:  whenever it produces very uneasy sen-
sations, you must be guided  by your feelings;  nor are
you ever to take any animal food, or  use any stimulants
of any kind, while using  this bath, or the nitric acid in
any way.   If the bathing, or sponging the body, should
not keep the bowels open, or  in a laxative state, you
must take some simple medicine, such as epsom salts,
senna and manna, or aloes,  or any thing else that will
keep the bowels gently open.
   In addition to what I have said, it may be remarked
in conclusion, that equal quantities of  epsom salts and
magnesia, ground very fine together in a mortar, and a
sufficient  quantity taken to keep the bowels gently open,
always act beneficially in diseases  of the Liver: the
common dose is from one to two tea-spoonsful, in half a
pint of cold water.  Or  you may mix equal quantities
of jalap and cream tartar, ground fine in a mortar, and
give doses of a tea-spoonful.   This last is a drastic pur-
gative, and acts  powerfully on the Liver.  I have never
used it in  my practice, always preferring, as a mild
purgative, the  salts and  magnesia.   The  low-ground
sarsaparilla, found in almost every part  of the United
States, is also a very good  remedy  in diseases of the
Liver; it ought to be taken plentifully, cold,  in decoc-
tion or  tea.  I  must not omit to  remark,   and that
emphatically and strongly,  that the use of the  warm
bath,  as  described under that  head, will be almost
indispensable in the cure of all diseases of the Liver,
aiid in all stages of those diseases.
   I cannot relinquish the  subject  of Diseases of the 
256          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

Liver, without mentioning in terms of almost unquali-
fied approbation, my candid opinions of the waters of
the Harrodsburgh  and Greenville  Springs, situated in
the county of Mercer and State of Kentucky.   These
waters are known to act powerfully and beneficially on
the Liver; nor do  I  believe there have  been many
instances, if an absolute consumption, or an induration
of the Liver had not taken place, in which those waters
have not been efficient in removing diseases of the Liver.
Their almost certain efficacy is so well known, that they
are frequented by  thousands of invalids, during the
summer months, from every part of the United States.
And I would  advise all persons laboring under com-
plaints of the Liver, or under Dyspepsia or Indigestion,
and who have become hopeless of the influence of med_
ical prescriptions, never to omit, if it be possible  for
them to travel to those Springs, to give those waters a
fair trial.  They are situated in a beautiful and health-
ful country, and the accommodations are alwrays such
as to insure the comfort and convenience of all  invalids
who approach them.
           DYSENTERY OR FLUX.
  This disease is always attended with  Tenesmus, or
a constant desire to go to  stool,  without being able to
pass any thing from the bowels, excepting a bloody kind
of mucus, which resembles that generally scraped from
the entrails of a hog.  These desires to go to stool,  are
usually accompanied with severe griping, and also with
some fever.  After a few days  continuance of this com-
plaint,  your discharges  by stool  will consist of pure
blood, and matter mixed; and  from severe straining to
i 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
257
 evacuate, parts of your bowels will frequently protrude
 or come out, which  soon becomes a  source of great
 suffering.  Dysentery or Flux, generally takes place
 about  autumn;  when  the whole body has become
 irritable  by a continuation of warm or rather hot
 weather, and has been suddenly exposed to cold or
 damp; it is  also produced by eating  unripe or green
 fruit of any kind;'by sudden suppressings or stoppages
 of the perspiration  or sweat; by the eating of some
 putrid or decayed food;  and sometimes  it arises, from
 some peculiar cause existing in the atmosphere:—when
 this is the  case, whole  neighborhoods,  and  extensive
 tracts of country, are affected by it fatally.
                     REMEDIES.
   If  your  patient is  vigorous, hale, and  generally
 healthy—and there  is  considerable fever, the  loss of
 some  blood  in the first stage of the  disease,  will be
 proper.  But if, on the contrary, the patient be a weak-
 ly and  delicate person, the loss of any blood  would be
 highly  improper  and dangerous.  First: cleanse the
 stomach by an emetic  or puke of ipecacuanha; then
 give a purge of calomel; (see table for dose.)  Next:
 if the disease does not abate, you must repeat  the purg-
 ing daily with castor  oil: this is the best medicine you
 can possibly  use in this complaint.  As the stools  are
 generally very  offensive, you can  easily  correct them,
 by giving a tea-spoonful of prepared  chalk, in a little
 cold water, three times a day; this prepared chalk is
 nothing  but  common chalk freed of its impurities.
 Give clysters frequently  through  the day,  made  of
 slippery elm; which is to be thrown up the bowels cold.
 In case of violent pain,  bathe the stomach with  lauda-
num, and spirits in which camphor has been dissolved;
and apply cloths wrung out of hot water to the belly;
       33                                       J 
258          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

or blister over the stomach.   If the belly is hard, and
sore on being touched, grease it well with any  kind of
oil or lard:  here the  frequent use of the warm bath
will be of immense service.   When the disease is very
obstinate, administer  a clyster morning  and night, of
a mucilage of cherry-tree gum—or peach-tree  gum,
dissolved in water  until it will  be ropy  and glutinous
—in which drop from fifty to sixty drops  of laudanum,
for grown persons;  and so on in proportion to different
ages.   Throw this clyster up the bowels cold; (for the
method of doing which, see  under the  head clyster.)
The warm  bath, and  castor oil, in this  disease may
safely be depended on.  If the desire of  going to stool
is very frequent and painful, introduce up the back side
or fundament, (I must speak in  plain terms,) a pill of
opium of from  three to four grains.  It must be put up
with much care and tenderness;  because in this com-
plaint  the parts are always  very sore—its  remaining
there will greatly allay the irritation of  the lower gut,
and  produce much  relief and immediate comfort: the
proportions of opium in the pill, must be  varied accor-
ding to the age of  the patient.  The  common black-
berry syrup, ought to be prepared  and  kept in every
family in this country, and used freely in this complaint.
I frequently apply a remedy in this disease,  which I
claim  as the discoverer; and which very  often suc-
ceeds, when all others have failed: it is flaxseed oil, to
be given in the quantity of a table-spoonful, twice a day
to a grown person,  and reducing  the dose according to
the age of the patient.  It may be necessary to remark,
that small doses of  ipecacuanha combined with opium;
say  three  grains of  ipecacuanha  to  half a grain of
opium, formed into  a pill and given twice a day, after
purging  well with castor  oil,   will  be an excellent 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          259

remedy to check this complaint, by producing a  mois-
ture on the skin,  and allaying  the  irritation of  the
bowels.  The  drinks should be  of the mildest kind,
such as slippery elm tea;  flax-seed tea; water melon
seed tea; and diet  of the lightest kind—such as jellies,
chicken soup, lamb soup, &c. &c.
        LAX, OR CONSTANT LOOSENESS OF THE
                           BOWELS:
                {Called by physicians  Diarrhoea.}
          This disease  is unattended with any fever, and not
        contagious or catching, as  is the disease  immediately
        before mentioned.  It generally  prevails  among per-
        sons of weakly constitutions;  persons  advanced in
        years; and those who have lived intemperately.  Many
        are naturally or constitutionally of this habit or body;
        and others are subject  to  its  attacks, on  the  slightest
*       cold or  exposure, which  at all  affects their bowels.
        The appearance of the stools in  this disease, are very
        different  at times: sometimes  of a  thick  consistence;
        sometimes thin; at times of a slimy nature, and then
        again of a whitish color—changing to green, yellow,
        dark or brown, depending very much on the food, and
        the manner in which it  agrees or disagrees  with the
        stomach and  bowels; sometimes, and  that not unfre-
        quently, it is produced by worms.
                            REMEDIES.
          First:—give an emetic or puke, in the morning; and
        at night for a grown person, give a large  dose of cas-
        tor  oil, with  from thirty-five drops of laudanum in it;
        but always lessen this dose in proportion to the age of
        your patient.  Next:—a stool  is to be  produced daily, 
260          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

by the use of the castor oil.   When the griping attends
the complaint, warm garden  mint stewed, and placed
over the stomach and belly will give relief.  When the
disease has been brought on by cold, or sudden stoppa-
ges of the perspiration or sweat, use  the warm bath,
and take some snake-root tea, so as to produce a deter-
mination to the surface, or gentle moisture on the skin.
This  troublesome  complaint, frequently  continues on
many  persons  through life: such persons should be
particular as to what they eat, and avoid every thing
that disagrees with their  stomach and  bowels;  always
taking care to defend their feet against the damp ground,
and wearing flannel next to their skins.  Friction—or
rubbing the whole body every day with a brush—par-
ticularly over  the region of the stomach, liver, and
bowels, will oe  of much service.  Old  French brandy,
taken in moderation, and well  diluted with  water, is
not only a good remedy in this complaint when consti-
tutional, but  frequently  a preventive  against attacks.
When worms are presumed  to  have  any influence in
producing this disease, which may be suspected from a
fetid or offensive breath, the complaint  is to be treated
for  worms: see  which  head.  When the complaint
arises from weakness, opium  will be found highly im-
portant in restraining its excesses, and removing  the
debility.  By using the clysters of slippery elm, or those
made of common  starch and warm water; for direc-
tions how to use which, look under the head clystering.
Much benefit  will result, by cooling  the bowels,  and
allaying the  irritation  which  always  exists  in  this
disease. 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          261

    INFLAMMATION OF THE  STOMACH.
   This complaint can easily be distinguished from any
 other by  its  distinctive  and  peculiar  symptoms:  it is,
 therefore, impossible to mistake it for any other disease,
 if the least attention is paid to the  indications of its
 presence.  There is always violent pain in the stomach,
 together with a sensation of heat or burning in it; there
 is, also, a great increase of pain in the stomach, when
 any thing is swallowed; and an immediate rejection and
 puking of it  up.  Also, a sinking and loss of strength;
 great thirst and uneasiness;  a continued moving of the
 body from side to side  of the bed; and as the disease
 advances, frequent hiccoughs, accompanied with cold-
 ness of the hands and feet.  When these last symptoms
 occur, hiccoughs and cold extremities, they are extreme-
 ly unfavorable, and will probably terminate fatally.   In-
 flammation of  the stomach  is produced, by corrosive
 poisons taken into the stomach, or drinking extremely
 cold water, when the body is overheated; by receiving
 violent blows, or wounds in the region of the stomach;
 by the gout;  by strong  emetics; and lastly,  by large
 quantities of  iced liquor taken into the stomach.
                    REMEDIES.
   This being a very dangerous disease, and the life of
 the patient depending on the bold and free use of the
 lancet, you are not to be deterred from its use, by  any
 apparent feebleness of the pulse.  The proper practice
 is, to bleed freely every few hours, until  the inflam-
 mation is  subdued.   As soon as you have subdued the
 inflammatory  symptoms,  by  frequent  bleeding,   the
 patient is  to be put into the warm bath, where he is to
 remain as long as possible.  You are  then to have a
 large blister prepared, which must be put over the region
of the stomach, the moment the patient has  left  the 
^62            GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
   bath:  or, if there is no blister at hand, apply a large
   cataplasm or poultice of mustard and strong vinegar.
   Keep open the bowels, with clysters made of common
   starch, or slippery elm, or flaxseed oil, or thin gruel, or
   chicken water §qfled strong.   These clysters will assist
   to nourish thef>atient, especially as he will be unable to
 ' take the aligl^est nourishment on the stomach.   When
 ^tiie mfllmmarfon ist reduced, and the stomach will bear
   ijf'ii pif^'if opium (see table for dose) will be servicea-
   ble.   The dietwshould be of the lightest kind; such as
 / jelly, slippery elm tea, rice and light-soups—a very little
,  at a time, and administered with extreme caution, with
   small doses^of laudanum.   Small quantities of the best
   sweet oil,  about  a tea-spoonful at a time, given during
   the continuance of  this complaint, will very much assist
 ^ allaying the inflammation.   When this disease ter-
  minates fatally, it invariably ends in mortification; and
  this will nearly -always be the case, unless the lancet is
  used freely in the first instance.  A sudden change, from
  great misery to perfect ease, is^conclusive evidence of       H
  mortification.
  INFLAMMATION OF THE INTESTINES.
  This complaint is extrefiMy dangerous, and requires
immediate and very active measures to arresi its course.
The symptoms  are very distressing, and  are always
accompanied with sharp pains in the  bowels, and par-
ticularly about  the navel.  The belly seems tight and
hard, and so tender that the  least pressure with the
fingers gives great pain:  you will know it from colic by
pressing the belly; in  colic, the pressure  gives  relief;
but in inflammation of the intestines, the belly is so sore 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          263

that the least bearing on it gives immediate and excru-
ciating  misery.  Great weakness  attends this disease;
the pulse is small, quick, and hard; the urine or water
is highly colored, and passed off with difficulty; and the
bowels are very costive.   Inflammation of the intestines
is produced  by very nearly  the same causes as those
which are productive of inflammation of the stomach;
and is attended with very nearly as much danger as that
disease.  It arises from a severe colic; from hard, undi-
gested food remaining in the bowels, from drinking cold
water  when  the body  is overheated; by blows and
wounds in and about the region of the bowels; by long
and severe dysentery; by worms; and lastly, by hernia
or rupture.
                     REMEDIES.
  The  remedies are much the same as those  for inflam-
mation  of the stomach: the object being to  arrest the
disease instantly, and before mortification can take place,
which always, when  it occurs, terminates the matter
fatally.  The only hope of relief, is from the  immediate
and free use of the lancet; for without its instrumentality
you  may  abandon  every hope of saving your patient]
Therefore, take blood immediately from the arm, letting
the stream be large, so as  to draw the blood off sud-
denly.  You must  repeat the bleeding frequently; as
the urgency  and critical situation of the patient may
appear to demand it: cup the belly and apply a large
clyster—to be  made of slippery  elm or flaxseed—the
elm is the best for clystering—and the warm bath.  Look
under  the different heads for  information.   The only
medicine that ought  to be given  in this  disease, is the
best sweet oil, in doses of a table-spoonful each, and
that  frequently.  I  have no authority  for  it: but I
should  in my own practice, if  attending a case of this 
264
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
kind, mix a tea-spoonful of the finest charcoal, prepared
as directed under the head of indigestion, with each dose
of sweet oil: and I should also mix charcoal with the
clysters of slippery  elm.   A  distinguished physician,
recommends clysters of cold lead water  in this com-
plaint, to lessen the high action, and subdue the inflam-
mation.  I would suppose, although  I never tried  it in
this disease, that his  remedy is valuable: it is made by
mixing, very weak, the sugar of lead and  cold  water,
and throwing it up the bowels with a clyster-pipe.  Look
under the head of clystering.
  After the violence of the disease is subdued, you must
throw up the bowels, as a clyster, fifty or sixty drops of
laudanum in any simple mucilage, such as flax-seed tea
or slippery elm.  This clyster will allay the irritation,
and may  be  given twice a day;  early in the morning,
and late at night—diminishing the quantity of laudan-
um, according to the age of the patient.  The diet should
be of the lightest kind, and always cautiously given, to
patients recovering from  this dangerous  disease: this
caution is the more necessary, because the disease may
and frequently does return from very slight causes; espe-
cially where persons have been, afflicted with it several
times before.   In ^ruth, and to speak plainly, it  is  only
by proper diet, and that of the most  simple kind, with
great care in preventing exposure, that such persons can
remain secure.   Flannel should be worn next the skin,
and the warm bath frequently used, for the purpose of
preventing the recurrence of this very  dangerous  and
often unmanageable complaint. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
265
       INFLAMMATION OF THE  BRAIN.
   This disease has destroyed some of the most distin-
 guished men, in Europe and America, among whom
 may be named, the celebrated Lord Byron, General
 Nathaniel Greene of the Revolution, and the late Doct.
 Dorsey of Pennsylvania.   It arises from intense study;
 from exposure to the heat of the sun; and from every
 other cause which  produces an over-fullness of blood
 on the  brain.  The  symptoms are, a  very high fever;
 great pain in the head; the eyes  look  red  and fiery;
 there is also great watchfulness; the  patient is unable
 to  bear the smallest light; there  is  also, generally, a
 heavy, dull sleep, with frequent startings as if in alarm;
 the memory fails, and in  the first  stage of the disease,
 the patient dislikes  to talk; but, as the  complaint  ad-
 vances, the eyes assume a great brightness—the patient
 becomes furious and talks wildly, and generally on
 subjects which have left deep impressions on the mind
 when in health.  The  tongue  becomes dry and  of a
 dark color; the  pulse small, quick, and  hard; and the
 poor  sufferer  is frequently seen  to  put his hand  or
 hands to his head.
  The  Brain.—This organ is larger  in man  than  in
 any other  known animal.   Its general  weight is from
 two pounds five and a half ounces,  to three pounds
 three and three quarter ounces.  I have weighed sever-
 al at four pounds.   The brain of the late Lord Byron,
 (without its membranes,) weighed six pounds.
                     REMEDIES.
  Bleed as largely in quantity, as the  strength of your
patient will possibly admit: let the  blood be taken as
suddenly as practicable from the arm, by a large orifice
or opening, so as to permit it to flow in a copious  and
bold stream.  If the patient, by bleeding from the arm
       34 
 266          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 freely, becomes weak, and the disease is not subdued,
 shave the head, and  cup freely all over it:—for the
 method of cupping, look under that head.   Apply over
 the  whole head immediately, the  coldest applications
 that can be found, such as wet towels constantly wrung
 out of the coldest spring water—or ice if it can be had;
 these cold applications are to be constantly renewed,
 until the disease is subdued.   Give, also, active purges,
 and that very frequently, consisting of twenty grains of
 calomel  and  twenty of jalap.   If the symptoms are
 very violent, give a clyster  made  of thin gruel, with
 thirteen grains of tartar  emetic well mixed in it: this
 clyster must be given once  every day, as long as the
 disease continues severe.   Your  patient's head should
 be placed on high pillowing, and his body kept in bed,
 in as upright a posture as possible, so as  to lessen as
 far as practicable the  determination or flowing of the
 blood to the head.  After the violence of the disease is
 removed by bleeding and purging, &c. apply constantly,
 poultices made of pounded mustard seed and vinegar,
 to the feet  and ancles;  or blister them, with  can-
 tharides or Spanish .flies, prepared in the usual manner.
 The feet and legs, should, also, frequently be bathed in
 the usual  way with  warm water: this will divert, or
 draw off the determination of the blood from the head.
 The diet and drinks should be of the lightest, simplest,
 and most cooling kinds.   The  room ought to be kept
 dark, and  perfectly cool;  nor ought the least noise to
 be permitted to disturb the quiet of the patient.  When
 reason begins to return, and the fever to  subside, be
 extremely careful to attend  to these instructions; be-
 cause the  slightest cause  will bring on the disease a
 second time, with more violence  than in  the first in-
stance, which  will in all probability terminate fatally. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
267
     INFLAMMATION OF  THE SPLEEN.
   When there is an inflammation of the Spleen, consid-
 erable pain is felt in the left side, where the Spleen is
 situated.   By pressing the fingers on  the left side, a
 throbbing sensation is easily discovered, and a pain is
 felt by the patient, extending from  the  side to the left
 shoulder, and not  unfrequently through the belly.  The
 most remarkable symptoms which attend this disease,
 and those which may be relied on, are puking of blood,
 great weakness, watchfulness, and not unfrequently the
 mind is much confused.   This complaint, like all other
 inflammatory diseases, is  attended with  considerable
 fever.  It is brought on by long continued fevers, and by
 affections of the liver; and persons who have suffered
 much  from  long  attacks of fever and ague, are liable
 to what  they term ague-cakes,  which are diseases of
 the Spleen, and which are apt to terminate, without the
 application of proper remedies, in inflammation of the
 Spleen.  Where  there is no  inflammation, and the
 side is swelled, the disease is called chronic.
                     REMEDIES.
  Purge well, and frequently, with calomel and jalap;
 (see table for dose.)  Also, cup over the Spleen: for
 the method of  cupping, look under  that head:  and
 always, if  the disease is  of the chronic form, blister
 over the Spleen in  the usual manner.  The nitric acid
 will also  be found  a valuable remedy; (read affections
 of the  liver, page  238, where you  will find the  acid
treated on  at large.)   A broad belt worn over  the
Spleen, with folds  of cloth to press on  it, will be a good
 remedy:  as will, also, rubbing the side daily with equal
quantities of spirits of hartshorn  and sweet oil. 
268          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

   INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.
  In this disease  there  is always  great pain in the
small of the back, similar to that felt in colic, but seat-
ed much nearer  the  back bone  and loins.   There is,
also, in this complaint, a deadness and numbness of feel-
ing in the upper part of the thigh; considerable sickness
at the stomach; a great desire to make water frequent-
ly, which is done  with  much difficulty, and in small
quantities at the time.   The urine or water is of a
deep red color, showing that there is great internal
fever; the slightest motion  gives pain;  and, even in
sitting upright in  the bed, the patient is extremely restless,
always receiving more ease by laying on the affected
part.  Sometimes one of the testicles is retracted or
drawn up, so that you can scarcely  feel it.  The com-
plaint is  brought on by great exertions in lifting; by
violent and sudden strains; by exposure to cold when
over-heated; by lying on the damp ground; and by
too frequent intercourse with women.  Sometimes the
disease is produced by hard substances, calculus, stone,
or gravel, formed in the  kidneys; and I  have known
two or three instances, of its having been produced in
young persons, by that horrible practice called by phy-
sicians onanism.
                    REMEDIES.
   Like  all  other  inflammations, that of the kidneys
requires  the free use of the  lancet; always repeating
the bleeding from the arm, as the urgency and severity
of the symptoms  may  seem to  require.  Cup freely
over the  small of the back:  (for cupping read under
that head.)  Apply  flannel cloths,  wrung out  of hot
water, to the small of the back; and give clysters of
warm  milk and water,  in equal  portions, which must
be thrown up the bowels three or four times a day.  All 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
269
the drinks should be made warm, in which must be dis-
solved some kind of gum, such as that of the peach
tree,  or any other kind of gum,  that will produce a
mucilage.  Flaxseed tea will answer a good purpose,
as will also tea made of slippery elm bark; in both of
which you may put a little spirits of nitre.  The bowels
are to be  kept  open by castor oil, and by moderate
clystering.  The warm bath must be frequently used,
and applied  for a considerable time at once,  over  the
whole body; during  which, the patient in the bath,
must  have his body well  rubbed with a soft brush or
woollen cloth:  this  bath must be repeated every day,
and twice a  day if necessary.  The warm  bath is a
most  valuable remedy in this complaint, and must not
be neglected.  After  the  violence of the  disease  has
been subdued, by the use of the lancet and warm bath,
&c. as before noticed, to give ease and quiet slumbers
to the patient, administer a pill of opium, or thirty-five
drops of laudanum; for the different doses of which,
proportioned  to the different ages, see table for doses.
Or a  clyster at  this  time, made  of flaxseed tea, with
forty or fifty drops of laudanum mixed with it, will give
great  relief by  allaying both pain  and irritation.   A
decoction or tea made of dried peach-tree leaves, made
by boiling a handful of the leaves in a quart of water,
until it decreases to three half pints, to be  drank occa-
sionally through the day:—this is an excellent remedy,
and has been known to succeed in this complaint, when
the sufferings  have been unusually severe.  In some
cases, inflammation of the kidneys cannot  be removed,
until  abscesses or ulcers are formed: this state of  the
case will always be known,  by the pain becoming less
severe;  by great weight being felt in the  small of the
back; by chills,  succeeded  by  flushes of heat; and 
270          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

when by suffering the  urine or water to settle in  the
urinal or pot, you can  discover a mucus matter on the
bottom.
  When this is the situation of the patient, the uva ursi
will be found a useful medicine: for description of which
and its medicinal qualities, read under the head of uva
ursi, sometimes called the upland cranberry, and some-
times the bearberry.  The  usual dose is, two or three
times a day, half a pint of the decoction, or tea made
of a handful of the leaves, to a pint of water; or a tea-
spoonful of the pounded leaves, three times a day, taken
in any kind  of syrup.
    INFLAMMATION OF  THE BLADDER.
  Immediately above  the  privates, in this complaint,
there is very considerable pain; which is much increas-
ed by pressing on the part with the fingers.  There is,
also, a constant desire to make water, which is voided
with much difficulty,  and in  very  small quantities.
There is a constant desire to go to stool, and always
some fever; also great restlessness, where the disease is
produced by stone or gravel; or by stricture or contrac-
tion of the urethra, or canal which leads  from  the
bladder; or by this passage being stopped up; or from
the  lodgment of hardened lumps in  the lower gut,
caused by costiveness or constipation of the bowels.
In the last case, I have frequently known  an instrument
introduced, if the finger could not remove the solid and
hard excrement, called by physicians the  fceces.  This
disease is, also, sometimes produced by injuries received,
such as severe blows, kicks, falls, &c.; by taking tinc-
ture of cantharides or Spanish flics—and by that false 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          271

and foolish delicacy, which leads some persons to hold
their urine a considerable length of time.   I recollect
a case which terminated fatally by this false modesty.
A young lady  of respectability, was introduced to a
merchant who was travelling from Philadelphia to New
York, and placed  under his protection to perform the
same journey.  The post-coach runs the distance, from
ninety to one hundred miles, in about eleven hours: this
distance she travelled  in  excruciating torment from
retaining  her urine,  and died from the effects of it, on
the second day after her arrival at  New York.   She
was in the bloom of youth, health and beauty; and I
mention the case emphatically, as a warning to others,
who from false delicacy might do the same  thing.
                     REMEDIES.
   You must, as in all other cases of inflammation before
mentioned, depend much on frequent bleeding, and the
free use of the warm bath: and on all such medicines
as will determine to the surface, or in other words, pro-
duce a gentle moisture on the  skin.   Also, get a syringe
and inject water made pleasantly warm into the bladder,
which will remove the irritating causes: and, after wash-
ing out the bladder  with warm water, as just directed,
make a decoction of slippery elm bark, and let it become
COol—with this decoction or tea, mix a very weak prep-
aration of sugar of lead, which must be dissolved  in
cold  water, and  throw up this preparation into the
bladder occasionally;  this will lessen the inflammation,
 and  assist in finally subduing it; but I caution  you to
 make the solution of  sugar of lead  very weak.  You
are not to use  a  blister in this complaint; because it
 would act immediately and particularly on the bladder,
 by suppressing the urine.  Clysters of the mildest kind
 are to be given; they  will always soothe,  relieve, and 
272
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
reduce the irritation of the bowels, and the adjacent
parts.  If the pain is very severe, laudanum should be
given: see table  for dose—and the water frequently
drawn off by a catheter:  the fact is, that a physician
should be immediately called; but, if necessity should
urge the use of the catheter, by a person who is not a
professional  man, a description of the instrument, and
of the precise manner of using it,  both  in  male and
female cases, will be found under the proper head.
 DRINKING COLD  WATER WHEN OVER-
                    HEATED.
  The imprudent use of cold water when a  person is
overheated, almost  invariably  produces  cramps or
spasms of the stomach, which usually terminate in death.
In the year 1816,1 saw five persons expire in less than
ten minutes in the city of New York, from drinking cold
water; in truth,  the  deaths became  so frequent at the
different watering places throughout the town, that pla-
cards or printed bills were ordered by the city council
to be stuck on the different pumps, to caution all persons
against  drinking cold   water when overheated  and
bathed in sweat.  This dangerous and fatal practice, if
it even does not produce immediate death, almost inva-
riably lays  the  foundation of lingering and destructive
diseases, which are extremely difficult of cure.  That
eminent and  distinguished physician, Benjamin Rush,
describes the causes of fatality  in these  cases, in the
following manner: "When large quantities of cold water
are suddenly taken  into the stomach, under circum-
stances of an overheated system, the person in a few
minutes afterwards  loses  his sight,  and  every thing 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          273

appears dark about him; he staggers  in attempting to
walk, and unless supported, falls to  the ground;  the
breathing soon becomes very difficult, and  a rattling
noise is heard in the throat; the feet and hands become
cold, and the pulse cannot be  felt—and generally in
about five minutes, death  is the consequence, unless
speedy  relief can be  obtained."  Iced toddy,  when
taken under the  same circumstances of  being over-
heated,  has often been known  to  produce the same
fatal effects: and I have  known many instances, in
which ladies  in  full health,  have been brought to the
brink of eternity in a  few minutes, from  eating  iced
creams  when over-heated by dancing.  The truth is,
that very  cold articles  of food or drink, even when the
body is moderately cool, sometimes, in peculiar consti-
tutions,  are  productive of dangerous consequences:
cases which are not very violent, and which come on
with cramps or spasms, should be immediately attend-
ed to, or they will also  terminate fatally in most instan-
ces, by inflammations of the stomach.
                    REMEDIES.
  "I have discovered," says Doctor  Rush, "but  one
certain remedy in this desperate, and if not immediate-
ly relieved, fatal disease:—this remedy, and it may be
relied on,  is  laudanum; which  has to be given in the
quantity of from a tea  to  nearly a  table-spoonful  im-
mediately in violent cases, before relief can be obtain-
ed."  When laudanum cannot be had in time, a glass
of strong whiskey or brandy, one of which is generally
found forthcoming every where, may be given.   Laud-
anum, however,  is so very easily made,  and  so  fre-
quently  necessary in all families, that it ought always to
be kept  in preparation for use: it will frequently save
the expense  of sending for a physician at an unseason-
      35 
274          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

able hour, and oftentimes  save life  in sudden and
desperate cases.  For the mode of preparing it, see
under  the head laudanum.   Every  person  about to
drink cold water, when warm and in high perspiration,
should  observe  faithfully  the  following  rules.   First:
pour considerable quantities of water on the  wrists:
and next, wash the  face,  temples and hands, with
water,  and suffer them to dry.   These measures, from
the coldness of the water  applied, and the evaporation
which succeeds, will abstract or draw from the interior
of the  body, and particularly  from  the  vital  parts,  a
considerable  portion of heat;  and prevent the sudden
and dangerous action of the cold on the stomach, and
other vital parts of  the system.  You are, also, when
you  drink, to  take the water in small quantities at a
time; in fact, not more than  half a pint at once: re-
peating the draughts about every five or ten minutes.
It would be the safest plan, even  with the above pre-
cautions, to mix some spirits with the water.   Farmers
engaged in harvesting their  grain, should always let
the water remain some time in the vessel before using
it;—many fatal diseases have  originated, in an impru-
dent disregard of this cautious practice.
             CATARRH, OR COLD.
  Colds are so common in all countries, and  their
modes of treatment so generally known, that not much
need be said respecting them; further  than to remark,
that early attention will  frequently prevent their laying
the foundation of other complaints, which may in the
end  prove  highly  dangerous,  and very  difficult  to
remove.  Persons of delicate  constitutions are  most 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          275

 subject to colds; and  from  the  carelessness of such
 persons, in neglecting to avoid exposure, and to remove
 the early symptoms of disease, more than two-thirds of
 the whole number of consumptive cases, in all coun-
 tries, arise and become fatal.   Cold usually comes on
 with a dull heaviness of the head, which feels as if the
 nose was stopped up,  which is generally the case.
 There  is, also, at times, much  sneezing, which is always
 followed by discharges of a  thin watery mucus from
 the nostrils.  You have soreness of the throat; cough;
 and chills stealing over you, with occasional hot flushes;
 persons of very weakly  constitutions have, also, a tight-
 ness and pain of the  chest.  Sometimes  the symptoms
 are highly inflammatory or  feverish; this is nearly
 always the case with  very irritable constitutions—in
 which instance, the complaint must be arrested imme-
 diately.  Here I repeat, because it is all important,  that
 most of the consumptions of this country, originate
 in neglected colds, brought on by exposure to the night
 air; by  damp  feet;  by changing warm  clothing for
 thin;  by becoming warm from exercise, perhaps in a
 crowded ball room, and suddenly  exposing the body to
 a cold current  of air; and by many other imprudent
 courses of  conduct.
                     REMEDIES.
  Immediately before going to bed, bathe the feet and
 legs in  warm  water  fifteen or twenty minutes; then
 wipe and rub them perfectly dry, and wrap them care-
 fully in  warm dry flannels.  After lying  down, take a
 large drink of warm  sage, or  balm, or hysop tea, or
 any thing else that will sweat moderately.   If the head
 is  much stopped  up  with the cold, you  may relieve
yourself in a sitting posture, by covering the head with
flannel  or  a  blanket,  and producing a steam beneath 
276          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and surrounding the head; this can easily be done, by
placing a hot rock in a crock or basin, and gradually
dripping water  on it, at the same time holding the ves-
sel on your lap;  and closing all the avenues by which
the steam might escape from about your head, except-
ing one through which you  are to breathe.  This will
give  much relief in  a short time.  My practice in the
commencement of a  cold is, to give an emetic or puke,
which in nine  cases out of ten relieves the patient at
once, and cuts short the advance of the fever: see table
for  dose.   When fever   is  very  considerable, with
violent  pain in the  head,  indicating inflammation, the
loss of some blood  would be advisable: after which,
give  a  tea-spoonful of antimonial  wine,  every three
hours, in any kind of drink; this will determine to the
surface, or in other words produce a gentle moisture
on the skin,  and allay  the  feverish symptoms.  The
bowels  should be purged  moderately, by the daily use
of epsom  salts, in small  quantities, dissolved in  cold
water.  If there be any pain in the chest or side, after
employing  the  above remedies, put a blister over the
part  affected with pain, and keep it running as  long
as possible: look  under the head blisters.  The diet in
colds, should be light and cooling.   Heating or stimula-
ting  articles, either of drink or diet, are highly impro-
per, and always produce more or less fever.   The best
drink  during  the day,  is flaxseed tea, with a small
portion of acid in it.  After the feverish symptoms are
removed, a troublesome cough sometimes remains:  this
may  be relieved by the  use  of balsam capaiva, in
doses of ten or fifteen drops, on lumps of sugar, given
three times a day; and a  dose of paregoric, each night
at bed time:  see  table for dose;  or a small  pill of
opium: see  table.   The  French  have  an excellent 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          277

remedy for curing cold, which  I  have frequently em-
ployed with success, producing immediate relief.  They
apply a poultice of boiled onions to the sole of each
foot on going to bed, after having bathed the feet and
legs well in warm water:  and if the throat is sore, they
apply the boiled onion poultice to it.  This is a valua-
ble application, and  may be much  relied on.  If the
chest is much oppressed, the application of this poultice
to the breast, will  almost invariably  relieve.   The
following remedy, which  is an excellent and efficacious
one, has frequently afforded relief, in cases where colds
had nearly settled  down  into confirmed Consumptions.
Take one  tea-spoonful of flaxseed, half  an  ounce of
liquorice, and  a  quarter  of a  pound of raisins: put
them into  two quarts of rain water, and simmer the
whole over a slow fire, until you reduce the quantity to
one  quart.  Then  prepare some candy made from
brown sugar, and dissolve it in  the  liquor boiled down
to a quart; half a pint of this is to be taken every night
on going to bed, mixed  with a little good vinegar to
give it a slightly acid taste;  this will certainly relieve
a cold, if used a few days.  I have been more particu-
lar on this  disease than at first view might seem neces-
sary; but, considering it  as intimately connected with,
and in many instances the forerunner and foundation of
consumption, I think I am justified in treating it with
great attention.
                     DROPSY.
  Dropsy is a disease of the whole system, arising from
debility or weakness, and can easily  be distinguished
from other diseases, by the collection of water in some 
 278          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 part of the body.  By pressing the fingers on the flesh
 with some force, a depression or pitting will take place,
 which can be seen some little time after the fingers have
 been removed:  in other words, the flesh will have lost
 its elasticity, and will not immediately spring back, on
 the removal  of  a pressure.  Or, if the water is lodged
 in any particular cavity of the body, it may also be heard
 distinctly,  on any sudden change  of position, or rapid
 movement of the body.  Among physicians, it is called
 by different names, according with the different parts
 of the system, in which  the  water may be deposited.
 When the water is seated in the  cavities of the head
 or brain, the disease is called hpdrocephalus:—when
 seated in the cavity of the chest, it is called hydrotho-
 rax:—when in  that of the belly, ascites:—when seated
 in the scrotum or bag of the privates, it is called hydro-
 cele:—and when the  water is effused in the cellular
 membrane, which is the  thin and  delicate skin found
 among the muscles or flesh of the body, and which is
 the same that butchers blow up in  their veal and mut-
 ton, the dropsical disease is called anasarca.  There is
 strong resemblance between dropsy of the  testicles  or
 stone in men, and ascites ovarii in women;  the latter
 being small collections of dropsical fluid, in the ovaria,
 which are two oval flat bodies, which are about an inch
 in length, and half an inch in breadth, situated about
 an inch behind the womb, and which are supposed to
 contain and supply whatever the female  brings to the
 procreation or formation of the foetus or child.   This is
 proved from analogy, by the simple fact, that an animal
 deprived of the ovaria, as in the case of spaying swine,
looses all power  of conceiving, and all venereal desires.
 I omitted to mention, that  hydrocephalus or dropsy of
tjie brain, is a disease common to children, and will be 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
279
treated of under the proper head.  I have, in the first
instance, and contrary to the impressions of some medi-
cal men, given it as my decided opinion, that dropsy is
a disease of the whole system—and my reader may be
assured, that I am sustained in that opinion, by many
of  the most  distinguished  physicians in the  United
States.
                     REMEDIES.
  More diseases of dropsy have been removed by bleed-
ing, and more relief has been obtained from it, than from
any other known remedy; for which reasons, it is now
considered as satisfactorily proved, that this complaint
is more  frequently inflammatory than was  generally
supposed.  For this very important information, we are
indebted to that highly distinguished physician, Doctor
Benjamin Rush.   Bleeding must be entirely regulated,
as to frequency and quantity, by the relief it affords to
the patient.   In my practice, I always use it freely; and
never omit at the same time to purge freely with calomel
and jalap—see table for dose—or jalap alone.   If these
purges operate without pain, and the stools are fluid or
watery, and your patient is not much weakened by them,
it does not matter how many stools are produced daily;
because the remedy is  an efficient and proper one.   One
ounce of cream tartar, in half a gallon of water, drank
during the day, will be of much  service:  in  truth, all
articles which will increase the flow of the  urine, or
water from the bladder, called by physicians diuretics,
are very useful in this  complaint.   The following cures,
which I shall notice in the words of an experienced and
distinguished man, give evidence of the correctness of
some  of my introductory remarks, among which are
the  following:  "The  discoveries of each succeeding
day convince us, that  the Almighty has graciously fur- 
280          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

nished man with the means of curing his own diseases,
in all the different countries and  climates of which he
is an inhabitant; and there is scarcely a day, month, or
year, which does not exhibit to us, the surprising cures
made by roots, herbs, and simples, found in our own
vegetable kingdom, when all foreign articles have utterly
failed," &c. &c. The truth is, that the wise and benefi-
cent Creator of the Universe, has made nothing in vain;
and  the time will come, when the apparently most use-
less and noxious plants, will be found eminently useful
in the cure of diseases, which have hitherto  baffled the
profoundest skill, and the most  powerful energies of
genius.  The following  are the  words  of  the author
just alluded to: "I am knowing to two extremely distress-
ing cases of dropsy, being entirely relieved by means
of the bark  of the common elder.  One, a woman
advanced in age, in the  last stage of this  disease, who
lost a brother some  short  time previous, by the same
complaint. The other, a young woman, who had been
for eighteen months confined to her bed, during four of
which she was unable to lie down, and  who  is now
wholly free from dropsy, and  recovering strength in a
most surprising and unexpected manner.  A great many
other cases, less aggravated, have been cured by the
bark of the common elder; I have used it myself with
universal success; and its immediate adoption by the
afflicted, is truly  important and  deserving attention.
The receipt is  as follows:—take  two handsful of the
green or inner bark of the white or common elder; steep
them in two quarts of Lisbon  wine  twenty-four hours
—if this wine cannot be  had, Teneriffe or Madeira
will  answer: take a gill every morning fasting, or more
if it  can  be borne  on the stomach.   The bark and
leaves of  the elder, have long been known as powerful 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          281

evacuants.  I ought to have said in the proper place,
that the young woman  I have  mentioned, used  the
elder-barked wine, at the instance of one of the most
distinguished physicians of Boston; who had previously
tried every known prescription without success, and that
the use of the elder entirely cured her."  The following
remedy, handed to me by a respectable man, who resides
in Roane county, Tennessee, (Mr. William Mead,) will
undoubtedly be worthy of trial, and I therefore submit
it to the reader:—"Take two or three handsful of rusty
nails, and put them into half a gallon of good apple vin-
egar : then boil, or rather simmer the vinegar, down to
a quart, and strain it well through a linen cloth: next,
add to  the vinegar a quart of molasses, a handful of
camomile flowers, and a handful of lavender  from the
garden.  Boil or  stew this mixture down to a quart.
The dose for a grown person, is a large table-spoonful,
to be increased gradually to one and a half: the dose,
of course, must be smaller for younger and more weakly
persons."   The  character of Mr. Mead  for  integrity
and veracity, and his  solemn  assurances  that the pre-
scription has often been eminently successful, induce me
to place it on record.  The oxide of iron, in other words
rust of iron, .would probably answer a better purpose
than the nails mentioned by Mr. Mead.
                    SCURVY.
  This disease is frequently of a highly putrid nature,
and generally afflicts persons who have lived a consid-
erable time on salted provisions, or unsound and tainted
animal food.   Those are  also subject  to it, who have
been long confined  without  due  exercise; those, also,
       36 
282         *"&UNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

who have been unable to  obtain vegetable food for  a
considerable period.  Cold moist air, bad water, the
morbid influence of depressing passions, such as grief,
fear, &c. and  the neglect of personal cleanliness, will
also produce  scurvy.  With  regard to cleanliness,  I
must  speak in plain  terms.  Neglect of personal  or
bodily ablutions;  in  other words,  washings  among
females at particular periods, are in reality the causes
of very many cases of scurvy: and here I am compelled
to say, that such are the cleanly habits  of the French
of  the better  order, male and female, I have never
known a  single case of scurvy among them, although
much accustomed to their society in Europe: they are
in the constant habit of  using the warm  bath.  The
disease called scurvy can always be known, by the soft-
ness and sponginess of the gums, which, even on being
gently rubbed with a soft  sponge, will invariably bleed.
Ulcers next form round the teeth, and gradually eat away
the lower edges of the gums, by which the teeth become
loose, and sometimes fall out.  The breath is  always
offensive, and smells badly; the face is usually of a pale
yellow color, and considerably bloated; the heart pal-
pitates, or  beats  rapidly and  irregularly,  on slight
exertion; the  legs and feet swell; small ulcers or sores,
break out on different parts of the body, and more gen-
erally on the legs;  pains  are felt over the whole body;
the urine or water is high colored; the stools smell very
badly; the strength becomes  very  much reduced, and
bleeding  takes place from the nose, ears, gums, and
fundament.  When these last symptom's take place, the
sufferer is near the termination of his  earthly career;
and it  is no  less  singular than true, that the  appetite
remains good to the last,  together with a perfect reten-
tion of memory. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          283
                     REMEDIES.
  All acids are valuable medicines in scurvy:  such as
common vinegar with fresh vegetables; in fact a bath
made of vinegar and water, in which the whole body
can be frequently bathed, will be of essential  service;
as will also the  plentiful use of ripe fruits.  Sour krout,
or pickled cabbage, is so excellent a remedy in scurvy,
that a Dutchman (whose name I have forgotten) receiv-
ed a large premium from the British  Government,  for
introducing it into the English Navy.   When there is
much debility,  the moderate use of good old wine will
be proper;  as will also the use of nitric acid: see disea-
ses of the  liver, page 238, where you will  see  this
medicine plainly described, together with its effects, by
which the bowels will generally be kept sufficiently loose,
at the same time that the system will be strengthened.
If however,  the  bowels should  be  bound, dissolve a
table-spoonful of cream tartar in a pint of boiling water,
and  when  cold use it as a  drink.  I must not omit to
mention, emphatically, that regular exercise is absolutely
necessary in this complaint.   You will find  the follow-
ing medicine, also, a good remedy: dissolve three ounces
of common salt petre, in a quart of good vinegar, and
take one or two table-spoonsful  three  or four  times a
day; or less quantities if the  state of your patient will
justify it.   When the gums are much swollen, with con-
siderable ulceration, and the mouth,  teeth, and breath
have a foetid or bad smell, the mouth must be frequently
washed with water, prepared as follows:  boil red-oak
bark in water,  then strain the water well, and  in it dis-
solve a lump  of alum, to which add a tea-spoonful of
finely  powdered charcoal, which is to be prepared by
burning common smith's coal over again.  I have omit-
ted to state, that if the breathing is difficult, or there is. 
284
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
much pain in the breast, a blister should be applied on
the chest over the pain: you are never to bleed in scurvy,
if you do you will lose your patient.   Pure air, moder-
ate yet sufficient exercise, and the warm bath of pleasant
temperature, with a sufficiency of vinegar in it, as before
mentioned, will restore your patient.
                   PLEURISY.
  Pleurisy is an inflammatory complaint, and requires
remedies for the immediate reduction of the inflamma-
tion.  The symptoms are,  a  sharp pain in the side,
particularly when you draw your breath; the pain then
shooting into the breast, back, or shoulder; great diffi-
culty in lying on the affected  side; the tongue is of a
white color; the urine or water of a high color; the
face flushed and red; and the body very hot,  denoting
much fever.  Sometimes this disease  is accompanied
with cough; and when this is the case, it is what phy-
sicians call a short dry cough. Sometimes the cough
increases, and is accompanied by spitting up  of tough
phlegm; and the blood when drawn from the arm, and
suffered to cool, has a coat or covering on  it of a buffy
color, which always denotes inflammation.   This com-
plaint is brought on by exposure to  cold and wet; by
sleeping on the damp ground, and getting  the^feet wet;
by being exposed to sudden currents of cold air, when
the body  is  overheated; by the suppression of certain
periodical evacuations; or in other words by the obstruc-
tion of the menstrual discharges in women.   The winter
and spring, are the seasons in which this  complaint is
most  prevalent.  I will  endeavor,  for the satisfaction
of the reader, to notice  such  symptoms as indicate a 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           285

favorable termination  of the disease; and, also, such
as argue an  unfavorable  and fatal issue of the  com-
plaint.  First, the symptoms are favorable when  there
is a free perspiration or  sweating;  when there  is a
copious discharge, by expectoration or spitting freely;
when  the urine, or water, deposites, on settling, consi-
derable sediment or grounds, in the urinal or pot; when
there is a spontaneous bleeding at  the nose; or a gen-
tle purging comes on; or the skin becomes warm and
soft, with an abatement of thirst; and, when there is a
considerable relief from pain  in the  head  and  side.
Second, the  symptoms  are unfavorable,  when there is
violent fever; when the patient is  delirious or out of
his senses; when the pain suddenly stops, and the face
or countenance changes its  expression;  when there is
little, perhaps no expectoration or discharge by spitting;
or  if there is any thing spit up, it is of a dark color;
and, finally, when there is  a sinking and irregularity
of the  pulse: these symptoms are highly  dangerous.
                    REMEDIES.
  I have stated above, that pleurisy  is an inflamma-
tory disease, and that it requires the immediate reduc-
tion of  the  inflammatory  symptoms.    You must,
therefore, bleed in the first  instance, as  freely as the
constitution and state of the patient will bear.  If the
fever still continues high,  and the  pulse remain hard
and full; or, in  other  words,  if the pain  and fever,
after the first bleeding, should be relieved  for  a  short
time, and afterwards return  with any violence, it will
be proper to bleed a second time moderately.  In fact,
I have frequently been compelled to  bleed three and
four times,  before I could reduce the  inflammatory
symptoms.   After the first bleeding, apply a large blis-
ter over  the  pain, whether situated  in the side or chest: 
286           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and, if the blister should not run sufficiently after be-
ing  dressed,  and the  pain  should  continue,  apply
another blister.  After the bleeding and blistering, give
a large dose of epsom  salts; and if any considerable
pain is felt, put the patient in a warm bath which will
cover the whole body.   I have, in  more  than  fifty
cases in the State of Virginia, relieved pleurisy by im-
mediate and copious bleeding, and as  early as conve-
nient afterward, by using the warm  bath.  After the
inflammatory  action is  in some degree  removed, the
Seneka snake root tea will be found a valuable remedy:
look for a description  of this  root, under  that head.
Throughout this complaint, the bowels must  be kept
open, by the use of epsom salts, or senna and manna,
or castor  oil: epsom salts, however,  will always be
best, if they can be procured.  Clysters of any simple
kind, such as thin gruel  milk warm, or starch dissolved
in warm water, will be  perhaps equally good for keep-
ing the bowels open.  See under the head  clystering,
and  how to prepare clysters.   When  perspiration or
sweating is not produced in moderation,  by the reme-
dies  I have mentioned,  equal quantities of antimonial
wine and  sweet spirits  of nitre, mixed, and given in
doses of a tea-spoonful  every two  hours, will assist in
producing perspiration.   Toward the close of  this dis-
ease, and  after the inflammatory or feverish symptoms
have subsided, and  not before, if the cough should
continue troublesome, give a pill of opium at night, or
a dose of  paregoric or laudanum:  see table, for doses
of these articles; and, also, under different heads, how
they are  made.  If the pulse  should sink, and  your
patient become weak,  stimulate him  gently but  cau-
tiously  with warm  toddy,  or  wine  mixed with sugar
and water,  and apply blisters to the ancles, and  cata- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          287
 plasms or poultices to the soles of the  feet, made of
 mustard-seed pounded  fine, and mixed  with  vinegar.
 These  measures  sometimes become necessary,  from
 sinking of the pulse, coldness  of the feet, or  extreme
 weakness: they always produce excitement and warmth
 in  the system.  This complaint requires the strictest
 abstinence from all animal food, and from every  thing
 which has a tendency  to  produce fever.   The patient
 should live on the lightest diet,  and  such as will  keep
 down all  fever and  inflammation:  in fact, there  is no
 disease mentioned in this  book, which requires a  more
 rigid abstinence from solid food than pleurisy.  Noth-
 ing but toast and water, barley water gruel, or flax-seed
 tea, ought to be taken in this  disease, and that warm
 and in very small  quantities at  a time; a little panado
 may be given as nourishment.   Unfortunately, and for
 want of experience,  when any  person is taken sick in
 this country, and refuses to eat for  two or three  days,
 great  alarm is created  immediately lest  the  patient
 should starve to death: and I  have known several in-
 stances, since I have been in the western country, in
 which the officious stuffing of patients with food, with
 the  best possible  intentions,  has produced death, in
 spite of medical assistance.  I wish all such persons as
 are  disposed to cram their patients with  food, when
 there is no appetite for it, and the stomach rejects  it, to
 remember that nature generally  speaks  the truth.
 After recovering from this disease, great care must be
 taken to avoid all cold and dampness, and particularly
 exposure to the night air; because  they almost always
 produce dangerous relapses.   Flannel ought to be worn
 next the skin; and dressed buck-skin, I am convinced
from my own practice, worn  in the same  manner by 
288
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
delicate persons, is also an excellent defender from cold,
and much superior to flannel.
            GRAVEL AND STONE.
  Gravel and  stone, which originate in the same
causes, are to  be distinguished thus from  each other.
Gravel is usually understood to mean, calculi, (from
the old  word  calx,  a limestone^) or little sand-like
stones, which  pass from the kidneys, through the ure-
ters into the bladder. The  ureters are small tubes,
which run from the kidneys to the bladder, and convey
the urine into  the latter.   The word stone speaks for
itself; it is a strong concretion of matter, which enlar-
ges and hardens by time, seldom found in the ureters
or tubes  themselves,  but generally lodged in the kid-
neys or bladder: when the stone is in the kidneys, it is
because it is too large to  be passed off by  the tubes
leading to the  bladder; and when found in the bladder,
it is from the simple  fact, of its being too  large to be
passed off through the channel of the penis.  When a
disposition to  gravel (which I  have just explained)
exists in the urinary  system, there  will be occasional
paroxysms or fits of pain in the back, which sometimes
shoot downward to the thighs; and sometimes a numb-
ness of one of  the  legs inside, accompanied with a
retraction or  drawing up of one  of the testicles or
stones in  men.  The pain I have  just spoken of, is
often  extremely violent, and is sometimes terminated by
a discharge of small  gravel  stones from  the urethra,
with  the  water in  the common  way.   The  stone,
however, which  I have also described, and which is 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          289

 usually found in the kidneys or bladder, sometimes irt
 both, is a disease of more serious and dangerous con-
 sequences altogether.   When  the  stone  has acquired
 some size, if situated in the bladder, there is a frequent
 and almost constant desire to make water; sometimes
 the water passes  off drop by  drop, with much pain;
 and sometimes in a small stream, which occasionally
 stops short;  in the last case, when the water passes in a
 small stream with sudden stoppages, there will be great
 pain for some minutes after, in the glans penis, in other
 words, the head of the penis.   In some persons,  the
 violence of straining to evacuate the urine, makes the
 rectum or lower gut contract, and expel its excrements:
 or if that gut be empty, this  straining occasions tenes-
 mus or a constant desire to go to stool.   In discharges
 of urine when stone exists in the bladder, there  is very
 often blood to be seen in the water, and sometimes pure
 blood itself  is passed off in small  quantities.   When
 the calculus  or stone is  formed in the kidneys, in addi-
 tion to the general  symptoms of stone in the bladder,
 there will be felt  a  dead, heavy, dull pain, in the loin
 where the kidney  containing the stone is seated; fre-
 quently accompanied by fits of shuddering,  and creep-
 ing coldness, in  and  over   the  part  affected;  this
 shuddering and coldness of sensation, are sometimes so
 great, that sufferers have been known  to  blister  the
 small of their backs, by exposure of the parts naked to
 the heat of large fires.   In severe cases of calculus  or
 stone, either  in the kidneys or bladder, there is frequent-  %
 ly  experienced, during  the time of passing  the  urine,
 sickness of the stomach, a desire to vomit,  and much
 faintness.   Aged persons are most  liable to disorders
 of the urinary passages; which do not in all  cases arise
from gravel and stone, or even from spasmodic strictures
       37 
   290          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

   in those parts.  These apparent disorders of the urina-
   ry passages, frequently  occur in old persons from  the
   constipation and retention of feculent and  fetid matter
   in the bowels, which ought always to be attended to by
   gentle purging, and particularly by frequent clystering:
   for clystering, see that head.  The gravel, and some-
   times the stone, when the  latter has not become much
   enlarged from the lapse of time, may much more easily
   be removed from the bladders of females, than from
   those of males.   In women, the urethra or canal which
   leads from  the  bladder  to  the exterior, is  always
   straighter, shorter, and wider, than in men, and may in
   many cases be dilated so much by artificial means, as
   to admit the gravel or stone to pass off with the water.
   The extraction  of the stone from men, by the use of
   the  knife,  is called by  physicians, lithotomy.   This is
   a delicate, dangerous, and very painful operation; and
   I have uniformly advised persons much advanced in
   age, and who were afflicted  with  the stone, to employ
   palliative  remedies for  the  pains attending it, rather
   than lithotomy.
                       REMEDIES.
     When there  is much difficulty in passing the urine,
   and that difficulty arises from strictures or obstructions
   in the urethra or canal which  conveys off the water;
   and  especially where inflammation of the bladder is
   apprehended, the catheter must be used:  for which,
   see the head  catheter.   When  the complaint is painful
$  and oppressive, in what are called paroxysms or fits of
   the gravel or stone, for I make no distinction  between
   them as to remedies, and there is so much irritation as
   to lead to apprehensions of inflammation,  bleeding
   should be immediately resorted  to, followed  by  the
   warm bath;  in which the patient should remain some 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          291

time.   In most cases, I have been enabled to allay the
pain entirely, by bleeding in the first  instances, using
the warm bath next, and  then giving a pill of opium, or
a dose of laudanum: for which, see head warm bath,
and table of doses.   After these remedies, if consider-
ed necessary, the privates and  belly should be rubbed
and bathed with flannel cloths wrung  out of  warm
water, in  which camomile  flowers  have been boiled;
after  which, the cloths themselves  should  be applied
warm, and suffered  to remain.   The drink of the pa-
tient should be flax-seed tea;  given as  freely as you
please.  Should the pain still  continue  severe, give a
clyster made of gruel, and strained, in which put two
table-spoonsful of  castor oil or sweet oil,  and forty
drops  of  laudanum.   This is  to be thrown up  the
bowels pleasantly warm:  see  head clystering.   Old
persons who are afflicted with gravel or stone, will find
great relief from frequently using  such clysters, and
from  taking in moderation, occasionally, laudanum or
opium to procure rest:  see table of doses.  But, among
all  the palliative remedies ever yet discovered, I am
compelled, from  both  experience  and incontestible
authorities, to believe, that, in all diseases of the urina-
ry organs, and particularly in  stone  and gravel, the
uva ursi of the mountainous regions  of Europe, and
possibly of this country, stands  conspicuous and  alone.
The  following cases of  actual  experiment, to  which,
had 1 space, many more might be added, will  prove
conclusively  that it is a sovereign remedy, if not in
dissolving the stony matter, at  least in  banishing  the
sufferings with which it is usually attended.
  Case 1st. At the age of thirty-two, Mr. B----hav-
ing tried  various remedies, submitted  to an  operation
for the stone, with which he had been afflicted many 
292
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
years.  When the usual passage was opened into the
bladder with a knife, a rough  stone of the mulberry
kind was taken out.  Although  the operation  was well
performed, the incision perfectly cured, and the severe
pains he formerly felt had ceased for a time—yet, after
the lapse of some weeks, he again began to be afflicted
with excruciating pains, and great difficulty in making
water.  The urine was accompanied with  a discharge
of matter, which had continued ever since the  opera-r
tion—and now, instead of decreasing as was expected,
it had  become more abundant, bloody, fetid, corrosive,
and inflammatory, and excited exquisite agony at every
attempt to pass it off.  After various remedies, ordered
by the best physicians, had been tried in vain, the use
of the uva ursi was recommended, and many cases in
which it had been successful related to him by  way of
encouragement.   On the 10th  of October, 1762, after
taking some medicines by way of preparation, he began
with half a drachm of the powder of the plant uva
ursi,  which had been  brought from Vienna for the
greater certainty; this  dose he took twice a day, ob-
serving a temperate diet, and  abstaining from  every
thing  considered pernicious.  In three weeks his pains
were appeased; the  matter was greatly diminished in
quantity, and was also of a much less acid quality; and
he  voided his urine more freely.  These circumstances
gave  him great hopes of being perfectly cured;  nor
were  his expectations  ill grounded: for in ten weeks,
he  was entirely free from pain,  made water easily, and
was no more afflicted with fruitless provocations to
urinate.   And  now, April 25, 1763, by persevering in
this course, he is so perfectly  free from all sypmtoms
of  the complaint, that he  considers himself perfectly
cured. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           293

  Case 2d.   A youth twelve years of age, of a tender
constitution and delicate frame, having been' frequently
subject to coughs and  other ailments, was suddenly
attacked with severe pain in the region of the bladder.
This continued for several days; during which time he
frequently cried out as  if upon  the rack: his  wTater,
which was very mucus, dropping from him very pain-
fully, gave strong suspicion of the -gravel.  The usual
medicines were given;  but in vain.   He  was  next
sounded by a skilful physician, and a stone was found
in the  bladder.  About  this time, De Haen's account of
the uva ursi became public; and this was considered a
fair case in which to give it  a trial.  After proper prep-
arations,  half a drachm of the powdered plant was
given  twice a day.  For a week, no perceptible relief
was obtained; but, in three days more the pain abated,
and the water became  less charged  with matter.   In
short,  by observing a regular diet, and  by a steady per-
severance in the medicine, he is now so entirely well, that
an operation for extracting the stone by the knife, is no
longer thought of.
   Case 3d.   A gentleman near forty years old,  of a
good constitution, living in a place  supplied with water
of a bad quality, became afflicted with the gravel to a
very painful degree.  He frequently passed small stones,
of a sandy substance, which he could plainly perceive
to fall from his kidneys, where they seemed to be gen-
 erated, through the ureters into the bladder—always
 exciting, during their descent, intolerable misery.  All
 the most celebrated measures adapted  to such com-
 plaints, were fairly tried.   Little or no  relief  was
 obtained.  The matter voided in his urine gave  suspi-
 cion of decay in the kidneys.   The uva ursi was there-
 fore advised, and continued in the dose of half a drachm 
294          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

twice a day; by  which, with regular and abstemious
diet, the patient in three months became perfectly well.
  I consider the foregoing cases, to which, as I have
before remarked, many others  might be added from
excellent authorities, entirely conclusive as to the medi-
cinal virtues of the uva ursi—for a particular descrip-
tion  of which, together with some other cases of cures
in stone and gravel,  I most strongly and seriously refer
the reader.
 SUPPRESSION OR STOPPAGE OF URINE.
  This is a disease, which is frequently produced by
inflammation of the urethra, or canal  which conveys
the water from the bladder: it is also sometimes produ-
ced, as I have mentioned under "Inflammation of the
bladder," by  falls in  various ways, and by that false
delicacy, which  induces a bashful and inexperienced
person, to retain the  urine an unusual  and dangerous
length of time.  It is also  produced, among those who
have  worn  down their  manhood  in  indiscriminate
debaucheries in early  life, and sometimes among those
who are naturally of delicate and weakly constitutions,
by taking too. large quantities of the tincture of Spanish
flies for purposes which I forbear to  name.   It also,
sometimes, arises from  the necessary application of
blisters, and not unfrequently from  costiveness or con-
stipation of the bowels.
                     REMEDIES.
  Draw some blood; this will relieve the system. Then
put the patient in a warm  bath, which must be contin-
ued from a quarter to a half an hour.  Next give a warm
clyster, made  of starch and water, in which must be 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          295

mixed three table-spoonsful of castor oil.   For the warm
bath, and clystering, look under the heads.  If it seems
to be necessary, after these remedies,  give  a dose of
castor oil by the mouth.  If  all these means fail of
producing a flow of urine, the catheter must be  skil-
fully  and cautiously used:  for  which, look  under the
head.  Throwing cold water on the  belly and thighs,
will sometimes afford relief, when all  other remedies
have failed.  A clyster of warm water, in which tobacco
leaves have been steeped for a few minutes, is an excel-
lent remedy; it must however be used with great caution;
being very powerful in its effects, it must be made very
weak—and should  by no  means  be repeated, unless
under the direction of a  physician.  Its  immediate
effects are—a general relaxation of the whole system,
accompanied with prostration of muscular power, faint-
ness, and sickness of the stomach; profuse sweat breaks
out over the whole body;  and if the remedy succeeds,
the urine is immediately evacuated.
          GREAT FLOW  OF URINE.
  This complaint is called  by  physicians diabetes.
The word diabetes is derived from two  Greek words,
which  signify—to pass through:  and  I mention the
fact merely to show, how little connexion there usually
is, between the derivation of words and their real mean-
ing.   The quantity  of water  usually discharged  in
diabetes, is more than double the liquid taken  in both
drink and food.  The attacks of this disease are gener-
ally  slow and  gradual.  I have  known instances,  in
which it has been more than two years  in  making  its
advances on the constitution.  The symptoms of diabe- 
296          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

tes are—larger and  more frequent discharges of watef
from the bladder tl)an common; the urine is clear and
transparent as spring water; and having a sweetish and
sickish taste, like sugar and water, accompanied by a
faint smell, as if mixed with rosemary leaves.  These
symptoms generally occur without pain, and are usually
attended with a  varacious or greedy appetite.  When
this disease occurs on young persons, or is attended to
in grown individuals at any  period, it can frequently be
removed; but, when suffered to proceed for any length
of time, or when it attacks persons in advanced age, or
those who have indulged to  excess in spirituous liquors,
it  is extremely difficult of  removal.   As this  disease
increases on the constitution, for I certainly consider it
a  constitutional  complaint,  the whole body becomes
emaciated, and  gradually  wastes away;  the mind
becomes dull and melancholy;  the patient has a strong
aversion to motion and  exercise; there are frequent
darting pains in the privates, accompanied with a dull
and heavy pain in the small of the back; nearly con-
stant thirst, which it seems  impossible to satisfy;  the
bowels are costive, and the pulse irregular; as the dis-'
ease advances, fever takes place similar to that in hectic
and  consumptive cases, the  feet  begin  to swell, and
death usually closes  the scene.  The favorable symp-
toms in this  disease  are  the following:  the appetite
becomes more natural, and  the thirst diminishes; the'
urine is voided in small  quantities, and  the desire to
make water less frequent;  the water assumes its natural
color, .and  regains its usual smell; the skin becomes
more flexible or soft, and is suffused or covered with
gentle and natural sweat;  the mind gradually becomes
more cheerful, and the desire for exercise  increases:
when these  symptoms manifest themselves, there  are 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          297

 always  great hopes  of  speedy recovery.  The bodies
 of many persons who have died of diabetes, have been
 accurately examined by skilful anatomists:  and  the
 results  have  always shown, diseased  state of the kid-
 neys and their vessels, and consequent derangement of
 their secretions—in plain language, and I am supported
 in the opinion  by the  celebrated Rush, and several
 other physicians of note, diabetes is a consumption of
 the kidneys.
                      REMEDIES.
   Emetics or pukes  are frequently to be given in  this
 disease, and  much  dependence may  be placed  on
 them  for  a cure.   Ipecacuanha is perhaps  the best
 puke that  can be given: see table for dose.   Blisters
 are to be  applied to  the small of the back, and kept
 continually running:  and a Dover's powder  is  to be
 given at night, which will produce a determination to
 the surface, or in other words a gentle sweat: to pre-
 pare these powders,  look under the head  Dover's
 powders.  Use the warm bath frequently, and have  the
 whole  body rubbed well  twice a day with a flesh brush,
 or coarse towel;  the rubbing  should at least continue
 half an hour to benefit your patient.  Flannel must be
 worn next the skin.  The tincture of cantharides, cau-
 tiously administered, is a  valuable remedy, and should
 be  given to a grown person, from eight to ten, and
 twelve drops, every four  or  five hours, in a little  cold
 water, or in water in which some gum has been dis-
 solved : wild cherry tree  gum, or peach tree gum will
 answer.  Astringents may be  serviceable in this com-
 plaint,  and should be tried agreeably to the following
 directions:—Alum dissolved in water, and occasionally
 given throughout the day, as  the stomach will  bear it
without inconvenience or unpleasant feelings, will be
      38 
298          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

serviceable: or sugar of lead, given in  a grain and a
half to two  grains, twice a day in cold  water, for
grown persons, has afforded much relief and expedited
the cure: for the  dose of alum  or  sugar of lead, see
table for the doses adapted for different  ages.  When
it  is possible to obtain chalybeate  water, or in other
words spring water impregnated or  mixed  with  iron,
you should direct your patient to use the water freely.
East Tennessee abounds with those springs, on almost
every  branch or  rivulet.   As there is an acid of the
stomach, which frequently accompanies the  complaint,
it  will be proper to give your patient weak lime water,
or chalk, or soda powders: look under  that head, and
you will see how soda powders  are  made.  If fever is
present in this disease, which is sometimes the case, the
loss of a little blood occasionally will be proper.  Your
patient is to use no strong drink of  any kind; to eat no
vegetable food, but to live on animal food; to avoid cold
and exposure of every kind; and to defend the feet and
body well  against the damp air—and, in good weather,
to take moderate  exercise.  In  my  practice, I use the
uva ursi tea, and have derived great benefit from it:  i
therefore recommend it  with  the  utmost confidence.
By the use of emetics, with this  tea, and  frequent bath-
ing in warm water, if commenced  at an early period,
 a cure may  be  speedily  expected—(read under  the
 head  uva  ursi, for a description of this plant, how  it
 may be obtained, and how to use it.)  The bowels are
 to be moderately purged, and kept  open by castor  oil;
 or  by rhubarb, either by chewing it,  or taking it in
 powder.   Rhubarb is preferable to castor  oil  in  this
 disease, and should be  used  if it can be  obtained.
 (Look under the head rhubarb, for explanation of its
 qualities,  and see table for doses.)   Doct. Samuel Sair, 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          299

lately read to the Academy of Medicine in France, an
interesting memoir on this subject.   He  refers most
cases of incontinence or involuntary flow of urine, or
diabetes, to  a want of equilibrium in power, between
the body of the bladder and  its neck;  in other words,
when the muscular power of the  neck of the bladder,
is so much weakened or relaxed,  as not to retain  the
urine against  the contractible power of the  bladder
itself.  With this view of the subject, he imagined
that if he could stimulate the neck of the bladder, and
not the body of it, he could succeed.  He introduced,
by  means of a catheter, some tincture of cantharides,
so as to touch the urethra in its prostatic part, and also
the neck of the bladder: by this process, he cured three
patients who labored under  this  disease.   When this
remedy is to be resorted  to, the aid of a skilful physi-
cian will be required.
         ERUPTIONS OF  THE SKIN.
  The  close  connexion which  exists between the
stomach, skin, and bowels,  is evidently demonstrated
by the simple fact, that in many instances  where the
bowels are internally disordered, the skin exhibits exter-
nal evidence of disease.  The many  eruptions which
show themselves on the face, hands, legs, and bodies of
individuals, are positive proofs of the deranged state of
their systems internally:—and  by removing the prima-
ry or first causes, you invariably remove those eruptions,
which are in general mere effects.  You should, there-
fore, always endeavor to ascertain, whether those dis-
eases of the  skin  are not produced  by some  impure
state of the  blood, from  a foul stomach, from costive 
300
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
bowels, or from  some  constitutional disease derived
from parents.  If either of those causes produce erup-
tions of the skin, you will easily see that they are to be
removed by internal remedies—I mean  those which
strike at their roots: for, if you should succeed in dri-
ving in the eruptions of the skin, by merely external
remedies, you will  always produce  fever, and almost
invariably seat some fatal disease on the  vital organs.
Whenever diseases exhibit their  effects  on the  skin,
you may be assured that they are efforts  of nature to
relieve herself from oppression; and the real business
of a physician is to assist nature, and never to retard
or stifle her operations.
                    REMEDIES.
  The  first great and  important rule, in  all eruptive
disorders of the skin, is to open the bowels and keep
them in a laxative state, by cooling medicines; such as
epsom salts, or equal  quantities  of cream and tartar
and  sulphur.  If the  stomach is out of  order,  there
being a close connexion between it and the skin, a
gentle  emetic will sometimes be necessary to cleanse
the stomach, and to assist nature in throwing the whole
disease on the surface, where it may expire and fall off
in scabs.  Tea, made of sassafras or sarsaparilla, should
always be used as a common drink.  Whenever fever
takes place, which  is sometimes the case, draw  some
blood from the arms, and give an active purge of calo-
mel at night, followed by a dose of epsom salts in the
morning.   Common starch rubbed on the skin, in all
kinds of eruptions, is a  cooling and pleasant remedy;
and  the application of it on going to bed, will produce
much  relief  from the itching, and  consequently  easy
and  refreshing sleep.    Persons who  are  subject to
eruptions of the skin, should live on light and cooling 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
301
diet: avoid salted provisions, and every thing of a heat-
ing nature;  avoid spirituous liquors, and use cooling
acid drinks—and, by all means, keep the skin clean by
frequent warm or tepid bathing.
           SAINT ANTHONY'S FIRE.
  This disease is called by physicians, erysipelas:—it
is of an inflammatory character, and always attended
with some fever.  The skin burns and itches very much,
and usually turns to a scarlet color.  It generally com-
mences in a red blotch, and quickly extends itself over
the whole body.  Sometimes the face swells very much,
and becomes inflamed: there is, also, head-ache, sick-
ness at the stomach; and not unfrequently, violent fever
attended with delirium.
                     REMEDIES.
  This disease is attended with inflammatory symptoms,
and like others of the same character, must be treated
by  moderate  bleeding, cooling purges, and cooling
drinks.  Bathe the feet and legs frequently  in warm
water, and  remain in your  room, so as not to be expo-
sed to damp cold air, by which the disease  might be
struck inwardly.  Every two or three hours, give equal
quantities  of  antimonial  wine  and sweet spirits  of
nitre, in doses of a tea-spoonful, in a stem-glass of cold
water.   If the head-ache is very severe, the loss of some
blood, a blister between the shoulders, and poultices made
of mustard seed and corn meal, will give relief.  Sprink-
ling the body  with fine starch, or with wheat flour, will
greatly  assist  to cool and allay  the irritation.  A tea-
spoonful of sugar of lead, put in three half pints of cold 
302          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

water, and used as a remedy by washing the body, is also
a valuable application.
          TETTER OR RING WORM.
   Thjs is a disease confined to the skin, for which med-
icines are seldom given internally.  It first  appears as
an inflammatory eruption of small magnitude, not larger
than the finger nail, and gradually extends itself into a
circle, which sometimes embraces the hands, sometimes
the face,  and not unfrequendy large portions  of the
body.  Unless relieved, it at length becomes extremely
painful, and is attended with an itching sensation, which
is greatly increased by the least warmth or exercise.
                    REMEDIES.
  Puccoon-root,  called  by some persons Blood-root,
and by others Indian paint, steeped in strong vinegar,
and applied as a wash to  the  parts affected, is a most
excellent remedy—perhaps the best one known in this
disease.  The  blue dye,  made by the country people to
color their cloth, has been sometimes known to remove
it, when many  other remedies had failed : this must be
owing to the indigo and  urine the dye contains.  I do
not recollect, however, one single case in my  practice in
Virginia, in which the puccoon-root and vinegar failed.
In France, the application of the fumes of sulphur is
always resorted to with success, in all diseases  of the
skin:—(read under the head sulphuric fumigation.) 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          303

;                SCALD HEAD.
  In this disease, the whole scalp or skin  of the head
is covered with small sores, which discharge very offen-
sive matter.   These sores eventually turn to little scales
or scabs, while fresh ones continue to break out at the
roots of the hair, and follow the same process of turning
to scales and falling off.  This disorder is  infectious or
catching, and is often taken by children, in consequence
of wearing the hat or cap of persons affected with it.
Sleeping in the  same  bed, or combing with the same
comb, when  the child  ha's constitutionally a scrofulous
taint, will also communicate the disease; which is some-
times tedious and difficult to cure.
                    REMEDIES
   First shave off the  hair as  close as possible; then
cleanse the sores daily with warm soap-suds,  and put
on the following ointment, which must be spread on a
bladder, and worn as a cap.  Take two table-spoonsful
of tar, and a sufficient  quantity  of suet or  lard to make
an ointment; to these add a table-spoonful of powdered
charcoal, and two tea-spoonsful of sulphur.  The bowr-
els must be kept open with epsom salts, and a tea made
of sarsaparilla and sassafras  drank freely; these meas-
ures will purify the blood.   Once or twice a week,
bathe the whole body in water of a pleasant tempera-
ture.   Doctor Chapman, of  Philadelphia, one of the
Professors of that University, recommends highly the
following  remedy:  Take of  liver  of sulphur, three
 drachms;  of Spanish soap, one drachm; of lime water
eight  ounces,   and  of rectified  spirits of wine, two
drachms:  mix them well together, and use the whole as
a wash.—(Where the remedies I have mentioned  fail,
 look under the head of sulphuric fumigation, for a cer-
 tain remedy in  all diseases of the skin.) 
304
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
                TOOTH  ACHE.
  This disease does  not  always arise from decayed
teeth; it is frequently the offspring of nervous affections,
of cold, of rheumatism, and not unfrequently, among
females, of stoppages  of certain  evacuations.  I have
known many sound teeth to be extracted unnecessarily,
and on account of diseases which were afterwards dis-
covered to be seated in other parts of the body;  and I,
therefore,  earnestly recommend, that great caution be
used in  discovering the causes  of tooth ache, before a
tooth  is suffered to be drawn.   Tooth ache, in very
many instances, arises from a disordered  state of the
stomach and bowels.  In these  cases, the suffering is
generally severe, and must be removed by attention to
cleansing  the  stomach and bowels.  Many instances
have  occurred in  my practice,  where persons have
requested teeth to be drawn to remove tooth ache, when
all their teeth  on examination were found to be  sound.
In these cases I have always relieved them by a purge.
Among women, more  than one half ofthe suffering
from tooth ache, may be fairly  traced to some  bodily
habit, or some nervous sympathy, to which the female
constitution is peculiarly liable, and which may be remo-
ved by other means,  than the extraction of the teeth.
Persons who have written before me, on the subject of
tooth ache, have spoken of the disease as peculiar to,
and confined to the teeth alone;  when the fact is, that
common sense and experience, will teach any man the
palpable absurdity of such doctrine, and convince him
that tooth  ache is  very frequently a  common symptom
of other diseases, which are to be sought out and remo-
ved before relief can be obtained. 
               tfUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           305
                      REMEDIES.
    When tooth ache is presumed to arise from nervous
 affections, the nervous system  is  to be strengthened by
 gentle tonics, nutritive and cooling food, and moderate
 exercise in the open air.  (When it proceeds from cold
 or from rheumatism, consult those two heads for direc-
 tions to remove it; and when it arises from stoppages of
 the menses in females, see and  consult that head, among
 the diseases of women.)   Extracting teeth ought always
 to be the last remedy  resorted  to; it is a painful opera-
 tion, and oftentimes a dangerous one, when attempted
 by an unskilful and clumsy hand.  When a tooth is dis-
 covered to be defective, and that there is inflammation
 at the root, which is the cause of the pain, let the inflam-
 mation be  reduced by  blystering  the surface of the
 cheek, or by sacrifying the gums with a  lancet, and
 the tooth plugged  with  gold leaf, or silver or tin  foil.
 Tooth ache is  frequently owing to  the  nerve of the
 tooth being exposed to the air from decay:  in this case,
 it is  always advisable to avoid  the extraction of the
 tooth, and to have it plugged as  I have just told you,
 with gold leaf, or with silver or  tin foil.   These arti-
 cles can always be obtained pure.  There are cases, in
 which the diseased tooth will not bear  the  wedging
 pressure of  being plugged with gold  leaf; in  these in-
 stances, pure  tin  or lead  ought to be used.  These last
 mentioned articles, however, wear out in  a fe,w years;
 and it is a truth well known, that tin will corrode, rust,
 or turn black in a short time, from  the  action of the
 acid generally used in food.  Gold, in its pure state, is
 always preferable  for plugging a tooth; it  will some-
 times  last twenty  years.  If the disease arises from
 inflammation, the practice of holding hot and stimula-
ting articles in the  mouth, is highly improper: you  will
       39 
306
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
          know when it arises from  inflammation, by the follow-
i         ing indications—you will  have head ache, which  will
|         be attended with fever.  Take a full dose of epsom or
          glauber salts, and repeat the dose if necessary.   Apply
          to the face cold mush and  milk  poultices; or those
          made of meal and vinegar, as cold as possible; and, if
f         the inflammation runs high, and is attended with fever,
          the loss of some blood will be proper, together with the
          application of a blister over  the pained part.   Great
          suffering about the teeth, is frequently caused by certain
          nervous pains, to which females are sometimes consti-
          tutionally liable: these cases are  to be treated with
          simple remedies, and scrupulous care, until the original
          causes are removed—and you may apply to the  face
          some irritating tincture, such  as Cayenne pepper, tinc-
          ture of Spanish  flies, or volatile liniment.  I have  said
          before, that tooth  ache sometimes arises, though  not
          very frequently,  from rheumatism: when this is the
          case, the whole sides of the face will be pained, togeth-
          er with the sound as well as the decayed teeth.  There
          will also be felt, a dull, heavy pain, extending along"the
          jaw bone; and a stiffness of the neck, sometimes atten-
          ded with pain in the shoulder.   The following is a good
          remedy:—Put a piece of lime, the size of a walnut,  into
          a quart bottle of water; with this rinse the mouth  two
          or three times a day—and clean the teeth with it every
          morning until the pain ceases.   But, in rheumatic affec-
          tions, of the kind just  described, see  under  the head
          rheumatism.
            The tartar, or scurvy of the teeth, is a very destruc-
          tive disease; it greatly injures the teeth, and frequently
          destroys them,  before you are aware  of the danger,
          Tartar is an  accumulation of earthy matter, deposited
          on the teeth from the saliva  or  spittle.  It collects on 
              GUNW3 DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          307

 the teeth of some persons, much faster than on those of
 others; this is owing to  the  natural or constitutional
 state of the fluids of the mouth.  When first deposited
 on the teeth, it is soft and very easily removed with a
 tooth brush;  but,  if suffered to remain, it acquires
 hardness by time, and thickens about the necks of the
 teeth.   The gums become irritated and inflamed by it;
 the sockets are next destroyed; and the teeth being left
 bare, without  any  support, are pressed out  by  the
 tongue, or fall out.   The  importance of removing tar-
 tar from the  teeth, must  be  obvious to all:  and  the
 operation ought  always to  be performed by a skilful
 person, called a dentist—or  by a physician.  To  pre-
 vent the accumulation of tartar on the teeth, and to
 restore  the healthy  state of the gums, nothing more is
 requisite than a stiff* brush, and  pounded  charcoal,
 mixed with an equal quantity of Peruvian bark.   The
 use  of  all  acids for the  removal of tartar, is a base
 imposition.  Acids  will, indeed,  make  the teeth look
 beautifully  white for a few days, dissolve  and remove
 the tartar,  and  stop the  tooth  ache;  but, in  a  few
 months, the teeth will become of a dead chalky white,
next  turn dark colored, then begin to decay and crum-
ble to pieces, and finally leave their fangs  in the sock-
ets, exposed  to  pain and  inflammation.  Milk  warm
 water, and  the tooth powder I have  mentioned,  will
not only preserve the teeth, but correct in a great de-
gree the offensive effluvia arising from  decayed teeth
and unhealthy gums.
J 
308          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE

                      ITCH.
  This filthy disease  is infectious, or in other word?
Catching;  and is frequently produced by want of clean-
liness : it is confined to the skin, and  first shows  itself
between the fingers in small watery pimples, gradually
extending to  the wrists, thighs, and  waist.  There is a
constant  desire to scratch, which is  much increased
after you become warm in bed.   Cleanliness, and early
attention to  this dirty disorder, will prevent its  being
communicated to a whole family: children are apt to
take it at school, and to communicate  it to  those  with
whom  they sleep.  Travellers are apt to take it,  from
sleeping in beds that have been previously occupied by
persons who have it: therefore, a good caution in tra-
velling is, to have the sheets and pillow-cases changed.
Frequent instances occur in  travelling, where persons
of much respectability have  taken  the itch, and been
much mortified by it, from want of this precaution.
                    REMEDIES.
  Take one drachm, or sixty drops  of sulphuric  acid,
which is oil of vitriol: mix it well with one ounce of hogs-
lard, or fresh butter without salt, will answer.  After it
is well prepared  by good rubbing,  anoint the  parts
affected until cured; this is  an innocent and certain
remedy for the itch. Or, you may make an ointment
of a table-spoonful of sulphur, and  a  table-spoonful  of
lard, or butter  without salt, and put in the ointment a
table-spoonful of the essence of  lemon, or a tea-spoon-
ful of the oil of lemon, which will  give it a  pleasant
smell.   This ointment must be rubbed on the  parts
affected, three or four  nights on going to bed.   Sul-
phur is nothing more than common brimstone purified,
and pounded fine.  Or, you  may take one  drachm of
red precipitate, and rub it well in a mortar  with an 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          309

ounce of hogslard, or butter without salt, and  anoint
the parts affected: (this last is a valuable and certain
cure.)   A strong decoction or tea of Virginia  snake-
root, known  generally as black  snake-root,  will fre-
quently cure  the itch when used as a wash.   Tobacco
leaves  steeped in water, and used two or three times a
day as a wash, will effect a cure; but this remedy must
be used with caution on children.  Water dock grows
in wet ditches, mill ponds, and  sides of rivers; and
flowers in July and August.   The root boiled in strong
decoction or tea, and used as a wash, is a good remedy,
for itch; the  narrow and broad leaved dock, found in
yards and fields, will answer the same purpose.   Mercu-
rial ointment, sometimes called oil of baze, is frequently
rubbed on joints  for  itch; this is  highly improper,
because it frequently salivates, and produces  pains in
the joints and bones for life.
              APOPLECTIC FITS.
  This disease derives its name  from a Greek word,
which signifies to strike or knock down; because those
affected with it are suddenly prostrated to the earth, and
deprived of sense and motion.  A variety of causes
have been assigned  for Apoplexy: but, they may all be
comprised  in the following words—whatever  deter-
mines, or throws, so great a quantity of blood on the
brain, that it cannot return from that vital organ.   It is
not necessary to enumerate those causes, further than to
remark, that among them are:—violent fits of passion,
excess of venery, stooping down for any length of time,
overloading the stomach, and wearing any thing too
tight about  the  neck, great cold, and intemperance, 
 310          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 Persons most liable to Apoplexy, are such as have short
 necks and large heads.   In attacks of Apoplexy in the
 severest form, the blood vessels are found bursted, and
 the blood poured out in various parts of the brain; and,
 when  Apoplexy attacks  in milder forms, those  blood
 vessels are found distended, or swelled with too large a
 quantity of blood.   This complaint has deprived the
 republic of some of  her greatest  ornaments, among
 which were  the Hon. De Witt Clinton; the Irish patriot,
 Thomas A.  Emmett; and William Pinckney Esq., our
 former  minister to  London.   Intense and  protracted
 mental exertion  was probably the cause of the death of
 Messrs. Emmett, Pinckney, and Clinton; but, in most
 instances, Apoplexy is to  be dreaded by corpulent or
 plethoric persons,—such as I have before named—hav-
 ing large heads and short necks, epicures, gluttons, and
 those who use spirituous liquors to excess.
                     REMEDIES.
  The chief remedy in Apoplexy  is large and copious
 bleeding,  which must be repeated  if necessary.   Cup-
 ping at  the temples ought  also to  be resorted  to, the
great object being to draw the blood from the head, and
to relie/e the oppression of the brain as speedily as pos-
sible.  The next thing to be attended to, is to give the
most active  purges;—see  table for  doses.  Apply cold
 cloths wet in vinegar, and the coldest water constantly
to the head.  If your patient should recover  by the
 means directed,  in order to escape from  a second and
third attack, the person should scrupulously observe the
following rules of living: he  must eat vegetable  food,
 drink no wine nor spirits of any kind, avoid all strong'
 and long continued  exertions of mind;  and, after the
full state of the brain has for some time  subsided, the
use of chalybeate waters, such as those of the Harrods- 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          311

burgh Springs in Kentucky, will  be of much  service.
As this is a common and often fatal disease, I will make
some further remarks  on it.  Many  physicians have
commended, and put in practice in this complaint, open-
ing one of the jugular veins.  They imagine, by drawing
blood from one of these veins, they unload the brain,
and  relieve its blood vessels  from distension, and the
danger  of rupture.   The fact, however, seems to  be
otherwise.  Instead of unloading the  vessels  by  this
operation, the pressure  which is necessary to be made
on the vein for the purpose of drawing the blood, evi-
dently retards the return of blood to the heart; and a
certain  and inevitable  consequence of this pressure,
accumulation of blood in the arteries, and greater dis-
tension  of the  blood vessels,  immediately take place.
To exhibit the force of this  reasoning  clearly, I  will
make an example of blood letting from the arm.  The
arteries of the arm convey, by the  muscular power of
the heart, all the blood in those arteries to the points of
the fingers:  here the veins  take up  the  same blood, to
return it  again to the  heart.   Now, when  we cord the
arm  tightly in order to draw  blood from a vein, what
are  the  consequences?  Why, we  stop the course of
the blood back to the heart, swell the veins of  the arm
next; and, lastly, distend the whole of the blood vessels
of the arm: and are not the same effects produced on
the blood vessels of the head, by a strong pressure in
cording the jugular vein?  The above doctrine, as well
as it can be explained from the works of the great Doc-
tor Baillie of London, I am induced  to consider correct.
Instead of opening the jugular vein, in cases of emer-
gency, I would  recommend  bleeding in the foot.   In
performing this  operation, after the  bandage has  been
put on, the foot should  be put  in warm water:  the fact 
312          OUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

is, that warm water applied to both feet, in bleeding for
Apoplexy, would be attended with considerable advan-
tage.
               EPILEPTIC FITS.
  This disease differs from  Apoplexy, by the former
having convulsions, and frothy spittle issuing from the
mouth.  The ancients gave it the name of the sacred
disease, because it  affected the mind, the most noble
part of the rational creature.  These fits last from ten
minutes to half an hour, depending on their violence :
they always leave the sufferer in a stupor, attended with
great weakness, and exhaustion of the body.  Epileptic
fits arise from the following causes:—Original or natural
defects; in other words, defects  derived from nature,
and severe blows on the head.  When the disease ari-
ses from either, or both of these causes in combination,
it is seldom if ever cured.  But, when it proceeds from
any of the  following causes,  cures may  be effectuated
by medicine,  proper diet,  &c.   In children, when it
proceeds from worms, cutting teeth, impure  and acrid
matter in the stomach and bowels, eruptions of the skin
which suddenly strike in, and sores on the head which
are too quickly healed up, relief may be obtained by
medical means.  Relief may also be had in the cases of
grown persons, afflicted from the too  free use of spirit-
uous liquors, from violent excitements of those passions
which affect the nervous system,  from stoppages of the
menses in women, and those who have not yet had their
courses according to nature.  This disease is sometimes
although not often, produced by great debility or weak-
ness; and sometimes by onanism. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          313

                     REMEDIES.
   In fits of this kind, a few days previous to the expect-
ed attack, draw blood from the foot; and every night
on going to bed,  bathe  the feet  some  time in warm
water, so as to prevent  too great a  determination of
blood to the head, as these fits generally attack persons
during sleep.  If considered necessary, give an emetic
or puke to cleanse the stomach, followed by an active
purge to act on the bowels—see table  for dose.  These
fits generally occur about the change  or  full  of the
moon.  The singular  and surprising influence which
this platfet is known to exercise in many instances over
the  human species, is absolutely unaccountable, and
is even Vidiculed by many physicians; but I feel fully
confident, from reflection and experience, that this planet
has  considerable control over certain diseases to which
the human system is liable—one or two of which I wUl
notice.   The monthly courses of women, at particular
times, are  evidently under its influence: madness, or
mental derangement, is in many cases greatly increased
at tfie change  of the moon; and it is well known to
almost every person, that the periodical  return  of epi-
leptic fits  is  generally  about  the full  and  change.
These circumstances certainly denote some secret and
mysterious agency,  which is  concealed from  human
knowledge.  On a  full  examination  of the different
remedies recommended in epilectic  fits, where  they
arise from circumstances which can be traced to some
particular cause, please to refer to the different heads,
remembering always, that when  you expect to effect a
cure, it can only be done by  removing the cause.   I
have mentioned emphatically, bleeding in the foot, and
the warm bath; these will remove the blood  from the
b rain, when  harsher means have failed.  The  bowels
       40 
314          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
must be kept in a laxative state, by epsom salts, castor
oil, or mild clysters—see table for doses and head clys-
ters.  By permitting the bowels to be the least bound,
you subject the  person to much risk of having  a fit.
An issue, or a seton in the neck, something resembling
a rowel, and kept  continually discharging, is a  good
remedy in fits.  The use of tartar emetic ointment, is
a remedy resorted to in  the  hospitals of Europe  with
success: I have tried it in two cases;  it succeeded in
one and failed in the other: this, however, is the usual
fate of most remedies applied in this disease.  Setons
always lessen the fits in number and severity, and the
tartar emetic ointment sometimes removes the  com-
plaint; they are, therefore, both worthy of a fair  trial.
For the mode of preparing this ointment, and the man-
ner of using it, look under that head—and for issues or
setons, see that head.  All that can be done during the
fit, is to  prevent the person  from  injuring  himself, by
placing a bit of soft wood  between  the  teeth, and
unclenching the hands.  The following remedies should
be tried separately, and with moderation, where there is
any hope of success:—plunge the  whole  body  in a
strong bath made of salt and  water, a few mornings in
succession,  before an attack  is expected; or, you  may
give spirits of turpentine, in small doses, on an empty
stomach; or take the person afflicted through a gradual
and moderate salivation with mercury.
  Doctor Currie, an eminent physician, speaks highly
of the Digitalis or Fox-gloves, as a remedy in this  com-
plaint;  but it must be used  with caution. Five or six
drops of tincture, increased two drops every five or six
days, ought to be given—see table for doses.   The  bow-
els must be kept open with senna and manna.  Doctor
Wharton, of Shenandoah county,  Virginia, a man of 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          315

distinguished abilities, administered it with great suc-
cess—see page  184, Medical Recorder.  Persons who
are subject  to these fits, should  avoid  all  strong  and
heating food, together  with  all kinds of spirituous
liquors.  Hog  meat  should  never be  used  as food
in any way; nor should  any thing difficult  of digestion
ever be eaten.  Moderate  exercise must be taken, and
every thing is to be avoided which is calculated to pro-
duce melancholy, because  the mind and passions have
great influence on the nervous system.
                      PALSY.
   Palsy is a disease attended with the loss or dimi-
nution of the power of voluntary motion.  It sometimes
affects one part of the body, and sometimes another—
but in whatever part of the system it prevails, there will
always be a numbness, and almost entire want of feel-
ing,  and a loss  of power to move the part affected.
This disease may arise from Apoplexy; from any thing
that  prevents the flow of the nervous fluid from  the
brain to the  organs of motion;  from luxurious and
intemperate living; from  the  suppression of certain
evacuations, such  as  are  mentioned in epileptic fits;
from spasmodic affections  or cramps; from too frequent
intercourse with women, by which the nervous system
is much weakened; from exposure to cold;  from  affec-
tions  of the spinal   marrow;  from any  mechanical
compression; in fact,  from whatever has a tendency to
weaken and  relax the system in an extreme degree.
Dissections frequently show collections of blood, and
sometimes of serous or watery  fluid, effused or spread
out in the brain; and  what is something singular, these
• 
316          GUNN'S domestic" medicine.

collections  and effusions  are generally found  on the
opposite side of the brain from  the  parts of the body
affected.
                     REMEDIES.
  In no cases of palsy should bleeding be resorted to,
unless the patient is of a stout and full habit of body,
and where the disease originating in the head, causes a
great determination of blood to the vessels of the brain.
In all other cases, bleeding is of  much more injury than
benefit.   Where the person is of a full habit, and there
is much determination of blood to the head, in addition
to bleeding in the first stage of the attack, active purges
will be very beneficial.  If, on the contrary, the person
is of a delicate and weakly habit of body, is considera-
bly advanced in life, or if the disease has affected  the
system for a time, bleeding and very active purges should
never be used; it will be sufficient here to keep  the
lower bowels gently open, by mild and at the same time,
stimulating clysters—see the head clysters.  The fact is,
that constipation of the bowels  on the one hand, and
excessive laxness on  the other, are extremes equally to
be avoided in  palsy.  Constipation  or costiveness of
bowels, always oppresses the brain with an accumula-
tion of blood, which  must be relieved:—and too much
purging with very laxative medicines, invariably weak-
ens the system greatly, and as I have somewhere before
remarked, produces morbid irritability.  Palsy, with the
exception of the cases I have mentioned, must be treat-
ed with tonic or strengthening medicines.  Every second
or third night take two grains of calomel, and three of
ground ginger,  in a little  honey: these doses are to be
continued, until there is a copperish taste in the mouth;
here you must stop taking them.  During all this time,
you are  to have the  affected parts well rubbed  with a 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          317

brush, for half an hour three times a day; and you are
also once a day, to bathe in strong salt and water, made
pleasantly warm.—See page 158, where  you will find
that out of 996 cases of palsy, 813 were benefitted  by
the warm bath.   Blisters are also very beneficial in this
disease, one of which ought to be placed between the
shoulders, on  the inside of each  ancle, and  one over
the part affected: they should all be kept continually
running, by the application of some irritating ointment.
An issue  or seton in the neck is also highly recom-
mended, especially where the  disease has originated
from apoplexy.
   I have found great benefit in palsy, by using on the
affected  parts, the following liniment:—one ounce of
spirits of hartshorn,  one table-spoonful of  spirits of
turpentine, one table-spoonful of the tincture of Spanish
flies made  by steeping the flies  in  whiskey.  These
articles are  to be mixed in half a  pint of sweet oil, and
well rubbed on the parts affected three times a day.  If
these articles cannot be had, bathe the parts in whiskey,
in which  cayenne pepper has  been steeped so as to
make it strong of the pepper.   Use horse radish free-
ly with your food, and  take  thirty-five  drops of spirits
of turpentine, on  a  lump of sugar three times a day.
As soon as  practicable, take exercise in the open air,
and when on  the recovery make  use of water impreg-
nated  with  iron, and use  your bath  cold  instead of
warm, in the manner of a shower bath:—see that head :
the water should be mixed with salt.   I will remark in
conclusion, that electrifying or shocking in this disease,
is very highly recommended, as is also the method of
cure resorted to  with great success in Austria, France,
and Germany, which is the use of the sulphur bath,
by  which 673 cases  were  cured in the hospitals of 
318           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

Paris, and 484  in  those  of Vienna.—See head Sul-
phuric Bath.
                   ASTHMA.
  In  this disease,  from  an extensive experience, I
unhesitatingly say,  that Asthma  when once firmly
seated in the system, is a complaint that may be pallia-
ted but  never entirely removed by medicine.  When
the disease attacks young persons,  abstemious diet and
due exercise are the best remedies  for subduing its vio-
lence ; but, an entire and  permanent cure of the com-
plaint, is only to be expected from  the spontaneous and
powerful efforts of nature herself.  In aged persons,
where the disease is  of long standing, great care and
attention are required  to  lessen  the severity  of the
attacks;  this is  nearly all  that can be done by the
boasted powers of medicine, when the disease has be-
come obstinate by age.  Many physicians have assert-
ed  that Asthma  is a  nervous disease; the  contrary,
however, has been  established, by  many dissections in
the hospitals of Paris, and other cities of  Europe.
Corvisart, Baumes  and Rostan, besides many others,
allege that Asthma depends on a morbid or diseased
alteration in the organs of breathing or respiration and
circulation,  by which  congestions  or collections  of
blood in the lungs are procured.  Rostan, particularly,
gives in evidence of this opinion the following facts:—
he says in substance, that the bodies of many who had
died of Asthma, were opened immediately after death,
and that in all of them alterations in the structure of
the heart and arteries, were found combined with ex-
tensive  congestive diseases of the  lungs, proving that 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          319

disorders of the  heart and large blood vessels, have
much greater influence in the production of Asthma
than is generally supposed.  The symptoms of Asthma
are, difficult breathing or respiration for a time, suc-
ceeded  by short  intervals of comparative ease, which
are followed  by attacks similar to the  first, in  many
cases amounting almost to suffocation; a great tightness
across the breast and  in the region of  the  lungs;
a wheezing  noise in breathing, attended by a  hard
cough at first, which gradually diminishes in toughness,
until a white, stringy, tough mucus is  discharged  from
the throat and mouth, accompanied perhaps by a gen-
tle moisture on the skin.   Persons subject to periodical
attacks of Asthma, generally  know  the approach of
those attacks, by the  following symptoms  and sensa-
tions :—depression of spirits amounting to melancholy;
sense of fullness and distention about the stomach,
attended with uneasy and restless feelings; drowsiness
accompanied by head ache, and a sense of tightness or
constriction across the breast.   These indications usual-
ly occur about die close of the day, increase in severity
during the night,  and  sensibly diminish  towards morn-
ing.
                    REMEDIES.
   Bleeding must never be resorted  to in Asthma:—
although it  is  frequently  practiced by physicians, it is
altogether wrong, and must always be  avoided.   The
reason is obvious, and particularly so  in  the cases of
persons advanced in  age. Bleeding retards, in fact, it
prevents expectoration by the mouth  and throat;  in
other words, it prevents hawking and spitting up mucus
from the throat  and lungs, which always give relief in
 Asthma.  So soon as symptoms of an  attack  are felt,
 which  I have just described, give a  mild emetic  or 
320
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
            puke;  this will always  shorten  the  attack—during
j}.J,j         which the feet must be bathed in warm water, and the
ii..:-?i         steam of warm  vinegar inhaled, or breathed from the
 -J         spout  of a coffee-pot.  Stew  down, over a  slow fire,
            half an ounce of seneca snake-root in a pint of water,
~l«,j         after bruising it with a hammer, to half a pint: of this,
pi         take a table-spoonful every  ten  or fifteen minutes, and
            drink a small  glass of warm toddy.   I  have frequently
            afforded relief in a  short time,  by merely bathing the
            feet and giving plentifully of warm toddy.   The Indian
;  l          tobacco is  a valuable remedy in this complaint, used in
            the following  manner:  take of the  leaves,  stem and
            pods, nearly as much as you can hold grasped between
;■''.■'          the fore finger and thumb; put it into a bottle of whis-
            key, and in five  days the liquor will be fit for use; of
(}'[          which give a tea-spoonful every half hour until relief
            is obtained.  When this complaint attacks young men,
            for it  is much more apt  to  attack men  than  women,
            they should rise  early and take active exercise, partic-
            ularly by ascending  the highest and steepest hills and
            mountains, where they can breast  the  pure  mountain
 !           breeze.  These people should always rise from a hard
■ .'<?          bed instead of a  soft one, and swallow  a raw  egg be-
            fore walking.  To  persons severely afflicted with this
            disease in advanced  life, smoking the dried root of the
            Jamestown weed will be beneficial, as will also smoking
            the dried root of the skunk cabbage.  Look under the
            head Jamestown weed, where this plant is described:
            it must always be used gradually, and  with some cau-
            tion.   Baron  Brady states, that he  cured himself of
            Asthma of twenty-one years standing,  by the internal
            use of mustard seed, of which  he took every  morning
            and evening  a  tea-spoonful in tea or broth.  Doctor
            Pitschaft says he derived much benefit from the inter- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          321
nal use of mustard, in pectoral disorders attended with
cough, and excessive mucus expectoration.
                   SORE LEGS.
   Soke legs frequently arise from the imprudent neglect
 of bruises; and  from trifling sores which are permit*
 ted  to  become inflamed, and finally ulcerous.   Sore
 legs, like  consumptions,  and  other diseases which
 descend from parents to  children, sometimes run in
 families for  several  generations:—when they run in
 families, it is generally in such families as are addicted
 to  King's Evil, Scrofula or  Scurvy.  Doctor  Rusji
 says, that  he  considers them,  in  many instances, as
 arising from general debility, or weakness operating on
 the  whole system,  but centering more particularly  on
 the legs.  Persons  who have been afflicted any length
 of time with  ulcerous sore legs, or indeed with ulcers
 situated any where  else, if of  long  standing, should  be
 cautious how they heal them  suddenly, without purify-
 ing and preparing the  system for the change;—because
 the sudden suppression of an habitual discharge, with-
 out  this previous purification,  almost invariably  seats
 some new disease on  a vital organ, or produces death
 by apoplexy.
                     REMEDIES.
  The  first and important remedy in  Sore Legs, is to
 keep them  perfectly clean, by frequently  washing them
with soap and  water.  Doctor Rush  says, and I  per-
 fectly agree with him in opinion, that the great success
of old women in curing Sore Legs, arises more from
keeping the ulcers clean, than from  any peculiar effica-
cy of their medical applications.   Where Sore  Legs
       41 
322
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
have been of any long standing, it is of importance, as
I have told you before, to attend to purging and purify-
ing the whole system, with frequent doses of epsom
salts.  Nitre or saltpetre, given in doses of ten, fifteen
or  twenty  grains, three times a day  in a little  cold
water, will  be found a  useful and  cooling medicine.
Pouring cold water on the sores three times a day, is
an  excellent application; but it  must be done on  an
empty stomach.  Poultices of light wheat bread and
milk, applied as cold as possible, will reduce the inflam-
mation  or fever:—so will, also, a poultice  of slippery
elm bark pounded well, and  moistened before being
applied.  A wash of white oak  bark, in old ulcers, is
a valuable remedy.  I have succeeded in curing old
sores, when every other means had been tried in  vain,
by  the  application  of common tow  to the ulcer, and
kept wet with new milk.   A salve made of Jamestown
weed, will  be found an excellent remedy, as will also a
salve made of  the common  elder  bark.  When the
sores are sluggish, and refuse to heal, a poultice made
of common garden carrots will be found of great utili-
ty.   Should proud  flesh take  place, after washing the
sores with castile soapsuds, sprinkle a little .red pre-
cipitate on  the  sores, or a little calomel, or  a  little
burnt  alium,  or dissolve  a  little  blue vitriol,  (blue
stone,) in water, and wet the ulcers with it.
  In Sore Legs of long standing,  moderate exercise
should be taken, and tight  bandages applied, commenc-
ing at  the  toes and winding  up the  leg, which will
give due  support to  the vessels.  In such cases, tonic
or  strengthening  medicines  are necessary,  such   as
barks, iron  rust, &c. &c. with  a moderately nourishing
food.  The use of opium—see table for dose—will be
a useful medicine in allaying the pain, and  invigorating 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          323

the whole system.  Rest,  in a  lying posture,  should
always be particularly attended to, in all cases of Sore
Legs;  and  the diet should  be cooling, accompanied
with pure air.  Every thing of a heating and stimula-
ting nature  should  be  avoided, particularly  ardent
spirits.  In some old ulcerations of the legs, nitric acid,
(aqua fortis,) very weak, is sometimes taken internally,
and also applied outwardly as  a wash  for the sores.
Charcoal will correct the smell, and purify the sores; or
if made into a poultice is  an excellent application to
ill-conditioned  ulcers.  Water  dock,  which grows in
wet, boggy soils, and on the banks of ditches, boiled to
a strong decoction, is a good wash  for old ulcers;  and
an ointment made by simmering the root in hog's lard,
is a valuable remedy, derived from the Indians.
                      PILES.
   There are two kinds of Piles, originati ig from very
nearly the same causes:—one is called  the  bleeding
Piles, and the other  the  blind Piles.   The Piles are
small swelled  tumors, of rather a  dark appearance,
usually situated on the edge of the fundament.   Where
there is a discharge of blood from these tumors, when
you go to stool, the  disease is called bleeding Piles;
but, when there is only  a swelling on the edge of the
fundament, or some  little distance up the gut, and  no
bleeding when you evacuate the bowels, the disease is
called the blind Piles. Both men and women are sub-
ject to Piles; but women more particularly,  during the
last stages of pregnancy, in which the womb presses on
the rectum or gut.  In passing the stool, you can plain-
ly feel these tumors, which extend from the edge of the 
324          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

fundament to an inch or more upwards, if you have
them severe:—when these burst and bleed, the person
is very much relieved; and when the pain is excessive,
it is apt to produce some fever.  Many persons  are
constitutionally subject to this disease through life.  It
is, however,  generally brought on by costiveness, or
having  irregular stools.  Piles are also  produced  by
riding a great deal on horseback in warm weather;  by
the use  of highly seasoned  food; by sedentary habits,
in other words, want of exercise; by the use of spiritu-
ous, liquors to excess;  and by the use of aloes as a
purge,  if  constantly taken  for any length of time to
remove  costiveness:—therefore, persons subject to cos-
tiveness, should particularly avoid aloes.
                    REMEDIES.
  Cold  water is  one of the best remedies that can be
applied  in this complaint:—nor will any person ever be
afflicted much with bleeding or blind Piles, who  will
bathe the  fundament well, with cold spring water daily,
or with  iced  water to prevent, or to relieve the disease
if  formed.  I have  known  many persons who have
exempted  themselves from this painful disorder, merely
by bathing  twice  a day in  the  coldest  water.  For
those, who from laziness or  neglect, omit to  use  this
simple and powerful precaution, I shall proceed to give
the usual  remedies.  When there is a fever attending
Piles, it will be proper to lose a little blood, and to take
a  dose  of epsom  salts or castor oil:—for doses  see
table.   Purging  and  bleeding should  be  repeated, if
the inflammatory or feverish symptoms do not subside.
If the pain  is violent, bathe the fundament with some
laudanum, say a tea-spoonful of  laudanum, mixed in
a  table-spoonful of cold water; or, set over  a tub, in
which some tar  has been heated or set on fire, so  that 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          325

the steam  may sweat the fundament;  this steaming
should continue some time, and be frequently repeated.
Sweet oil applied to the fundament is a good  remedy;
and cooling applications of sugar of lead are also good,
made by putting a tea-spoonful of the lead into a pint
of spring water, and  bathing  the parts frequently with
it.  Mercurial ointment, otherwise called oil of baze,
is a fine remedy; and, by greasing  the  parts with a
small quantity three times a day, speedy  relief will be
obtained in a short time.  The root of the Jamestown
weed, made into a salve, and the fundament greased
with it, will also afford speedy relief from pain.  All
persons subject to Piles, should live on light diet of a
cooling  nature, avoid  costiveness, and  use plenty of
cold water in bathing, as before directed.
           PUTRID SORE THROAT.
  In this infectious or catching disease, the respiration
or breathing becomes hurried, and  the breath hot and
offensive.   The swallowing becomes  more and more
difficult; the skin burning and disagreeably  hot, with-
out the least moisture; and the  pulse very quick and
irregular;  the mouth and throat assume a fiery  red
color, and  the palate and  glands of the throat much
swelled. Blotches, of a dark red color, appear on the
face about the third or fourth  day,  which gradually
increase in size, and soon spread over the whole body.
On examining the throat  at this stage of the disease,
you will discover small brown spots inside of the throat,
which soon become deep  sores  or ulcers; a brownish
fur covers  the tongue; the lips have small watery pirn 
326          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

pies on them, which soon break and produce sores, the
matter of which is of an acrid nature.   If the disease
is not immediately relieved, it soon terminates fatally,
from  the fifth  to the  seventh  day.  As the disease
advances, the following symptoms denote an unfavora-
ble and  fatal termination.  Purging a black matter, of
a very offensive and  fetid smell;  the hands and  feet
becoming cold; the eruptions becoming of a dark livid
color, or suddenly disappearing; the inside of the mouth
and throat assuming a dark hue; the pulse becoming
small, quick and fluttering; the breathing much hurrried,
with an almost constant sighing; and a cold and  clam-
my sweat.  When Putrid Sore Throat is  about termin-
ating favorably, the skin becomes gradually soft and
moist, denoting the abatement of fever; the eruptions on
the skin become of a reddish color over the whole  body;
the breathing becomes more free and natural; the eyes
assume  a natural and lively appearance; the sloughs,
or parts which separate from the ulcers, fall off easily,
and leave the sores of a clean and reddish color:—when
these symptoms occur, as I said before, the disease is
about terminating in the recovery of the patient.
  This infectious and frequently mortal  disease,  made
its appearance in Knox county, in the fall of 1827, and
proved fatal in very many instances.  Having a short
time before arrived from Virginia, and being a stranger,
my practice was necessarily confined to some  cases
which occurred at  Knoxville.  I  immediately  deter-
mined to use a remedy which I had seen successfully
administered, in the West Indies, in this disease; and
the result of the prescription was successful in my own
practice.  Feeling it a duty to communicate the remedy
to several  gentlemen  in the  country, whose children 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           327

were attacked with the complaint, I was informed it was
usually successful, in every case in which it was resorted
to in the early stages of the disease.
                     REMEDIES.
   In this disease, which  is generally a dangerous one,
unless  treated with judgment, bleeding and purging are
always fatal in their consequences, and you are scrupu-
lously  to avoid both.  Many physicians  have treated
this complaint injudiciously, from the simple fact of not
giving  themselves  the trouble to investigate its causes.
It generally makes its appearance at the close of sultry
summers;  when the system has been much weakened
by protracted exposure to intense heat;  and when peo-
ple have been, for some time, exposed to breathing the
putrid atmosphere arising  from stagnant waters and
decaying vegetation.
   You are in the first instance, to give an emetic  or
puke of  ipecacuanha—see table for dose—and the dose
must be  repeated  in moderation the next day if consid-
ered necessary.   This will throw off the  acrid matter,
which would otherwise  produce injury by descending
into the bowels, which are apt to be kept gently open by
clysters—see under that head.  If it is necessary, a
little castor oil by the mouth, or a  little rhubarb, may
be given to assist the clysters in removing offensive mat-
ter ; use then the following valuable prescription, which
is well known in the West Indies, whence I derived it.
 Take cayenne pepper, in powder, two table-spoonsful,
 with one tea-spoonful of salt;  and  put both into half a
pint of boiling water; let them stand one hour and strain
 off the liquor.   Next put this liquor, as pure as you can
 make it, into half a pint of strained vinegar, and warm
 it over the fire.  Of this medicine, give two table-spoons-
ful every half hour.  Make, also, a strong decoction or 
328         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

tea of seneca snake-root, and give of it two table-spoons-
ful  every  hour.  If any debility  or  weakness should
come on, bathe the grown person or  child in a strong
decoction  of red oak bark.   If the weakness is very
considerable, add one fourth of whiskey to the decoc-
tion, and  give wine, or toddy made with spirits and
sweetened with sugar, to support the system.  Wash
the mouth and throat frequently with the liquor made
of pepper, vinegar  and  salt;  and apply  to the throat,
a poultice frequently renewed, of garlic and onions, or
ashes moistened well with vinegar, and enclosed in a
small bag, so  as to produce  a slight irritation of the
skin.  Volatile liniment will  answer—look under that
head; but blisters must never be applied to  the  neck.
I have  never  used the  compound,  but  am  strongly
impressed with the opinion, that a tea-spoonful of good
yeast, mixed with the  same quantity of powdered char-
coal, and given three  times a day, would be a  good
remedy  in this complaint.
                 HEAD ACHE.
  This affection is produced from a foul stomach, from
costiveness, from indigestion, and sometimes from expo-
sure to the rays of the sun.  There is also  a painful
affection of the head, accompanied with some nausea,
called sick head ache, which comes on periodically, or
at particular times; this last is sometimes called nervous
head ache.  It is not nervous head ache; it arises from
want of acid on the stomach, or from an excess of acid.
There  is, indeed, a  nervous  head ache, which  arises
from the  same  causes as those  which produce tooth
ache in female  diseases, and  which may be produced, 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          329

also, by grief or any of the depressing passions, and
should be treated by gentle stimulants.
                    REMEDIES.
  If produced from a foul stomach, give an emetic or
puke; if from costiveness, give  an active purge—see
table for dose—if from exposure to the sun, read under
the head Inflammation of the Brain.   In sick head ache,
a late remedy has been discovered, which may be relied
on; it is citric acid, which may be  had at any drug
store; in plain terms, it is nothing but the acid of lem-
ons, of which you have only to put a little in cold water,
and  to drink it.   This  remedy is believed to  be  an
effective one; and was  like many other valuable dis-
coveries,  the result of mere accident.  A  girl who
attended a  bar in London, was called on  to  make a
glass of lemonade.  She was so afflicted with sick head
ache, as scarcely to be able to prepare it.  On tasting
the lemonade to know if it was good, she found that
every sip  she took  relieved her' head, and finally, she
obtained entire relief, from drinking the whole glass.
When sick head ache arises from excess of acid on the
stomach, a tea-spoonful of finely powdered charcoal, in
a little cold water, will correct the  acid: a tea-spoonful
of magnesia will do the same.  When head  ache ari-
ses from debility, stimulants  are required, particularly
by delicate females. Wine sangaree, made with warm
water, wine, sugar, and nutmeg, is an excellent and gen-
tle stimulant. I have, in many cases, given a bottle of
Madeira  wine to a female in the course of a day, and
produced much benefit from  it in  this disease, without
the least intoxicating effect.  The best wine must always
be used.
        42 
330         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE

                  EAR  ACHE.
  Many persons are subject, on the slightest cold, to
painful affections of the ear.  "These pains usually sub-
side in a day or two, and the disease ends in a discharge
of matter.   Sometimes great pain is produced, by some
insect crawling into the ear of a person whilst sleeping;
and it is not unfrequent, that an  accumulation of wax
takes place in the ear and  produces deafness.
                    REMEDIES.
  Warm some fine salt, place it  in a bag, and apply it
to the car;  or  make a poultice of roasted  onions, and
apply it to the ear and side of the head, first putting into
the ear a little fine wool, on which has been dropped a
few drops of laudanum and sweet oil warmed.  If the
pain or deafness is occasioned  by the lodgment of hard
wax in the ear, inject strong warm soap suds into the
ear, so as to soften and finally dissolve the wax.  If the
pain is very severe, a blister behind the ear will relieve
it; and if the deafness continue for some time  after the
pain has gone off, inject into the ear once or twice a day
a little strong salt and water, after which, keep the ear
stopped with some wool, which must be moistened with
spirits in which camphor has been dissolved.
                    MUMPS.
  This complaint is so universally known, as to make a
minute description of it unnecessary.   It appears on the
throat; sometimes on one side, and sometimes on both
sides.  It makes its appearance in a lump immediately
under  the jaw, which swells and becomes large  and
painful, and often renders the swallowing difficult.  The
cheeks and whole face generally swell at first, and con- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          331

tinue swelled for  five or six days.  When the disease
is any way severe, it is usually attended with fever:—
children are generally affected  with it,  but  it is  not
exclusively confined to them.  When it attacks grown
persons, male or female, great care should be observed
in treating it.  In men, the testicles frequently become
swelled as large as goards, and extremely painful:—in
women, without great attention, the  disease  is apt to
settle in the breasts, which become  swelled  and very
hard; in this case there is much danger of an accumu-
lation of matter.  These consequences, however, both
to men and  women, usually arise from want of atten-
tion, and from  the taking of cold;—when due caution
is exercised, there is  very  little danger from  this com-
plaint.
                     REMEDIES.
   In simple cases of Mumps nothing can or ought to
be done, but avoid the taking of cold.  Keep the face,
throat and head, moderately warm, by wearing flannel
round the parts.  Keep  the bowels  gently open, by  a
little castor oil, or epsom salts; and  always avoid  the
damp ground, wet feet, or even damp  feet.  If the testi-
cles swell, immediately lie down on your bed, and move
as little as possible, and also be bled  from the arm, and
purge freely.   Apply to  the privates, poultices of cold
light bread and milk, which are always to be renewed
as soon as they become warm.  Dissolve a tea-spoonful
of sugar of lead in a pint of cold water, with which
you are to wet the poultices and also the testicles, which.
are to  be  suspended, or held up in a  bag made for the
purpose; a handkerchief will answer  the same purpose,
which is  merely  to prevent their weight from  doing
injury.  Women,  in cases of swelled  breasts, must pur- 
332          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

sue the plan of bleeding and purging  prescribed for
men, and apply the poultices to the breasts  to prevent
the formation of matter in them.  Poultices made of
flax seed, applied  cold, are also effective in reducing
inflammations.
                  SORE  EYES.
  This is so common a disease in the western country
that it requires to be treated of with much  attention.
The eye is exceedingly tender, and subject to a variety
of maladies, some of which usually  terminate  in total
blindness, unless  speedy relief can be obtained.  This
delicate organ exemplifies in the wisdom of its construc-
tion, the boundless and  incomprehensible power of an
Almighty God.   It  may be called the mirror of the
soul; the interpreter of the  passions of mankind.  At a
single glance, it takes in the sublime beauties, and  mag-
nificent splendors of the visible creation;  reaches by
its mystic energies  the  bosom  of unlimited space—
and, at the next  moment,  by an effort of microscopic
vision which is absolutely  unaccountable, it expatiates
on the mild tints  of the opening rose-buds, and detects
the  analysis of  a physical atom!  The loss of such
powers of vision, then, must be indeed a great misfor-
tune, and frequently when I  have reflected  on  the
dangers of so great  a loss, I have been astonished  at
the  carelessness  and inattention, with  which diseases
 of this  noble and distinguished organ are sometimes
 treated.
   In a work like this, which  is intended for  popular
 use and benefit, it would be irrelevant and unimportant, 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         333

to treat of such diseases of the eye as require surgical
operations; such  must always be met by the skill and
judgment of a practiced operator.
   Opthalmia is the general name given by physicians
to inflammatory  diseases  of the eye:—these  diseases
are either inflammations of the coats or membranes of
the eye, or they are inflammations of the  whole orbit
or globe of the eye itself.  In  common opthalmia, for
there is such a disease as  venereal opthalmia, the eyes
exhibit considerable inflammation, owing to the fulness
of the small blood vessels.  There is  also much heat
and pain felt over the whole surface of the eye; and,
generally speaking, an involuntary flow of tears.  When
the  inflammation is  suspected to be  deeply seated,
throwing a strong light on the eye will determine  the
fact, by  producing sharp  shooting pains  through  the
head, accompanied with fever.  When the pains of the
eyes and head are not much increased by  an exposure
of the eyes to  a strong light, we may safely conclude,
that the  inflammation  is of a  slight  and local nature.
It is my opinion, and I know it is contrary to the com-
mon opinion, if any judgment  can be formed from  the
general practice  of physicians, that inflammatory dis-
eases of the eye, are very frequently  connected with
diseased states of some of the other organs, or with
general and  constitutional  derangements  of  the
whole system.
   Inflammatory diseases of the eye are usually produ-
ced by severe cold;  by sudden changes of the weather;
by exposure to cold, raw and  damp winds;  by residing
in very damp, or  in very  sandy countries; and by  ex-
posures  of the eye to the vivid beams of the sun, on
sandy or snowy  wastes of country, for some length of
time.  In the salt  mines  of  Poland, to which many 
334           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

convicts are consigned for life, and where the exclusion
of daylight renders torches necessary, not only the
prisoners but the horses themselves become blind, from
the insufferable brilliancy of the salt rock.  This sim-
ple fact is sufficient to place all persons on their guard,
against exposing the eye to a strong glare of light. Jn
addition to the above causes, inflammations of  the eye
are often produced from external injuries, such as blows
and bruises;  and also from splinters, dust, or any other
irritating matters getting  into the eyes.  Healing old
ulcers, or sores of long  standing, and particularly dri-
ving in eruptions of the head and face, will very often
inflame the eyes.   Besides all these causes, the sup-
pression or stoppage of some habitual discharges, such
as the menses, bleeding  at  the nose, hemorrhoids or
piles, &c. will produce inflammations  of the  eyes :—
and, to close the catalogue of the causes of inflamma-
tory  diseases  of the eye, venereal opthalmia  itself is
produced  by the action of the virus or poison of the
venereal disease or scorbutic or scrofulous  habits of
body.  This last disease  of the eyes, generally termi-
nates in impaired vision, or total blindness.  You, who
are yet tyroes in the school of experience and humani-
ty—you, who are melting down your physical and vital
energies on the corrupted bed of lust and debauchery,
listen to this!
                     REMEDIES.
   In all  inflammations  of the eyes, presumed  to arise
from a diseased state of the general system, from a foul
stomach,  from costiveness of the bowels, from  colds
accompanied with fever, or  even from  local affections
of the organic structure of the  eye, the stomach is to
be thoroughly evacuated and cleansed by gentle emetics
or pukes, and the bowels  by active and cooling purges. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          335

 If  the inflammation should  be  severe, some blood
 should be drawn from  the arm  occasionally,  at the
 same time that very gentle and cooling purges are in
 operation.  The diet should be of the lightest kind, and
 of  the most cooling nature.  Cold acid drinks are also
 proper, because they tend  to lessen the inflammation,
 and to cool the  whole  system.   The  skin should be
 kept clean, and perspiration or sweating kept  up con-
 tinually, by the warm or tepid bath, after bleeding and
 purging have been sufficiently resorted  to.   Doctor
 Physic, who is probably among the greatest  men  of
 his profession, either of this or any other age, expressly
 recommends, that in very  severe inflammations of the
 eyes, blister plasters should be applied over and around
 them, whioh are  to be kept  shut;  and, that  between
 these plasters and the eye lids, two or three doublings
 of gauze are to be placed, in order to prevent the flies
 or  cantharides from  entering  the eyes.   When the
 inflammation is  considered merely local and external,
 and not deeply seated  in  the system or vital  organs,
 poultices made of light bread and  milk, and applied as
 cold as possible will be  beneficial; in fact, the coldest
 applications are to be kept to the eyes, such for instance
 as the  following:—Take  twenty  grains of sugar of
 lead, and ten grains of white  vitriol, dissolve them in
 half a  pint of pure rain water, and let the mixture
 settle for  several  hours; then  pour off*  the  clear part
 from  the top, and keep  the eye constantly  moistened
 with this water.   If the eyes are very painful, you may
 add to the mixture a tea-spoonful of laudanum, to allay
 the irritation. Persons who are constitutionally subject
 to weak eyes, will find much benefit from bathing them
frequently in pure  water; and, if the weakness is unat-
tended  by inflammation,  by  bathing  them in weak 
 336          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 spirits and water.  In cases of films overspreading the
 cornea, or transparent part of the eye, so as to induce
 blindness, I consider it my  duty to make the following
 note:—Doctor Manlone, formerly  a celebrated  physi-
 cian, of Dinwiddie county, Virginia, since dead, left on
 record in the margin of one of Prideaux's works, the
 following note:—"The gall of an eel, laid  on with a
 soft  brush, and with  great  care, and occasionally re-
 peated, has successfully  removed a film from the eye.
 The writer  of this leaves it on record in  this  place,
 with the intention that it may be useful to some fellow
 creature, when the writer is no longer an inhabitant of
 this world.  I most solemnly declare, that I have expe-
 rienced the good effects of the application, in the course
 of my practice;  but  it should be used when the disor-
 der is recent.                    C. MANLONE."
  Thus we see, notwithstanding the sneers and ridicule
 of modern infidels, that the  story in the Apocrypha, of
 Tobit's blindness being cured by the gall of  a fish, is
 neither  ridiculous nor improbable.   Doctor Manlone
has been dead about forty years.  For the satisfaction
of the reader, I will  record a case in which I myself
was successful in the cure of blindness. Miss Hudson
 of Knox county, who resides with her father on the
 waters of  Holston, in this State, came to  me  afflicted
 with blindness in one of her eyes, from a film, which I
 speedily and easily removed, by introducing upon the
 surface of the eye ball, clean hog's lard; it was intro-
 duced into the eye with  a fine camel-hair  pencil, and
 with much care. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          337

                   WHITLOW.
   There is an inflammation at the end of the finger
or thumb.   The pain gradually increases, attended with
a  throbbing sensation, and  always produces in its pro-
gress the most excruciating  torment.  In Whitlow, the
finger or  thumb affected, always puts on a glossy  or
shining appearance.  After six  or  eight days,  matter
forms under the nail or at the side of it, which, on being
opened, gives  immediate relief.
                    REMEDIES.
   The old plan of treatment in Whitlow has been en-
tirely laid aside; it  consisted  merely of  poultices and
warm applications.   The method of cure now adopted
in the European hospitals, which may  be said to be an
infallible one, is simply as follows:—The moment the
Whitlow is discovered, press the part gently and grad-
ually with your thumb and fore finger; then  with a
piece of tape or narrow binding, bind or  wind the sore
finger or thumb tightly, from the  point upward  toward
the body of the hand.  This bandage must be permit-
ted to remain  on, the object being merely to  stop  the
circulation, until a cure is effected.   You  may unwind
it once a day to examine the Whitlow, but it must im-
mediately be put on again.  If the bandage  give much
pain, so that you cannot bear it, it must  be  gradually
loosened until you  can bear the pressure.   By this
simple method, Whitlow may be easily cured, if mat-
ter has not formed  in it.  Were  I not convinced, that
many wise men and old women will laugh  at this  simple
cure, I would  not put myself to the trouble of proving
its efficacy.  Doctor William  Balfour of Edinburgh,
relates more than fifty cases of Whitlow  being  cured,
some of them  with matter formed and highly inflamed,
by this  simple method.  I will give two cases of suc-
        43 
338          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

cess, selected from the London  Medical and Physical
Journal.   "James Briddet," says the writer, "who was
a tanner, aged twenty-five years, applied to me on the
25th of August, with a Whitlow on one of his thumbs.
He knew no cause for the complaint, which had exist-
ed about a week, and prevented  him from following his
occupation.   When I  had pressed the parts firmly, and
applied a bandage, I desired him to call the next day.
He looked at me as if he would  have  said—*/s this all
that you  are to  do for me /'  I  found this fellow,"
says the  Doctor,  "quite  doubtful with regard to my
cure, and again desired him to call the  next day.   In
the morning he accordingly returned, when I found the
inflammation and swelling considerably abated.  On
the third day the pain was entirely gone, and the man
had the free use of his thumb.   I now asked him if he
was not at first quite distrustful of the mode of cure I
had adopted; he laughed, and  admitted that he was;
expressed his surprise at the quick result; made his
acknowledgments, and went about his business.  Peter
Fraser received an injury  on the  26th  of December
last, by having his thumb  bent forcibly backward in;
lifting a heavy stone.  When he applied to me on the
29th, he complained  of  having passed  three days in
great agony, and three sleepless nights.   The pain was
confined to the first joint, but the swelling extended a
considerable  way upward.   I  never  handled a more
excruciatingly painful  case, and believed it must soon
terminate in suppuration," (breaking  and running.)
"Such was  also  the opinion  of Doctor Anderson of
New York, who  happened to  be  with me when the
patient presented  himself.  I told that gentleman, that
exquisitely painful as was the complaint, I had no doubt
of curing it in a  week, without any  other application 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           339

than my own fingers, and a simple bandage of narrow
tape.  The cure was completed in six days, inclusive
of that on which the patient  applied to me."  I have
thus given two cases, in which Whitlow has been cured
by the mere application of a bandage; and I will  ad-
venture  another suggestion, which is this, that even in
cases where suppuration has  actually taken place,  and
the lancet has been used, the use of an easy bandage
would be greatly beneficial, applied to every part of the
finger or thumb, except immediately over the small
point of discharge.
        COW POX, OR VACCINATION.
   This valuable discovery, made several years ago by
 the celebrated Doctor Jenner, is now resorted to as a
 remedy against the infectious and dreadful inroads of
 the Small Pox, in  almost every portion of the civilized
 world.  Vaccination is merely the introduction or in-
sertion into the  arm, by means of the lancet, of the
matter by which the cow pox is produced in the human
system.  There  is a contention among physicians, and
 those too of the higher orders, whether  the  Cow Pox
is, in all cases, a preventive of that dreadful scourge of
 mankind, the Small Pox; for myself, I  am  induced to
 believe, that with very few exceptions, it may be con-
sidered an antidote to Small  Pox, especially when
vaccination has been  effectual on  the  system.   In
Prussia, out of 584,000 children, born in the year 1821,
40,000 of  them were  vaccinated  for the Cow  Pox.
During the above  period, there  died  of Small Pox, in
all the provinces belonging  to Prussia, 1190 persons; 
 340          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 and before the introduction of vaccination, from thirty
 to forty  thousand died annually of Small Pox.  Al-
 though persons who have been vaccinated may  be
 liable to take the Small Pox afterwards, yet  the latter
 disease always terminates very mildly.   Of many hun-
 dred thousand persons  vaccinated  in  London,  not  a
 single  case of death has taken place from Small  Pox,
 where the matter of the Cow Pox, had before  taken
 proper effect.   The report of the college of physicians in
 London, for 1807, expressly states, that Small Pox in
 any  shape rarely proves fatal,  when it  attacks  those
 who have been  successfully vaccinated.  The success
 attending this operation in  the United States, has enti-
 tled it to the highest confidence of our most distinguished
 physicians.  I have before remarked in substance, and
 I think the opinion a correct one, that many who have
 taken the Small Pox after vaccination, took it from bad
 management in  inserting the Cow  Pox matter;  when
 the proper effect is not  produced on the system, by the
introduction of the Cow Pox matter, it  is to be expect-
ed that persons will still be liable to the contagion of
 Small Pox.
  To every man  of  common  prudence, and proper
sentiments of self-preservation, advice of the  necessity
of vaccination, as  a preventive  of the  dangers atten-
 dant on Small Pox, would be superfluous; to those who
 seem to slumber in security, respecting the future rava-
 ges of Small Pox in the western  country, I have only
 to remark, that  the facilities of commerce  with  other
 countries are daily increasing, from the universal  intro-
 duction of steam boats, and the rapid improvement of
 our  internal  navigation;  and  that  in a few years,
 through these mediums, the most remote  and  secluded 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
341
 portions of our country, will stand as much exposed to
 the mortal inroads of Small Pox, as our large cities
 and maritime towns.
   The great object in vaccination, is the certainty that
 the matter of vaccination  takes full effect on  the sys-
 tem ; and it is needless to remark, that unless the matter
 be genuine, no beneficial effect can possibly result from
 vaccination.   Vaccination is an innocent and valuable
 preventive remedy against Small Pox, in which little if
 any medicine is required;  in children it passes over in
 a few days.  In grown  persons it may  produce slight
 fever and  pain  under the arm, which usually go off in
 a few hours.  If the person vaccinated  be of a gross
 habit of body, a moderate dose of salts will be of much
 service on the seventh  or eighth day.   If the inflam-
 mation of the arm becomes very painful, moisten the
 place frequently with a little weak sugar of lead water,
 until the sore is dried up; this however is seldom neces-
 sary.   The great point  in vaccination, is  certainly to
 know, that the matter introduced into the system has
 taken a full  and sufficient effect.  If there  is only  a
 slight redness in the  arm,  where  the matter has been
 inserted, and no other effect is produced  on the system,
 you may certainly conclude that  the vaccination has
 failed  of effect.   But if, on the  contrary, a pustule or
 pimple  arises, of a full and oval form, with an indenta-
 tion or  dent in the  centre, not unlike a button mould,
 about the sixth day, containing matter, vaccination has
 had the desired  effect.  Great attention should be paid
 to these circumstances by the operator, or he will prob-
 ably be the cause of a future exposure of the person to
 the ravages of the Small Pox, and not improbably  to
the  imminent hazard  of death.  The influence of the
Kine or Cow Pox, over affections  of the skin, in many 
342          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

cases in which medical remedies have failed, has lately
produced considerable attention and interest in the hos-
pitals of  Europe.  The matter of Cow Pox, can always
be obtained pure, by addressing a letter to the  Vaccine
Institution of New  York, Philadelphia or  Baltimore,
from either of which, on application, you will receive it,
by letter.   If the matter be received from a  distance, it
is best to hold the lancet, on  which is  the  matter you
intend to  insert into  the  arm, until it  softens  a little;
then, hold the lancet in such a position, that the matter
can gradually* go  off" the  point.  Next  scratch  the
skin frequently, but  not  too  deeply,  with the  point
of the lancet on which is  the matter, until a little blood
may be seen;—this is the  whole secret of vaccination.
Sometimes the matter of  Cow Pox is sent on threads;
when this is the case, make a slight incision in the arm,
and lay the thread in it, which must be covered with
court plaster  to keep it in its place until  the  disorder
has been communicated.  If a physician be convenient,
it will always  be advisable to employ him  to  perform
the operation, because much depends on the exercise of
judgment, respecting  the  future  security of the person
against that most dreadful of scourges, the Small Pox.
                  SMALL POX.
  How imperfect are the conceptions which are formed
by the fortunate few, of the sufferings to which millions
of the human race  are  subject, when  afflicted by this
dreadful and fatal disorder!  How important then is the
great remedy of vaccination, which I have before descri-
bed, that from  some  inexplicable principle, renderg
harmless this potent enemy of human life! 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          343

  Small Pox is known by the following symptoms:—a
few  days before its  appearance, you  feel restless and
uneasy, and a great  dislike to motion of any kind; cold
chills steal over you, followed  by flushings of heat, and
accompanied by a slight fever, all  of which end as the
disease  gradually increases.   You  have a pain  in
the head, a dull heavy pain in the  small of the back,
great thirst, increase of stupor, until about the third day,
when the eruptions or spots on the skin, something like
flea  bites, make their appearance on the face, neck,
breast and arms, and gradually extend  over the whole
body.   These spots gradually increase in size, until
about  the fifth or  sixth day, when  they  begin  to turn
white  at the  tops, and feel painful.   Your voice then
becomes hoarse, as if you had a severe  cold; your face
becomes much swelled, and your features appear much
changed; your eye-lids, particularly, swell to a consid-
erable extent, so as frequently to close the eyes entirely,
and  a  spitting takes place as if you were salivated.  On
the eleventh day, these pustules or pimples have increas-
ed to about the size  of a common pea, and instead of
white contain a yellow  matter; on  the  tops of which
pustules or pimples,  you will discover a small  black
spot, whilst all the rest is filled with this yellow matter.
About the twelfth  day they burst, and  discharge their
contents, with a horrible stench which is almost insup-
portable; nor dare you attempt to wash off this matter,
the slightest touch giving the most  excruciating pain.
It is this matter which leaves  the  scars on the faces of
persons  disfigured with  the disorder.  If the  matter
dries  quickly, it leaves  no  marks;  but if, from any
unhealthy constitutional  defect, it lingers for some time
on the body,  it generally leaves those marks behind it,
which  disfigure the countenance for life.  The disease 
344          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

sometimes, but not frequently, comes on with great vio-
lence, with all the symptoms of typhus or nervous fever:
refer to page 194, where you will see the form of treat-
ment which must be observed in Small  Pox, should it
come on  with symptoms  of typhus or  nervous fever.
When these unfavorable appearances take place in the
commencement of the disease, it is called by physicians
Confluent  Small Pox.  The eruptions  appear  much
earlier  in  this form  of the complaint; they  run in
patches, and instead of rising, remain flat and are of a
dark livid color; they secrete a dark brown unhealthy
matter.   The  fever, which in the  first form  of Small
Pox abates when the pimples become full, in this form
of the disease continues constantly  throughout the dis-
ease, ending in great debility or weakness.   In this last
form or stage of Small Pox, which I have described as
of the nervous or typhus kind, it may be considered as
very highly dangerous, and as generally  terminating,
without judicious and skilful treatment, fatally.
                     REMEDIES.
  In the treatment of this complaint, you are to avoid
every thing, as you  value the life of your patient, of a
heating  nature, either as  drink, or food, or  clothing.
The room is to be kept as quiet as possible.   Cover the
patient with nothing but a  very thin sheet; even the
weight and heat of a common linen sheet is painful and
oppressive, and unless he complains of feeling cold, you
cannot commit an error in keeping him too cool.  Let
all his drinks be of the most cooling nature.   As a gen-
eral drink, cold water, sweetened with sugar, in which is
put a  little  acid, so as to make it pleasantly sour, is the
best drink that can be given.  In fevers of every descrip-
tion, and particularly in  the one which attends on Small
Pox, acid  drinks abate  the fever, lessen the thirst, and 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          345

 cool the whole  system.  The heat  and pain of  the
 eruptions will  always be lessened, by  keeping them well
 moistened with equal quantities  of milk and water, or
 with cold water  alone.  Cold water, as a remedy used
 in sponging the body in the first stage of this complaint,
 will greatly tend to lessen the heat, and pain in the head
 and back.   In fact,  as I have told you before, there is
 no danger of ccoling remedies, unless the patient com-
 plains of being chilly and cold, which is not  frequently
 the case; but if he should do so, moderate the quantity
 of cooling drinks to the feelings of the patient—nature
 usually tells  the  truth.   If, by  any accident, the  com-
 plaint should strike in, (which is  not the case once in a
 hundred instances,) the warm bath made pleasantly
 warm should be  used, and a little warm  wine whey, or
 warm wine,  given internally at the  same time.  These
 measures will again bring out the disorder on the skin.
 For the proper treatment of this disease, when it puts
 on the  appearance of nervous  or typhus fever, and is
 called Confluent  Small  Pox, I refer  you to page 194,
 where you  will find  it at length.  When the  eruptions
 burst and discharge their matter, an ointment made of
 cream  and common garden parsley, and  constantly
 applied by  means of a soft swab,  or rag rolled round a
 small stick, to keep the sores soft, and to prevent their
 hardening, will entirely prevent any marks or scars from
 being left on the face.  I have  omitted to state, that if
 the bowels are  costive, epsom salts should be given in a
 little cold water—see table for close—or you may keep
 them gently open, by cooling clysters:—for clystering,
 look under the head clysters.  The loss of some blood
from the arm, is sometimes necessary in the first stage of
this  disease,  if the inflammatory  symptoms run  high,
 and the pain in the head is very distressing.  This, with
       44 
346          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

the use of cold water as before mentioned, if the inflam-
matory action is very  great, will produce a  beneficial
effect in relieving a pain in the head and back.
             VENEREAL DISEASE.
  The prevalence of this dreadful disease among man-
kind,  is another  proof  among the many others that
might be adduced, that it is  the  interest of man to be
virtuous, if he wishes to be happy, and that a decree
of the Almighty  has  announced to  him, in language
not to be mistaken, "the penalty of a misdeed shall
always tread on the heels of the transgression;  if you
violate my laws, which were formed for your happiness,
I will convince you of that Yiolation, by plunging you
into sufferings and misery."
  That there are moments of licentious conduct in
early life, affording but a short and transitory enjoyment,
to which memory in after periods looks back with sor-
row and remorse, no man possessed of common sense
will deny; but when to the bitter pangs of remorse for
a misdeed, are added the pains and sufferings of bodily
disease, as is always the case in venereal  complaints,
language has no  powers to describe the real condition
of the sufferer.  What dreadful sacrifices are frequently
made by mankind, of health, wealth, fame, happiness,
and character, for a momentary gratification of sensual
pleasure, which often ends in shame, and remorse, and
the misery of a  whole  life, inflicted by the venereal
disease.  If  the  transgressor  himself  alone suffered,
this disease would not present so horrible a spectacle to
the eye  of humanity; but how often do we  see an inno-
cent and spotless  wife, in moments of endearing confi- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          347
dence and love, receiving this infectious disorder and
communicating it to her children—I will not say from
a husband, it would be a misuse of the word, but from
a brute, who has violated every principle of honor, and
the most sacred ties of humanity.  But this is not all—
how often do we see an innocent, virtuous, unsuspicious
wife, her constitution destroyed,  her health  deeply
impaired, and all her hopes of happiness blasted forever,
from having received  from the man she calls her hus-
band, this loathsome and filthy disorder, and having to
submit to an examination of those parts which common
decency forbids me to name, in order that she may be
cured of a disease which always  ends in  death of a
most terrible character, unless medical means can  be
used.
   This complaint is produced, in most cases, by  a
healthy person having sexual intercourse or connexion,
with another who has this infectious disorder in the gen-
itals or privates.   It took its name  from a Greek word,
which  in our language means filthy.  The  Old Testa-
ment informs  us, that the  ancient inhabitants of the
eastern countries, were much  subject to diseases of the
genitals or privates, and that for  the  preservation of
the Jewish  nation, circumcision was enforced in  the
Mosaic laws, and made also  a religious  rite or cere-
mony.   Circumcision means the cutting off the foreskin
or prepuce of the private member, which prevents any
poisonous or infectious matter from producing  disease,
by being lodged under this skin.   Although no  direct
mention is  made of  venereal  disease among  those
people,  yet the description of some of the diseases of
the genitals to which they were subject, leads us directly
to the belief, that they were well acquainted with vene-
real complaints; be this however as it may, about the 
348
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
close  of the fifteenth  century, I  think about the year
1494, the venereal disease  appeared in Europe, from
which it communicated with great rapidity to every part
of the known world,  and became  such a  scourge  to
the human race, as to become an object of great medical
attention.  I have neither time nor space, for pursuing
the subject of its history any further, indeed it would be
both useless and unnecessary.
  After you have taken this disorder, in the manner I
have described, it will  depend very much on the state of
your system, and other peculiarities of that system not
distinctly known,  at wThat particular time  the. disease
will make its  appearance.   In some persons, wrhose sys-
tems are very irritable, it will show itself on the third or
fourth day after you have had sexual connexion with a
person infected with  the disease;  in other persons it
will be eight or ten days before it makes its appearance;
and I have known it to remain a month or more in the
system, before it  would show itself in any form.  In
fact, cases are mentioned by good  medical writers,  in
which several men have had connexion with a woman
known to have the venereal disease, some of whom took
it, while others escaped uninjured. This singular circum-
stance, which we are bound to credit from the goodness
of the authorities, must have been owing to the fact of
the infected  woman making water, immediately before
having  connexion with  those  who escaped  without
injury.
   I am inclined to believe  that  it has never been fully
ascertained, how  long the venereal matter  will remain,
as it  were, asleep in the system, without making its ap-
pearance—some  writers say three months, some six
 months, some a year,  and so on.  I suspect the fact to
 be, in those cases in  which the disease is supposed to 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
349
appear after a considerable time, that the persons have
not been  entirely cured; in other  words, that the dis-
ease has  merely been driven back by quackery, and
afterwards showed itself under the following forms:—
in the  nose, in the  throat, in the eyes, on the legs, in
swellings  of the groins, in splotches or sores on the
body, &c.   This last stage of the venereal  disease is
called  consumptional,  because it  is firmly  seated in
the whole body, by the venereal virus or poison having
been absorbed, and carried into  the whole circulation.
The  venereal  disease  may be   communicated,  by
wounding  or  pricking any part of the  body with  a
lancet, having on its point any particle of this venereal
poison.  I recollect a student of medicine,  who came
very near death, from  cutting his finger slightly, when
dissecting a person who had died of the venereal dis-
ease ; the poisonous matter was communicated  to the
slight cut; in twelve hours afterwards he labored un-
der violent fever, which continued ten or twelve days,
before  the  inflammation   could  be subdued.   This
disease may also take place, from an application  of the
matter to a scratch, to a common sore, or to a wound.
Several instances are  mentioned,  of venereal or pox
sores  being formed  in the nostrils, eye  lids and lips,
from the  slight circumstance of  persons having the
disease, touching their nostrils, eyes or lips, with their
fingers, immediately after handling the  venereal sores
on their own privates.  These remarks are made, with
the intention  of showing  how  easily this  loathsome
disease, with  all its impure and life-corrupting  taints,
may be  communicated, and to place physicians and
midwives on their guard against infection.
   Venereal disease has two distinct forms;  I  might
say three  forms, for the third is nothing more than the 
350          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

one I  have just described as constitutional, which
always arises from one of the other two, or from both
in combination.  The first  is Pox, properly so called;
and the other Clap, called  by physicians Gonorrhoea,
which is so simple in its nature, that with proper treat-
ment it may be cured, in from three to five or six days.
   The pox is a most corrupting, dangerous  and de-
structive disease, and if suffered to  progress  in  its
ravages on the human body, never fails  in  desolating
the human constitution, and destroying life at its very
core.   When it  is foolishly concealed, and suffered to
run on, or badly treated in  attempting its cure, it al-
ways ends in distressing and irreparably fatal conse-
quences.  In ten cases  out of eleven, if application
were immediately made, with the proper remedies, the
complaint, dreadful as it is, might be cured in a very
short time, without affecting the system; for I  do know
from actual  experience, having  paid  much  attention
to the  general practice  in  venereal cases, that thou-
sands  have  been salivated,  and their constitutions
destroyed, by Mercury,  when more simple and  less
dangerous practice, combined with adequate and prop-
er attentions, would entirely have removed the disease.
Medically speaking, Pox is  at first a local, and not a
general disease of the system, by which I mean, that
it is more a disease of the  part first affected, than of
the whole body; and I have no manner of doubt, that
many a poor unfortunate  fellow, has been pushed and
dragged  through a tedious and destructive mercurial
course of medicine, and perhaps for a disease  which
was not actual Pox, who might have been cured by a
little lunar  caustic,  a wash  made  of blue stone;  a
little red precipitate,  or even  by sprinkling on the
chancre,  or first venereal  ulcer, a small  portion of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          351

calomel.  I  have frequently  observed in the United
States,  many cases, which professional honor forbids
me to name, in which patients have suffered  infinitely
more from the imprudent, and, to coin a new word,
quacknical use of mercury, than could possibly have
resulted from the first insignificant venereal sore itself,
with strict attention to cleanliness, had the disease been
permitted to run its course.   That mercury holds a dis*
tinguished, powerful, and perhaps perfect dominion over
venereal diseases, in  most, if not in all  cases, I freely
admit to be  true:—but I as firmly believe, that thou-
sands might have been cured of this horrid complaint,
under very mild administrations of this powerful medi-
cine, this Sampson of the drug shops.  I have witnessed
the  progress of this  disease,  in both Europe and the
United States, from  its mildest forms to its most de-
structive ravages  on  the human system, and feel per-
fectly assured that the disease, which is the same in all
countries, assumes either  a  milder or  severer form,
according to the peculiarities  of the human  constitu-
tion, the irritable  state of the  system  at the time this
disease  is taken, the habits of the person, the character
of the climate, and so on.  Very few cases  of Pox in
France, in proportion  to the immense population, ter-
minate  in injuries to the bones of the face, disfigure-
ment of the nose, loss of the palate of the mouth, &,c.
This is altogether owing to their  proper  management
of the complaint; with them, the Pox produces very
little alarm, probably not more than  the itch does in
this  country.   They are perfect masters of the disease,
and  there are few cases that do not terminate speedily
and  successfully,  under their strict and judicious treat-
ment.   An individual  may travel through France, and
have promiscuous intercourse of a sexual character for 
352         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

years, without receiving the least injury.   On the con-
trary, in this country, from causes which need not be
particularly named, the least  deviation from  moral
propriety, involves the participant in disease and suffer-
ing.  As my object is the development of truth, regard-
less of petty objections and  servile  prejudices, I assert
that we use infinitely too much mercury  in the cure of
Pox in  the  United States; and  we  very  frequently
communicate a serious disease by the imprudent use of
mercury, instead of removing one; yet I  trust in God
the day will arrive, and that too at no very distant peri-
od, when diseases themselves will be prescribed for, and
not their merely technical  names.   There are  gener-
ally, in the venereal hospital at Paris,  in France, from
five to  seven hundred venereal or pox  patients.  In*
eluded in this number, there are usually about three
hundred women of the town, in other  words, common
prostitutes.  "The patients of all the French hospitals,"
says Doctor  F. J.  Didier,  honorary member of the
medical society of Baltimore, "are carefully nursed by
the sisters of charity, a class of nuns whose lives are
consecrated to the relief  of  wretchedness  and  the
calming of pain.  With what eloquence  does Voltaire
write, in favor of these charming and  admirable  wo-
men !—'Perhaps,' says he, 'there is nothing on earth so
truly great, as the sacrifice made by the softer sex, of
beauty, youth, and often the highest worldly  expecta-
tions,  to relieve that mass  of every human  suffering,
the sight of which is so revolting to delicacy."  I  my-
self have observed one of these angelic women, admin-
istering consolation and relief to a man tortured by the
agonies of disease and wretchedness.   She  appeared
to take the greatest  interest in the poor sufferer.  The
sweetness, the captivating voice, the winning  kindness 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          353

of these  sisters  of  charity, soon dry the tear  which
flows down the care worn cheek, and infuse the gleam
of hope into the  soul depressed by  misfortune."  It is
rather singular to an American, that the French gov-
ernment should  license common prostitutes, and exact
a tribute from debaucheries, but such  are the facts.
The probability  is, however, that these  measures ori-
ginate in sound  policy  on the part of the government,
and in sentiments of actual charity, to those who under
any circumstances, would lead a life of whoredom and
prostitution.  Several objects are attained by this policy;
the license subjects these women monthly, to a medical
examination touching their diseases, and  tends to check
and prevent the  spread of venereal infection through
their immense population;  it furnishes the  police offi-
cers of their large cities with monthly registers of their
names  and places of abode, and exacts from  them  a
fund, while  in youth and  health, for their care and
support in sickness and  old  age, which they themselves
would  never think of laying up.  I think these consid-
erations worthy of the attention of our  own govern-
ments,   general  and state,  and  particularly  of the
Medical Board lately established by the  legislature of
Tennessee.   The fact is, that if the legislature of Ten-
nessee, would compel the loose characters  in all our
cities and towns, who practice prostitution on a petty
and filthy scale, to take  out license and submit to medi-
cal examination monthly, or abandon their  commerce
in low  and  corrupt  debauchery, we would soon have
fewer cases  of venereal in  our commercial towns, or
be  rid  of  the fraternity of prostitutes  altogether.  I
have in the foregoing remarks, perhaps, strayed a little
from the precise track of my subject;  but, as the digres-
sion will probably not be  wholly uninteresting, I shall
       45 
354
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 make no elaborate apology for it.  I will first describe
pox and clap separately, and next give their remedies
 separately.
                       POX.
   When you suppose you have taken this  disease, no
.foolish or childish delicacy, should prevent you for a
 moment from  ascertaining the fact.  The disease gen-
 erally  makes  its appearance by  what physicians  call
 chancres.  These are small inflamed pimples, which
 show themselves on the head of the penis or yard, or
 on the side of the  penis  near the end.  In a very few
 days these pimples  enlarge  themselves, and  become
 what are called venereal sores  or ulcers.   In  women,
 these pimples  show themselves first, immediately inside
 of what are called the lips of the privates, and unless
 arrested in their course of enlargement, extend them-
 selves to the fundament in a short time.  The pox, also,
 sometimes makes its appearance, in what are called
 buboes; these are hard lump-like kernels or swellings,
 which  rise in  one or both  groins.   These swellings
 gradually increase in size, until they become about the
 size of an egg, and have an angry red color, and unless
 driven away by the application of medicine, eventually
 come to a head, and discharge their poisonous matter.
 These buboes generally produce great pain, some fever,
 and prevent the person afflicted with them from walk-
 ing, without  considerable difficulty.   Buboes some-
 times make their appearance under the arm-pits, and
 sometimes in the glands of the throat; these appear-
 ances of bubo, however, are not very frequent, and are
 much  oftener the effects of mercury, improperly admin-
 istered in the Pox, than  arising from the disease itself!
 The fact  is,  that I  think them  produced, generally,
 from the neglect of many, in not speedily  effecting  a 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
355
cure by the proper and  efficient use of medicine—in
other words,  by half-way  dilatory measures, which
neither cure the disease, nor suffer it to  run its course.
When the constitution is  very irritable, the disease will
sometimes  attack the nose, the  throat, the tongue, the
eyes, the skin  bones, and so on, and  fill the whole sys-
tem with the  venereal  poison in no great length of
time, and unless efficient, combined with well judged
remedies be resorted to, the human system will become
a mass of putrifying sores, and the sufferer become an
object of compassion and  disgust.   By this short and
comprisive description, you will be at no  loss to know
what is the Pox, if you should ever have it.
                      CLAP.
   Clap is a  simple disease, and may  be very easily
cured,  if  timely  attention be  paid to  it.   The  first
symptoms of the disease are, burning and scalding sen-
sations  or feelings, in the urethra or canal of the penis,
whenever  you urinate or  make water.   There will be
a discharge of matter from the penis, first of nearly a
white color, next of a yellowish color, which will stain
your shirt, and lastly, of a greenish  color.   After hav-
ing the  disease some time, or perhaps from the irrita-
bility of your  system,  you will experience what is
called chordee: this is  a spasmodic contraction of the
penis, which gives considerable pain in erections of the
yard, as if it were  wound with  a small  cord.   In
women, this disease called Clap, is still more simple;
in  its first stage merely resembling the Whites in their
worst stage.   There is, however, this specific difference
between Clap and Whites in women—in  Clap there is
always a scalding and burning sensation in making wa-
ter, and a  continual uneasiness and itching about the 
 356          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 parts,  neither of which  sensations are experienced in
 mere Whites.
                REMEDIES FOR POX.
   As soon as the first symptoms of Pox are discovered,
 which will in all common  cases be known  by the ap-
 pearance of chancres or buboes, both of which I have
 described to you sufficiently, take an  active purge of
 calomel and jalap.  The object  of this  purge is, to
 clear the  bowels of all  irritating  obstructions, and to
 remove as far  as  possible,  every species of irritation
from the system:—see table for dose.   If this dose of
 calomel and jalap does not  operate  in  proper  time,
take a tea-spoonful of epsom salts to assist  the opera-
tion, and to make it fully effective.   If  you should have
dark stools, let the medicine run  on its whole course;
but, if the stools become yellow and  watery, and you
feel much weakened by the operation,  take from ten to
twenty drops of laudanum, or a tea-spoonful of pare-
goric, to  prevent  the medicine from working you too
severely.  Next, obtain from any doctor's shop, a small
quantity of lunar caustic; cut the end of a quill, and
set the caustic into it, which will afford  you an opportu-
nity of using it more conveniently, and without handling
it with your fingers;  wet the end of this caustic in wa-
ter, and touch the chancres or sores with  it lightly,
twice a day, until  you have killed the poison, always
taking care to wash and cleanse the sores well with soap
and  water, immediately  before  this operation is  per-
formed.  The caustic will  sting you a  little;  but never
 mind this; you  are  now on  the  stool of repentance,
and  ajre only learning the salutary moral lesson, that
 "the penalty always treads upon the heels of the trans-
gression," and  that the sacred laws of nature and her 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          OD7

God, can never  be violated  without punishment  to
reform the offender!  After using the caustic  as just
directed, apply dry lint to the sores.  If caustic can-
not be had, red precipitate will answer nearly the same
purpose; this must be used by sprinkling a little on the
chancres, after cleansing them with soap and water as
before mentioned; or you may,  if you have neither
caustic or precipitate, use a little calomel,  in the way
that I have directed the  precipitate to be used.  The
better way, however, will  be, where all the articles can
be obtained, to use the three alternately, or in rotation,
until you can ascertain which of them seems best  to
heal the ulcers—and then to adopt the one  which you
prefer, from the  exercise of your best judgment.   I,
myself, have always found the lunar caustic the best
remedy.  If you are difficultly situated, as to procuring
the articles above named, dissolve  some blue vitriol,
generally called  blue stone, in water, and wash  the
chancres or ulcers with the solution repeatedly, taking
particular  care to keep  the sores very clean, and en-
tirely free from matter.
   If the disease appears under the form  of Buboes,
which are such swellings  of the groin as I have descri-
bed to you, and which if left to themselves, will rise and
break like boils, you are to put blisters of Spanish flies
on  them,  which  extend  one or two inches over  the
 buboes; and I suppose I  need not tell  you, that these
 said blisters are  to be renewed,  until  the  buboes, or
 swellings are what the physicians call "discussed," in
 other words, driven  away or back entirely.  If you
 cannot get blisters, lie on your back, and  apply linen
 rags to the buboes, kept constantly wet with clear strong
 ley, which we vulgarly pronounce lye.  For this remedy,
 which is a valuable one,  we are indebted to the French 
358          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

Physicians: I learned  it in France.   And, now mind
me particularly; if these  buboes, notwithstanding  the
applications of blisters, or the application of ley or lye,
rise to a head, burst, and discharge their offensive and
poisonous  matter, which they will certainly  do if  not
driven back, you are to take the greatest possible pre-
cautions to keep them clean,  while  discharging their
loathsome contents;  if you do not, the matter will be
very apt to produce other Venereal ulcers, especially if
it happen to lodge  on any sores on other parts of  the
body; therefore wash them gently, but well, two or three
times a day, in strong soap and water, and after drying
them well, wash the sores again with a little of the weak
solution  of corrosive  sublimate  If you cannot pro-
cure  this preparation,  sprinkle a little red  precipitate
or calomel on the sores, and dress them with some sim-
ple ointment, such as Turner's cerate:—see under that
head:—but mind me, these dressings, or either of them,
are  never to  be put on, unless after washing the sores
well  with  soap and water.  During all  this treatment,
and from the  very commencement of the disorder, you
are to drink freely of a strong decoction or tea, made
of low ground sarsaparilla,  to every quart of which
tea, after you have strained it clear, you are  to add
sixty drops of nitric acid,  vulgarly called aqua fortis.
Take this tea thus prepared, freely, say from a pint to a
quart per  day, and avoid particularly  every kind of
strong food, and all kinds of spirituous liquors.  These
measures carefully and strictly pursued, combined with
time, patience, and the requisite rest, are all that  are
required to cure this dreadful scourge of debauchery and
licentiousness, under any form in which  it  may appear
in the human system.  This has been my uniform prac-
tice,  both  in  Virginia and Tennessee;  and  it is well 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          359

known that I have  succeeded,  in  many  cases of the
most desperate and hopeless character, and where other
modes of practice had been  resorted  to in vain.  By
these means, which have never before been made known
by me, I succeeded in curing a gentleman in Virginia,
several years ago, whose case I will dare aver, was as
bad  a one as can well be imagined. He had been
attended and prescribed for, by several of the most dis-
tinguished physicians in the United  States, and  was
brought to me twenty miles in a carriage to Montgom-
ery Court House, where I then resided, in so helpless
and dreadful a condition, that he  had fainted several
times on the short journey, and was but the shadow of
a human being.   Yet in the lapse of six weeks, by the
practice  I have just described, he became a well  man.
He is now married, and I am happy to add, from late
accounts, is  a  healthy and  virtuous  husband, and an
excellent citizen.   I am constrained, however, to add,
that the real danger of his situation, was as much owing
to the effects of the mercury he had  taken,  as  to the
actual presence in his system of the venereal virus or
poison.   That his disease was both venereal and mer-
curial, I have never entertained the least doubt—in other
words, it came under  the constitutional disease I have
before described,  as being characterized by sores on the
body, blotches, &c. &c.  The venereal disease, in this
constitutional stage, has been called by some medical
writer,  and I perfectly coincide with  him in opinion,
the Mercurial Pox, which I certainly consider not only
more dangerous, but greatly more difficult to cure than
the real  disease itself, if no other means than mercury
be relied on.  I am perfectly aware  that the idea of
abandoning  the use of mercury in the cure of pox, will
be considered a novelty  by many of the faculty of this 
350
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 country; but I am fully as well aware, that the sarsa-
 parilla, as I have prescribed the use of it here, combined
 with the nitric acid or aqua fortis, as before mentioned,
 will remove the pox from the human system in its worst
 forms and stages.  For the powerful and salutary influ-
 ence  of the  nitric acid  or aqua fortis on  the human
 system, the sceptical reader will please to see "Reme-
 dies," in diseases of the Liver, from page 248 onward.
 The practice of treating venereal  cases without mer-
 cury, has now become general,  both in the hospitals of
 England and France; and I predict that the day is not
 far distant, when mercury will cease to be used through-
 out the United States.  The belief that pox can only be
 cured with safety and certainty  by the use of mercury,
 is so deeply  seated in the minds of physicians at this
 time, that  I am persuaded it will require much time to
 remove their  confidence in its favor.  That mercury is
 as I have  before said, a cure for the venereal disease, is
 well known;  but that the effects produced  by  it are
frequently  mistaken for  the pox itself, I have no more
doubt than I have of my own existence.
  The French method of curing pox, is by the use or
administration of Van Swieten's Liquor,  as they call
it—or  Anti-syphiltic  Rob—for this medicine and the
manner of preparing  it, look under  that head.  The
Rob *was  used in the London hospitals,  until it was
superseded and thrown out of use,  by Swaim's Pana-
cea—for the method of preparing which, see under that
head.  Both these medical preparations, are used with
advantage in secondary symptoms, by which I  mean
what I have said before, in cases where the disease has
become constitutional, and is attended with ulcers, sores,
 blotches, &c.  The sulphur bath, or sulphureous fumi-
gation, is much used in France.  After the fourth bath, 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           361

 the ulcers and venereal blotches begin to heal, and gen-
 erally in ten or twelve baths are entirely cured.  This
 last remedy, which is an excellent one, is entirely neg-
 lected, if I must speak out, upon no other principles, than
 laziness and inattention on the part of practitioners, and
 ignorance in their patients.   This bath is nothing more
 than the fumes of sulphuric acid, which is nothing but
 oil of vitriol.   For a full description of this valuable
 remedy, I may add this astonishing one—read under the
 head Sulphuric Fumigation.
   With the foregoing exposition of my own mode of
 curing pox, and  the  material remedies used in  other
 countries, I will now proceed to give the common and
 general  practice in this disease, leaving it optional with
 the patient  to adopt  that which suits his opinions or
 convenience best.  Were I to advise, however, on the
 subject  of  a choice, I would  recommend the mild
 method in the first instance, and the mercurial one only
 when the aggravation of the symptoms seemed to call
 for it, which I must confess I  think would be but sel-
 dom, where the plan of  treatment I have laid down had
 been  faithfully adhered  to  and  persisted in.  Doctor
 Rosseau of Philadelphia, a gentleman of distinguished
 ability, and great practice  in this disease, expressly
 says—"I  have never found  any benefit to be derived
 from a salivation;  on the contrary, those  patients who
 have undergone this dirty, filthy, torturing process, have
 to my knowledge, and to their own sorrow, felt the dele-
 terious effects  of it for many years, and very many for
 life."  For a  full  description  of this  complaint, in its
 secondary and constitutional symptoms, and the dreadful
 effects of mercury, I refer to  this very able,  intelligent,
 and honest writer; Medical Recorder, volume third,
"Sketches on venereal complaints."
       46 
362          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  The practice throughout the United States has been*
and now generally is, to introduce into the whole sys-
tem, as much mercury as will produce a soreness of the
gums, or salivation, by giving  small  doses  of calomel
alone,  or combined with opium, if the calomel alone
would  run off* by  the  bowels;  and by rubbing on the
bubo, to disperse it, mercurial  ointment, known  by the
country people as oil  of baze,  of which a piece about
the size of the end of your finger is to be rubbed in and
about the bubo, night and  morning, until a salivation is
produced, or  until the lump in the groin is dispersed.
When the mouth has a copperish taste, or a slight sore-
ness is felt, stop taking the calomel, and omit rubbing
in the mercurial ointment, as the whoie system is  then
considered to be under mercurial influence.   The blue
pill is now used very  extensively in the United  States,
instead of calomel, being a much milder preparation of
mercury—for a description of  this pill, and the manner
of preparing  it, read under that head.  The dose is one
pill in the morning, and one at night, until they produce
the effects on the gums and mouth, required to be  pro-
duced  by calomel; when they are to be continued,  only
so far as  to keep up the effect on the gums and mouth,
until the disease is removed.  The chancres, or buboes,
are to  be treated  as before  described in a  preceding
page.  Doctor Cartwright, who is  among the greatest
medical men  now living, in this or any other country,
recommends the following practice, and relates many
cases treated  by himself with unbounded success.  "I
never," says he, "prescribe calomel with a view to pro-
duce salivation; but to guard against it, I order a clyster
or some mild purgative to be taken, in twelve or sixteen
hours after the calomel, if  it  does not operate; and in
the event of its operating too  much, I direct a little lau- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           363
clanum to check it, so as to limit it to two or three stools,
unless the stools are of a dark or green color, when the
purging should be permitted to go on, until they change
their appearance.  As it  respects this disorder, when
taken in time, I have found  by an experience of two
year's practice, that pox is as easily cured  by giving
twenty or thirty grains of calomel every day or every
other day, as a common  dose.  In good constitutions,
pox yields to the native powers of  the system.  As soon
as a copperish taste is  perceived  in the mouth, or the
least tenderness of the gums, or soreness of the teeth,
I order an immediate  suspension of the calomel until
these symptoms have disappeared, when it should  be
resumed with  caution.  The preparation I generally
use," says the doctor, "is twenty grains of calomel and
four of rhubarb, given at  bed time.  Generally, by the
time three or four doses  have been taken, the breath
will begin to have a mercurial odor, a copperish taste
will be perceived in  the  mouth, or the gums will  feel
tender.   About this time, or even before it, the venereal
symptoms begin to disappear, and in a few days more,
the chancres entirely heal.   I generally recommend,
after the healing of the chancres, a dose or two more to
complete the cure of the  disease.   I have rarely found
more than twelve or fifteen pills, each ten grains of cal-
omel and two of rhubarb, necessary for the  cure of a
recent infection, or in  other words, one that is not of
long standing."  I have now given a full description of
the various  methods of treating this loathsome disease
called pox, in the best manner, leaving the  reader to
make his own selection   among them.  Much  of  my
information  has  been derived from  experiment and
observation; and I regret  to say, that I have witnessed
the disease  in  as severe  forms, since I have been ir^ 
364          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

Knoxville, as I ever did in the hospitals of Europe or
the United States.   The disease was brought from New
Orleans, and  was  of the most virulent or poisonous
character.  I omitted to remark, that buboes are always
to be poulticed with light bread and milk, or  slippery
elm bark, if they are likely to come to a-head.
               REMEDIES FOR CLAP.
   The moment you discover that  you have contracted
this complaint, the symptoms of which I  have plainly
described to you, take  at bed time, an active  dose  of
calomel—see table for  dose—and if necessary, which
is usually the case, assist the  operation of the  calomel
in the morning, with a dose of epsom salts—see table,
&c.  Take care to live on cooling and simple  diet, say
corn or rye mush and milk, and avoid every thing of a
heating and irritating nature, such as salted provisions,
high seasoning, and spiritous  liquors.  When the med-
icine I have  directed  has  done operating,  use  the
following prescription, and use it  with  some accuracy
too: take one ounce, which is about two table-spoons-
ful, of balsam copaiva, (commonly called capiva,) and
add thereto one table-spoonful of spirits of turpentine;
mix them well together by  shaking, and  take  thirty
drops of the mixture, three times  a day on some sugar,
and drink freely of flax seed tea, made by pouring a
quart of boiling water, on any  quantity  of flax seed
convenient.   This  tea  must  be  taken cold, and  used
freely as a common drink.  If you ride on horseback,
or walk much, or take active exercise, clap is difficult
to cure, and requires a much longer time, than if you
remain quiet and stationary while using the above rem-
edy.  I generally  cure it in three days, and frequently
in less time.   A dose  of salts should  be taken  every
 other morning.  Sometimes this balsam operates on the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
365
bowels, without producing  the proper effect on  the
urinary organs; if so, reduce  the dose to  thirty^five
drops, twice or three times a day, which is to be taken
as usual on sugar.   Cleanliness, and I wish you to mind
this matter particularly, is very important in the cure
of this disease; by which I mean frequently washing
the parts well, three or four times a day, with soap and
water, so as to remove the poisonous matter.  Clap is
generally more mild, and much more easily cured in
women than men, unless  women  permit  it  to remain
and run on them for some length of time; in this case,
the disease becomes painful, and requires  the remedies
prescribed in  the cases of men, only in smaller doses
—say from twenty  to  thirty drops, of  the balsam and
turpentine, three times a day.   If any attention be paid,
nothing more will be necessary than keeping the parts
clean by washing with soap and  water, and injecting
up the birth place with a small  syringe or leaden squirt,
the following mixture:—put fifteen grains sugar of lead,
and fifteen grains white vitriol,  in a quart of cold water,
and let them fully dissolve; then, of this water, inject
or  throw  up  the birth place, a syringe full  five or six
times a day, and drink freely of flaxseed tea, using the
balsam and turpentine as before directed, if necessary.
   Doctor Chapman, one of the professors of the uni-
versity of Philadelphia,  recommends the  following
valuable remedy, which is admirably suited  to weakly
persons, and those whose stomachs are much  debilita-
ted.  It is, perhaps, better calculated for the summer
season, being a very  mild preparation, than  any other.
I have used it frequently  in my practice; but the first
remedy is always certain to put a stop  to the disease.
   Chapman's  remedy.—Take two  table-spoonsful of 
 366          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 balsam capaiva, the  same quantity of sweet spirits of
 nitre, some of  the  white of an egg, and mix them
* together; add, then, one tea-spoonful of laudanum, and
 ten table-spoonsful of  cold  water;  shake the whole
 well together, and the mixture will be ready for  use,
 remembering always, to shake the medicine up before
 taking  it.   Morning, noon,  and night,  take a table-
 spoonful of this mixture.  You may take it with  any
 thing that will render it pleasant to the taste.  It is an
 excellent, certain and mild remedy, either for males or
 females; and I now  again  admonish  you, that if you
 wish a speedy  cure, you are  to avoid  every heating
 article  of food  or drink, and to repose much on the
 bed.
   When Clap  is permitted by neglect  to go on, or
 when you ride much on  horseback, you will be apt to
 have what is called  chordee, which I have fully de-
 scribed under the head Clap, and which it is needless
 to repeat.  In these cases of chordee, take a dose of
 laudanum on going  to  bed—see table—and  when the
 spasm  comes on, which it will, with a partial erection,
 pour cold water  over the parts which pain you.  Should
 a discharge  of  blood take place, which is sometimes
 the .case, apply cooling poultices of  light bread  and
 cold milk to  the afflicted member, or a poultice of slip-
 pery elm.
   The old plan of  curing  Clap, which if is scarcely
 worth while  to mention, was  by  weak injections of
 sugar of lead and white vitriol; equal  quantities mixed
 in water, and  thrown  up the  canal  with a syringe.
 This old and imprudent practice, which in many instan-
 ces occasioned  swelling  testicles, gleet, and what is
 called running of the reins, has entirely ceased.  The 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          367

methods of cure I  have just laid down, are infinitely
superior in every respect, and are attended with none
of the dangers of the old manner of cure.
                     GLEET.
  This disease is  sometimes  called running  of the
i*eins.  It  is a  discharge  which resembles in  consis-
tence, the white of an eggk  Men who have frequently
had the clap, also those who  have been old soldiers in
the wars of Venus,  are  very  liable to have Gleet.  It
is also produced by too frequent intercourse with wo-
men, in those enjoyments which ought always to be
bounded by virtue  and moderation.   This disease is
also  produced, by that horrible practice of self pollu-
tion, called onanism; and also by the use of strong
diuretic medicines,  or such  as cause a great flow of
urine.   This complaint sometimes resists the powers of
medicines for years; and operates as a constant drain
on the strength  of the system, by which the constitution
and vital energies are sometimes prostrated: it is a dis-
ease that ought never to be neglected.
                    REMEDIES.
  You are to bathe the parts four or five times a day
in cold water; this cold bathing will act so as  to give
tone and strength to the parts.  Obtain a phial of mu-
riated  tincture of iron, and take thirty drops of it three
times a day, in a wine glass of strong tea, made of the
dogwood bark; it must be taken cold.  By persevering
steadily in this remedy, and in cold bathing for a month
or two, you will probably be relieved of Gleet.  You
may, at the same time, use an injection of red oak bark,
made  by  boiling a little  of  the  bark in water, and 
 368          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 straining it clear.  A little of this tea can occasionally
 be thrown into the canal, by the aid of a small syringe^
 which you can obtain at any doctor's shop; it must be
 thrown up  cold,  four or six times a day.  In  throwing
 up this injection, you  are  to press your left fore finger
 pretty hard on the lower side of the penis near the root,
 to prevent  any part of the injection  from getting  into
 the bladder.
  After a fair trial of the above remedies, and you are
 baffled of success, commence with ten drops of tincture
 of cantharides or spanish flies, instead of the iron, in
 the tea three times a day, gradually increasing the dose
 to thirty drops, and no more.  This is generally, a cer-
 tain remedy.   Women may use the iron as directed;
but not the last tincture, unless in  very small  doses of
 eight, ten and fifteen drops, three times a day; bathing
 frequently with cold water, and with  a female syringe
throwing the bark water up  the birth place, five  or six
times a day.   Cold water thrown up will also answer
a good purpose.   As the western country abounds with
chalybeate  springs, they ought to  be resorted to, and
used freely of, by all  persons laboring under Gleet.  I
suppose I  need  not tell you, that chalybeate  water is
such as is  impregnated with  iron.  The gum  called
turpentine,  of our common pine tree, taken in  common
sized  pills, one three times a day, is a valuable remedy
 in Gleet, and has been known to cure it when  all other
 remedies have failed.
^ 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         369

                      POISONS.
    Any substance, which, taken into the stomach, or
 into any other part of the  body, or applied externally
 to the body, so as to produce disease or death, may be
 called a Poison.  The most active and powerful reme-
 dies we  use in medicine, if given in  large  doses oper-
 ates as Poisons; but when given in small ones, are not
 only  innocent, but  valuable.  There are,  also, many
 medicines,  which, when taken into  the stomach are
 quite harmless, indeed  very valuable in the cure  of
 disease;  but, when  taken into the lungs by breathing
 or respiration, are  dangerous and destructive  in the
 extreme.  The Poison of the rattlesnake, when taken
 into  the  stomach is  entirely  harmless;  but the same
 Poison, when inserted into the flesh so as to reach the
 circulation, immediately produces disorder  and  death,
 unless relief can be obtained.  I make these introduc-
 tory remarks on Poisons, to  throw as much light on
 their operations  as  possible, in the fewest  number of
 words.
   When  mineral Poisons,  such as  copper, arsenic,
 corrosive sublimate, lead, lunar caustic, &c. &/C.  are
 taken into the stomach, in too large quantities, you  will
 feel a burning and pricking  sensation in the stomach,
 and great pain in the bowels, accompanied with a con-
 stant puking, and a thirst which cannot be satisfied.
 Your mouth and  throat will  become rough and dry, as
 if you had chewed and swallowed  an unripe persim-
 mon, and the pain will gradually increase, until it
 becomes  almost  insupportable.  In this  stage, unless
 speedy relief is had, inflammation will take place, and
 terminate in mortification and death.  Should the dose
of Poison taken, not be sufficient to destroy life, a fever
         47 
370          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
will take place, which will last for some time, attended
with a constant trembling of the nerves.
   When vegetable Poison, such as Jamestown weed,
hemlock,  opium, hen bane, deadly  night  shade,  fox
glove, wolf's bane, laurel, &c. &c. are taken into  the
stomach in too great portions, they produce stupor and
a  constant  desire to sleep.   The Jamestown  weed
usually produces effects peculiar to itself:—for which,
and a description of the plant, read under that head.
   When the poison of animals is introduced into the
human system, it is communicated  by the bites or stings
of serpents,  spiders, &c. &c. requiring prompt and
immediate attention  to the following remedies, which,
together with  those applicable to other species of Poi-
son,  mineral and  vegetable, are arranged under  the
proper heads.
              REMEDIES FOR POISON.
   When  any Poison  has  been swallowed, whether
vegetable or mineral, the first thing to be  done is to
empty the stomach, by an emetic or  puke of the most
active kind.   White vitriol, from five to ten, and even
twenty grains, should be given in a little warm water,
and repeated every fifteen or twenty minutes if necessa-
ry, until free and copious puking  is  produced,  which
you must encourage and keep  up by large draughts of
warm water.  The white  vitriol  is an innocent  puke,
and  acts  almost instantaneously;  and if  the emetic
should require assistance, apply tobacco leaves, steeped
in warm  vinegar or water, to the stomach;  they will
materially assist the operation of the vitriol. If  the
patient cannot be made to puke, you  must immediately
give  repeated clysters, made of strong flax  seed  tea
and  sweet milk, and let your patient drink  freely of 
             GUNK'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          o71

vinegar and water, sweetened  with sugar.   If the
poison taken into the  stomach is of the mineral kind,
beat up the whites of fifteen eggs with a quart of cold
water, and give half a  tea-spoonful every three or four
minutes;  this will greatly assist the puking.  From
taking large doses of opium or laudanum, your patient
will sometimes sink into a stupor, or deep and insensi-
ble sleep; when this  is the case, stimulants must  be
given, of sufficient power to rouse him if possible.   In
these cases, I have sometimes resorted to scalding the
soles  of the  feet with boiling water; and in one instance
saw the life of a young man saved, by whipping him to
keep  him in motion.  There is one simple and certain
remedy, however, to be found in almost every house:
take  two  tea-spoonsful of made mustard, or in  other
words, common mustard seed pounded fine and mixed
as if  for eating; put them into some warm water, and
give the whole as an  emetic, and copious puking will
almost  be immediately  produced.   This simple and
effective remedy, has  been the means of saving  hun-
dreds, who have  accidentally or intentionally swallow-
ed poison.
  I have  mentioned that poisons might be taken into
the lungs by breathing or respiration.  Doctor Paris,
in his book on diet, speaks decidedly against the intro-
duction of gas lights into the interior of dwellings, and
says, "that carburetted hydrogen is a deadly poison,
which, even  in  a state of great dilution, is capable of
exerting a baneful effect on the nervous system.   I
have been consulted," says  the  Doctor, "on several
occasions, for pains in the head, and distressing lan-
guor, which  had evidently been. produced by the per-
sons  inhaling the unburnt gas  in  the boxes of play
houses."  Sir Humphrey Davy, the celebrated chemist, 
372          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

made  an experiment  on  himself, by  inhaling pure
carburetted  hydrogen; and the  result was, that after
three inspirations, his vital  powers were so completely
suspended, that he did not recover them until the next
day.   Many instances have occurred, of persons sleep-
ing in close rooms during the night, where small char-
coal fires had been kept up for warmth, who have been
found dead in the morning.  I mention this  as  a cau-
tion; and will, also, notice some  other facts  respecting
poisons, which ought to be attended to by  those who
value their safety.
  Medicines  should always be strictly examined, espe-
cially if to  be given  by  inexperienced persons, and
those not well acquainted  with  their appearance and
qualities: even those who make a profession of smelling
medicines,  sometimes  make  dangerous  mistakes  in
them.  I have now in my office, three pounds of emetic
tartar, which I received for cream of tartar; and, had
I administered this medicine without detecting the mis-
take, the results  must have  been fatal to  many.   A
merchant of Knoxville, of the first respectability, re-
ceived  from a young man who attended a drug store in
Baltimore, emetic tartar, for cream of tartar, and was
in the very act of giving it to a friend who was indis-
posed,  when  the  master of the  shop arrived in great
alarm, having discovered  the blunder, just in time  to
prevent the  fatal  consequences.   I will give one case
more, by way of caution respecting mistakes in medi-
cines.  During the summer of 1825, a gentleman from
South  Carolina,  stopped at the  house  of Mrs. H. of
Patrick county, Virginia;  he felt somewhat indisposed,
and desired  to have a  dose of salts;  through mistake
he received and took salt  petre.   Nothing  saved him
but the early arrival of the son of Mrs. H. a gentleman 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          373

of superior intelligence, who immediately administered
a powerful emetic, and relieved him.
   Poisons, communicated by the bites of snakes, spi-
ders, and other insects, are immediately to be attended
to.  The moment you are bitten by a snake, you are to
tie a tight and strong bandage immediately above the
bite; this will prevent the circulation of the  blood, and
give you time to apply the remedies needful for relief.
As soon as possible, dissolve six grains of lunar caustic
in six table spoonsful of water, and wet the  bitter part
with it constantly.   Every man in the country ought to
keep a  small piece of lunar caustic in his house; it is
sometimes called nitrate of silver, and is  made of pure
silver, nitric acid, and pure water.  If the caustic can-
not be obtained, make a poultice of quick lime and soap,
and apply it to the part affected, and give the patient as
much red-pepper tea as the stomach will  bear, and also
every hour give him a table spoonful of the juice of the
plantain.  In all cases where a physician can be had,
the best remedy is  to cut  out the bitten part.  The
Indians, when bitten by  a poisonous snake,  always
extract  the poison by sucking the  wouud.   There is no
danger in this operation—I have told you before that the
venom of the snake, if even taken into the stomach, is
attended with no danger.  The blood should  be encour-
aged to  flow from  the wound, by scarifying the part
immediately about it, and applying the cupping instru-
ments.   When you are bitten by a spider, or injured by
any other insect, apply a linen rag constantly moistened
with laudanum, spirits of hartshorn, or strong ley.
   I shall record a few cases, in which it will  be evident
that the bite of the rattlesnake may be very easily cured,
by extremely simple, and always practicable remedies.
The cases may be found  in detail, on  pages 619, 620, 
374          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and 621, of the sixth volume of the Medical Recorder.
I shall abridge them.   1st.  "One evening at my resi-
dence,' on the hills of Santee," says William Mayrant,
Esq. (formerly a member of Congress,) "I heard a vio-
lent scream at no great distance.  In a few  minutes I
was called out and was informed that a negro had been
bitten  by a rattlesnake, and was dead, or  dying.   I
found him  motionless and speechless, his jaws locked,
and his pulse fluttering and scarcely perceptible.   I had
heard of the successful use of spirits in such cases, both
among the  whites and Indians.  I therefore took a glass
of whiskey, put into it a table-spoonful of powdered red
pepper, and poured it down his throat—in a few min-
utes it was puked up, as were also three  or four more
doses.   After the fourth glass it remained on his stom-
ach.  His  pulse improved greatly in a short time, and
after getting five or six glasses to remain, I ceased giv-
ing him any more, until the pulse fell very fast, and nearly
ceased beating.  I again commenced giving  him the
whiskey and pepper, and soon discovered that on ceas-
ing the stimulants, his pulse would again sink to nothing.
After taking more than one quart  of this  liquor,  a
copious stool followed; the spirit was again  adminis-
tered, until his pulse became steady.  During the night,
he took three quarts of whiskey; in the morning he was
much better, but very weak—he finally recovered.
  2d.  "About  a year  afterwards, I was called  to
another slave who had been bitten by a rattlesnake; he
was in great pain about the  chest, and was puking a
green fluid.  I gave him repeated doses of whiskey and
pepper,until his pulse returned, which had nearly ceased
to beat; in twelve hours,  by the use of about a quart
of this liquor, he was a well man.
  3d.   "I related the above cases to a friend, who had 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          375

lately arrived from Rio Janeiro, after  a residence  of
thirteen  years.  He  told me  that the serpents of that
country were so extremely venomous, as in many instan-
ces to produce death in fifteen minutes; and that the
natives effected  their cures, by giving  large  doses  of
spirits, in which herbs had been stewed.  He related
an instance in which a man was found with one of these
most poisonous snakes on him, and biting him repeat-
edly.  The snake  was killed, and the man taken to the
house, to all appearances  dead.   In a short time he
came to himself, and was  unhurt by the poison.   The
fact was,  that he had been very drunk, and had fallen
on the snake; the stimulus of the liquor had, no doubt,
counteracted the influence  of the poison; this was the
solution of the difficulty."
   These three cases coincide, strongly, with a case pub-
lished several years since, in the National Intelligencer,
by the celebrated Doctor Ramsey, in which large doses
of brandy and opium were given with complete success,
in the bite of a rattlesnake.
   The tincture  of cantharides, which is nothing more
than the  Spanish  or blistering flies, or our common
potato fly, steeped  for a few days in whiskey or spirits
of any kind.—Of this tincture, apply a few drops to the
wound until it occasions a redness.  By this application
the poison is rendered  harmless;  and  the  stings  of
insects or reptiles  are entirely removed as soon as the
blister arises.  This is  a Lite discovery,  and  truly  a
valuable remedy.
   I cannot quit this interesting subject, without noticing
particularly,  that a most excellent remedy in the bites
of both venomous  snakes and spiders, is the immediate
application of the soft black mud from spring branches,
or such mud as is  used for the daubing  of houses.  I 
376         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

have never had occasion to try the experiment myself
but fully believe from the best  authority, that it is an
efficient and powerful application.
  PAINFUL AFFECTIONS  OF THE FACE.
  Tins disease is called by physicians, tic doloureux,
and  happily for mankind, is of very unfrequent occur-
rence.   It is an acutely painful affection of the nerves
of the face, particularly over the cheek bone, in which
the pain shoots with great quickness  and suddenness,
and  is almost insupportable for a few seconds,  when it
as suddenly becomes easy.  The slightest touch will
cause it to dart instantly, and sometimes by opening the
mouth quickly, it will return with a jerking and spas-
modic  affection of the muscles of the face.  There is
in this  complaint, neither swelling  of the cheek, nor
any species of inflammation, nor does the pain seem
deeply seated.
                     REMEDIES.
  Remedies for curing this complaint, have long been
objects of attentive research, with  the most distinguished
and  able physicians.   The remedies  usually resorted
to, but I confess with very little success, are sulphate of
zinc, which is white vitriol, Peruvian bark, opium and
carbonate of iron, given in doses of twenty grains every
fourth hour.   As I have just remarked, these are rem-
edies attended with very little success; the carbonate of
iron  was for some time considered efficient and benefi-
cial; but at length, like the other remedies, it fell into
disrepute.  We are  now indebted to a common weed
for the cure of this complaint, a weed which infests our
gardens, highways, and barn-yards,—it is the common 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          377

Jamestown  weed, usually called  the stink  weed  and
thorn apple:—read  under the head Jamestown weed.
A physician of much  distinction, Doctor John Eberle,
of New York, speaks thus in substance of this weed:—
In July  last, I was called to see a lady aged about
twenty years, who was suffering very much from this
Complaint in the  right side of her face.  The parox-
ysms or fits of pain, were sometimes so very violent as
to produce temporary loss of reason.  She had been
treated by other  physicians with the usual remedies;
all of which had  been found incompetent to afford the
slightest  degree  of relief.  I prescribed  for her the
extract of Stramonium or Jamestown weed, and gave
her a grain of this extract every four hours.   She com-
menced with this in the evening, and towards morning
had intervals of ease, and slept some.  She continued
this medicine during the succeeding day, and experien-
ced much less pain  than she had done for  eight days
previously.  After the fourth dose, she felt some vertigo
or dizziness of the head, and  was directed  to take the
medicine only every six hours, in which she persisted
until entirely relieved and fully cured, which was in a
few days. "The Jamestown weed," says this eminent
physician, "is undoubtedly a medicine of great and val-
uable powers.  In chronic rheumatism, I have employed
it in several  instances with the most unequivocal advan-
tage.   In sciatica," (by which the doctor  means hip
gout,) "also, I prescribed it with  complete  success in
three cases.   We are chiefly indebted to Doctor Marcet
for our knowledge of  its efficiency in affections of this
kind," &c.  "If I were called upon," says the writer,
"to express in a few words, the general opinion which
I feel  inclined to form from the opportunities I have had
of studying the properties of stramonium," Jamestown
       48 
378          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
weed, "I should say, that when given with due caution^
and  in  proper doses, in all cases of chronic disease
attended with acute^pain, it will invariably lessen the
sensibility to pakf and suffering."   I fully accord with
the doctor in his opinions, and refer  the  reader  to the
head Jamestown  weed, where he  will find an interest-
ing development of the medical properties and powers
of this plant.
  The following remedy is taken  from the New York
Medical Inquirer:—"Mr. Abernethy has  administered
the nitrate of silver in this disease," which means lunar
caustic, "in the dose of one grain twice a day, made
into  pills with conserve  of roses,"  which is nothing
more than syrup made of rose leaves with  sugar or
honey.
  "A Mr. Thomas also recommends this preparation in
this most distressing disease.   The following is a  copy
of Mr. Thomas'prescription:—take of nitrate of silver
one  scruple, nitric acid  fifteen drops," which is com-
monly called aqua fortis, "pure  water three ounces; from
forty to sixty drops to be taken twice a day, in two  table-
spoonsful of camphorated julep."  For a description of
the method of preparing the camphorated julep, read
under that head.
                 LOCKED JAW.
  This disease is called by physicians tetanus—which
means spasms with rigidity—it is from the Greek word
which means to stretch.   It  may  be considered an
involuntary contraction of  all the muscles of the body,
while the patient remains perfectly in his  senses.   It
generally arises from wounds;  and I have even known 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
379
it to originate from the slight puncture of a needle, in
which case  it terminated  in the death of an amiable
lady.   It comes on with a  dull stiffness of the neck and
head; in a short time the head and neck  become diffi-
cult to move; the tongue also becomes stiff and difficult
to be moved about or put out; the swallowing becomes
painful; there is  a  tightness across the breast, someT
times attended with pain in the  small of the back; the
jaws  gradually become stiff, and the teeth  clenched;
this is locked jaw.
                    REMEDIES.
   You are immediately to open the wound, if that be
the cause, with a lancet or other sharp instrument, and
remove any matter that may be in the wound.   Then
apply spirits of turpentine to the wound, and if the per-
son is strong, hearty, and in full habit, you are to draw
blood freely from the arm; then put your patient in the
warm bath; I mean here that the whole body is to be
immersed in warm  water  for some time, and give two
grains of opium.  During the time these operations are
making, a skilful physician must be sought for; because
the immense quantities of  opium which must be given,
will make even the best physician dread his own prac-
tice.  Yet such are  the fatal consequences of delay and
timidity in locked jaw, that unless bold remedies are
used, particularly the  use of opium  in  heavy doses,
death must certainly take place.  Opium  has to be
given in this complaint according to the situation of the
patient, and the violence of the  disease, almost without
regarding the quantity.  That it is  the proper remedy
in spasms there can be no doubt; and that the quantities
sometimes given in locked jaw are almost incredible, is
a  fact well known to  practitioners of medicine.  To-
bacco is  highly  spoken of in  this  distressing  spasm, 
380          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

given in the form of clysters.  Doctor Thomas tells us
"that many cases are on record, where the astonishing.
quantity of an ounce of opium has been given in twen-
ty-four hours."   To proportion the quantity of opium
to be given, combined with  the administration of clys-
ters of tobacco, must always require the judgment of a
skilful physician, and I therefore recommend that one
always be procured where practicable.  In desperate
cases, where  by  reason  of the clenching of the teeth,
the patient cannot receive any  thing into the mouth, it
is necessary  to  remove a  front  tooth, and sometimes
more than  one.  I have never heard of, nor seen the
practice, but should a case of desperate locked jaw
occur in my practice, I would try the effect of a strong
warm bath made of ley  or lye, in which the body of
the patient should  be entirely  immersed, at the same
time that I would give a clyster containing fifteen grains
of emetic tartar—in addition to which I would stimu-
late the patient freely with warm tpddy.
                   CANCER.
  Cancer  generally makes its appearance about the
lips, the nose, and about  the  breasts of females.  It
sometimes, also, but the instances I am happy to say
are not very frequent, makes  its  appearance in the.
womb, in which the cure is very doubtful.  Those who
are advanced in life, are much more subject to cancer-
ous affections than young persons;  particularly if they
have scrofulous constitutions, which have descended to
them from their ancestors.  A cancer commences with
a  small inflamed pimple  of a bluish color, which
becomes a sore, with hard rising edges of a ragged and 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          381

uneven appearance.  On a close examination of the
sore, you will discover two whitish lines crossing from
the centre to the edge of the sore.  At first, a burning
sensation is felt in the sore, which  is  accompanied as
the disease increases with sharp shooting pains.   After
some time these pains subside, and the cancer dischar-
ges a highly offensive matter;  this discharge increases
gradually, and the matter communicating to the adjoin-
ing parts, finally ends in a large offensive sore or ulcer,
of a most dreadful and exhausting nature, always ter-
minating, unless a cure is effected, in a lingering, pain-
ful and horrible death.
                     REMEDIES.
  The moment cancer is discovered, dissolve ten grains
of corrosive sublimate in a gill of whiskey, or a gill of
strong spirits of any kind.  Apply cautiously this mix-
ture to the affected part; it may be done by  making a
small rag swab, wetting it with the solution just named,
and touching the affected or sore part with  it very
gently.  This operation is to be performed  once a day,
until the cancer is destroyed.   This is a powerful medi-
cine, and the pain produced  by its application is very
severe; but by an early application of this remedy, and
bearing the pain  of  its  application fifteen or twenty
minutes for  a few days, it  will  kill  the  cancer.  It
should never be used on  large  ulcers or cancerous
sores, the pain it inflicts being as severe as if a red hot
iron were applied.  In many cases, when applied  at an
early stage of cancer, I have known this remedy suc-
cessful.  The sores should be washed with salt and
water and dressed with charcoal plasters.  To kill  the
pain, give  opium or  laudanum—see  table.  But not-
withstanding  what has  been  said  of the  foregoing
remedy, in order to insure a successful cure, I think the 
382          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 parts ought to be removed or cut out at an early period
 of the disease.  I have performed the operation fifteen
 or sixteen times  with  success; the last operation was
 performed on Mr. H----, of Monroe county, Virginia,
 during my residence in Botetourt county, of the same
 state, assisted by my medical friends, Doctor M'Dowell
 and Foot, two gentleman of distinction in the medical
 profession.  The gentleman  on whom the operation
 was performed,  was   about  48 years  of age.   The
 cancer was seated in the lower lip, and was of such a
 size as to require the removal of the lower lip entirely.
 By the suggestions of Doctor M'Dowell but with great
 caution, I cut well down the chin and secured the edges
 of the incision together, after  taking out the  cancer.
 Singular  as it may appear,  a new lip  was  formed.
 The wound healed with the first intentions; and when
 it  was entirely well, the mouth was so extremely small
 as scarcely to admit the end of the fore finger.   The
 mouth, however, gradually distended itself by the exer-
 tions of nature, and is now both useful and beautiful.
 Before the operation, the mouth was large and  the lips
 coarse and fleshy.  On my way out to Tennessee, I
 presented to Dr. Powell of the Boatyard, the old lip,
 and  I doubt not he has it now  in his  possession.  A
 remedy for cancer appeared in the public journals some
 years since, which, from its  marks of authenticity of
 statement, and success in  the case of Thomas  Tyrrel,
 I think proper to place on a more durable record.  It
 is  simply  the  use of "a  strong potash,"  made of the
ley of the ashes of red  oak  bark, boiled down to the
 consistence of molasses.  With this substance, the can-
cer must be first covered, and  in about an hour after-
 wards, the whole is covered  with  a plaster  of  tar.
This must be removed after a few days, and if there 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           383
are any protuberances or lumps in the sore,  the ap-
plications are to be renewed.  As far as an opinion can
be relied  on, without actual  experiment,  I think the
remedy a good one.
             SCALDS AND  BURNS.
  Because we all know well what scalds and burns are,
and  because the saving of space for matters of high
interest, is important to both the  subscribers  to this
work and myself, I shall not attempt to describe them.
                     REMEDIES.
  In these  accidents, which sometimes  unfortunately
arise from negligence, the  important  point is, to use
such remedies as are immediately at hand, or are easi-
ly obtained, for affording direct relief from excruciating
pain.  Nature,  always  a  tender  parent,  bountifully
affords the best and most soothing remedy, cold water;
in which  the parts  affected are  to  be immediately
plunged.   If ice can  be obtained, which is but water
under another character, its application will be as good,
if not better than mere water, which sometimes cannot
be had of sufficient coldness.  If the body  is severely
scalded or burned, apply cloths  kept  constantly wet
with the coldest water.  Where the scald or burn takes
place in children, and to no great extent, the  application
of common tar immediately to the injury, is a valuable
remedy not often resorted  to,  but  which I earnestly
recommend.   The application  of carded cotton  to  a
scald or burn, is also  an  excellent remedy, and one
which is nearly  always convenient.  The old method
of applying sweet or olive oil immediately to a scald or
burn, is a bad plan, and ought never to be resorted to, 
384          gunn'S domestic medicine.
 until cold water or ice  has been  applied for reducing
 the inflammation; then olive or sweet oil will answer a
 valuable purpose.  If oil  is not convenient, which is
 often the case, the application of poultices made of raw
 Irish potatoes, carrots  or  turnips, will be proper;  the
 oil, however, if possible to be  obtained, is preferable*
 When the patient  has  been in the  greatest pain, and
 every remedy I  had applied gave but little  relief,  I
 have always been able to give instant ease, if I had or
 could procure it, by the application of Turner's cerate;
 For the method of making this very  valuable salve,
 look Under that head.   It must be applied by spreading
 it on linen rags, and  covering  the burned  or scalded
 parts with them; and I suppose I need not tell you,
 that these  cerate plasters  are  to be supplied by new
 ones, every  day laid  on  fresh.   This  cooling  and
 soothing remedy,  seems to act like magic,  in giving
 relief from the most horrible suffering.  On my arrival
 in Montgomery county, Virginia, I was called in con-
 sultation with  Doctor Joseph Miller, who was a physi-
 cian by nature, and a  man of the highest native genius,
a man who must have stood at  the head of his profes-
sion,  had his great  intellectual powers been  aided  by
adequate opportunities of education.  With  this  gen-
tleman I attended on Major----.   He had been taken
 with a fit, and fallen into a large fire by which he was
 sitting, after his family had retired to bed.   Before he
was  discovered by  his family and taken out, he was
literally roasted; his ribs were perfectly  exposed on the
right  side, and the motion of the abdominal viscera,
 (the intestine  or  guts,)  could easily  be distinguished
through  the  thin membrane.  His  situation  was  as
truly horrible as can well be imagined,  and his suffer-
ings were so very great, as  frequently to induce him to 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          385

pray to us,  that something might be given him to end
the miseries  of his existence.  Those  sufferings must
indeed  be unspeakable, which destroy in man the na-
tural and deep-seated love of life.   By the application
of Turner's cerate, which was spread on  a sheet and
applied to him, and slippery elm tea given internally,
this gentleman recovered,  and is now living in Mont-
gomery  county, Virginia,  near  Christiansburgh.    I
mention this  case  in all  its horrors, to induce  every
family into whose hands  this book may fall, always to
have in  their possession Turner's cerate for immediate
application.
                      CORNS.
   We all know what corns are, and  it is useless to
 consume time in  describing them.  Remedies.—To
 get rid of them in  the shortest possible time, bathe the
 foot or feet well in warm water, about half an hour
 before going to bed.   When  the  corns  have become
 soft from bathing, shave down the horny parts smooth,
 but not so close as to produce blood; then moisten the
 tops of them with spittle, and * rub over them  a little
 lunar caustic, which you  can easily procure.   This
 caustic must be gently rubbed on, until a sufficiency of
 it  sticks on  the  corns, to change them first to a dark
 gray color and next to a deep black.  Put a little cotton
 over them,  to prevent the stocking from rubbing  them,
 and in a few days they will come out by the roots; this
is  the remedy of Doctor Brown,  of Philadelphia, and
is a good one.
       49 
386
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
                     WARTS.
  We all know what warts are, and it is also useless to
describe them.  Remedies.—Put on each wart a small
blister of Spanish  flies, which can easily be confined
by  adhesive  plaster of any kind.  In a few days  the
warts  will come  out, when  you may use the lunar
caustic, as in the case of corns; or you  may  wet  the
warts with a little sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol, which
will soon  bring them  off; or  with nitric acid or aqua
fortis, which will produce the same effect. 
DISEASES  OF  WOMEJN
   When we consider the important relations, in which
woman stands to  man in every department of life—
when we consider, that in one relation, she is the wife
of his bosom, the chosen companion  of his heart, the
voluntary sharer of his prosperity and misfortunes, the
mother of that offspring, in whose life and prosperity,
man even in the decline of life, and the decay of health,
lives over again the youthful vigor and tender passions
of his early years;—when we consider, that in another
relation, as  the sincere lover of his virtues, and  the
admirer of his heroic and  noble  achievements,  she
urges man to perseverance in the performance of his
moral  duties, and to  those  sentiments of  patriotism
which gave to the ancient republics their statesmen and
heroes—to Ireland her Emmets,  to England her Sid-
neys, and to America her Washingtons—and when we
consider, that in another and  important  relation, the
minute and apparently  ignoble cares  of a family  de-
volve on her, where there are no witnesses to support
her under endless sufferings and trials, and  where no
civic crowns or public  honors await her victories over
domestic miseries, and ignoble sufferings  and misfor-
tunes, we cannot but be astonished at the fortitude, the
courage, the devotedness, the fidelity to her duties, and
the heroic virtues of woman.  Place man  in her situa-
tion, and compel him to perform the duties of woman,
and he would soon either degenerate into a savage, or 
388          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

sink into perfect insignificance.  Placed in the limited
sphere of the employments of woman, and man would
soon feel himself an obscure and lonely slave—doomed
like  her to a life of obscurity  and  domestic cares,
where the anticipation of no honors would await the
performance  of his duties, his boasted magnanimity
and  fortitude would  expire like meteors of night, and
leave him a  monument of powerless and fallen ambi-
tion !   And, how soon would his boasted philanthropy
and  love of mankind expire, were there no historians
to record his  deeds of benevolence and patriotism, and
transmit them to future ages;  and especially were there
no honors to  be gathered but such as grew on the brows
of obscure and suffering humanity, and such as would
fade in the grasp and be remembered  no more!
   Woman! when  we reflect on  thy blameless life, thy
artless  tenderness, thy  pious simplicity, thy confiding
love, and the meek and lowly resignation  of thy heart
and  feelings, under the pressure of miseries and mis-
fortunes of almost every  possible character,  it seems
difficult for the most humane of mankind, duly to ap-
preciate €*jther thy sufferings or thy worth !  But, when
to these considerations  are  added  the multiplicity of
diseases entailed on thee  by nature and  sexuality,  as
well as by the ignorance of the midwives of this coun-
try,  thy lot and condition of present  existence,  seems
hard indeed!  Most of the midwives of this  country,
and indeed of most other countries, are  those who
take up the employment from too great laziness to exert
themselves in other walks of life; from utter ignorance
of the great  responsibilities attached to such  a calling,
and from a heartless destitution of feeling and humani-
ty, which permits  their ignorance  and officiousness, to
entail  diseases originating  in  mismanagement,  on 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          389
thousands of women for life.  These people are always
seen wishing to officiate in something which had better
be let alone; in fact, if I must speak in plain terms, in
attempting to force nature into premature and exhaust-
ing exertions, who,  if  let  alone so far as not to be
retarded in her operations, would finish her own work
without injury to the sufferer.  I do not mention this to
cast censure on all  midwives; I am acquainted  with
several  of excellent qualifications, who are kind,  feel-
ing and experienced, and who possess the excellent good
sense, never to hazard or exceed  the due bounds of
prudence; and who, in  all  cases where there is linger-
ing and difficulty, always  so  far distrust their  own
judgment, as to acquire the aid  of a skilful physician.
Women should never dread the time of child-birth, but
always  reflect on the innumerable millions of cases, in
which women have passed safely through the trial, for
one, perhaps, which has been unfortunate.
   When a physician is called in, which in many cases
is  absolutely essential to the preservation of life, and the
safety of the child, his whole solicitude should concen-
trate in  feelings and sentiments of humanity; in such
cases, therefore, no woman, however delicate, or  even
fastidious in  her  feelings or sentiments, ought to  feel
any hesitation in  permitting the  assistance of a physi-
cian ;  life is always to  be preserved, and the safety of
human  beings ensured, by much greater sacrifices than
those  which pertain to feelings of bashfulness, or even
sentiments of modesty.   When I speak of calling  in a
physician, with permission to render the essential assis-
tance to nature in child-birth, I mean a man of delicacy
of sentiment and  feeling, tried and well known discre-
tion, and dignified elevation of character;  I  do not
mean  a beardless boy, who has dosed over a medical 
 390          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 book for a year, or even two, without understanding its
contents, and who is as proud of the name of doctor as
is  a child of  a pair of new  morocco shoes—such  a
physician would be worse than an ignorant and  offi-
cious midwife, who always wishes to  be  doing some-
thing, right or wrong.   When young in my  profession,
I always thought it  necessary to be giving  some little
article in  all  cases; in other words something  that
would do neither good nor harm—this kind of conduct
will do well enough, so far as it has a tendency to keep
up and  animate the spirits of the  patient, but here  it
ought to stop.   My good  old preceptor or master, who
had for  more than forty years officiated successfully as
a man-midwife, gave me the following advice, which I
recommend  most sincerely to the  attention of all my
readers—"neither hurry  nor  retard  nature;  give her
time to perform her own operations, and when she fails
assist her."
            MENSES OR COURSES.
  The early or late discharge of the menses or courses,
depends very much on the climate; the constitution of
the woman as to strength or weakness; on the emotions
or passions of  the  mind, or  in  other  and  plainer
terms, on the lasciviousness or chastity of her venereal
desires.   In all cold  climates, this discharge is later in
making its appearance than in warm ones.   Fruit ripens
sooner in warm latitudes than in cold ones, and it is the
same with females.  In the genial climates of Italy, girls
have their courses at nine years old, but in the colder
regions  of Russia, this discharge does not come on
until women are from twenty  to  thirty-five years of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
391
 age, and then not unfrequently in very small quantities.
 In all  warm  climates, says a  distinguished  writer,
 women exhibit all the splendor of their charms, when
 they  are mere  children in understanding; but, when
 their minds have arrived at  maturity, they cease to be
 objects of love.
   In the western country, although the climate is mild,
 it is much subject to changes, particularly in East Ten-
 nessee.   These changes produce powerful effects on the
 health of women, and also on their constitutions.  The
 western country is  damp  and wet  during  the winter
 season, in  consequence of which, women  from being
 exposed to wet feet, are subject to more irregularities in
 this discharge called the menses or courses, than in any
 other  part  of  the  United States.  When the usual
 period for this discharge comes on, a little attention on
 the part of the parent will be sufficient to discover the
 symptoms.  Many girls have their discharges without
 inconvenience, while others  suffer considerably when
 the period is about to come on, such as a great rest-
 lessness, slight fever, head ache, heavy and dull pain
 in the small of the back and bottom of the belly, swelled
 and hardened breasts, and so on.   The appetite becomes
 delicate,  the limbs tremble  and feel weak, the face
 becomes pale, and there is a peculiar  dark streak or
 shade under the eyes.   When  these  symptoms and
 feelings occur, every thing should be done to assist •
 nature in  bringing forward this  discharge.   This is a
 critical period of life, and much depends on the result.
 The greatest  possible precautions should be  used to
 prevent the girl  from taking cold at this time, because
 by very slight exposur|8pfeture may be  prevented from
performing this very important office, by the failure of
which, some of the most fatal female diseases are pro- 
392          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

duced.  Exercise should be taken on horseback at this
time, or indeed any exercise that will give free circula-
tion to  the blood; the emotions and passions of the
mind, ought also to be particularly attended to; a cheer-
ful disposition should be produced and kept up, at the
same time that every effort should be made to banish
grief, despondency, or any of the depressing passions,
which I need not tell you have a powerful effect in pre-
venting the due discharge of the menses and courses.
The discharges in their first appearance are in small
quantities, are rather irregular, as to time, but gradu-
ally, in healthy women, become  regular,  and  flow
monthly.  While in a state of  pregnancy,  or when
suckling children, women do not have these menses or
courses, nor do they ever become pregnant, or in  plain
terms, get  with child, until this menstrual  discharge
make its appearance on them.  Women also cease to
breed, when this menstrual discharge leaves them, in
advanced life.   The period when this discharge  com-
mences on women, and the period when it leaves them,
are critical and dangerous periods of time, to the health
and constitution of women.  As I shall describe the
remedies more fully in cases where the menses  have
been established, and have suddenly stopped, from cold
or other causes, I shall merely  remark here, that in all
cases where the first symptoms of menses make their
appearance in young girls, they should use mild and gen-
tle methods of courting nature to the performance of her
office, by sitting over the steam of warm herbs, bathing
their feet and legs at the same time in warm water, as
high as  the knees, or what is preferable, use  the warm
or tepid bath—see page 156—and drink freely of warm
penny-royal tea.  These remedies  should be  used  a
short time before going  to bed, so that a gentle moisture 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          393

or sweat may be produced on the skin, which generally
causes the menses or courses to flow.   This discharge
is usually at first very small, but  by attending to this
simple course, which I have laid down, when the proper
or expected time has arrived for  their  appearance,
nature will gradually become  regular, and the menses
or courses be produced.  The quantity, as  I  have
observed, will at first be quite small, perhaps1 just suffi-
cient to stain the linen or shift, which  will increase in
quantity  at every period or monthly  return.  As this
discharge depends very much on  climate, constitution,
manner of living, and exercise, you will easily account
for its differing in quantity, not only in different women,
but even in the same woman, increasing or diminishing
according to the state of the system.   In  all  sourthern
or warm climates, the quantity discharged is from eigh-
teen  to twenty ounces;  but in colder climates, it dimin-
ishes  accordingly, even to  one or two ounces.  The
length of time the menses or courses remain on, and the
time of their monthly return, differ very much in women;
in some it will remain  but  a few  hours or a day—in
others, from two to four days, and I  have even known
it to  remain ten days.   The common or usual  time,
however, is from three to  six days.  In  the western
country, the menses generally cease  at about the forty-
fifth year; this, however, depends  very much upon  the
period they make their appearance—if at an early age,
they  go off earlier, and if at a later period, they some-
times continue to fifty years.  About the expected time
that  the  menses or courses should flow, which will be
easily known from the description  I  have given you of
the symptoms, you are  to avoid every thing  that may
injure the digestive powers, and particularly costiveness
or being bound in the  bowels, loss of sleep, exposures
       50 
394         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

of any kind, such as damp feet, or sudden changes from
warm to thin clothing.   Girls in the country should be
prevented, about this time, from wading in the water, or
walking bare-foot through the dew, as it often stops this
discharge. Getting cold, from any imprudence or unne-
cessary exposure, must also be avoided.  On the subject
of medicines, you are particularly requested,  as  you
value the health of your child, to give no strong medi-
cines in the first stage of the menstrual discharge, called
vulgarly forcing medicines.  This indeed is  a proper
name, for you are truly forcing nature, which is contrary
to every principle of common sense; for this discharge,
unless stopped from some one of the causes I have men-
tioned,  will  assuredly yield to  patience and simple
remedies; after a full trial, and sufficient time allowed,
and you are disappointed in  bringing them on, you  will
try cautiously and mildly, the  various remedies under
the following head—"obstruction of the menses,"—
where you will find the valuable remedy, "seneca snake
root,"—for a  full description of which important root,
in the stoppage of the  menses or courses, read under
the head seneca snake root.
           OBSTRUCTED MENSES.
  When the menses or courses have  been once regu-
lar, and Jiave been stopped from any accidental cause,
such as cold, and so on, they are said  to be obstructed.
This is sometimes attended with pain; when this is the
case, it is called obstructed or painful menstruation, and
is attended with greater or less injury, according to the
state of the system at the time this obstruction takes
place, and  more particularly  if any other part of the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          395
body is  laboring under  disease; for  the womb, from
whence the menses or courses flow, is subject to great
varieties of diseased action, and it is utterly impossible
for me to describe, the close connexion, which is imme-
diately and sensibly felt, between the womb, the stom-
ach, the head, and the influence or power it has on the
pulse.  In six cases out of ten, where hysterics, despon-
dency of mind, sickness  of the stomach, pains in the
head, coldness of the hands and feet, flushings of heat
over the  whole body, and not  unfrequently  fever, arise
from obstructed menses or courses, or  some disordered
state of the womb.   I have had, in my practice, many
females who became greatly alarmed  from the spitting
of  blood.   This is  frequently the case,  where  the
obstruction has been for any length of time, accompanied
by frequent bleeding at the nose, dry short cough, pains
in the bottom of the belly, and in the small of the back,
pulse hard  and quick, skin hot, and burning sensations
in the palms of the bands and  soles of the feet.  When
these last symptoms take  place, immediate attention
should be  paid, or  consumption will  take place.   A
skilful physician must be sought for,  if the remedies,
after a fair  and steady trial, should not produce the dis-
charge.   In some instances,  this obstruction  of  the
menses or courses, arises from debility or weakness of
the constitution.   This will be known by  the  whites
making their appearance.  When this is the case, you
must not force nature, but  give tonic or strengthening
medicines to restore the system first; then the remedies
that follow, beginning with  those that are most simple,
until the menses or courses are produced. 
396          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE,
                    REMEDIES.
  If the woman is of a robust or full habit of body, the
loss of some blood from the foot will be proper.   A
short time before the return of the menses or courses,,
warm cloths wrung out of hot water must be applied to
the bottom of the belly; this is to be done a few nights
before the expected time, or you may sit upon the steam
of common pine tops, on  which boiling water has been
poured; or you  may sit  in  a tub of warm water for
fifteen or  twenty minutes before you  go to bed, and
while sitting in the warm water, have your feet bathed
in another tub or vessel, in which the water should be
as warm as you  can conveniently bear it, or plunge the
feet and legs  in and out frequently, as you may be able
to bear the heat  of the  water.  While you are bathing
or steaming over the pine tops, use the following remedy,
which must be prepared  and kept ready  for use when
you are going to bathe:—one ounce of seneca snake-
root is to be bruised with a hammer, then put it into a
quart of boiling  water, and stew it  over a slow fire to
half a pint; of this tea take a table-spoonful every ten
minutes while bathing, or while over the steam.  For
a full description of this  valuable root, see that head.
When you have used  these remedies for a quarter or
half an  hour, retire to bed, and  have the bottom of
your belly well rubbed with  a coarse warm towel, or a
soft brush; this is called friction, the intention of which
is to rouse the  circulation, excite the womb to  action,
and cause the menses or  courses to discharge or flow.
You will find the following medicine to be  a valuable
assistant in producing this discharge, and it should  be
taken for one, two, and  even three nights  before  the
expected time—five grains of aloes, five grains of rhu-
barb, and five grains of  calomel, must be finely pow- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          3$?

 dered and mixed together well, and should the dose not
 produce a stool or two by morning, you are to take a
 small dose of epsom salts to assist  the operation.  If
 the dose should purge you too  severely, the next dose
 should be less, say three grains of each instead of five,
 or even two grains  of each will answer; your own
judgment will easily regulate the dose to  the constitu-
 tion of the person.   Or you may apply a small blister
 a  day or two before the time, between the fundament
 and  birth place, called  by physicians  the perineum,
 giving at the  same time, a purgative  twice or'even
 three  times a  day of aloes, each  dose five  grains.
 Should these remedies all fail, inject or throw up with
 a  syringe or squirt, into the vagina, a mixture of strong
 whiskey and water, so as to irritate or excite an action
 in the womb.  As I have remarked in the first instance,
 the loss of some blood will generally be  found benefi-
 cial, unless  the constitution or health  of the woman
 will  not  admit of the loss of blood, which is  not very
frequently the case.  The loss of blood always tends to
assist the womb to return to its natural  action.   Mad-
der, which is known to every person  in  the country as
a dye, and may be purchased at  any of the stores, is
highly recommended by  the late Doctor Barton  of
 Philadelphia, late professor of the medical school  in
 that city, in doses of twenty or thirty  grains.   The
tincture of gum guaiacum, in doses of a table-spoonful
 in a half a cup of new milk may be given.   This tincture
is  made in the following manner:—obtain one ounce of
gum guaiacum, which is worth about ninepence, mash
or pound it fine with  a hammer, and put it in a pint of
spirits of any kind; let it steep for ten days, shaking it
daily, and y<5u  have the tincture of  gum  guaiacum, it
being  then fit for use.  Doctor  Dewees, professor  of 
398          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

midwifery, in the medical school of Philadelphia, as-
serts, that in the  experience of thirty-two years, it has
never failed  him in producing the menses and courses.
Of this spirit,  put a table-spoonful in the  milk, and
gently pour off the spirit, so as not  to shake it at the
time you are about to use it.  I have now given you
the different and important remedies, out of which you
may select which you please for use; they are all valu-
able.  You will, however, bear in mind, that the efforts
to be made to bring  on  the  menses or  courses, should
take  place about the  expected time, or a little time be-
fore  it.  The constitution of the woman,  must be fully
and  properly examined,  so as not to force, but to assist
nature in her operations.
              GREEN SICKNESS.
  When the menses or courses have been retained or
stopped for any  length of time, and the whole  system
becomes diseased from a  want of this discharge, so
necessary to the  health of every female, it terminates or
ends frequently  in what is called chlorosis  or green
sickness.  When this is the case, the  skin turns of a
pale yellow or greenish  hue; the  lips become pale or
of  a purple  color; the  eyes  have a  dark or purple
tinge around  them; on making the least  exertion, the
heart palpitates or beats; the knees tremble, and there
is a  frequent sighing  without  knowing  the  cause.
The mind is very  fickle, and the woman dislikes, or
seems to  want  the power to  attend to  her domestic
concerns.  The  cheeks  are frequently  flushed, similar
to consumption;  the feet swell, and the whole  system
seems to sink under debility or  great weakness.  I have 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
399
now described to you the symptoms which I alluded to,
when I directed you to examine the constitution, and
not to force nature, especially when tonic or strengthen-
ing medicines are required to restore the whole system,
before any attempt ought to be made to bring on the
menses or courses.   The  treatment in this last  stage
called  green sickness, should be as follows:—as little
medicine as possible  should  be given; in fact, nothing
but some simple medicine, such as will prevent costive-
ness by keeping the bowels open, such for instance as
a  tea-spoonful of epsom salts, and a tea-spoonful of
magnesia, ground finely and well mixed together, to be
taken in a  cup full of cold water when  necessary for
this  purpose;  travelling on  horseback, or moderate
exercise.  Good Madeira wine, taken frequently and in
small quantities; bitters, made of equal quantities of
wild cherry-tree bark and  poplar  bark usually called
swamp  poplar, steeped in  wine  for several days, and
taken in moderate doses;  or tea made of the flowers
of garden chamomile, and taken cold, in doses  of a
wine-glass full, three or four times a day.  The chaly-
beate water should be used very freely.  The western
country abounds with these waters; for they are to be
found on almost every branch or creek.   Chalybeate
waters, are those springs which arc impregnated with
iron.  By these remedies,  the whole  system  will  be
restored, and in  due  time  the menses  or  courses will
again appear; at which time,  mild and gentle remedies
are to be used, to court nature  to the proper perfor-
mance of this necessary and important  discharge. 
400
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 THE  GREAT  DISCHARGE  OF THE MEN-
                SES OR COURSES.
   When the menses or courses come on suddenly or
 irregularly, and the discharges  for several days  are
 greater than  usual, by  which the woman  is greatly
 reduced and weakened—this is called excessive  men-
 struation.   The causes are, too great  a  determination
 of blood to the womb; or in other  words, too great an
 action  in its vessels.  This over quantity, or large dis-
 charge, generally takes place in  delicate  women, par-
 ticularly those who take  but  little exercise,  or  those
 who sit a great deal; such as milliners or seamstresses,
 and in fact all who lead sedentary lives, and are addict-
 ed to such unhealthy habits.
'                      REMEDIES.
   Draw blood from the arm immediately; and regulate
 the quantity taken, by the constitution, the habits, and
 the strength of the woman:  there are  few cases that do
 not admit of  a little blood being drawn.   Give a purge
 of epsom salts or castor oil, and  let your patient go to
 bed and there remain;  she must  be  kept as cool as
 possible, with her "hips a little raised.   The room also
 must be made and kept  as cool as possible.  If the
 discharge  of blood is considerable, apply cloths  wet
 with cold water to the birth-place, and even push them
 up it;  at the same time  injecting cold  water up with a
 female syringe or pewter squirt.  There is no danger
 whatever in these  cold  applications; therefore do not
 hesitate to use them if necessary.   I have  always used
 ice in my practice in Virginia, by putting it in a towel
 or piece of flannel, and applying it  to the belly.  If the
 blood flows rapidly, make a plug with cloth, and push
 it  well up the birth-place, so as to prevent the  blood
 from flowing, or that it may congeal and stop.  Should 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          401

 these remedies fail, you  must resort to the following
 remedy, which should only be used in extreme danger:
 Mix two grains of sugar of lead with a quarter of a
 grain of opium; give a pill of this mixture  every two
 hours, made with  a little  honey,  until  the discharge of
 blood is lessened.   If the patient is very much exhaust-
 ed, give laudanum in the dose of fifteen drops, occa-
 sionally—or administer  opium,  see  table  for  dose,
 administering either laudanum or opium, according to
 the urgency of her situation—pains, <fcc. as both these
 medicines will give strength, and allay the  great irrita-
 tion of  the nervous system.   Or  if there is great pain
 in  the  womb, administer a clyster—look under  that
 head.   The clyster must  be  made of the bark of slip-
 pery elm, by pouring boiling water on  the inside part
 of the bark.  It is to be perfectly cold, and in it put a
 tea-spoonful of laudanum.  Throw this clyster up  the
 fundament,  out of which passes the stool.   These clys-
 ters are to be given every hour, until relief is obtained.
 Every thing used at this time as a  drink, should be
 perfectly cold.  Nothing  heating, of any  description,
 ought to be  given,  either as food  or drink, during this
 great flow of the menses or courses.
   To prevent a return of this discharge,  when once
 relieved, take  moderate exercise: bathe the  back and
 belly frequently in  cold water, and take the salt bath—
 see  under the  head cold bath.   Take  moderately,
 the best old Madeira  wine;  and a short time before
 the expected discharge lose some blood from the arm.
 At all times, you are to pay  particular  attention to
your bowels:  that is, not to permit them  to become
costive or bound.  Morning and  night, when you rise,
or retire to  bed, use friction;—which  means rubbing
the whole body, for twenty or thirty minutes, with a
      51 
402
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
brush or coarse towel—this should  be done by a ser-
vant or assistant.  This last  remedy is truly worthy of
strict attention.
CESSATION  OF  THE MENSES OR  COUR-
                       SES.
  A cessation of  the  menses or  courses, means an
entire stoppage of these discharges, or a  change of
nature in  this respect,  at an advanced period of life.
This revolution or change takes place, generally speak-
ing, from the forty-second to the  forty-seventh year: it
is a critical  and  extremely  dangerous period of a wo-
man's  life, and  although thousands pass  through  it
without experiencing any great  inconvenience, it is a
period which requires particular  attention and care.
  All exposures  to cold and damp must be scrupulous-
ly avoided; and particularly wet feet, and remaining
any length  of time  on the damp ground.   Sudden
changes of dress are also extremely hazardous at this
period; in fact, everything that produces sudden revo-
lutions in  the bodily  system, from  extremes of heat—
cold and dampness.  By not attending  to what I have
just laid down, you will be  sure  to lay the foundations
of diseases of a multiplied and  stubborn character,
which will be sure to embitter and distress the remain-
der of your life,  be it long or short.
   The courses, about this  time of life, begin  to lessen
in quantity, and  to become more  or less  irregular in
their  discharges.  When you are likely to  suffer some
inconvenience in this change of  nature, you will  have
warning by the occurrence of the following symptoms:
You will have pains  in the head  and small  of  the back. 
i
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          403

 trembling of the knees, flushing  and burning of the
 face, choking sensations in the throat, sickness of the
 stomach, dizziness  or swimming in the  head,  and
 frequently mists before your eyes.    You  must now
 live on spare diet, and as  I have just told  you, avoid
 all kinds of cold, damp, and wet.
                     REMEDIES.
   Very  few  medicines are to be taken  in this state
 of the system, and those that  are taken must be of the
 most simple, mild, and innocent kind. For the pur-
 pose of keeping your bowels open, and removing all
 causes of irritation, use purges of epsom  salts, or cas-
 tor  oil  when necessary;  they will  always cool the
 system,  and  allay any dangerous irritations.  If you
 are of a robust  and full habit of body, and have dizzi-
 ness and pains  in the head, cupping on the temples, so
 as to draw some blood, will give relief.  For the method
 of cupping, which is very simple, look under that head.
 Or,  if you should not like the plan of cupping, or if it
 be inconvenient, you may  occasionally draw  a little
 blood from the arm; when those unpleasant feelings I
 have described make their appearance. Temperance,
 or in other words, abstaining from strong  food, and
 living on very spare and simple diet,  is greatly more
 important than any medicines that  can be  taken;—nor
 will any medicines be necessary in  most  cases, other
 than such as  will keep the  bowels  in a gently laxative
state, as mentioned before, with  cupping if considered
 necessary. You should take moderate exercise in good
weather  on horseback, and  above all  other remedies,
use regularly friction; which means rubbing the whole
body, twice a day,  with a brush or  coarse towel—
morning and  evening.  This  friction you are  not  to
neglect,  because it is,very important at  this  period. 
404          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
You are also  to keep  the  birth-place perfectly clean,
by washing daily those parts, in milk-warm water and
soap.  Unless these parts are kept perfectly clean, they
retain a secretion which I need not name—which irri-
tates and excites diseased action in the womb.  When-
ever you  feel pain in  your back, belly, &,c. &c. take
the warm or tepid bath, which you are to make  suffi-
ciently warm to be pleasant.   For  a description of
this  bath, see  page 156.   If pain  is  felt in the head,
stomach, or breast, a blister must  be applied  between
the shoulders, which will give relief.  You may take
off the blister, after it has been on two or three hours,
if the pain has been removed  by  its application, as is
sometimes the case after the skin has become red from
the  blister.   But the warm bath, moderate bleeding,
and keeping the bowels open with the mild medicines
I have described, will afford  you the necessary ease
and relief in your situation, provided  you keep yourself
in a perfect state of rest, on your bed.
   If the pain in the womb be considerable,  and you
have any fears of an inflammation in  those parts,  apply
a  large blister over the  belly—which blister  is  to be
dressed with sweet oil.  You  are, also, to give clysters
frequently, which are to be thrown well up the bowels,
say three or four times a  day.  They are  to  be  made
of slippery-elm bark, by  pouring boiling water on the
inside  bark, and  letting the  water stand until  about
milk warm;—this water is to be thrown up, as directed
under  the  head  clystering.  If the inflammation  is
great in the womb, throw up  the birth-place, with the
clyster-pipe, the slippery-elm water, five or six times a
day; but remember it is to be perfectly cold, when you
throw it up the birth-place: when thrown up the funda-
ment into the bowels, it is to be milk warm.  There is 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          405

an excelleut preparation, which can easily be made, to
throw up the birth-place—which is perhaps better than
the  slippery-elm water.  Take  two tea-spoonsful  of
sugar of lead, and put them  in  a quart of the coldest
water.  After the lead is dissolved it will,be fit for use.
Of this lead water, throw up about  a gill, mixed  with
about a gill of slippery-elm water.  Do this occasion-
ally.
  Should  an  ulcer or sore break out on the legs, or
any part of your body, be very careful not to heal it  up
immediately or very  suddenly; it is  an effort of nature
to relieve herself of  the discharge.  It may be necessa-
ry for me to remark, that if the  womb is painful, and
there is no danger  of  inflammation, apply over the
belly and  to the small  of the back,  warm herbs,  or
warm salt, or bladders filled with warm water—and
take a dose of laudanum or opium;—see table of doses.
By attending closely to these  instructions, which I  have
laid  down plainly, you will pass through this change of
nature  with safety, and no  doubt enjoy through the
winter of old age, an exemption from those complaints
which are too  apt to  occur, from neglect of this impor-
tant change of the female constitution.
                 THE WHITES.
   This disease is called by physicians fluoralbus.  It
is an unnatural and white colored discharge from the
birth-place, and is produced from various causes:  such
for instance, as the powers of the womb  being impair-
ed, by severe labors, repeated miscarriages, getting out
of  bed too soon after  child-birth, or by taking cold
at this time, or any other time when the menses  or 
406
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
courses are about coming  on;  or, by over fatigue or
weakness, produced by general bad health; or where
the general secretions and excretions have been deran-
ged  by disease;  as  the womb always  more or less
sympathises with the whole system.  Women  who are
of weakly or delicate constitutions, and  take  but little
active exercise, and such as have had many children,
are much subject to the fluor albus or whites.  I have
known many instances, in which the whites made their
appearance monthly, instead of the natural  menses or
courses.  This is generally  the case where the  woman
is laboring  under the suppression of the  menstrual dis-
charge, or some weakness or derangement of the whole
system.  I shall now describe the means of knowing the
whites from the clap.
  In the clap there is a swelling of the parts, an itching
and  uneasy feeling, and much heat in making water.
In a little time, both the inside and outside of  the parts
become inflamed, and give  much heat and scalding in
evacuating  the urine; if these symptoms occur, you may
be tolerably certain you have taken the clap, in which
case you will find the'means of relief  distinctly laid
down, from page 355 to 367.
  The whites are called by  this name, because the dis-
charge resembles the white  of an egg, or the mucus or
slime which runs from the nose, when you have a cold-
There are three or four stages of this complaint between
its mildest and its severest forms; and if permitted to run
on, it will entirely destroy the constitution  of the woman,
by reducing  her flesh and muscular strength.  Her
complexion will change to a sickly pale color; she will
become very weak, and her  heart will palpitate or beat
with the  slightest  personal  exertion.  As this disorder
seldom stops without  medical assistance, means ought 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
407
 always to be immediately used, or it will commit great
 ravages on  the  female constitution.  The whites come
 on very irregularly, sometimes the discharge is in lumps,
 but more frequently it is of a white, slimy, ropy consis-
 tence.  If the disease is of the mildest form, the dischar-
 ges resemble the white of an egg, having no smell, and
 no color but that just mentioned.  In the second stage,
 the discharges are of a light  yellow or straw  color, and
 something offensive to the smell.  In the third stage, the
 discharges are of a greenish color, of a tough and gluey
 consistence, and quite offensive in smell.  In the worst
 stage of the disease, or when the disease has been per-
 mitted  from ignorance or negligence to run  on,  the
 discharges are  very offensive, and  mixed with  blood;
 the face becomes of a sickly greenish hue;  under  the
 eyes there  is an unnatural  color; the  lips become pur-
 ple; the feet and legs swell; the face becomes subject
 to flushes of heat;  there is a dry cough and great diffi-
 culty of breathing, particularly on the slightest exertion;
 and unless relief is obtained, the disease will, after this
 stage, terminate  either in consumption or dropsy.
  I shall now  proceed to describe the effects which  the
 disease  produces in the different stages of its advance-
 ment.   When it is slight, or in its mildest form, and the
 general health of the woman is not much impaired, there
 is a pain in the  back, the menses are not  regular, and
 on the slightest exertion the woman feels a shooting and
 afterwards a  heavy pain in the back.  In the second
 stage, the above symptoms  are felt most constantly and
 severely; the  stamach becomes disordered;  the head
 aches;  the bowels  are costive or bound up;  there is a
 dizziness or swimming in the head; and there seems a
 heavy pain in  the bottom of the belly, and at the upper
part of  the thighs.  In the severest form of the disease, 
408
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 the symptoms of which I have already described, all the
 indications or marks of dyspepsia or indigestion take
 place: for a  description of which complaint see under
 that head.  The whole system becomes disordered and
 unhealthy; the menstrual discharge entirely stops;  and
 the woman, from general debility and weakness, sinks
 rapidly into  decline, and ends either  in consumption
 or dropsy, as I have said before.
                    REMEDIES.
   There is no remedy in the first stage of this complaint
 equal to scrupulous cleanliness, or bathing well those
 parts in cold  water three or four times a day, and inject-
 ing up the birth-place, frequently, the same thing, cold
 water.  Sleep on a mattrass instead of a feather bed, or
 in other words, a hard bed of any kind.   Rise early
 and  take proper exercise; and if convenient to a cha-
 lybeate spring, or one whose waters are impregnated
 with iron, drink freely of those  waters.  The western
 country abounds with  waters of this  description;  and
 they are a most valuable remedy for women laboring
 under this disease, or any irregularity of the menses or
 courses.   The bowels  are  to  be kept open, with mild
 laxative medicines, such as epsom  salts or castor oil.
 From fifteen to twenty drops of balsam capaiva are to
 be given on sugar, three times a day; which if necessary
 are to be continued eight or ten days, or even more, if
found essential.  I have relieved this complaint, when
all the different remedies had been  tried,  by  simply
using the  turpentine from the common pine tree.   It
 must be made into pills  with honey, and one of the pills
given two or three  times a day, using at the same time
the following  injection, which is  to be  thrown up  the
birth-place three or four times a day.  A tea-spoonful
of sugar of lead is to be put into a pint of spring water 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          409

and permitted to remain until dissolved.  Obtain at any
doctor's shop, a female syringe, which is a pewter squirt
with holes in the end of it.   With this instrument you
are to throw up the lead water three or four times a day.
You will find this a  valuable remedy.  If it be incon-
venient to  get the sugar of lead, make a decoction of
white-oak  bark,  by  boiling  it  in  water—and of this
water, when perfectly cold, throw up the birth-place as
often, and  about  the same quantity that  you would of
the lead water.
  If the discharge is very offensive from the parts, you
should introduce  up  the birth-place every morning and
night about a tea-spoonful of common charcoal, pounded
as fine as possible.   This will entirely remove the offen-
sive smell.
  If the directions  I have  given  do not restrain the
discharge,  you will apply a large blister to the small of
the back, at the same time using the injections freely as
directed.   Should the constitution be much injured, and
the woman greatly  reduced  by the  discharge, obtain
from any doctor's shop a tincture of *sal marlis, which
is  a preparation  of  iron  dissolved in muriatic acid.
Obtain  also a box of soda powders.   On these boxes
you will find directions  how to use them; if not,  look
under the head soda powders.  When you have mixed
your papers of soda  powders with water, in two tum-
blers, and before you have poured them together, drop
into the tumbler in which you have put the contents of
the blue paper, eight or ten  drops of the medicine  in
the phial.   Being now ready, pour it all into one tum-
bler and drink it down immediately, and while  it is
foaming or effervescing.  This drink  should be taken
three times a day.  I have merely  to remark, that this
is  a preparation of one of the  most  valuable mineral 
410
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
waters known  in Europe, and is admirably adapted to
debility of the stomach, or indigestion, affections of the
womb, and indeed, debility of any kind.  After all these
remedies have failed, polypus of the womb may exist,
which always requires the assistance of an able physi-
cian.
                 PREGNANCY.
  When the sexual connexion between a male and
female, has been favorable to the  increase of our spe-
cies, the seed of the man and that of the  woman are
conveyed, as already described, through the Fallopian
tubes into the womb, and there deposited. Here the
growth of the foetus or child commences, whilst at the
same time there is formed, a bag  or covering for the
whole, (called the membranes,) which lines the womb.
At the same time, there is a  fleshy  substance formed,
which very much resembles the liver;  this substance is
called the after-birth, and by physicians the placenta.
This fleshy substance,  called  the after-birth, receives
and prepares the blood, which is supplied by the womb
for the child.  From this after-birth to the navel of the
child, there is a small  cord or tube called the navel
cord, or umbilical cord.  This tube admits the circula-
tion of the  blood between the mother and the child.
There is  also a  fluid, known by the name of the waters,
in which the foetus or child moves and increases in
growth.
  You will now readily perceive,  that the womb con-
tains, when pregnant, the child, the waters in which it
moves, the membranes which support it, the navel-cord,
and the after-birth.  From eight to  ten days  after the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          411?

 woman has conceived, the first  formations of the child
 may be distinguished;  it is, however, so extremely deli-
 cate as to require the most minute attention to discover
 it with the naked eye.  The face and form of the large
 features, are as  yet not sufficiently plain to be distin-
 guished ; you can merely discover the formation of the
 head and trunk; the trunk being the  longest and most
 delicate;  the  whole resembling a bit  of jelly of an
 oblong figure.  You will perceive by close examination
 the resemblance of a small feather, which comes from
 the navel, and ends in the  membrane by which the
 whole is enclosed.   This fine feathery fibre, afterwards
 the navel cord, connects the young with the after-birth.
  In about three weeks after conception, the formation
 of the infant may be plainly distinguished, because by
 this time the  head and features of the face  begin to
 assume something  of a strong outline; in other words,
 they begin to show the realities of what they are.  The
 arms  and legs are next seen to  project  from the body;
 two black specks represent the eyes—and two extremely
 small  holes make the places of  the ears.  The ribs on
 each side are about the size of  common threads; and
 the  fingers and toes about the same magnitude.  The
 arms are something longer than the legs in consequence
 of their growth being more rapid.
  In  about  one  month after conception, the fcetus or
 child is about one inch in length; and it now takes a
 bending posture in the  middle of the water or liquor I
 have described to you.  About this time the membranes,
 sometimes called the bag or covering, become enlarged,
and  get thicker  and  stronger,  and  the whole  mass
together, is about an inch in length, and nearly the shape
 of an egg. 
41$         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  In about six weeks the motion of the  heart of the
child may be perceived;   In fact, in surgical operations
which I have seen performed, where the child was taken
from the  womb, the heart was seen to beat for a consid-
erable length  of time.
  In three  months, the child is three inches in length,
and its weight from two to three ounces.  Women assert
that they have felt  the motion of the child about this
time, but I would suppose it doubtful at this early period.
In about fourteen weeks the  head of the  child is bent
forward and the  chin rests on the breast;  the knees are
Hfted up; the legs bent back on the thighs; and both the
hands lifted up towards the face.
  In the lapse of time, the child acquires more strength,
and is  constantly changing  its  posture;  but the head
most  commonly  inclines  downward.  Near  the  fifth
month, the mother can distinctly feel the motion of the
child, which  is called quickening, and which  is often
accompanied with sickness at the stomach, and vomiting,
particularly in the morning.   When this  quickening is
felt, it is  a  very certain symptom of pregnancy.  About
the time of this  quickening, the womb seems as if it
were loose in the lower  part of the belly.  As long as
the womb is detained in  the pelvis or basin, you can,
by introducing the finger up the birth-place, the woman
being in  a  standing position, distinctly feel the mouth of
the womb, which is lower down than in the natural and
unimpregnated state.  This is occasioned by the weight
of the womb and its contents, continually and gradually
bearing  downward.  Thus the mouth of the womb
 can be felt, after the woman has  become with child,
 for several weeks, and affords another evidence of preg^
 nancy. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
413
  After this time the womb begins considerably to in-
crease in size, and ascend gradually up into  the abdo-
men or belly, growing at last so large that it remains
mostly above the bones of the pelvis or basin, and par-
tially rests on them.
  In the beginning  of the fifth month, the belly  be-
comes hard, and the navel of the  mother is perfectly
even and smooth.   From this onward the woman in-
creases in size; pregnancy being now evident, a further
description  of its progress would be unnecessary.  In
nine months,  or in  about forty-two  weeks  from the
stoppage of the  menses or courses, the child is prepar-
ed for its entrance into life;  and nature prepares her-
self for a delivery  of her burthen, by a contraction of
the fibres of the womb,  which are no longer able to
bear  the irritation.   Here commence the  pains  of
labor, in other words, restless and uneasy sensations,
pain in the small of  the back, frequent desire to make
water, accompanied with bearing downwards, particu-
larly at the bottom of the belly; constant  desire to go
to stool, perhaps without  being able to pass any thing;
costiveness, with a small discharge of mucus or slime
from the birth-place, &c. &,c.
  I  have mentioned to you, the waters in which the
child moves, and changes its position.  As to the quan-
tity of these waters at  the birth of the child, it varies
very much  in different women.  In some I have  seen
not  more than a gill, in  others not more  than  half a
pint, and in others I have known nearly two  quarts.
Those who  have written on this subject before  me,
state that these  waters resemble the white of an egg,
and have very  little smell.   This is, however, not al-
ways the case, the  waters are sometimes very offensive. 
414          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

The fact is, that their color and consistency depend ob
the peculiar state  of the system.
  The after-birth prepares the blood in a proper state,
which is then conveyed by the navel cord to the child
for its support and  growth; you will  therefore under-
stand, that the growth is produced  by and through the
after-birth.  This afterbirth or fleshy  substance, which
resembles the liver, is generally in weight from a pound
to a pound and a half? and depends both  for weight
and size, not on the appearance of the woman, but on
the healthy or diseased state of the  womb and its secre-
tions ; for I have very often seen in my practice, very
large women produce quite small after-births, whilst on
the contrary, I have seen very delicate women produce
astonishingly large ones.
   The navel cord,  called by physicians  the umbilical
cord, is  formed  of  two veins which come from the
after-birth, and an artery which  comes from the child;
these being twisted  nicely together, is  the reason why
it is  called  the navel cord.  The  blood  which passes
through the veins of this  cord enters at the naval of
the child, and by  the proper vessels is conveyed  to its
heart;, it is then  conveyed again back from  the heart,
to the various parts of the  child's body, for its growth
and  support, as  I  told you before.   After  returning
again, the heart forces it  back  through  the artery,
which I  have mentioned as a part of the cord, to the
after-birth, which prepares it for the foetus or child.
   I have now given you a  plain explanation of preg-
nancy, and of the means by which the child is sustain-
ed in the womb, and of the parts connected with the
womb, necessary to be known and understood.  This
explanation will  enable you, with a  little attention, to. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         415

Understand something of the astonishing  powers pos-
sessed and employed by nature,  for the  procreation,
increase and preservation of the human species.
           SIGNS OF PREGNANCY.
  Sickness in the morning, often attended with vomi-
ting or puking; heart burn, and soreness on the stom-
ach; loss of appetite, and  dislike of the sight of food;
craving for things which before you were indifferent to,
or even disliked;  and stoppage of the menses or cour-
ses;  this last  symptom, however, is sometimes occa-
sioned from cold, &c.  Pregnancy is  also known, by
palpitations  or flutterings  of the heart; faintness, ac-
companied with a desire to vomit; these last symptoms
are generally  felt by young  married women  in their
first  pregnancy.  The  breasts become more  full, the
nipples more firm and hard, and the rings around them
assume a darker color.   The rising  of the navel, so as
to become flat and smooth with the belly, may be con-
sidered an almost certain evidence of pregnancy.  I
omitted to mention  that tooth ache frequently is  an
indication of pregnancy.
   The pulse  of a woman with child, is considerably
quicker than common; there is also frequently a dizzi-
ness or swimming in the head; the  complexion  of the
face generally changes, either by becoming much im-
proved, or by  exhibiting a more sallow, pale and sickly
color.  There are  few women who do  not undergo
some peculiar change of countenance in pregnancy so
as to indicate with those well acquainted with them, their
real situation.   There is, however, no certain  sign of
pregnancy,  but the motions of the child felt by the 
416
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
mother; and all the symptoms I have mentioned, al*
though sufficient  to induce  the  belief of pregnancy,
may be deceptive.  For instance, the menses or courses
may stop, and  it  may  be produced by cold, or some
cause other than pregnancy; therefore, until about the
third or fourth month, doubts may exist as to the actual
situation of the woman.
  I have mentioned, that  after conception, and before
the womb began  to rise above the pelvis  or  basin, by
introducing the  finger up  the birth-place, the mouth of
the womb might be plainly felt.  This is  the fact, and
the reasons are obvious.  The increasing weight of the
womb, at this period, lowers  its mouth in the vagina or
birth-place, so that it can  be easily touched with the
finger; and an  experienced  physician or  midwife, by
such an examination, could easily tell whether the wo-
man was with child or  not.  The indications, however*
are more plainly felt in a young married woman, than
in one who has borne children.   In making this exam-
ination, the woman should  always be in a  standing
posture, leaning on the shoulder  of the operator, so as
to relax  the parts as  much as  possible.  In women
who have borne  children, or  suffered in injuries from
child birth, the  mouth of the womb is  very apt to pro-
trude downward through the birth-place, and  is called
falling down of the womb.  This is caused by the
ignorance and  stupidity of  common  midwives,  from
pulling the after-birth away, and producing this descent
of the mouth of the womb.  You will be made fully
acquainted with this falling of  the womb,  in the proper
place. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          417

      CAUTIONS DURING  PREGNANCY.
   When the woman  discovers her change of situation,
 or in other words, that she is with child, she is to attend
 to her bowels particularly, so that they may not become
 costive or bound up.  She must steadily bear in mind,
 that more than half  the  diseases  which  arise during
 pregnancy, are more  or less occasioned by neglect to
 keep the bowels regular.  If you cannot  have a stool
 daily, take a clyster of simple milk and water; there is
 no indelicacy in  this matter.  There are instruments
 called self-pipes, which you can use yourself, and there
 ought to be one of these in  every  family.,—For a de-
 scription how to prepare and administer clysters, read
 under that head.  I have known  many women, who,
 by neglecting  their  bowels during pregnancy, were
 compelled to  submit to having the hard excrement
 removed from the fundament, before a passage could
 be obtained,   This is certainly  more indelicate than
 using a clyster pipe, and merely throwing up a clyster
 of milk and water, and I do assert, that if these clyster
 pipes were more  used in  the United States, both by
 women and men, there would  be many constitutions
 saved, and very many diseases and sufferings  avoided
 Is it not  reasonable to presume, that more danger  is
 done to  the stomach, by  eternally keeping it loaded
 with drastic purgative medicines, than would be done
 to the system by the simple use of the clyster pipe?
   Women, during pregnancy, may  be  said  to labor
 under  constant irritation,  however delicate their con-
 stitutions; and, therefore,  clysters  not only afford  an
easy and pleasant passage  or stool, but cool the bowels,
and  allay  the  irritation of the  whole system.  The
tepid bath—see page 156—ought to be used during preg-
 nancy.  It will  entirely soothe,  not only the  bodily
       53 
418
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
irritation, but  also tranquilize the mind and feelings.
You will recollect, that the water of this  bath is to be
but pleasantly warm, because hot water has been known
to  produce abortion, which  means  losing  the child.
The bath I recommend, will have an effect to preserve
and equalize the healthy action  of the womb, and all
the parts connected with it.  Particular attention should
be paid to the  diet or food; let it be simple  and plain,
and of such a quality as agrees with  you. If you will
but attend  to these instructions, I may assure you that
you will pass through this  period, not only with safety,
but with great comfort, and produce, in  due time, not
only a healthy, but a vigorous offspring.
   By all means, banish gloomy and depressing fears;
nor listen for a moment to the idle tales  of misfortunes
which are  said to have happened to others; all these
tales  are without  a shadow of truth.   Think of the
countless and  innumerable millions,  who have  passed
through these  feelings and trials, without the slightest
accident.   Therefore, place full and implicit  confidence
in  the  benevolence, wisdom, and  mercy, of that God
the Great Father of the Universe, who rules and gov-
erns all human destinies!  Be cheerful, collected  and
serene, for  in  multiplying  and replenishing  the earth,
you are fulfilling an imperious command  of an Almigh-
ty power, in which he will  never desert you.
         DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.
  The many diseases to which women are generally
liable during pregnancy, mostly arise from the causes I
have already enumerated, such  as costiveness, improp-
er diet,  and so  on.   The womb  at this period  is 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
419
 extremely irritable, and always sympathises with  the
 other parts of  the system, and  particularly with  the
 stomach  and head.  Some women suffer a great deal
 during pregnancy, and  others very  slightly.  The fact
 is, that the mind, the passions, and even the feelings of
 women, sometimes participate strongly with the physi-
 cal system during pregnancy; not only leaving power-
 ful impressions on the foetus or child itself, but exercis-
 ing a strong influence on the  very conduct of  the
 woman herself.   I  hardly  need instance such matters
 as longing for  particular articles of food, or  the vast
 and countless varieties  of whims, caprices, sympathies,
 antipathies, and so  on, which beset some  pregnant
 women; nor need I point out  to  the reader the abor-
 tive proportions of birth,  and the varieties  of injury
 sometimes sustained  by the child, through the niind,
 imagination,  and feelings of the mother.  Pregnancy
 also, and not unfrequently, exercises a moral influence.
 I  recollect a  lady  in New York, of the very  first  re-
 spectability, whose  husband was  long an associate of
 the legislative councils of the nation, who never visited,
 or left her house, after she had felt the  quickening sen
 sations of pregnancy, in other words, the  motion of the
 child, without experiencing an irresistible propensity to
 steal;  nor could  she  ever  combat successfully,  or
 restrain the unaccountable desire to pilfer. This, how-
 ever, is only  one case among  a million that might be
 adduced, to prove the existence of influences in preg-
nancy, which  baffle the whole powers of genius and
 human reasoning.
   Doctor  Rush, or  some other physician of  equal
celebrity, relates the  case of a  medical man in some
part of Europe,  in whose natural  disposition, the pro-
pensity to  steal was so strong, that he never was known 
420
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
to visit a sick chamber, without stealing some articles of
value, if they were not put out of his reach.   His prac-
tice  was  very extensive,  he  was  wealthy,  and  his
propensity to theft so well known to society, that after a
few years had passed, in stealing the same articles over
and  over again,  nothing  was  said about the matter.
The fact is, that he had stolen the same articles so often,
that  it  became the business of his wife, on  his return
home every night, to search his pockets, assort out, and
send home the articles he had so often stolen.  If this
delineation of native  character be correct, which  we
are not even permitted to doubt, why need we be surpri-
sed at the few instances of a natural propensity to petty
roguery  and  hook-fingered avarice, which  our own
country presents ? Or why need we be in the least sur-
prised, to find men whose native and irresistible propen-
sities to swindling, petty fraud, and diminutive rascality
will  lead them to cheat in weights and measures on all
practicable occasions.
  This subject, however, presents itself in another, and
a much stronger point of view.  It bears strongly on
the  criminal laws and jurisprudence  of  our country,
and  must at some future period, arrest the attention of
our legislative bodies.  If there is such an influence in
nature, as leads to the commission of crime, and that
too in defiance of moral restraints, and fears of punish-
ment, are there not cases in which moral justice would
revolt at the punishment of involuntary and irresistible
criminality?   I have not space in this work to give  this
subject such as an investigation as it really and intrinsic-
ally  merits; but  should  it be in  my power, as I now
intend to publish a future volume of this work, when
time and circumstance will permit, this subject shall be
one  which shall be particularly embraced.   To  speak 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
421
 plainly, I have long entertained doubts, whether, under
 circumstances in which it is practicable to banish a man
 from society, deprive  him  of  his liberty, and  prevent
 his  committing future  crimes, it can ever appertain
 to justice  and the security of society, to shed human
 blood.
   It is very true, that the scripture thus denounces the
 murderer—"whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall
 his blood be shed;" but, ought we not to take into seri-
 ous  consideration,  the  simple  fact, that at  the  period
 this penalty of murder was announced to the Jews, soli-
 tary confinement for life was unknown to the policy of
 human laws.
   That a diseased state of the mind may exist, on one
 particular point, and that the same mind may be sound
 and sane in all  other respects, no medical  man in his
 senses will deny.  The daughter of a wealthy merchant
 of Philadelphia, was in the habit of stealing from  the
 different stores in which she purchased goods.   Being
 extremely wealthy, and her propensity known, private
 accounts of the  articles  stolen, were always kept, and
 always duly paid by her father.  She married, and was
 never known during her pregnancy to steal the smallest
 article; and candidly confessed that during  these peri-
 ods, she had not the  smallest propensity to steal or
 pilfer; and what was equally extraordinary,  so soon as
 her deliveries were over, the old and natural propensity
 to theft returned.  How are we to account, on anything
 like known  principles, for the above facts and delinea-
 tions of character?  Medical philosophers, I propound
 the interrogatory to you!  The value of the articles, this
 woman often repeated, had nothing to do with the nat-
ural  impulse to theft.  Was it  a disease of  the  mind,
derived through the  physical system, from impressions 
422          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

made on  the foetus or child in the womb, from the
mind, and passions, and feelings of the mother?
       SICKNESS OF THE STOMACH.
  This is common in the commencement of pregnancy,
particularly with the first child: it generally lasts until
the quickening sensation is felt, and no longer.  If the
vomiting or puking is not  severe,  it will do no injury;
but if it should continue,  or become severe, which is
sometimes the case, you will find relief in the following
remedies.
                    REMEDIES.
  If the habit of body be full, that is, strong and fleshy,
the loss  of some blood  from the  arm  will be proper.
But, if the woman should be weakly and delicate, omit
the bleeding, and use the following remedies: of colum-
bo root and camomile flowers make a strong decoction
or tea, to which  you may add a little ginger: let this
tea get perfectly cold, and give three or fourtable-spoonst
ful occasionally.   Or you may obtain the columbo root
in powder, and give fifteen or twenty grains, mixed with
a few drops of peppermint, and a little good old spirits
of any kind; or take an ounce of columbo root, and
bruise it  with a hammer, then pour a pint of boiling
water on it, and let it get  cold. Take  a wine-glassful
of this decoction, with a few drops of peppermint in it,
three or four times a day, or when you feel this sickness
of the stomach.  This bitter is very serviceable in weak
stomachs and laxative bowels.  Where the vomiting or
puking is very severe, apply the stewed leaves of the
garden mint to the pit of the stomach: the application
must be warm, and it will stop the vomiting or puking 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          423

without fail.   Or purchase a box of soda powders, on
which you will find directions; or if there are no direc-
tions, see the head  soda powders.   Give these powders
three or four times a day.  Ginger tea, and mint tea,
are also good remedies.  Or  use elixir vitriol, in doses
of ten or  fifteen drops, three or four times a day, in a
glass of cool water.  Should the vomiting be extremely
severe, rub a little laudanum  over the pit of the stom-
ach : if this does not stop it, give ten or fifteen drops of
laudanum, occasionally, in a  little  mint or ginger tea.
In very stubborn cases of vomiting, the following will
always give relief:—mix in a  phial, equal quantities of
compound spirits of lavender, laudanum, and spirits of
hartshorn: of this mixture, give a tea-spoonful in a little
cold water, three or four times a day, or as the sickness
and vomiting may take place.
                      COLIC.
   This is a common complaint during pregnancy; and
this is the reason why I have cautioned you so particu-
larly respecting your diet or food, and by all means to
avoid costiveness, or in other words permitting yourself
to be too long a time without having  a stool.   The bow-
els, during the time you are with child, will  always be
much subject to  flatulence or wind, which is called in
the country windy colic.
                     REMEDIES.
   Bathe the belly with warm water, or sit in a tub in
which there is warm water, and take a table-spoonful
of castor oil.  Or you may apply to your belly warm
salt: or you may apply cloths wrung out of warm water 
424
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
to the belly, and throw up the fundament, with the clys-
ter pipe, the following injection:  make a pint or quart
of thin gruel; strain it clean,  and put  into it a table-
spoonful or less of hog's lard; let it stand until it becomes
milk warm, and  take it as a  clyster:—see the head
clystering.
 PAIN IN THE HEAD, AND DROWSINESS.
  When there is pain in the head, or  a heavy, dull
drowsiness is felt, it is apt to arise from the blood-vessels
being too full.   This is generally the case with fleshy,
strong, healthy young women.   In delicate and weakly
women, pain in the head and drowsiness are sometimes
felt,  but they  generally arise from  an opposite cause,
from a want of due circulation of the blood, which indu-
ces debility or weakness.
                    REMEDIES.
  If the woman is fleshy and strong, and is thus afflicted
 raw blood from the arm, and give a dose of laxative
medicine, such as epsom salts,  castor oil, &c.   But if,
on the contrary, she be delicate and weakly, bleeding in
any  way would be highly  improper.  She is  to  take
moderate exercise on horseback, attend to the state of
her stomach, and also to her food: use freely the tepid
bath—see page 156: take very  gentle  medicines, or a
clyster to keep her bowels regular if bound;  bathe her
forehead and temples frequently with spirits,  in which
camphor has  been dissolved;  and take occasionally
through the day, a  glass of real good wine, or some
toddy made with any  kind of spirits.   If this pain or
heaviness of the head  still remains, after the above 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          425

means have been  resorted to, it may arise from  the
stomach—if so, the columbo root, as already described,
will be found of great benefit.
                 HEART-BURN.
  This complaint generally arises from acid  on the
stomach, and very few women escape it during preg-
nancy.  If the heart-burn is attended with a constafnt
hawking up of tough  phlegm, the stomach  should  be
cleansed with a gentle  emetic or puke, of fifteen  or
twenty grains of ipecacuanha.  But, if the heart-burn
is accompanied with  a  sour taste in the mouth, or a
belching up of sour water, it will be relieved by the use
of very weak lime water, or a tea-spoonful of magnesia
in a cup of cold water.   This last, or either of them,
may be taken whenever these acid  tastes take placa
The magnesia is generally preferred in lumps, and may
be eaten in moderate  quantities, being perfectly inno-
cent.  When a considerable lump is used, it will act as
a mild purgative.  By adding a little rhubarb to the
magnesia, it is an  excellent purgative  for women in  a
pregnant state.  As both articles  are quite innocent,
they may always be used, when found necessary for
opening the bowels.
               SWELLED LEGS.
  Tins swelling is produced by the womb, which is
enlarged during pregnancy; the  weight of the womb
presses on the vessels which return the fluids from the
lower parts of the body.   When  the woman is far
       51 
426          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

advanced, these swellings  frequently give much  pain;
there is, however, no danger;  nor should they give any
distress to the afflicted woman.  These swellings are
very apt to go off if she will take rest on a bed,  bathe
her feet at night  in strong salt and water, and steam
herself over mullen, on which  boiling  water has been
poured.  As rest, in a recumbent or lying posture, les-
sens very much the swellings, it would be advisable for
the woman to remain as quiet as possible, and lose
a little blood from the arm  occasionally.  Attention  to
these  things, with a little  cooling  medicine, such  as
epsom salts, or  a little cream of  tartar, will nearly
always allay these swellings of the legs.
                     CRAMP.
  Cramp generally comes on about the fourth month
after pregnancy, and is often  very troublesome at night,
while the woman  is in bed.  Its attacks are generally
in the legs and thighs, but sometimes in the  bottom of
the  belly and hips.  Those women who  have never
before been subject to cramp, are very apt to have
attacks of it, during the last stages of pregnancy.
                    REMEDIES.
  When the cramp is frequent and severe, the loss of
a little blood would be proper.  Cramp sometimes ari-
ses  from costiveness  or  constipation of the bowels;
when this is the case, you may give a clyster, or a cool-
ing purge, such as epsom salts.   Standing a few minutes
on a cold hearth with  the feet bare, is a simple remedy,
and  will always  give relief.   I have known a small
garter or belt, in  which  was confined  some  pounded 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
427
brimstone or flour of sulphur, relieve several ladies who
were much subject to cramp.
  CONSTANT DESIRE TO MAKE WATER.
   The constant desire to  make water, or pass off the
 urine, is  occasioned  by the weight of the womb con-
 stantly pressing on the neck of the bladder.  Whenever
 this desire becomes troublesome, rest as quietly on your
 bed  as possible, taking at the same  time a cooling
 purge.  If convenient, and whether so or not, the use
 of the warm or tepid bath will  be very beneficial; by
 which I mean that the whole body is to  be placed in
 water about milk warm;  if this be impracticable, for
 want of a vessel large enough, you may sit once a day
 in a  tub of water in this warmth.  The fact is, that by
 bathing occasionally  in  water  milk  warm, during any
stage of pregnancy, considerable benefit will always be
derived.
            STOPPAGE OF URINE.
  This is called suppression of urine by physicians, and
means when the urine is stopped from flowing from the
bladder, at those periods when nature requires the evac-
uation.  When this stoppage takes  place, the bladder
becomes distended or swelled with the water, and is also
severely painful.  Relief  must now immediately be
had, by applying to the belly cloths wrung out of warm
water, and taking a clyster of warm  milk and water—
see  the head clystering.  Clystering is extremely bene-
ficial, in this, and all similar cases, and women should 
428          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

early be taught to know, not only that there is no indel-
icacy in the operation, but that in all warm climates it
is absolutely essential to most women in a state of preg-
nancy.  All the lying-in hospitals in Europe, are amply
furnished with the apparatus for clystering; but in the
western country of America, where  there  is certainly
as much general intelligence as in any part of the world,
it seems that you might as well desire a lady to swallow
an elephant, as to take a clyster instead of  a purgative
medicine.   This is all false modesty; the women of all
countries ought to  know, that the more simply  their
diseases are treated, and the more according to nature,
the  better  will their health  and  safety   be  ensured.
After the remedies just mentioned have been used  with-
out affording relief, you are to send for a physician, who
will  draw off the water with a catheter;—for a descrip-
tion  of which, and  the mode of using it, look under  the
head catheter;
               WANT OF  SLEEP,
  On or about the last stage of pregnancy, most wo-
men become restless and uneasy, and their sleep very
much disturbed.  They are also troubled with a chok-
ing sensation,  and a difficulty of getting their  breath.
This last affliction is sometimes so great, that they are
sometimes obliged to get out of bed, and to throw  up
a window for fresh air, which generally  relieves them.
  If the woman who is  subject to these unpleasant
feelings, be of a robust and full habit of body, the loss
of a little blood from the arm will be proper; in addi-
tion to which some mildly laxative  medicines ought to
be  taken, to open the bowels.  If the woman  is of a 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          429

delicate constitution, and much debilitated or weaken-
ed, bathe her feet and  legs in strong salt and  water,
made pleasantly warm before  she retires to bed; and
»ive her fifteen or twenty drops of laudanum, or if
laudanum cannot be had, give her  a glass of toddy,
made with any kind of spirits.
                      PILES.
  This is an uneasy and troublesome complaint, which
frequently attends  on pregnancy, and  generally afflicts
fat, stout  women.    The fact is, however, that most
women are subject to piles, after the fifth or sixth month.
In addition to the  remedies I shall mention here, refer
to page 323,.where you will find a full description given
of piles.
  Women who have never before been  troubled with
this disorder, are apt to be afflicted with it, as I have
just mentioned, during the last months of pregnancy.
It is  almost invariably produced from costiveness or
constipation  of  the bowels.   The  common  oak-ball,
pounded fine, and  stewed down in butter without salt,
is an  excellent remedy.  The parts are occasionally to
be rubbed with this ointment;  whilst  at the same time
you are to take a gentle  purge.  You may, also, occa-
sionally bathe the  parts in cold water; or yon  may put
a tea-spoonful of  sugar of  lead, into a pint of cold
spring  water, and  frequently bathe  the parts with it
during the  day.  As  much  rest as possible  is to be
taken; in other words, walk  or ride  about as little as
possible. 
430
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
                 FALSE PAINS.
  These pains resemble the pains of labor very much,
and are frequently the cause of alarm, and  much in-
convenience to all concerned.  False pains are always
produced from some deranged state of the system;  or
from the improper conduct of the  woman herself,  by
excessive, and sometimes  slight fatigue.  Anxiety  of
mind;  sudden exposure to cold or heat; want of atten-
tion to the bowels; indigestion, or eating  such articles
of food as produce wind  in the bowels, will frequently
produce  these pains.  Dysentery,  accompanied  with
severe griping, will also produce these pains.
  When these pains  occur frequently, it will be proper
to employ an  experienced physician, because their too
frequent presence may produce miscarriage, or in other
language, the  loss of the child.  On discovering the
pains  to  be false, which must be  ascertained by the
physician or midwife, either of which should be well
acquainted with  the  mode of conducting an  examina-
tion, they are to be removed as speedily  and easily as
possible.   If there is much pressure on  the  mouth of
the womb from above, and if it is  perceived  to dilate
or open during the continuance of  the pains, they are
not false, and the woman  may be considered  in labor;
but, if neither  pressure nor dilation or opening can  be
felt, the pains are false, and are to be removed.
  When these false pains are caused by fatigue, the
patient should be kept as quiet as possible, and take
the necessary rest to  remove the  fatigue.   If she be of
a feverish disposition, she must lose  a little blood;  and,
generally, it will be  proper to give a gentle dose of
laxative medicine, or some mild and opening clysters, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
431
                   FLOODING.
  Flooding is a disease  incidental to pregnancy, often
of a dangerous and fatal  character, in which there is a
loss of blood from the womb.  It is, fortunately, of not
very frequent occurrence; but when it does come on,
you are to lose no time in obtaining a skilful and expe-
rienced physician.   It is a case,  in which merely
common skill and  experience  will seldom ansv/er, be-
cause it is frequently attended  with abortion, and often
with the loss of life.  Flooding is usually produced by
a sudden  fall, by over exertion, by fright and  alarm,
and  not unfrequently by the  gloomy and depressing
passions of the mind.  It is also produced by weakness
of the womb, originating miscarriages, or other injuries
derived from severe labor or child-birth.  It also some-
times arises, from  the  after-birth separating from  the
womb, and the large blood vessels entering into it,  dis-
charging their contents through the mouth of the womb.
This  complaint is very alarming to persons  well  ac-
quainted with its real dangers, because death frequently
comes on suddenly, and with very little warning of its
approach.
  No discharges of blood  ever take place from  the
womb, in a natural  and sound state of pregnancy;  the
idea of regular discharges  in pregnancy, is  entirely
erroneous and perfectly  farcical; and whenever they
do take place, they  always  prove to the man of skill
and judgment, that there is  something wrong.   They
always either  proceed  from  the passage to the  womb,
or from the  womb  itself.   When they merely come
from the passage to the womb, they are seldom, if ever,
attended with danger; but when they proceed from the
womb itself,  there  is considerable  danger that disa-
greeable consequences may  be the result.  When  but
& 
432          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

a  little blood comes away,  from much  walking or
riding, or  from  standing in  an upright posture, and
there is only  a trifling pain in the lower part of the
belly, attended with no symptoms of fever, and no in-
creased or inflammatory  action of the blood vessels,
the blood may always be  presumed to come  from the
passage to  the womb.   This can  always be removed,
and that very easily, by lying a short time  in a recum-
bent or horizontal position; and  afterwards  avoiding
much walking and  riding, and long continued stand-
ing in an upright posture.   But, mind me particularly,
when the discharge of blood  is preceded, or accom-
panied with flushings of the face,  considerable heat in
the palms of the hands, and great  thirst; or when there
are great pains in the lower  part of the  abdomen or
belly, in the loins, or in the back, it is evident that the
discharge of blood is from the womb itself,  and also
that there is much danger.
                    REMEDIES.
  The first step to be taken, when the flooding pro-
ceeds from  the womb itself, and may therefore be con-
sidered dangerous, is to  place  the woman in  bed, and
to keep her  as cool as possible, by removing  the bed
clothes, and admitting the cool and fresh  air; and, as
you value  the  life of your patient, give her nothing to
eat or drink of an inflammatory or heating nature; in
other words, nothing that will increase the action of
the blood vessels.  I  have told you before, that in this
case, which is a dangerous one, a skilful physician must
be obtained if possible.  The  woman should be imme-
diately bled from the arm, freely, copious!)', and rapidly,
so as to produce fainting, because this is the moment, if
ever, when those clots of  blood are formed and con-
gealed, which put a stop  to the great discharge from 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          433

the blood vessels.   Apply at the same time to the belly,
cloths wet with the coldest water, or even ice wrapped
in very thin cloths, if it can possibly be procured.   If
the blood should still continue to flow, in any consider-
able quantity, a soft piece of cloth ought to be introduced
up the  birth-place, also wet with  cold water.   These
cold applications, however, ought not to be continued
so long as to produce a chill; but, while they are con-
tinued, they ought to be occasionally and often renew-
ed.  A clyster of cold water, occasionally  thrown up
the fundament, will also be very effective in stopping
this flooding.
   If  the  above remedies  should fail, which is some-
times the case, you  are to  give the patient two  grains
of sugar  of lead  every hour, for  five, six, or seven
hours.  This is a powerful remedy, and most generally
an effective  one.  You may, also, put twenty or twenty-
five  grains  of sugar of lead in  a  quart of water, and
when it is dissolved, you may throw about  one fourth
of it up the  bowels, and with the residue, occasionally
wash the birth-place; these measures will greatly  as-
sist the cure, and if necessary, they may be repeated
two or three times.   The last remedies mentioned, are
generally  attended with relief; but there is always con-
siderable  danger of the return of the  flooding; there-
fore, it is  very  immaterial  how  well the patient may
feel after relief, she must continue  in bed three or four
weeks, and  be kept  cool and quiet, and always ready
for the application of cold  wet cloths to the belly, and
also up the birth place; her situation will still be dan-
gerous for that length of time, and without this cautious
and circumspect conduct, she may still  be lost widiout
three hours warning of her fate.   If, however,  all
these remedies should fail  to stop  the flooding, and to
       55 
434
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
prevent its reaching the stage  in  which  the  woman
must inevitably perish, an abortion must be resorted to,
as the only possible means of saving her life.
                  ABORTION,
  AND THE MEANS TO BE OBSERVED  IN  PREVENTING
                 OR PROCURING  IT.
  I intend by  abortion,  the expulsion of the foetus  or
child, at such an early period of pregnancy, that the
child  is either  dead  when it is brought forth, or dies
soon  afterwards.  Whilst speaking of flooding, many
of the symptoms and circumstances  attending miscar-
riage  or abortion are  named; but,  there are several
others which precede and cause abortion, which must
be particularly mentioned.  They are  the  following,
and are always to be guarded  against or removed  by
pregnant women, if  they wish to preserve  their bur-
thens, until the expiration of the period fixed  by nature:
Severe  and oppressive exercise;  violent and sudden
exertions of  strength;  sudden and  agitating frights;
fits of excessive and violent passions; excess  of venery,
by which I mean too frequent sexual communication
with the male; a morbid or diseased state of the womb;
external injuries of all descriptions  which  affect the
generative organs; and general and  excessive debility
or weakness  of the  whole system.   I say  nothing  of
those  means  of procuring abortions  which  are some-
times  used  by pregnant women, with the intention  of
relieving themselves of their charge—these are matters
to be  referred  to the  lofty and  unerring tribunal  of
God himself; ihey are accounts between such women
and their Maker. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
435
   Generally speaking, before abortion comes on, t^.ere
 will be felt some slight pains about the lower part of
 the belly, and also in and about  the loins; there will
 be a looseness and flabbiness  about the breasts, and
 some general sensations of shuddering and  coldness;
 and in women of full, strong and muscular habits of
 body, there will nearly always  be some  considerable
 degree of fever.  Next to  these symptoms, slight  dis-
 charges of blood will take place from  the womb;  and
 these discharges  will continue to  increase,  perhaps
 occasionally stopping a short time, until they amount
 to absolute flooding, which I have already particularly
 described.   When these discharges return, after they
 have become copious and debilitating, they are always
 attended with  a  sense of dead weight, and  a  heavy
 bearing down  about the  womb, great sickness of the
 stomach, and sometimes frequent faintings.  These are
 self-evident indications  of immediate  miscarriage or
 abortion, which soon takes place, and is always follow-
 ed by profuse bleeding, which, however, soon subsides.
 After the expulsion of the  contents of the womb, and
 the bleeding has gone off, there  is a serious or watery
 discharge mixed with a little blood; but this is a mat-
 ter of no consequence.
   This  is an abortion, according  to the dictates and
 operations of nature herself.  It may sometimes, how-
 ever, be avoided,  by observing the following  simple
 treatment :-K)n the occurrence of the first symptoms of
 abortion, the woman  must be placed in bed, and kept
 cool  and quiet antil the matter  he decided.   If she is
of a  full  and strong habit  of body, she must be hied.
 Every thing of a heating, irritating and stimulating na-
ture, either as food  or drink, must  be entirely avoided.
Nothing  but cold  water or very weak tea is  to  be 
436
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
drunk by the patient.  The bowels may be opened, if
costive, and kept open, by merely injecting up them
some  milk warm water.  The irritation of the womb
is to be lessened immediately, and as much as possible;;
to effect the lessening or reduction of this irritation, the
woman ought to be placed in a tub of warm water, and
when taken out, to  have large quantities  of sweet oil
rubbed about her back, loins, belly and  breasts.   If
these  means fail in preventing the abortion, nature will
effectuate the expulsion of the child, in trie manner I
have just described.   She may, however, be assisted in
her exertions by the following means:—The woman is
to be  kept quiet, and treated as in common labor; after
which, cloths wet with cold water must be applied to
the belly, to aid in  the contraction of the  womb, after
the expulsion of its  contents.
  When abortion is to be brought on, in order to stop
profuse and dangerous flooding, it is to be done in the
following simple and easy manner.  I will here adopt
the language of Doctor Bard, with some observations.
"The woman is to be brought down to the edge of the
bed, either lying on her side, with a  pillow or two be-
tween her thighs, which are to  be drawn up—or lying
on her back, with her hips a little raised,  and her feet
on the lap of an assistant on  each side.  The operator
must sit on  a low seat immediately before her, whilst a
double sheet thrown over her  body and that of the
physician or midwife, must protect her from cold,  and
form  a decent covering.  The hand  of the  operator.
well rubbed with good oil  or hog's lard, with  the fin-
gers collected into a point, must  then be slowly intro-
duced  through  the birth-place  to the mouth of  die
womb, which will sometimes make considerable resis-
tance against attempts to open  it.   This  resistance 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          437

must be overcome by cautious, gentle and patient efforts.
When the mouth of the womb begins to dilate or widen
with the efforts of the operator, one of the fingers must
be introduced into it, then  another, and so on, until by
patient and gentle attempts it admits  the hand.  The
efforts to dilate and widen the mouth of the womb—and
you must remember this particularly—are always to be
suspended or stopped, whenever the pains come on, and
whilst they are on.   In  other words, whenever the pains
cease, you are to proceed in your efforts to widen gently
the mouth of the  womb.  WThen the hand  passes into
the womb, it is to be opened and laid flat; this will pre-
vent a contraction on the knuckles, which might rupture
the neck  of the  womb, and  do much injury.  The
mouth of the womb being sufficiently widened, if the
hand can then  be easily passed  over the  part of the
contents, called by physicians the  placenta, or after-
birth, which is separated  from  the womb, until  the
fingers reach the membranes, this is  to be done; and
breaking the membranes, it is to  be immediately passed
into  the womb.  But,  if you  cannot readily pass  the
separated portion of the placenta, and the flooding be
great, you are to pass through it, which is less danger-
ous than to separate a larger portion, by  passing the
 hand between it and the womb.   The hand being now
 in the womb, the neck will generally  cling so close to
 the wrist, as to prevent the escape of much water, and
 you  will find room to act  with freedom.   Here you are
 to deliberate,  and to  refresh the  woman with some
 proper drink.  You ought  now  to get at the  feet of
 the child, by all practicable and gentle  means.  You
 are  to recollect,  that  the  most natural presentation
 is the most common;  and in that case, the child's head
 is at the brim of the pelvis  or basin, with the face and 
438          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

belly to the back of the mother, the knees  bent to its
breasts, and the feet towards the upper part of the womb.
As, therefore, the child must ultimately be turned, this
is the best time to push,  the  head and  shoulders up
towards the fundus, and to turn the face of  the child to
the back  of  the  mother,  which  is  most easily done
within the membranes; by this movement  the feet  of
the child wjll be brought within reach of the hand, and
having secured them, they may be easily brought, by a
waving motion, into the vagina or birth-place.  You
are always to remember, that  you are to pause when-
ever a pain comes on.  Next,  you  are to bring down
the hips and body  of the child; and take care, if it be
necessary, to turn the child  gently, so that when it is
delivered to the arm-pits, the belly of  the child shall be
to the back of the mother, which is the  position in which
the arms and head can be most easily delivered.  Now,
or before this time, examine the navel string, and occa-
sionally pull it down a little,  so as  to prevent its being
stretched.   If the pulsation has ceased in the cord, or
if the woman  floods freely,  either the  child or  the
mother may be lost by delay; and  you are to finish the
delivery as soon as you prudently can, in doing which,
you are to remember, that gentleness, caution and dex-
terity, are always to be used in preference to force."
  There are few conditions  more  truly dangerous and
alarming, than flooding to any excess, towards the expi-
ration of the  natural  term of pregnancy; and I there-
fore strongly and  emphatically advise, that  in all such
cases, where an experienced and skilful physician can
possibly be had, he be immediately sent for—and espe-
cially where a forced abortion is essential to the preser-
vation of the life of the woman.   Such cases always
r^uire skill, judgment, promptness of conduct, and 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         439

decision of resolution; he must therefore be a man who
can decide coolly, and  act with firmness and  caution.
After the delivery, or rather the abortion has been pro-
duced, the womb may be assisted in its contraction, and
the flooding retarded and stopped, by the means I have
already noticed so  plainly;  in addition to which, the
rest of the woman will  be promoted, and her recovery
much hastened, by small or weak anodynes,  in some
cordial julep, such as spirituous cinnamon water, or a
little good weak toddy with nutmeg.  These  are the
remedies first called for, and they are to be succeeded
by small portions  of nourishing diet, repeated with cau-
tion whenever called for, and by strengthening articles,
such as tonics in which peruvian bark has  been infu-
sed, and port wine, in which cinnamon bark has been
infused.
                     LABOR.
  The commencement of labor means, the time the
woman begins to be  delivered of her  child.   She is
always warned of the approach of her time, by pains
which are called labor pains.   They are produced  by
contraction or drawing up of the womb, which at the
commencement expels or forces out a slimy matter, gen-
erally colored with blood, which is called the shew.  As
soon as this matter  is discharged, the mouth  of the
womb, at  each pain, begins to open and widen itself, so
as to permit the contents of the womb to pass.  You
will recollect, that I have before informed you what the
womb, in  pregnancy contains.  These  pains increase
gradually, the belly  diminishes in size, and the womb 
440
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
seems to sink, or approach nearer to the  birth-place.
The pains  are  at first quite  short, and  only come on
after considerable intervals; the woman is now restless,
first hot and then cold, and not unfrequently sick at the
stomach.   She  is also often griped, and  frequently
belches wind, or passes it  off backward, which should
never be restrained from false delicacy.  These pains
now fly quickly to the back, and then again to the bot-
tom of the belly.  The woman has now a great desire
to urinate, or make water  frequently, and to go to stool.
These inclinations are always  to be attended to, because
emptying the bladder, and evacuating the bowels  fre-
quently before actual child-birth  comes on, are highly
important and ought never to  be neglected.   The pains
having been sharp and some time between them, she
then begins to be uneasy and fretful, and requests some-
thing to  be given to her, to bring on the pains more
rapidly.
   This is the precise point of time in which so many
injuries  are done,  by ignorance and  officiousness, in
attempting to force nature into premature exertions, who
if let alone a little while, would in almost all cases per-
form her office, according to the  dictates of divine
wisdom,  and with safety both to the mother and child:
for you may be assured that what you so much dread, is
intended for your  eventual benefit, by permitting  the
womb gradually to distend or open, with  perfect safety
to the parts, and in order that you may be blessed with
an easy  birth,  and a living  and  uninjured  offspring.
You will always know the pains I now speak of, by an
irresistible  desire to catch hold of every thing within
your reach, such  as  the bedstead, a chair,  and so on.
These pains, as I have already told you, arise from the 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          441

constant  efforts of nature to open the mouth of the
womb, and they must and  will continue, until  she
accomplishes her end.
  When this is the case, and the mouth of the  womb is
sufficiently widened, nature will immediately commence
her efficient and  powerful operations, to press down the
infant so as to empty the womb.  You will immediately
know this change, by a pressing down pain, if I may be
allowed the expression, which  gradually increases to a
strong sensation of bearing down.  Although these for-
cing pains are powerful and strong, yet the woman will
bear them with more apparent ease and fortitude, than
those which were felt in the first stage of labor.   At this
time, the membranous bag which contains the child and
the waters which surround it, and which I have before
described to you, is pushed out of the womb by degrees
at every  pain.  The distance  which  this bag extends
out, varies in size in different women; sometimes it is
very small, and sometimes of considerably large dimen-
sions.  It continues gradually  to force open, and to
widen the mouth of the womb, until it opens the  parts'
sufficiently to  permit  the head  of the child  to  pas&
You will now perceive, that by these gradual exertions
of nature, to arrange and prepare all things properly,
those delicate parts, which by  sudden and powerful
exertions would  have  been seriously  injured, are now
sufficiently enlarged to permit the birth of your infant
without injury.   And you will also discover, by what I
have disclosed to you, that if nature is hurried by an
imprudent physician or midwife, by  forcing the  child
away before the parts are sufficiently widened, great
and signal injuries must  be the consequences, both to
the mother and child.
       56 
442          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  As soon as the parts are sufficiently prepared for the
birth of the  child, this membranous bag bursts  open,
and the  waters are discharged; sometimes, however,
these events take place at an early stage of the  labor.
When this is the case, the labor is never so easy as  under
other circumstances.  The quantity and quality of this
water, differ in different women, as I have before told
you.  When these  waters, then, burst  forth in proper
time, which  I have pointed out, the bearing down pain
continues, and the child gradually enters into the world.
As  soon  as the child's head passes, the woman's relief
is very great, and a little rest ought to be allowed her;
you are by no means  to pull the body out by force, for
by so doing, you will  produce great injury to the soft
parts, and at the same time  render it very difficult to
deliver the woman of the after-birth.
  I must here remark emphatically, that this is another
stage of  labor, at which thousands of women are inju-
red materially and fatally, by the hurry and officiousness
of midwives, in hastily forcing the birth.  Give time,
and I  will  ensure  that nature  will exercise sufficient
power to expel the child in her own time.   The body
of the child is not to be pulled and forced outward; let
it alone—converse with the sufferer, and cheer her spir-
its, and tell  her that  from the time the child's head
makes its appearance, she is not to force and bear down.
Tell her that by so doing, she will force the child for-
ward, before the parts are ready;  and that the  conse-
quence may be, the tearing or rupturing the perineum.
This is  the  part  between  the fundament and the
birth-place.   Tell her  that such an injury would leave
her in a wretched condition for life, and must be avoided
by  all  meansL  It is the duty of the midwife or  physi- 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          443

cian,  as  the child's head  passes, to keep one hand
pressed  firmly yet  cautiously against  the perineum,
which must, of course, from distension or stretching, be
very thin and easily torn; and at the same time gently
press so as to incline the head of  the child upward
toward the pubes.
   When the woman has rested, and the pains again
come on, the hand must again be pressed against trie
perineum with steadiness and care, until the  shoulders
and hips of the child pass, at the  same time gently
supporting  the child, and delivery is over so far.
   The child being now born, you are to permit it to lie
still a few  minutes, without being molested.   Give  it
fresh air, and time  to  breathe, and the pulsation in the
navel-cord will begin  to diminish.  The  pulsation, by
all means,  should be suffered to subside, before you sep-
arate the child from the mother.   You  will, then, with
a  waxed thread, or a small string, make a moderately
firm tie about the navel-cord, about  three inches from
the navel of the child; then make  another  tie, about
three inches further from the child, on the navel-cord,
and cut the cord asunder between the  two ties, with a
scissors or  sharp knife.
   You are now to  hold steadily, but by no means, as
you value the  life of the mother, to pull the navel-cord
which has  been tied and cut off; because this cord  is
attached to the after-birth,  which is  still in the body  of
the mother, and is  yet to be delivered.  Permit me  to
caution you, to implore you,  to command you, not  to
pull away, by force, the after-birth; for  I do now know
some of the finest women in the United  States, who are
suffering daily  and  hourly, and  will  continue to suffer
during their lives, from officiously and imprudently for-
cing  away from  them  the after-birth, which  nature 
 444          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 herself would have effected, without risk or pain, had
 she been left to  her own exertions.  By pulling away
 the after-birth before the proper time, and before nature
 expels it by what are called after-pains, the consequen-
 ces will and must always be, flooding, and great loss of
ftjlood;  because  you force the separation, before you
give time for the contraction of  the  blood  vessels—in
other words, before the mouths  of the  blood  vessels
 have had time to close.   In fact, the exercise of com-
mon sense cannot fail to teach you, that where the after-
birth is yet connected with, and strongly adheres to the
 womb, force will always tear the womb from its con-
 nexions, and  be productive of unspeakable  injuries-
 From this plain statement of facts, and the reasoning I
 have employed, I am convinced you  will exercise due
 caution, in  a matter of such vast importance  to the
 future health and safety of the mother.
   According  to the old usage and practice, the child
 would be immediately washed in warm water, and not
 unfrequently in  spirits.  Either of these plans of treat-
 ing the infant, in fact both of them are highly improper,
 and have been the causes of destroying thousands of
 children.  Warm  water or spirits ought never to be
 used in  this manner, unless the infant be born appa-
 rently dead;  in such a case, warm water merely is
 proper to be applied.  For a further explanation of this
 important  matter, look under the head "treatment of
 new-born infants."
   The woman having rested for a short time, after her
 separation from the child in the  manner I have  descri-
 bed to you, the  after-pains may be expected to come on,
 for  the  expulsion of the after-birth.  These pains  are
 produced by the contraction or drawing up of the womb,
 to deliver or expel this after-birth; they generally come 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          445

on, in  the lapse of from fifteen  minutes  to an hour,
after the child has been  brought forth.  You are now
to remember, that none but gentle and simple measures
are to  be used, in  order to  produce the expulsion  or
delivery of the after-birth.   You are now to  rub the
belly of the woman, and  gently extend or pull the cord,
at the same time that  she blows with some force into
the palms of her own hands; the policy of this blow-
ing is obvious—it will cause a gentle and natural bear-
ing down, without the straining which would arise from
holding  and forcing  the breath.  If the  woman  be
healthy and strong,  if she has  lost  no blood, and  if
she feels able, let her stand up, and  support herself  on
the shoulders of the operator or  physician, while he is
endeavoring, by the means just pointed out, to relieve
her of the after-birth.   I have, however, often succeed-
ed in delivering the after-birth, when the womb would
not contract, and when the woman was  in a lying pos-
ture, by introducing the finger up the birth-place, and
gently  turning it around in the mouth  of the  womb;
in this  case, the sensation  felt  in the  mouth  of the
womb,  will  generally cause it to contract, and expel
the contents.
   If all these  means fail, and an  hour passes  without
the expulsion  of the after-birth, you are to introduce
your hand with great caution, the parts being very sore,
and open your fingers inside and round  the  edge  of
the womb; at the same time that you  feel cautiously,
and slowly separate, between the edges of the after-
birth and the womb, any parts which may adhere  as
the womb gradually  closes.  When the after-birth is
expelled or brought away, and  any great  discharge of
blood takes place, apply  to the belly some cloths wet
with  cold water, and  put one up the birth-place,  as 
446
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
directed in flooding.  The woman is then to be wiped
or very  gently rubbed dry, and suflered  to rest quietly
for several hours.
              DIFFICULT  LABOR.
  Most cases of tedious labor, arise among women
with their first child, with women who have married
late in life, and with those who are so healthy, robust,
and corpulent, that the parts seem to relax so slowly, as
hardly to  permit the birth of the child.  The loss of
some blood from the arm will be proper; and, I  have
frequently, after bleeding, put them in warm water; in
doing this, however, you must be careful as to the child.
I have known instances, in which women have  had
their children in  the close-stool or pot, while in the act
of endeavoring to urinate or have a stool.  The warm
bath and bleeding will relax the system, sufficiently in
all probability for the  child to be born; but  take care
that  the child is not injured by  the  water, while the
woman is in the  bath.
  When convulsions  or  fits take place during labor,
and the woman has before complained of great pain in
the head,  and dimness  with  loss of sight, remember
that you are to bleed freely, and  to  open the  bowels
with clysters, or  some gentle laxative medicine.  The
most powerful means, and the best known, for relieving
tedious or difficult labor is blood letting from the arm;
and it should  always be done if the  woman is strong,
healthy, and of a vigorous constitution. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
447
                     TWINS.
  What I have already said on the subject of labors
relates to cases in  which nature presents the  mother
with but one  offspring  from a  pregnancy.   You are
well aware, however, that she  sometimes presents a
parent with two children; and, in the western country,
if rumor speak the truth, she in more than one instance,
has not even stopped at  this number.  In about ninety-
nine cases out of  a  hundred, the directions  I  have
given you, which relate to the birth of one child, will
be found sufficiently ample and particular; but I must
not omit to instruct you also, as to cases of child-birth,
in which more than one child is to be born.
  It is not easy to ascertain that there are twins, or
more than twins to be born,  until after the birth of the
first child; and if there are three to be born, not until
after the birth of the second.  Where twins are to be
produced, the membranes of both children may be felt
at the birth-place, sometimes before the delivery of one
of them, but not often; and sometimes, but very sel-
dom,  it  may  be  distinguished on  examination, that
different parts of  both children  present  themselves.
Twins are always considerably  smaller than single
children, which generally causes their birth to be more
easy and  rapid; in fact, the rapidity  of fa  first  birth,
generally produces the first suspicion that  there  are
twins.  Generally speaking, immediately after the birth
of the first child, another may be felt by very accurate
pressure on the belly of the mother.  But if the womb
be very  capacious or large, rather than subject yourself
to great uncertainty,  the hand may be very cautiously
and gently introduced,  and  the child  distinguished by
the touch.  Where there are  twins, the second  child
is brought forth, within about an hour of the first, and 
448
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
in a position directly contrary to the first; so that when
the first is presented with the head foremost, the second
may always be expected, with the breech or feet fore-
most.
  "The first child being delivered," says Doctor----,
"as prescribed in single  cases, sometime must be allow-
ed to recruit the woman's strength, and to afford nature
time for bringing on the  next  delivery.  There are
cases in which it would be necessary to wait even three
or four hours.   1st.—When artificial  aid was used in
the first case.  2d.—When the child  presents unnatu-
rally.  3d.—When fits of flooding come on.
  "When both children present  naturally, and the la-
bor of the first ends without aid, and without much
fatigue  to the patient, I wait for the secondary pains;
but should these not come on in a  reasonable  time,
four hours, I introduce my hand cautiously, and rupture
the membranes; when, commonly, the second  child
passes readily through the pelvis or basin.  If the first
labor has been natural,  and the  second  child presents
in a wrong direction, I  have generally, without delay,
extracted  it by  the feet.  If the  first  labor  has  been
unnatural, with but little delay, the membranes are to
be ruptured; and, whether the child should be brought
down immediately, and  delivered by the feet or not—
the operating physician  or midwife mnst decide.  The
rules applicable to twins, will equally  apply to cases
where there are three or more children."
  Where  a woman  has brought forth twins, or more,
great care and  attention are necessary to prevent her
from  fainting.   She  should, therefore, not  have her
head raised or elevated; and even in moving, should
have herself rolled over in the bed.  A broad bandage
round the belly, should  never be omitted in the case of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
449
twins, to support the belly of the mother.  The direc-
tions I have already laid down, respecting the after-birth
of single children, are fully and entirely applicable in
the cases of twins, and more children even than two.
        DIRECTIONS FOR MIDWIVES.
  The following remarks are especially intended for
the serious consideration and benefit of midwives;  and
indeed of all such as are  in  the practice of officiating
in the delivery  of pregnant women.  Regularly bred
and licensed physicians are always presumed to know
their  duties, and to perform them with skill and judg-
ment, in  this highly responsible department of their
profession.  The practice of midwifery, by those who
are not regularly  taught the medical profession,  and
who are presumed to know little or nothing about the
organization of the human system, implies the assump-
tion of a most  awful  and dangerous  responsibility;
especially  when  it  is  considered, that the fatal  conse-
quences, of ignorance and presumption, if combined
with total  disregard of moral feelings, duties and prin-
ciples, are  nearly as  chargeable with criminality, as if
they proceeded from  voluntary and intentional  viola-
tions  of the laws of God!  There is very little differ-
ence,  in other words, between the  disregard of those
duties which are enjoined by the laws of justice  and
humanity, and their palpable and  unconditional  viola-
tion.
  The directions which I shall lay down for your con-
siderate adoption,  will  be plain,  simple, and natural;
they will  be obscured by no  technical  language, and
rendered unintelligible to you by  none of the mysteries 
450
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
of the medical profession; and if you scrupulously at-
tend to them, they will enable you to be successful in
ninety-nine cases of midwifery  out of a hundred,  in
which  you may  be engaged.   If  you wish to be
esteemed great and  skilful in your calling, and if you
desire to be an instrument in the hands of divine provi-
dence, for affording  consolation and  relief to your sex
in the hour of affliction, treasure up the salutary advice,
and never lose sight of it—that you are never to force
nature; that you  are to give  her time to perform her
operations; and, if you have any doubt as to the suc-
cess of the delivery, you  are to run no risks, but to call
in the aid of a skilful and experienced physician.  By
attending to  this course of conduct, you will relieve
yourself of dangerous responsibilities, discharge  your
duties to a fellow creature, and appear in the  presence
of  your Creator, with  the  consciousness  of  having
acted in obedience  to the most solemn  injunctions  of
humanity.
  1st. Immediately on your being called to deliver a
woman, your  first enquiry of her should  be, as to the
state of her bowels,  whether she  has  had a stool, and
whether she is bound or constipated in her  bowels.  I
need not tell you, that the discharge of the bowels, and
also of the urine  or water from the bladder, are  both
important and  even  necessary—first, in  preventing in-
juries to the parts, as the child enters the world—and
second, to render the labor and  birth more easy and
safe.   You will, of course, therefore, strictly attend  to
these evacuations, and in proper time.
  2d.  You are now  to ascertain and determine, wheth-
er actual labor has taken place or not;  and, the  only
certain and satisfactory signs of actual labor, are  such
as  I  have before minutely described to you.   The 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           451
 mouth of the womb is to be felt, by introducing the
 finger with much tenderness up the birth-place; and if
 you feel that it dilates or  opens, during the time that a
 pain takes place, the woman is in actual labor.
   3d.  When examining,  conduct the  operation  with
 caution  and tenderness;  and at the same  time, take
 care  to  have your nails  closely  and smoothly pared,
 because your finger will feel the membranous bladder
 or bag containing the waters.   If the labor be not much
 advanced, you will only feel the mouth of the womb
 and its dilation or opening at every pain.
   4th. Place a  pillow between  the  thighs of the wo-
 man, so as to give sufficient room for the child to pass,
 and for its head  to rest upon as it enters into the world,
 and let the woman draw up her legs.
   5th. As the head of the child advances, press your
 right hand steadily and firmly against the part between
 the  fundament  and birth-place, called by physicians
perineum, so as to give it support, and prevent its rup-
 turing or tearing;  at the same  time that you  incline
 the child's head  to the pubes, which are the parts which
 form the arch in front.  If you will recollect, and  if
 you do  not read the part over again, I have fully de-
 scribed  and  enforced  the necessity,  of  your  being
 extremely careful to prevent injuries  to  the perineum;
 for by its being  ruptured or torn, which is sometimes
 the case from incautiousness and imprudence, as  well
 as from  hurrying the birth, the lower  gut or fundament,
 and the birth-place itself, become one opening from the
 tearing or the laceration of the perineum. On this point,
 then, let me again urge you to be extremely careful.
  6th. If the child's head advances forward too rapid-
 ly, resist or  stop its passage outward, for one or two
 pains, with your hand; by these means you  will in- 
452
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE;
crease the powers or energies of nature in the mother,
avoid all risks of injuring the perineum, and give  ulti-
mate facility or ease in the delivery.
  7th.  So soon as  the head is delivered, the  woman
will have some  respite from her sufferings.   You must
then converse  with her, and  encourage  her to be
patient and firm in her resolutions.  Remember now,
that the head of the child is to be supported, and that
no force or pulling whatever is to be used.  You are to
wait patiently,  for the next exertions of nature,  who
will always  perform her operations in  due  time; the
woman is by no means to  strain, bear down, or force
her pains.  As  I told  you before,  and gave you the
reasons, she may blow strongly into the palms of her
hands, but exercise  impulsion or force no further.
  8th.  The child being born, you have now  nothing to
do, for a few minutes, but to give it  fresh air, and per^
mit it to cry.  After it has had sufficient time to breathe
freely, and the navel cord has in some measure ceased
its pulsation, the cord is to be tied  about three inches
from the navel  of the child, and then  again about an
inch and a  half from  the first  knot, and cut asunder
between the two ties, with a scissors or any other sharp
instrument.  But I have told you this before.
  9th.  When the child is  separated from the  mother
you are  not to wash it,  according  to the old custom;
this is a wrong  and  highly improper plan, and frequent-
ly produces serious  injuries to the child, as you will be
fully informed by  reading under the head, "treatment of
new-born infants," which you will find among  the dis-
eases of children.
   10th.  Now comes the period, in which so many
women are injured for life, by ignorance and imprudent
haste.   Let the woman rest a short time,  and await 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
453
 patiently the return of the pains which are to expel the
 after birth, which  the  womb will do by contraction.
 Your own good sense will teach you, that if you pull
 or force down the after-birth, you will also pull down
 the womb, or separate the after-birth before the womb
 has contracted, so as to  stop the blood vessels  from
 pouring out their contents.  Now, if you do pull, after
 all the advice to the contrary I have given you, the con-
 sequence will be, that the woman will bleed to death.  I
 have told you before, how to excite the womb to action,
 so as to bring on the pains for expelling the after-birth.
 You are to rub her belly; and if she is a strong woman,
 and feels able, you may, by assistants, raise her up by
 supporting her under the arms.  She may then blow in
 her hands, a long breath, for the reasons I have already
 given you.  As soon as  an after-pain comes on, the
 midwife is gently to stretch the cord, but not to pull it
 or use any force.  By the motion of the  cord, or  its
 gentle extension, the after-birth  is very apt to come
 away.  If you do not  think proper to use these mea-
 sures, you may turn the woman over on her belly, and
 introduce your finger into the mouth of the womb, with
 much care, the parts being extremely sore;  then turn-
 ing the  finger gently round the mouth of the womb, as
 you would round the edge of a cup, the womb will con-
 tract; now gently stretch the cord, and you will extricate
 the after birth, generally speaking,  with  safety.  An
 hour, an hour and a half, or two hours, may be allowed
 for the expulsion of the  after-birth.
  When it cannot be delivered, proper means are to be
used for its expulsion, in other words, for its discharge.
These means are the following:—Let the midwife intro-
duce into the birth-place,  her  hand, with the fingers
collected into a point,  and made as small as possible. 
454
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
At  the  mouth or  edge of the womb, let her open or
extend her fingers, and rub them carefully round the
edge. These measures will cause the womb to con-
tract; then, with the fingers gently introduced between
the after-birth  and the womb itself,  she  must  slowly
separate them from each  other, should they adhere or
stick together.  Recollect distinctiy, that all this is to be
done, while the contraction is  going on.
  11th.   If the discharge of blood is great, after this
operation, apply cloths wet with cold water to the belly
of the woman, as  in  flooding; and push up the birth-         «
place gently, and not too far, a soft cloth also wet with
cold water, as directed in flooding.
  12th.   When the woman is relieved of the after-birth,
let a wide bandage be placed round her, pleasantly
tight, and let her also be wiped dry.  The clothes which         j|
are wet, and those which were placed under her, are         ,
now to be removed, and she permitted to remain per-
fectly quiet, and to take her repose.   If she complains
of faintness, or seems exhausted, give her some wine
and water, or a little toddy on which  some nutmeg has
been grated.
  I have now given you  a full description of what I
intended, and I am persuaded, in  such plain terms, that
any  woman of common sense can afford the requisite         (
assistance in common  cases of labor.
        DIRECTIONS  AFTER LABOR.
  After labor, the more quiet the woman can be kept,
the better.   The fact is, that she is  to  move  or  be
moved, as little as possible, and to lie principally on her
back.  Her nipples are to be washed with milk-warm 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
455
 water, before the infant is put to the breast, which ought
 to be done within twelve hours after the birth.  If the
 woman has  lost considerable blood during the labor,
 the  milk will  be longer  in  flowing than  otherwise.
 When this is the case, apply bread  and milk poultices
 warm over the nipples;  these will soon cause the milk
 to discharge.
   You will frequently observe, in women who have had
 children,  that their  bellies protrude or stick out, as if
 they were always in  a state of pregnancy.  This is
 owing to  neglect and  bad management.   To avoid it,
 on the second day after the child-birth, you are to apply
 round the whole belly, moderately tight, a broad band-
 age of cloth  or flannel;  the last is the best, which is to
 be worn for at least one month.  It is not to be too
 tight, but merely tight  enough  to  support  the parts
 pleasantly.   This will  prevent the woman, after having
 recovered, from having a large and ill-shaped belly.
   You are now to bear in  mind, and that too, particu-
 larly, the  advice I am about to give  you,  especially if
 you value your health, and probably the preservation
 of your life.  On the second day after delivery, you are
 to take a dose of castor oil  or epsom salts.  More  than
 two-thirds of the women who have been afflicted with,
 and finally died of child-bed fever, have owed their fate
 to neglecting, after the birth  of their infants, to attend
 to the evacuation of their bowels.  If you do not like
 to take salts or castor oil,  evacuate the bowels with clys-
 ters :—see the  head  clystering.  The fact is, you are
 not to let twenty-four hours pass,  after the birth  of a
 child, without a  passage or stool.  The consequences
of this neglect always are,  that it is not only an injury
to yourself, but the child.  When you have  such  pas-
sages as I have  told you are necessary, you  are not to 
456          GUNN'S DOMESTIC'MEDICINE.
exert yourself by getting out of bed, but to have a basin
or other handy convenience placed under you;  folding
a blanket at the same time to prevent you from getting
wet.  In this way, without any danger or indelicacy,
have these passages, from which you will receive much
relief in body and mind, and  derive  much benefit in
your recovery.
  You  are  every day, without fail, to have the birth-
place washed with milk-warm  water  and  good clear
milk.  This is  to be done, by putting  under the  bed
clothing, a basin of warm water, and  having  your hips
and thighs raised with  a pillow or some bed clothes-
In this situation, a common squirt made of elder or cane
may be used, or a female syringe, which can  be procu-
red at any doctor's  shop in the country.  Every  day
w7arm water is  to be  thrown up the birth-place, so as
to cleanse the parts;  and to remove any clots of blood
or matter, called by physicians the lochia, which by
remaining would produce irritation and fever.  If  you
wish to escape child-bed fever, and the whole train of
afflictions  incidental  thereto, you  are  particularly to
attend to these directions.
  In two or three days after delivery, for a short time,
you may sit up in the bed, supported with a chair at your
back covered  with pillows; this will assist the natural
discharges from the birth-place.  You are not to stand
up before the sixth day; and in making any change,  you
are to do it very gradually.  You are to be kept neither
too warm nor too cool;  the air of the  room is to be
kept pleasant and agreeable: and you are never to be
exposed to a current of air.  Two weeks after  delive-
ry, is  about  the general  time of leaving your room,
this, however, will depend  on your situation; caution
must always be used  in the change, so as to bring it on 
              GUNN'S DdMESTIC MEDICINE. .         457

gradually.   Sudden  changes are always dangerous to
women immediately after delivery, and indeed until after
they are completely restored.
   From the moment the woman  is  delivered of her
child, the whole system becomes inclined to fever, and
particularly for three or four days after delivery.  Your
own good sense will  now teach you, that the practice of
giving in such cases  spirituous liquors, highly seasoned
food, heating meats, and strengthening medicines, is
directly contrary to what ought to bo done: giving such
matters as  I have just named, keeping the woman in a
constant sweat, and  closing the room so as  to confine
all the foul air around her, are the very means of bring-
ing on the fever which you ought to endeavor to escape.
Therefore,  let me tell  you, in as plain and emphatic
language as I can find, that whatever adds to the heat
of the woman's body, or to the febrile or feverish action
of the system, will always encourage the coming on of
fever, or increase it if it has come on.  On the contrary,
light cooling diet must be used; the woman must neither
be subjected to  extremes of heat or  cold; her clothing
and her bed chamber must be so attended to, as neither
to oppress her with coldness nor  heat; attention to these
things, in ten days or two weeks, after she has had her
child, will so exempt her  from fever, that in a little time
her health will be fully  established.
                     LOCHIA.
  This word is derived from the Greek.  It means, to
bring forth, and, also,  the  cleanings: by  which are
intended here, the serous or watery, aud often green-col-
ored discharges, that  take place from the womb  and 
458          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

birth-place,  during the first  three or  four days  after
delivery, when they generally  subside.   During the first
four days, these discharges are apt to change their color,
and frequently to become offensive, unless due caution
and cleanliness have been observed.
  If they are profuse or great, and there is considerable
weakness, cloths wet with cold water must be applied
to the belly.  There  must also be cold water thrown up
the birth-place, and also a clyster of cold water taken,
at the same time that some laxative medicine is taken
to open the  bowels:  as these, however, are necessary
discharges, they are  not to be suddenly checked, unless
they seem to be going on to a dangerous extent.
  On the contrary, if they should stop too suddenly, they
must be immediately brought on again, by  a  course of
treatment  directly opposite to that I have just laid down.
Applications of a warm nature  must be made to the
belly; and clysters of milk-warm water, instead of cold
ones, must be  given—see the  head clystering.  Should
the  woman be feverish, or of a  fat  and full habit of
body, the loss  of a little blood will be proper.
                  FAINTINGS.
  If the woman should faint after  the delivery  of her
child, ascertain  immediately if there is a  flooding.
Should this be the case, use the coldest applications, as
directed under the head  flooding.  On  examination,
should there  be no flooding, give  her wine, or some
toddy, or some spirit and water, and draw the bandage
tight, for an hour or two, round her belly.  If her  feet
and legs are cold, apply hot bricks, or other warm ma-
terials to them. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.       f ^ 45is

                     CHILLS.
  When the woman complains of <s«t after her deliv-
ery, or that cold chills arc stealing over her whuii is
sometimes  the case, make warm  applies Co. ..3  to her
belly, feet, and le->, and give tier node g  but warm
balm or sage       ^ iTik.  If he shake j«> very severe,
let the pers   , count: V beet, g- asp wiifc both hands her
thighs and legs, ar    . d th< m fi o .ly but tenderly until
the shivering  su'     ,   Recollect, now, that you are
to give no heaths   pirits at this time, or you will cer-
tainly produce a fever.  Should the chills continue, you
are to have recourse to  laudanum or opium—see table
of doses.  These last articles are not, however, to  be
given, unless the chills continue, or are very severe.
                 AFTER PAINS.
  These pains are  brought on, by the  contraction of
the womb, in the exertions of expelling the clots of blood
and secretions, which are contained in the womb after
the birth.   When not very severe, you are to let them
alone;  but if too excruciating and severe, you will gen-
erally relieve  them, by  applying cloths  wrung out of
warm water to the back and belly.  If the pains con-
tinue to be severe, throw a clyster up  the bowels or
fundament, made of thin  gruel, milk-warm, in which
put a tea-spoonful of laudanum—see the head clystering. 
460           GUNN'S DOMESTIC 'MEDICINE.

               INFLAMMATIONS.
  From difficult or tedious labor, the parts  frequently
become inflamed and swelled; and sometimes there are
quantities of blood, which form a substance in the mouth
of the  birth-place,  which  I  believe  has  no' name.
Although there is no danger in  this matter, yet it  fre-
quently produces great pain and  uneasiness.  These
inflammations are to be relieved by  cold applications,
such as cold poultices of light bread and milk; bathing
the parts with, and throwing up injections of cold water;
or by making use of the  following preparation:—In a
pint of cold water, put a  tea-spoonful of sugar of lead,
and bathe the  parts with the mixture.  Or you  may
rub them well with sweet oil, keep  them cool, and daily
cleanse them with cold water.
  If the  belly feels very sore on being pressed, bathe it
often in warm water; or  apply cloths to it wrung out of
warm water, and rub the belly well with the following
liniment.  Get equal quantities of spirits of hartshorn
and sweet oil:  mix them  well together, and rub the
belly two or three  times a day with this mixture.  This,
with the  warm bathing, as just  directed, will  give
immediate relief.
    INFLx^MxMATION OF THE BREASTS.
  This disease generally arises from want of care after
delivery; by which want of care  I  mean, that proper
attention has not been paid  to your system, in order to
prevent fever, which is always produced from eating or
drinking stimulating articles too freely, and before  the
milk has had time to secrete freely.  This effect is also
produced, by permitting the breasts to remain distended 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          461

too long with  milk.   In this  case, great  pain  with in-
flammation  comes  on; in  other  words^ fever is the
consequence of this neglect.
   If there seems any disposition  to inflammation, the
best preventive is to apply, a  few  hours after  delivery,
warm poultices of light bread and milk to the breasts,
for at least  three hours.  This  will assist the natural
discharge of the milk.  If the child refuse to suck, fill
a common black bottle with warm water, and apply the
nipple  to  the  mouth of the  bottle, which will  gently
draw  the milk, as the water becomes  cooler.  Bathe
the breast well with sweet oil or hog's lard, at the same
time.   If the inflammation continue, put a tea-spoonful
of sugar  of lead, in a pint of cold water, and keep a
cloth, wet with this mixture, constantly to the breast; but
recollect, you  are not to wet the nipple with this mix-
ture, by which means it may get into the child's mouth.
When  the  inflammation is severe, Doctor Physic re?-
commends a blister over the breast.  When matter is
fully formed, make a small  puncture or hole with a
lancet, so as to permit it gradually to escape.  I have
always, however, relieved by poultices and  sugar of
lead, as above directed, without  the painful necessity of
using a blister.
                 MILK FEVER.
  This fever  is owing  to the  change of the system,
after the delivery of the child, by  the  swelling  and
irritation of the breasts, from the milk secreted in them.
This always occasions the discharge from the womb
to lessen in quantity.  You will now recollect the ad-
vice I  have given you before, as  to applying poultices 
462         • GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

to the breasts for a few hours, anointing  the  breasts
well with sweet oil or lard, taking some laxative medi-
cines, and living  on low diet.   These  measures  and
precautions, will  enable you to avoid  the  following
unpleasant feelings: heat, thirst, head-ache, and fever.
Although this fever is quite common, and may be easily
removed, yet the  imprudence of neglecting the above
advice, may be the cause of other complaints, which I
shall  in their proper places  mention.  If  the  breasts
are painful, take a dose of  salts to  cool the system:
and if the fever continue, the loss of a little blood from
the arm will be proper.   Drink mild balm or sage tea,
in which  put  about twenty drops  of antimonial wine.
This drink may be given occasionally, so as to produce
a  gentle moisture  or  sweat on the skin.  Take no
heating articles, and live  on  light cooling  diet.  In a
few days the milk will flow7, and the fever go off
                SWELLED LEG.
  This disorder takes place after child-birth, and I am
happy to say that it  seldom occurs, when due caution
and cleanliness have been observed.  I am of opinion,
that it arises  from some irritating matter being  left in
the womb, or at its  mouth.  When you discover  this
disorder, which is known by a pain inside  of the leg,
extending to the heel and  the groin, the limb  always
begins to swell, so that the slightest motion  gives great
pain.   The  pulse becomes  quick,  the skin hot,  the
tongue white, the urine thick.  There  are, also, slight
pains about  the womb,  and the discharge  from  the
birth-place is dreadfully offensive. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
463
                    REMEDIES.
  On the appearance of this  complaint, get a  syringe
for  females, or what will answer the same purpose,
make a squirt of elder or cane, and throw up the birth-
place, several times during the day, some warm water
to cleanse it—and in the  intervals of time, some good
sweet oil.  Wash the parts well,  with water made
pleasantly warm, and rub the leg or legs with the fol-
lowing ointment.   Take  a gill  of sweet oil,  a table-
spoonful of laudanum, and to these add a gill of spirits
in which camphor has been dissolved.  With this mix-
ture, rub or bathe the legs twice a day; and provided
the  woman has no purging of the bowels, let her take
at night, and also in the morning, two grains of calomel,
mixed  with the same  quantity of  squills,  and made
into a pill.  This is to be  repeated  until relief is ob-
tained.
             CHILD BED FEVER.
  This disease is called by physicians puerperal fever.
It generally comes on, from the fifth  to the eighth day
after the woman has been delivered :  but its being ear-
lier or later, depends very much on the woman's consti-
tution, and the  particular state of her system.  I have
before mentioned to you, that you are to be very pru-
dent in your conduct, respecting your food, drink, and
the state  of your bowels; for on these  three things
depend, in a very great degree, your uniform health,
and exemption  from this dangerous disease, puerperal
or child bed fever.  This fever sometimes arises, from
a stoppage of the discharge which I have described to
you, called Iochial discharge, and from the putrid mat- 
464          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

ter which I told  you it was composed of, and which I
directed you to cleanse:—see the head lochia.   An un-
due secretion of milk, a stoppage of the  lochial dis-
charge, the absorption of putrid matter from the womb,
exposure to too great cold or heat, all these things are
capable of producing child bed  fever.   This fever  is
extremely dangerous, and requires the immediate  at-
tendance of an able physician; but, as  you may be so
situated as to be unable to obtain one, I shall explain
to you clearly the symptoms of this disorder, and also
the proper remedies.
  Child  bed fever  comes on, with a chill  in the first
instance, then a flushing  heat;  next, the  woman be-
comes restless, and  a sweat breaks out.   In a short
time this sweat dries up, and the skin becomes dry and
burning to the touch: there is now great thirst;  flush-
ing of the face;  whiteness and dryness of the tongue;
great pain in the head and back; sickness at the stom-.
ach, sometimes attended with puking.   In  a short time
the belly swells,  feels full, and becomes very painful; so
much so, that the weight of the bed clothes, gives con-
siderable increase of pain.  The bowels become quite
loose in some cases, and in others much constipated or
bound; so much so,  that it is difficult to get a passage
through them.  By  these symptoms you  are  to know
this fever.
  I must here remark, that if this fever continues for
some time, it is very  apt to change to a typhus fever.
When this  is the  case, the inflammatory symptoms
subside, the  tongue and teeth are now covered with a
dark brown  coat; small sores  break out in the mouth
and  throat, similar  to  those in  a  child that has the
thrush; the  breath  smells  very  badly;  the stools are
dark  and very offensive;  and not unfrequently  small 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          465

 purple spots appear on different  parts  of the body.
 When the last symptoms appear, the case is certainly a
 very  doubtful one.  In the typhus stage of child bed
 fever, refer to page 194, and you will find the remedies
 under the head nervous fever.   The  remedies in the
 first stage I have described, or child bed fever properly
 so called, are as follows:
                     REMEDIES.
   While the cold stage is passing over, warm  appli-
 cations to the feet and legs are to be made; and, when
 the inflammatory  or hot stage comes on, as before
 described, the woman is to be bled from the arm,  and
 immediately purged freely with calomel:—see table of
 doses.  This purge of calomel, is  to be followed up
 with a dose of epsom salts:—see table.  If the woman
 is of a full, stout, and healthy habit  of body, and the
 pains and fever, in eight or ten hours, do not begin to
 give way; and if the pains in the head and back con-
 tinue  severe, I generally draw  more blood from the
 arm.  During  this fever, obtain  a  phial of antimonial
 wine,  and one of sweet spirits  of nitre: mix  as you
 can, equal quantities of these two articles,  and give a
 tea-spoonful of this mixture every half hour, in a little
 water or tea: in other words,  give it in such a manner,*
 as to produce a little sickness  of  the stomach, attended
 with a gentle moisture on the  skin.  If it be inconve-
 nient for you to obtain these articles, put into a pint of
 milk warm water, ten grains of tartar emetic, and give
 of this water one or two table-spoonsful, every one or
 two hours, so as to produce and keep up  a constant
sickness at the stomach.  This will lessen  the fever.
Rub the  belly well with sweet oil, and by injecting a
little up the birth place occasionally, the irritation will
be greatly lessened.  The application of flannel cloths 
466           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

frequently wrung out of warm water, and laid to  the
belly, will also be  highly important in lessening  the
pains and inflammation.—Should the pain continue in
the belly, apply  a  blister at the  upper part of each
thigh.  I would advise blistering on the belly, that be-
ing the proper place, but then you could not apply the
warm cloths,  which are highly important.   It will,
therefore, be  better to apply the blisters as directed.
Clysters made of slippery elm, and about milk warm,
thrown up the fundament with a proper pipe, three or
four times a day, will answer  a valuable purpose, and
be a  cooling and soothing  remedy  in this complaint.
You  will recollect  particularly, that in this  disease,
operations  must be  had by the bowels, during the in-
flammatory period: and that when the disease changes
its appearance and character to typhus, as it will some-
times do, you  are to gently  keep the bowels open, but
not to purge  so as to weaken the patient.  In  this
event, the continuance of mild  clysters will be  found
truly a fine  remedy.  For  the method of clystering,
&c. see that  head.—When  purging  comes  on,  so as
greatly to weaken the woman, which is not unfrequently
the case, you are to check it by giving a clyster, made
with  common starch  on which  hot water has been
poured.  This clyster must  be about  the  thickness of
gruel, and be about  milk warm, in which you  are to
put twenty-five or thirty drops of laudanum: it must be
repeated three or four times a day, as the pain  and
looseness may require.
   At the commencement of this child  bed fever, the
diet or food must be very cooling and light; but as the
disease advances, and the woman becomes weaker, let
the nourishment be  increased: and  if necessary, from
 her loss of strength  in purging,  or from other causes, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          467
or if the disease seems to be approaching to the typhus
or nervous fever, the symptoms of which I have fully
explained,  it will be necessary to support her system,
by the assistance of good  wine  or toddy, and such
nourishing food as will support the  enfeebled action of
the system.   In  these cases,  wine and barks may be
given also; or camomile tea made  strong, and  taken
cold occasionally through the day;  or, you may  give a
strong decoction of dog-wood bark,  wild  cherry-tree
bark, and swamp-poplar bark, made from equal quan-
tities of these barks boiled together and perfectly cooled,
in the quantity of about a wine-glass full three or four
times a day.   These remedies are  all valuable  tonics,
or  strengthening medicines  to  support  the  system.
Remember particularly, that no tonics or strengthening
medicines are to be  given,  until after the  system has
been  entirely cleansed of its impurities: and also, you
are most particularly to bear  in mind, that tonics or
strengthening medicines are  never to be given, when
they produce or increase fever.
  Spirits of turpentine.—I am induced to believe, from
testimony not to be questioned, that this valuable medi-
cine,  spirits  of turpentine,  has not yet received the
attention, or been employed  sufficiently in child-bed
fever.  So far as my studies and experience will enable
me to form  and deliver an  opinion, I would prefer its
use to that of the lancet in this fever, in the reduction
of febrile and inflammatory symptoms. I have been
in the practice, for  several years past,  of using spirits
of turpentine as a medical remedy, and feel no hesita-
tion whatever  in asserting, that a  fair and impartial
trial of it, in a great variety of cases, would entitle it to
rank and appreciation among medical remedies, of the
very first order.   In obstinate costiveness of the bowels, 
468          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
and when every other remedy had failed, I have  fre-
quently used it with signal  success; nor is there any
thing superior to it in colic, and in various inflammatot
ry or spasmodic  affections of the abdominal viscera.
In enteritis, which  means inflammation  of the intes-
tines; in dysentery; and in hemorrhage, which means
a discharge of blood, I know from practical experience,
that it  is a very valuable remedy.  With these remarks,
which  I consider amply due to the subject, I will sub-
join such testimonials of the efficacy of spirits of tur-
pentine, as will entitle it to much attention in the treat-
ment of child-bed fever.
   Says Doctor Payne; in substance, pages 98-9, of the
6th vol. Medical Recorder—"Puerperal  or child-bed
fever, within the last fifteen years, has raged  with its
usual violence in many parts of this kingdom, particu-
larly in the westriding of Yorkshire, when but few of
those attacked by  it escaped.  Before the publication
of Doct. Brennan appeared,  recommending the oil of
turpentine in this fever, blood-letting was usually resort-
ed to;  but, there was much less success attending it,
than appears to have followed the application of the
same remedy, in the cases of Doctor Campbell.   After
reading Brennan's work,  I  was glad to try  a  fresh
remedy in child-bed fever, because I had seen so little
good result from blood-letting.  It is now nearly eight
years since I was called to visit a female, who labored
under this disease; when  the surgeon,  who had only
seen the  patient a  short time before,  proposed giving
the oil of turpentine, which was assented to, and  given
in doses of half an  ounce every two  hours.  The effect
was, a very copious discharge from the bowels, appear-
ing  to consist of a  serous or watery fluid, tinged  with
green, in which were seen floating  numerous pieces of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          469

white matter, like coagulable lymph.  Soon afterwards
the patient became maniacal or deranged, and contin-
ued so for several days, when her intellects were restor-
ed, and she gradually recovered.
   "Since that period," says  the doctor, "I  have seen
several cases of child bed fever, one of which had been
attended by a surgeon, who had discontinued his visits.
I believe she had not been bled.  Her friends, seeing I
had an unfavorable opinion of the case, called in a more
experienced physician, and it  was agreed  to  try the
oil of turpentine as a last resource.   Two drachms
of it were given every two hours, which soon brought
on a  purging, of a  matter of a like nature  as  before
mentioned.  I have stated, in the case first mentioned,
that mania or derangement of mind had taken place
from giving the oil  of turpentine;  and the  probability
is, that the largeness of the doses produced the effect,
by throwing too much blood to the head.  In the case
I am now speaking of, two drachms only were  given
at a dose, and the result was, that although  the patient
seemed to be at the very verge of eternity, she quickly
recovered."
    I will give but one other case.  It is one communi-
 cated to the Medical Recorder, 6th vol. page  615, by
 doctor James H. Lucas, of the county of Madison, and
 State of Georgia.  It is ably and clearly detailed, and
 will be highly satisfactory to the reader.
    "On the 15th July, I  was called to  a woman who
 had been delivered five days before of her  third child,
 after a lingering labor of two days and nights.   When
 I  saw her, there  was a wildness of expression, and
 great anxiety, with considerable sharpness  of the fea-
 tures.   Her pulse was from 100 to  110.   She  had a
 severe pain above  the  eyes, a hot and dry skin, and 
470           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

great restlessness; the tongue furred in the middle, and
a red appearance of the edges.   There was much ten-
derness of the belly, with  an appearance  like a ball
over the pubes.  Her bowels were costive;  her extrem-
ities cold,  every morning  about two  o'clock,  with a
scarcity of the lochial  discharge;  the restlessness was
also much  more troublesome, in the  afternoon.  The
child and placenta were both delivered as usual.  As a
preparatory means, ten grains of calomel were given, to
be worked  off with castor oil.   This relieved her con-
siderably, particularly her  head.  The next morning,
the 16th, ordered her to take two tea-spoonsful of  the
spirits of turpentine, in a  solution of gum arabic, or
beaten up with the white of an egg, with a table-spoon-
ful of castor oil in the evening to assist the operation of
the turpentine.  On the 17th, the tenderness of  the
belly had nearly subsided; the  pulse was less frequent;
and  four more  stools, of a green color  and offensive
smell from  the oil and  turpentine were  voided.  She
was  ordered  to  continue the medicine.  On the 18th,
the tenderness was gone, except on pressure; and  the
pulse was but 90 in a minute.   Three  stools had been
passed of a less offensive smell, and but slightly tinged
with green.   The skin  was much  coolor than on  the
day  before.  The medicine was still  continued.   On
the 19th, the  pulse was natural, with a slight perspira-
tion  on the surface; the tenderness of the belly was
entirely gone; the lochial discharge of its proper quan-
tity and color; five stools had been voided, the two last
of which were of a natural appearance; and her appe-
tite  was good.  On the 20th, I found  her up,  quite
cheerful, and perfectly free from fever or disease, and
she has continued so ever since."
  From these cases, which are drawn from high author- 
.1
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          471

ities,  the value  of spirits of  turpentine,  as a  most
valuable remedy in child  bed fever, will probably  be
acknowledged by every reader of this work. 
DISEASES  OF  CHILDREN.
   Surely there can be nothing more painful and dis-
 tressing to a mind of sensibility, than to be compelled to
 witness, in very many cases  without being able to
 relieve, the various and often fatal diseases to  which
 infants are liable.  That most of them are of a mor-
                               «
 bidly irritative character, is probably well known to
 every physician who has attended  to their symptoms;
 but what it is that particularly excites this diseased irri-
 tability in the  intestinal canal,  it would probably be
 difficult for even the most learned and skilful of the pro-
 fession to determine.
   The foolish and dangerous custom, of giving infants
 medicine the moment they  are born, in order to keep
 them quiet, is a practice which ought always to be dis-
 countenanced, as  laying the foundations of many disor-
 ders, sometimes destroying life itself, or entailing on the
 constitution maladies which last for life.   Various medi-
 cines are given  to infants, for very foolish and frivolous
 reasons, which had better be let alone entirely; such, for
 instance, as Godfrey's  cordial, Bateman's drops,  &c.
 &c.  all of which contain opium, and do inconceivable
 injury to infants.  I do not mean by these remarks, that
 these medicines are not sometimes beneficial;  but to be
 constantly administering them on all occasions, and for
 nearly all possible purposes, must convince any person
of common  sense, that they are injurious both to the
health and the  constitution.   By suckling infants, then 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           473
feeding or  rather stuffing them,  and then following up
both by medicines,  to  keep them quiet, their  tender
stomachs are  kept  constantly loaded; and  if they are
not fortunate enough to puke up  part of what they have
been compelled to swallow, fermentation must and will
take place, the stomach being unable to master such a
mass,  followed by colics  and  purgings.  The  above
remarks  are made in terms thus  plain, that they may be
distinctly understood by my readers, and that they may
profit, in the treatment of their infant children, by their
true meaning.
                  STILL BORN.
  When an infant is born apparently dead, or giving
no signs of life, it is said to be still-born.  This appear-
ance, however,  should not  prevent the midwife  from
making every possible exertion for the restoration of the
child;  by  patience  and  perseverance,  thousands of
infants  have been restored to life.   If  no pulsation or
beating can  be felt in  the navel-cord, and if there be
marks of putrefaction and  decay, I need  not tell you that
all  your efforts  will be  fruitless.  The  infant,  in this
case, where there is hope, ought to be separated from
the mother as early as possible, and  wrapped in a blan-
ket made warm by the fire.  As soon as possible after
this, its breasts are to be bathed in warm spirits, at the
same time that you gently apply to its nostrils spirits of
hartshorn.  If these  remedies fail to restore the circu-
lation, put it in warm water, keeping its head in such a
position as to prevent suffocation.  You may loosen the
string on the navel-cord, so as  to  let it bleed about a
table-spoonful, when it must be again tied.  While these
                         60 
474            GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
measures are in operation, you are to prepare  a clyster,
made of a table-spoonful of  spirits  of any  kind, and
three table-spoonsful of warm water;  and if  the  child
does not breathe, you are to give this clyster up the bow-
els  with a  proper instrument—look  under the  head
clystering.   The  lungs are  to be  filled  with  air, by
means of a common syringe,  the  pipe of which  is  to
be introduced into one nostril, while the  other nostril
and  mouth are to  be  carefully closed;  when you are
then  by  gentle pressure on the breast of the child  to
empty them: in this way the lungs  are to be frequently
filled and compressed until natural respiration or breath-
ing takes place.  Sometimes  the application of a  little
cold water to the chest will restore  children.   In many
instances, when the slightest action of  the  heart has
been perceived, it would be  advisable to keep  up a fric-
tion  or rubbing over  the body, for at  least   an  hour.
Cases are stated, and many of them, of infants still-born
being restored  by warmth and gentle rubbing,   even
when no signs of life had appeared for an hour or more
after  the birth.  This  should therefore encourage you
to persevere, by every possible method, for the restora-
tion  to life of a still-born infant.
  There are instances, in which the child is born  of a
dark purple cast,  in which the breathing is scarcely
perceptible, and where death ensues  in a few moments.
When these  appearances take  place, the  infant has
generally some defect  in the formation of the heart and
lungs.  Doctor Hosack advises, that a bath  be made
of oak-bark, four ounces of which  is to be boiled  for a
few  minutes in about two gallons of water.  When this
bath is prepared, add to  it a pint of spirits of any kind,
permitting  it to become pleasantly  warm, bathe the
child up to the neck in this  water.   If it is convenient, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
475
you may add to this bath  occasionally a  table-spoonful
of spirits of hartshorn, so as to render  it  stimulating.
When the child shows symptoms of recovery, take it
out of the bath, and wrap it in warm  flannels; and
should the infant be taken in the same way again, you
must immediately make  use of the  bath,  after again
warming it.
  TREATMENT OF NEW BORN INFANTS.
   According to the old custom, the moment the child
 was separated from the mother, it was plunged in warm
 water,  or  washed with spirits  of some kind,  and well
 rubbed with a towel,  to remove the mealy matter which
 adhered to it, and to  prevent its taking cold, or perhaps
 to harden  its skin.  These foolish and dangerous prac-
 tices,  have caused   the death of thousands of infant
 children, or produced some other consequences highly
 detrimental to their  constitutions.  The consequences *
 always are, that  by washing and rubbing the child, you
 irritate and inflame the skin, which is at this  time  so
 tender, that nature in her wisdom has  covered it with
 this  mealy matter, to  defend it  from injury in entering
 the world,  and to preserve it from irritability and inflam-
 mation  afterward.
   An infant born in the winter season, has .more of this
 mealy covering than if born during  the summer; it is
 also  more  thickly covered  with it at the arm-pits, the
 bends of the joints, and so on, which are more liable to
 rubbing  or frictional   injury during  labor, than other
parts of the body: and in addition to  these  considera-
tions, this  covering is  intended  to protect  the infant
against the action of the atmospheric air.  This cover- 
476
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
ing is perfectly natural, and should always be permitted
to remain until nature herself removes it.  This will be
done in a day or two,  without  assistance or  artificial
means by which  the skin will be  left white, soft, and
beautiful, and the child exempted from innumerable dis-
eases—diseases, which  by the old custom of washing
and rubbing would almost invariably ensue.  By the
old custom, the skin  is  greatly irritated  and inflamed,
then becomes of a  dark red  color, and  afterwards
breaks out with those eruptions or pimples, which usu-
ally appear on children,  called red gum.
  Every person of common sense must know, that the
application of spirits of any kind, especially when rub-
bed on the head and body of a  grown person, will
produce  smarting and  give  pain.   Now, I ask what
must be the consequence to an infant, whose skin is so
delicately tender,  that  nature  herself has shielded  it
from the atmosphere, until it will bear the change with-
out injury.   In  many  cases  of grown  persons, the
application of brandy to  the head, and  washing the
body with it,  have been .known to produce  inflamma-
tion of the brain, or lungs, or bowels: the evaporation
from the surface being so great, as to induce a degree
of cold sufficient  to stop the perspiration or sweat.  In
infants, this  evaporation produces inflammations of the
bowels, or of the lungs, and sometimes of the mem-
brane  which  lines the nostrils, by which the child is
afflicted with a disease called the snuffles.
  The proper plan, and the one now practised in the
different  lying-in  hospitals throughout  Europe and the
United States, is simply the following.  Cleanse the
face with tenderness and caution, with a little milk and
water made pleasantly warm: then cover the body with
thin muslin, over which  is to be put the flannel  In a 
            GUNN*'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.              477
day or two, the mealy covering will entirely  peel off,
and nature in due time will exhibit a healthy, delicate,
and beautiful skin, free from every disease, and entirely
exempt from all those painful and eruptive diseases  to
which infants are usually subject, from the old method
of treatment.
                   MECONIUM.
  When a child is first born, its bowels are filled with
a dark  colored greenish matter, called  by physicians
meconium.  In a short time after its birth, or as soon
as it commences sucking the first milk from the mother,
which milk seems by nature to  be  intended to remove
this dark colored or greenish matter  from the bowels,
for it  is  almost  immediately discharged by a stool.
This is the reason, and I think an amply sufficient one,
why children  should be put to the breast as early as
possible after their  birth.   Sometimes  the  milk in  the
mother's breast is rather slow in coming; or from some
particular cause,  the child will not suck the breast,  and
consequently it-will not discharge by  stool, this matter
from the bowels  which I have described.  It will then
be necessary to give it something  to  open the bowels,
such as a little molasses  and water,  which should be
<tiven frequently  until the bowels are  properly opened.
Or you  may obtain from any  doctor's shop a small
piece  of manna, about the  size of a  walnut,  and  dis-
solve it in a gill of boiling water, and  when it  becomes
cool, give  the  infant a tea-spoonful frequently, or until
it  operates freely.  Or you may, if these remedies fail,
give  a  tea-spoonful of the  best castor  oil, which  will
remove the meconium immediately.   The  two  first 
478
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
being the  most simple remedies, should  always be used
first.  Sometimes,  but  the cases are not frequent,  this
necessary  discharge  is prevented from  passing, owing
to the fact that the  fundament, from some defect or other
cause, being stopped up.  Such cases require  the  im-
mediate aid of an  able  physician, to  examine  and
remove such difficulties or obstructions.
         ORIGINAL IMPERFECTIONS.
  Immediately after the birth of an infant, examine its
body and limbs, and particularly its private parts: be-
cause children are not all born perfect in these respects.
The passages of infants are  sometimes closed up with
slime or  tough matter, which require the aid of surgi-
cal  operations to open them, before they can pass either
their stools or  their urine.  Great  care and attention
ought always to be paid by parents to these examina-
tions.  Sometimes the parts which  decency forbids me
to name, are entirely closed up  by malconformation or
deformity of those parts;  these  cases, however,  are
very rare and unfrequent; and  I need not tell you, that
in them no human assistance can afford relief
  Ruptures are very common among new born infants,
particularly about the navel.  When these  ruptures are
very early observed, they  may  speedily be removed by
bathing  the belly frequently  with cold  water,  and
attending to the child's bowels:  in other words keeping
them regularly  open.  If the rupture should be at the
navel, apply  a piece of adhesive plaster, so  as  to give
support to the parts; but by no means apply a bandage,
which will do injury to the delicate  and tender parts by
the  pressure.   The fact is,  that the constant application 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.            479
of cold bathing,  as  the infant  advances in  age and
strength, will always remove these early ruptures.
   Tongue tied.—In this case, the tongue is confined to
the roof of the mouth, by a small cord which prevents
its motion.  Sometimes, indeed, the tongue is so confin-
ed that the infant cannot suck.   But, I have sometimes
known children cut for it where it did not exist; there-
fore great caution ought to be  used in this operation,
although it  may  be  a very  simple one.   If the physi-
cian, or other  person, who cuts this small  cord, does
not  understand it properly, or  does  it carelessly, so
great a quantity of blood may be lost  as to prove fatal
to the  child.   As many women  are  very uneasy, re-
specting their children being tongue tied,  I  will inform
them  that they  are often alarmed unnecessarily,  and
have  their  children operated  on when  they are not
tongue tied.   A very simple method of discovering its
situation is, by  putting the end of your finger in the
child's mouth: if it is able to clasp it with  the same
force  it would the  nipple, or  the end of the tongue
moves, it does  not require cutting.
   Hare lip.—There  are different kinds of hare lip
 distinguished  under the names  of single  and double
hare lip—and not unfrequently  both lips are disfigured
by  the opening  or  space  extending  along the roof of
 the mouth.  When this is the  case,  it has a  very un-
 sightly appearance, and the operation  of closing the
 lip cannot be performed, however  skilful the physician,
 with any probability of success.  But where there is
 only a single opening, or even double, provided it does
 not extend  to the roof of the mouth,  as I have descri-
 bed, the cure or operation, can be performed without
 much difficulty.   You will bear in mind, that an opera-
 tion,  which means endeavoring to  close  up the  lip, 
480            GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
ought never to be performed on  an infant, until it is a
year old; requires  strength to bear the operation, by
which it is  to be  removed.  In some cases, but they
are very  rare, the infant is unable to suck; if this is
the case, the operation may be performed; but at this
early  stage,  I should consider the success very doubtful.
The method used  in  the country  of sewing it up, is
highly improper.  The operation to be performed in
closing up the lip, where the fissure  or opening does
not extend  beyond the upper part of the gum,  is as
follows:—At any  silversmith's shop, have two  silver
pins made, something longer than  a common pin, and
without any heads  to  them.  With a sharp knife pare
well the edges of the  opening;  then with one of these
pins, pierce the  lip at the upper side  entirely through,
in  a  slanting direction:  then pierce through on  the
other side in the same way.   You will recollect to take
a  good hold,  so that it will not easily  tear out; then
with  your thumb  and finger close  together the  edges
that have been cut; now7 you are to wind tight round
these  pins some silk,  which has been properly waxed,
so as  to draw it together that it may heal. In  six or
seven days, or perhaps earlier, it  will heal or adhere
together;  then draw out  the pins, and dress it with any
simple ointment or salve, and if properly performed,
the scar in a few days will scarcely  be perceptible.
   The feet of infants  are sometimes deformed by what
are called  club feet; if this is permitted  to  go  on
without immediate  attention, the deformity will be very
great, and cannot be removed after the  infant is a  few
months old; the bones  of the feet become hard  and
firm,  whereas, at  an  early age,  or immediately after
birth, they  are  in  a  soft grisly state, when, if proper
means are used, the foot  or feet, by gradual compres- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           ^Ol

sion may  be reduced to their  natural  form in a few
months, if  the deformity  is not  great;  but  in some
cases, a longer time will be required.
EXERCISE OF CHILDREN AND PURE  AIR.
  If  you are desirous of preserving  your children's
health, and giving them good  constitutions, give  them
exercise, and let them be frequently in the open air, so
as to accustom their bodies to  the various changes of
the atmosphere.  By no means keep them in a close
room, or cooped up as if you were  afraid they would
catch cold at every gentle breeze.  I have never seen
children thus confined whose health and  constitutions
were not, through  life, extremely delicate, and subject
to colds  and various diseases, which,  by a  contrary
course they would have entirely escaped.  As an  evi-
dence, take two children, let one be clothed in flannel^
and protected from the slightest exposure or change of
weather; feet constantly supplied with stockings  and
shoes, and not suffered to go out in the least  damp cr
inclement weather.  While  the other is moderately
clothed, perhaps hardly enough to cover it with decen-
cy; no  shoes  or  stockings;  exposed to all  kinds of
weather, even during  our inclement winters,  without a
shoe  to its little feet.  The first will be pale, thin, weak-
ly, and  of a delicate  constitution through life, subject
to  colds on  every  change of the weather; perhaps not
attaining the age  of manhood, before  a breast com-
plaint commences its  ravages.   While  the other,  full of
strength, vigor, and  a cheek  like a  rose, with healthy
constitution, exempt from colds, and free of every  dis-
order, reaches a good old age  without  an hour's sick-
                         61 
482          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
ness.  Are we not furnished  daily with evidences of
this fact.  Why then take pains to throw up  obstacles
in the way, when, if children were permitted to exer-
cise freely, and not so much unnecessary care  bestowed
upon them after a certain age;  or in other words, when
able to run about  themselves,  parents would be blest
with a more healthy and vigorous offspring, and have
very little necessity  for doctois or medicines.   By the
use of cold bathing, or  in other words,  washing the
child in cold water, you will,  in  a great measure, pre-
vent the galling and excoriation which frequently occur
about the groins and privates,  in the neck, behind the
ears,  &c.  which are produced by the sweat  or urine.
The parts after being washed in cold water,  should be
suffered to dry, and a  little fine starch  dusted  upon it,
this will very much relieve the child.
                THE SNUFFLES.
  This stoppage of the nose is quite common to young
children.  It frequently prevents them from breathing
freely and they cannot suck or swdlow without consi-
derable difficulty.   This is quite  a simple  complaint,
which will be  speedily removed by giving the infant  a
purge of  castor oil; about a tea-spoonful is the dose;
and bathing its feet or body in  warm water, pleasantly
warm; and  for  a few  days keeping its head a little
warm.  A little lard or sweet  oil may be rubbed  upon
the nose and around the nostril. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINS.
483
                THE RED GUM.
  The red gum breaks out  in  small  pimples  on the
skin,  generally  of  a  red, but not unfrequently, of a
yellow  appearance.   This complaint  appears  princi-
pally on the face and neck; but it sometimes breaks out
on  the  hands and legs,  and  the  pimples contain, not
unfrequently, a white clear matter.  It would be highly
improper to use  any means outwardly  to remove it, for
by so  doing, you might suddenly drive in the complaint,
and thereby destroy the life of the infant.   The child
while  laboring under this disorder,  should be  prevented
from  being exposed to  the cold  air.   The  only danger
in this disorder, is  in  driving it  in; when this is the
case,  the  infant  is greatly  distressed in  the  bowels,
screams,  and cries constantly; and  not  unfrequently
has fits.   In  the management of this disorder, you are
to keep the infant's bowels open with a little magnesia
and rhubarb:—for  the dose  of either of  these  medi-
cines, see  table:  or a tea-spoonful  of castor oil  may be
given.   Should the disorder suddenly disappear, and
the child  become sick from  it, put it  immediately in
warm water—and give it one or two drops of antimo-
nial wine,  in  a little sage tea. This may be repeated
every  hour or two, until a moisture on the  skin  is pro-
duced, and the pimples or eruptions brought out again
on the body.
                 YELLOW GUM.
  This is a disorder similar  to the jaundice, and takes
place with some infants  a few days after their birth; it
is known by a  yellow  tinge  of the skin, high  colored
urine,  and  a constant desire  to sleep.  This  simple 
484           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
complaint can be removed by a gentle puke  of one or
two  grains of ipecacuanha, mixed with a little warm
water, and in a  short time followed  by some mild
purge.
                    THRUSH.
  The thrush or soreMmouth, is a very common disease
in early infancy.   The child suffers a great deal of pain
in sucking, and frequently  this complaint is attended
with some fever.  This disorder appears in small white
spots on the tongue, corners of  the lips, and inside  the
cheeks, and by degrees spreading itself over the whole
inside of the mouth  and  throat; and  in  some  cases,
extending down  through  the  stomach and  navel.  If
the white spots on the tongue resemble coagulated milk,
or in other words, look  as if the child had been eating
curds, and  that some of them remained sticking on the
tongue,  you  will know by this appearance, that the
thrush or sore mouth is commencing.  The thrush is
produced from acidities  in  the stomach  and  bowels,
occasioned  from some particular  quality  of the  milk,
which disagrees with the infant, or  from improper food.
Those  children who are raised by hand, are more sub-
ject to  this  complaint, which shows plainly,  that it is
the food which disagrees with the  stomach and bowels,
and brings  on the  thrush  or sore mouth.  The  reme-
dies  are then very  plain  and simple;  attend  to the
stomach and bowels first, before you use any astringent
washes; after which  it  will be  proper  to  use a wash
for the mouth, made  of a little  borax, honey, and alum,
dissolved or mixed  in  a small quantity  of sage  tea.
Then, with a rag tied to a stick, rub or wash  the mouth 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
485
with this  preparation, two or three times a day; regu-
larly persevering in washing, while any appearance of
the disease remains.  To regulate  the  stomach  and
bowels, give equal quantities of magnesia and rhubarb:
for doses  of either  of  these  medicines,  refer to the
table.
                 CONSTIPATION!1
  Constipation  means costiveness, or being bound in
the body, so that the infant cannot pass its stools.  This
complaint is sometimes  hereditary,  or natural to  the
child; when  this is the  case, and it does not exceed
proper bounds, it may not require the  use of any  rem-
edy ; but should the infant's health begin to suffer, from
frequent attacks  of colic, flatulence, &c. it  should be
strictly attended  to, as it  may produce  convulsions  or
fits, inflammation of the bowels,  or other diseases  of a
difficult and lingering nature, thereby establishing this
costive habit of body for life.
  If the predisposition descended from a mother of the
same habit, or in  other words, if the  mother herself is
subject  to being  bound in her body, the child  may be
relieved  for  a short  time,  but  it will again return.
When this is the case, the mother, if posssible, should
change the quality  of the milk, by  being attentive to
her diet,  and to take occasionally some mild purge,
which will alter  the quality of her milk; for this pur-
pose there is no medicine superior,  or  more  innocent
than  magnesia and epsom  salts, of  equal quantities,
mixed and ground very fine  in a mortar.   Of this take
a tea-spoonful or two in  a tumbler of cold water of a
morning on an empty stomach.   When  the constipa- 
*00           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
tion originates from the child's food, it must be changed,
and  simple medicines given occasionally, to act as a
mild purge, such as  magnesia, rhubarb,  manna, sweet
oil, or  castor oil; either of these may be  given;  for
doses of either of these  medicines, see table.  But if
the costiveness is obstinate,  a little aloes pounded  fine
and mixed with honey and molasses, will procure a pas-
sage  or  stool.   Or  you may  give a laxative  clyster,
made of a little warm water, in which put a  tea-spoon-
ful of lard,  and  with a clyster pipe or syringe, throw or
squirt it up the fundament.   In administering clysters,
you are to recollect, that  they should  not  be given hot,
but milk warm; by  giving  them hot you increase the
disorder, and do  serious injury to the child; this is a
mistake which is often made, and the  consequence both
to children and grown persons, when clysters are  given
hot,  is  extremely  dangerous.  For   directions as to
clystering, look under that head.
                      COLIC.
  Whenever the child cries, the general practice is to
suckle it, or feed  it, I y which its  little stomach  is kept
constantly loaded, and being unable to digest the  food,
colical pains,  griping and  purging are the consequen-
ces.   The suffering of the  infant in ^uch cases being
very acute or painful, recourse  is  had  to  Bateman's
drops or Godfrey's  cordial, and  sometimes  laudanum,
or paregoric, all  of which contain opium, and relieve
the little sufferer for a  short  time;  when the colic or
griping again returns.
  "From my experience in the  diseases of infants,"
says a distinguished writer in  the New  York Medical 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           *°*
Inquirer, "I am satisfied  that these complaints, if not
produced,  are nevertheless cherished by the causes
already mentioned.  I have in my practice been in the
habit of administering ipecacuanha in  the dose of one
grain, so  as  to produce  puking  in imitation of that
excited by nature; and  I  am happy in saying that  in
no instance did it fail to produce the  desired effect; that
in some obstinate cases, it has acted like a charm, and
that  the parents declared it must have contained opium,
  "In cases of griping,  or violent pain in the bowels of
infants, I have also found  the application of the follow-
ing  anodyne plaster to the abdomen or  belly, highly
beneficial:
  "Take   of  gum  plaster  three  drachms; camphor,
half a drachm; opium, twenty grains; oil of anniseed,
ten  drops; to be made  in a plaster  and spread on 'soft
 leather.'
  "Professors Meyer and  Reich, of Berlin,  employ  as
a principal remedy in  cases of bowel  complaints  of
children, one drachm,  of the diluted muriatic acid,  in
three ounces of simple  syrup,  of  which they direct  a
tea-spoonful to be given about every two hours."
  Colic generally takes place in early infancy, from the
first six weeks, to the tenth or twelfth month; and  is
easily  known by the   infant's  suddenly screaming  or
crying, and at the same time  drawing  up   its legs;  if
the  complaint is  severe,  the child  cannot   urinate  or
make  water.  If the   colic  is slight, and arises  from
flatulence or wind, give  one or two drops  of pepper-
mint, to which if necessary, you may add a drop or two
of laudanum; at the same time expose the infant's  belly
to a Warm fire, and rub it with the following mixture:—
Take three table-spoonsful of spirits,  in which camphor
has been dissolved, add to this a tea-spoonful of lauda- 
488           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
num, and bathe the child's belly with it.  You will also
find the application of warm salt, or bathing it in warm
water, valuable remedies.
  When the  colic originates from acidity, as  may be
known by the bowels not being bound, and the stools
of a green  color  and sour smell, in  addition  to  the
above  means, you should give occasionally a dose of
magnesia:—see table  for  dose;  this will   correct  the
acidity, and  assist  the discharge of offending mat-
ter  from  the bowels.  You will find  the infusion of
rhubarb, in small doses, given so  as to keep the bowels
gently open, wh 1st at the same time,  it communicates
tone  to the stomach and  bowels,  and increases  the
peristaltic  action. The  infant  must  be  kept warm,
and a  flannel be  applied round  the  belly,  which gives
support to the muscles, and is  a  valuable  assistant in
diseased conditions of the intestinal canal.
                  SORE EYES.
  Sore eyes  are very apt to make their appearance a
few days or weeks after the birth of the infant, which
occasions  it to be fretful and uneasy, and sometimes if
neglected,  may produce blemishes  or blindness.   It is
often  brought on by  exposure  of the  infant to large
fires, or the imprudent practice of holding it to a light-
ed candle to keep it quiet.  It is also caused  by cold;
and when the eyes are  sore at  a more advanced age, it
may he produced by cutting teeth.—The remedies  are
to avoid cold, and exposure to too much light, particu-
ly the fire; bathe the eyes three or four times a day
in cold water, or make the following preparation, with
which you are to bathe the  infant's  eyes frequently 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           «J»
through  the day: about  the  size of a common pea of
sugar of lead,  dissolved in a pint  of cold water. If
this should not relieve it, give it a purge of castor oil.
The application of lead water as mentioned, is general-
ly successful, and a valuable remedy.
                   TEETHING.
  Children suffer a great many complaints, during the
time of cutting teeth.  Some infants  suffer  much less
than others; but all seem, during this necessary  opera-
tion, to undergo pain and a disordered state  of the sys-
tem.
  The symptoms which go before and accompany the
cutting of teeth are more or less violent^ according  to
the manner in which the  teeth come through the gum,
or  in  other words,  the resistance  which the  gum
makes; and to the irritability of the infant's constitution,
&c.
  When the child cuts its teeth in the most easy manner,
the pressure of the gums, however slight, gives pain, and
produces an increased flow of the fluids furnished by
the mouth; the child is fretful and restless during  the
night,  is constantly putting its little  hands or any thing
that it can  get hold of, into its  mouth.  The spittle
which it is constantly discharging or slobbering from
the mouth,  when swallowed produces sickness, gripes
and looseness; after a short time the  corner  of a tooth
is perceived; but the pain and uneasiness still continue
for several days, when a second tooth is cut.
  During the time between the cutting of the lower and
upper  teeth, the child generally improves in health and
Strength;  but in a short time is again subjected to the
                         62 
490          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
same uneasiness.  In strong, healthy, or fat children, a
fever generally, and  that sometimes violent, comes  on
before,  or about the time  of cutting every tooth; the
gums are swelled  and inflamed, the eyes  much disor-
dered, the belly bound, the skin hot, and the child cries
constantly, and  sucks with much pain;  sometimes it  is
unable  to suck, and  its sleep is  very much disturbed.
Weakly and delicate children, where teething is pain-
ful and difficult, lose  their color, fret constantly, vomit or
puke frequently, attended with looseness or purging, and
become quite emaciated, or in other words reduced  to
great weakness.  I have discovered that those  children
I have last mentioned, pass through the  painful and dan-
gerous  process of  teething, much easier, and  with
greater safety than those who are fat and robust; and
have particularly  remarked, that those  children who
slaver, (vulgarly called  slobber)  most,  cut their  teeth
with the greatest ease.
  The treatment during teething, should be a particular
attention  to  the bowels, by  keeping them sufficiently
open; always paying  due attention to every circumstance
likely to promote  the general health of the child, such
as pure air, exercise, strict cleanliness, food easily diges-
ted in the stomach, and taken in small  quantities.  As
the difficulties sometimes  are greatly lessened  and fre-
quently  entirely prevented,  by a looseness coming  on
spontaneously,  or  more plainly  speaking,  of  its  own
accord, it must not be checked, particularly in  children
of a fat or full habit, but permitted  to go on,  unless it
weakens the infant too much, or runs to excess, when it
may be stopped by  degrees.   But if the child is bound
in its body, you will recollect that it should take some
laxative purge,  so as to produce two  or three  stools
daily;  for this purpose, give two grains of  calomel,  to 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
491
which add three or  four grains of rhubarb or magne-
sia.  If neccessary, the operations of this medicine may
be assisted by clysters—for directions &c. as  to  clys-
tering, look under that head.  When fulness and quick-
ness of the pulse, increase of heat, flushed face, frequent
startings, oppressed breathing,  immoderate fits of cry-
ing, &c.  denote  fever; the irritation of the gums must
be removed, which is done by  cutting or lancing the
gum down to  the  teeth, for which purpose, a gum lancet
must be made use of
              CONVULSIONS OR FITS.
     Convulsions or fits, are  at  all times alarming  and
   dangerous, and require  a very great  variety of treat-
   ment:  therefore  procure in such cases,  a  skilful physi-
   cian.  But as these fits are frequently very sudden, I
   shall direct the means which may be used before a phy-
  sician can be obtained, and I will  make some observa-
  tions as to the general causes which  produce them.   It
  is not unfrequently the case, for  convulsions or  fits, to
 *^r>,me on suddenly, in others, the attack  is gradual,  and
in tij> symptoms so slight as to pass unobserved  by the
v mother or nurse.  In the former, the child, from being
   in the most perfect health, turns of a purple color,  the
   features and eyes are changed, and the  whole frame  is
   violently convulsed or agitated.  In a short time these
  symptoms are followed by faintings, or  medically speak-
  ing, by a suspension of the  vital powers;  after which,
  the child gradually recovers; but for some time remains
  stupid  and  drowsy.  In  the  latter cases,  the infant
  shows  uneasiness,  changes* color suddenly and  fre-
  quently, the lips quiver, the eyes  are turned  upwards, 
492
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
and it stretches out, the hands become clenched, when
the convulsion or fit comes on.
  Fits are apt to be produced by any thing which affects
the whole nervous system, or that which produces irri-
tation of any particular nerve; and  by the  sudden
striking in of any eruptive disease, such as the measles,
or any complaint  which breaks out on the  skin,  from
improper food, or  irritating  substances applied to  the
stomach or bowels will produce this  disorder.  These
convulsions frequently occur  during the period of teeth-
ing; but I have found  from  particular attention to  the
causes which produce  convulsions  or  fits, that worms
are very often the cause of this complaint. But if they
take place frequently,  and with great  violence,  occa-
sioned from pressure on the  brain,  or any cause in that
organ, they generally  terminate fatally, or cause the
child  as he advances in years, to become foolish.
  The treatment of convulsions or fits must  depend on
the cause which produces them.  If the sudden striking
in of  any  complaint, as the  rash, measles, &c. or the
drying up of any  eruption or discharge on the body, it
ought to be brought out by putting the child into a warm
bath,  then giving  a dose of  Godfrey's cordial or  Base-
man's drops, so as to produce to the surface, the conAs
plaint; if indigestion  or  improper food ha«  occasioned^
it, give a gentle  emetic or  puke  oj>ipecacuanha, or
emetic tartar—see  table for dose/ If the bowels  are
stopped, or the fits are supposed t;> arise from irritating
matter of any kind in the body^ it must be removed by
purgative  medicines, as  two grains of calomel, mixed
with  five grains of rhubarb or jalap, which if neces-
sary,  assist with a clyster—for the method of preparing
and administering a clyster, read  under that  head;—
but if produced by teething, then scarify the gums, or 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          4W
in other words, cut them down with a lancet  immedi-
ately over  the tooth; this  operation ought to be per-
formed daily, until the tooth is through the gum, or the
fits cease.
  When worms  are suspected to  be  the cause  from
which the  convulsions  or  fits are produced, the reme-
dies recommended under that head  must be  employed.
                     CROUP.
  This is a very dangerous complaint, and the rapidity
with which it proceeds, requires prompt and immediate
attention, or the disorder will prove fatal in a short time.
Of all the diseases to which children are liable, croup
is certainly the most dangerous.   Every mother  should
understand the symptoms and treatment of this disease;
as in many instances, before a  physician can  possibly
be obtained, suffocation is the consequence.  The croup
comes on with a difficulty in breathing  and wheezing,
a short, dry cough, and  a rattling in  the throat when
asleep.  In  a  short  time the  difficulty of breathing
increases, the face of the child is flushed, and  the veins
in the neck are very full of blood,  and throb or beat
very fast.  The voice and coughing has a strange sharp
sound, something like the crowing of a young cock; the
child is very restless  and uneasy, the body is  hot, and
attended  by  great thirst, and  the  pulse very  quick.
Those in whom the face is much flushed,  seem over-
powered by a heavy sleep, from which they are roused
only by  the  violent  fits of coughing.  As the disease
continues, the  fits of coughing  return more frequently,
and are attended  with an uncommon degree of agita-
tion throughout the whole frame; the breathing becomes 
494          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
more and more noisy; and  unless  relief is  speedily
obtained, the infant will die by suffocation.
   The remedy is an emetic, or puke.  The moment the
complaint is discovered, put six grains of emetic tartar
into six  table-spoonsful of warm water, and  give the
child about a  half table-spoonful every ten or fifteen
minutes.   The intention is, to keep up a constant sick-
ness and vomiting or puking.   But if it is a violent case,
you are to bleed it from the arm, and put it up to its
neck in warm water.  But recollect you are  to keep up
the sickness at the stomach, and puke it freely.   I have
frequently when the croup was severe,  kept the child
puking occasionally, through the whole night, and using
now and  then  the warm bath, before relief could be
given.  In this complaint you will find the seneka snake
root a valuable remedy;  it must be  given to the child
frequently  made into  a  strong tea.  After using  the
remedies I  have  already described, without success,
and the disease  is desperate, the best remedy is calo-
mel, in doses of  forty  or  fifty  grains.  Do  not be
alarmed at this dose.   I know by  experience, in  a hun-
dred instances of the  lives of children being preserved
by  large doses of calomel, which must otherwise have
proved fatal.  Then let me urge upon you the necessity
of laying aside your  prejudices against  this medicine,
and not to slacken your  hand in this  trying moment, if
you wish to preserve  the infant.  So powerful and salu-
tary is this medicine, that  it frequently  relieves  the
complaint in ten or fifteen minutes, without  recourse to
any other means.  It  acts on the stomach, bowels, and
skin.  Smaller doses may be given where the complaint
is not very alarming;  when given in smaller doses, you
may add a little  ipecacuanha, say two or three grains
with the calomel, from  which much benefit  will be
derived. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           *vo
  The following simple remedy is highly recommended
by Dr. John D.  Goodman,  an eminent  physician of
Charlottesville, Virginia.  The simplicity of the reme-
dy, and the facility of its application, entitle  it to a
trial.
  "Whenever children are  threatened with an attack
of croup, I  direct [says the  doctor,] a plaster covered
with dry Scotch snuff, varying in  size according to  the
age of the patient, to be applied directly across the top
of the chest, and  retained there till all the symptoms
disappear.   The  remedy is found to be always effectu-
al when applied to the  first and second stages of the
malady.   This mode of treatment was. from prejudice,
neglected by me,  and in one instance, in which, with
very  considerable difficulty, one  of my  children was
rescued  by the  ordinary treatment.   But on  being
urged to make a trial of the snuff piaster, I  determined
to make the experiment  whenever opportunity  present-
ed.   This was not long wanting;  and when called to a
child laboring under all the symptoms of the early stage
of croup, such a plaster, made by greasing a  piece of
linen,  and covering  it well with snuff, was  directed to
be  applied  to the chest.  The event was most happy,
the symptoms  of irritation, and  half crouping cough,
ceased shortly  after; the child  fell into a profound
sleep, with gentle perspiration, and by the next morning,
was free from all distressing symptoms.   The plaster
was  re-applied for  a night or two following, and then
discontinued.   Since that  time, my  family has been
saved from a great deal of anxiety and alarm, to which
 previously  they  were subject, as we were obliged to
keep  Coxe's  hive syrup, tartar emetic, and all other
 articles resorted to, constantly ready to meet the attacks
 of the croup, which were very sudden and frequent in 
496          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
cold wet seasons.  Since  then we have found  nothing
necessary but the snuff plaster.  If a child is heard to
breathe hoarsely, or cough  with any thing of a dread-
ful ringing sound of croup, it is only necessary  to apply
the snuff plaster, and we feel under  no further anxiety.
Instead of being obliged to watch with the child all
the rest of the  night,  when  once  the  snuff is  applied,
we go to rest again, with a feeling of entire security,
which we have never had the least cause to regret."
            FEVER OF CHILDREN.
   The various complaints to which children are sub-
ject, being, as I have before mentioned, of an irritative
nature,  will generally produce fevers,  and  although
severe while they continue, are not frequently produc-
tive of danger if properly managed.
   A disordered state of the stomach and bowels, teeth-
ing,  exposure to  cold, striking in  of any eruption, and
in short,  every thing which  can  excite an increased
action in the heart and blood vessels, will,produce more
or less  fever.   The treatment of these complaints has
already  been  described.   When  these  fevers take
place, cleansing the  stomach and bowels will be pro-
per, for which purpose, give an emetic, or puke, follow-
ed by two or three grains  of calomel,  to  which  add
four,  five, or  six  grains  of rhubarb:—for the dose of
either of these medicines, see table;  after which, Bate-
man's drops, Godfrey's  cordial, or  paregoric, at the
same time bathing the child in warm water, will greatly
assist in lessening the irritability  of the  system,  and
removing the fever. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           497
                 SCALD HEAD.
  This complaint begins in brownish spots  on the
head, and in a few days forms a scab, and  discharges
a thick gluey matter, that  sticks amongst the hair.
The sores gradually  increase, until the whole  head is
covered with a scab, discharging this matter, which is
very offensive.  You  are to cut off the hair as  close as
possible, and  wash  the  head  well  every  night and
morning with fresh lime water.  This is  easily  prepar-
ed, by slacking a piece of quick lime,  of the size of a
hen's egg, in a quart of water, and when settled, pour
the liquor into a bottle and keep it corked for use.
  CHOLERA INFANTUM OR PUKING AND
                   PURGING.
  This vomiting and purging of children, called  by
physicians, cholera infantum, prevails during the  heats
of summer;  it is a dangerous and destructive disorder
throughout the United States.  Of all the complaints
with which  childhood  becomes afflicted in its earlier
stages, this is, at  least amongst the  infantile population
of the western country, the most destructive.  When
this disease commences, it  is very rapid in spreading
itself through the  section  of country or neighborhood
in which  it  first makes its appearance.  Its desolation
or  fatal  termination depends very much upon the sea-
son, section  of country,  and state of the  atmosphere.
The disorder generally  shows itself before the middle
of June, or  about the  commencement of our summer
months,  continuing its ravages through the warm sea-
son, gradually lessening in violence as the cool weather
approaches.   Its frequency and  danger  are always  in
                        63 
 498          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 proportion  to  the  heat of the  weather; children are
 subject to  it from the  third week after  birth, to the
 second summer, at which period it is the most  fatal to
 them.
   Many  distinguished physicians have been  disposed
 to consider teething as the cause of this  complaint.  I
 am, however, convinced, that this is not the cause of
 cholera  infantum,  or  puking  and  purging.   Yet, in
 children laboring under the irritation of cutting teeth,
 I have no doubt this  complaint  is much  more severe
 than  it otherwise would be, and that it is more easily
 taken by them, and that the disorder is more apt to be
 fatal in its consequences, I admit.   But that it is brought
 about by the causes which I  have before  mentioned,
 will be admitted by every physician who has taken the
 trouble to investigate, or in  other words, to search  out
 the original causes of this disease.
   As I have before  told you, the digestive organs in
 the early stages  of childhood,  are liable to  constant
 irregularities and irritations; but  what excites  morbid
irritations in the intestinal canal, is perhaps difficult for
 the most learned of the profession, at the  present day,
to determine.  Yet, whatever influence the irregulari-
ties of diet,  teething, or other complaints, may have in
producing  this disorder, I am assured from long expe-
rience, that the violent heats of summer, together with
sudden changes, or exposure to a moist and unhealthy
state of the atmosphere, are the  usual exciting causes
of cholera infantum, or puking and purging.
                    SYMPTOMS.
  This disorder commences generally with a purging,
but when severe, the child is seized with a puking and
purging at the same time, when a few moments before
it appeared in the enjoyment of full  health.  The dis- 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          499
 charge,  or stool is highly offensive, and colored, with a
 dark or yellow hue;  the stools now become  frequent,
 attended with severe  griping; probably  the  motions
 will be as often as fifteen or twenty times  during the
 twenty-four  hours.  So soon  as the  operation com-
 mences freely from the  bowels, the vomiting or  puking
 begins to cease; over  the region of the stomach the
 slightest pressure will give pain, being very tender,  and
 probably swelled; tongue white, thirst great,  a constant
 craving for water between the times of purging, which
 cannot be satisfied.  The skin  becomes dry, and  from
 the child falling away, which it does with  great  rapidi-
 ty, the skin is very much shrunk on the inside of the
 thigh; and while the feet are cold, the  head and belly
 are hot;  pulse small and quick, sometimes full; gener-
 ally towards evening the child is better, but after a short
 time  the  purging commences ^rgamr  Countenance
 pale, wan, and languid;  eyes sunk and dull; the child
 moans and  sighs much; cannot sleep, is  excessively
 irritable,  sometimes  attempting to bite  its nurse, or
 rolling about its head, or constantly putting up its hands
to its face; the stools  become bloody.  Even water
 itself will produce purging.   The least jar or  irregular
motion gives it pain; noise and light cannot be  endur-
 ed.  It  will  scream  on barely being  touched.  The
 gums are black and swelled; the lips on their edges are
filled with a dark scurf; the inflammation takes place; the
 breathing becomes hurried and  laborious: the pulse
 quick, weak, and irregular, and death closes the suffer-
ings of one of the most painful and distressing diseases.
                     REMEDIES.
   When this  complaint is about to make  its  appear-
ance—which  you  will  know  by  a  purging, a white
tongue,   skin dry and hot, slight  fever, attended  with 
500          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
gripings, and occasionally accompanied with cramps of
the abdominal and other muscles—nothing is of greater
service than  a gentle emetic  in the morning, followed
by a  dose of calomel, mixed with  a small quantity of
ipecacuanha, at night.  For doses  medicine see  table.
The emetic not only cleanses  the  stomach, but produ-
ces a soft moist state of the skin.  The calomel and
the ipecacuanha as I have described, will greatly lessen
the severity of the disease, and not unfrequently entire-
ly check it.  But should there continue looseness of
the bowels, with a  dry skin and wakefulness, you are
to obtain  at a doctor's shop, a phial of wine of ipe-
cacuanha—which is nothing more than the ipecacuanha
steeped or  mixed in wine—of this  medicine, give the
child a few drops through the day, in a  little warm
tea of any kind: this will produce a gentle moisture, or
in other words, a moist sweat.  At night  give a dose
of paregoric. For  dose of this, or any other medicine
refer to the table.   The warm bath, that is, bathing the
whole body of the child once or  twice a day in warm
water, will  be found a valuable remedy,  and greatly
assist in the cure.  Many children have entirely esca-
ped this dangerous complaint by using daily the warm
bath.   By following the directions I have laid down, in
a great many cases, the complaint will be  so relieved
as to render the further use of medicine unnecessary.
  When the" remedies  which I  have mentioned, fail,
which is sometimes the case, give occasionally a dose
of calomel,  to which add a little ipecacuanha.  As soon
as the medicine  has  purged the  child—or in other
words, it has had three or four stools—you are to give
a little paregoric,  in which put a few drops of the wine
of ipecacuanha.   This moderates the operation of the
purge and brings on a gentle moisture, or sweat of the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE
501
skin.  You  will find great benefit from covering the
child's belly with carded cotton, over which you are to
put a  broad bandage,  drawn moderately  tight.  The
cotton thus borne, will check the purging.  Should the
child be teething when it takes this complaint, immedi-
ate attention ought to be paid to the gums, and cut, if
necessary, when the  teeth  cannot pass through them.
If the emetic or puke which I have directed, should hap-
pen to act too severely, you can easily stop it by giving a
dose of paragoric or laudanum, in a little tea made of cin-
namon.  So distressing  in some cases are the effects of
vomiting and  puking—not from the  emetic, but from
the disorder itself—that you will be under the necessity
of seeking means to check it; for this  purpose  there is
nothing better than weak lime water and new milk, in
which  put  a  few drops of laudanum or paregoric, or
apply green peach-tree leaves, beat up, over the stomach
and the  breast—this  is a   valuable  application for put-
ting  a stop to billious vomiting: sulphuric ether is also a
good remedy.   If these, however, should fail in remo-
ving the vomiting or puking, a blister applied over the
pit of the stomach  will scarcely ever fail.   This last
remedy should not be applied until  a fair trial is given
those which precede it.
              WHOOPING  COUGH.
   This complaint occurs only once during life, and is
contagious,  or catching.  It prevails  in  the western
country during the winter and  spring months, and its
being mild or severe, depends very much on the atmos-
phere*  When the winter and spring are extremely cold 
502          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
and wet, the whooping cough is generally severe, but on
the contrary it appears under a much milder form.
  Symptoms.—Whooping cough  commences like  a
common cold, and as it gradually advances, the breath-
ing becomes more hurried and difficult, the voice hoarse,
attended with cough; great thirst; after a few days, a
strange whooping sound  is made whenever the  child
draws  a  long breath,  followed  immediately  by the
cough.  The agitation of the whole system is  such at
this moment that the child lays hold of whatever  is
nearest, in order  to  support himself during the fit of
coughing; after which he pukes or spits up a tough,
frothy, slimy mucus, and is for a short time relieved.
  The treatment  is quite  simple:—when you  discover
the child to have taken it, give instantly  an emetic, or
puke, of antimonial  wine—see  table  for dose;—and
should this puke not lessen the  severity of the complaint,
you are to give a second, and if necessary, a  third; if
bound in its body, a dose of castor oil.  To lessen the
cough,  give frequently  the juice of garlic  sweetened
with honey, or a tea-spoonful of sweet oil, to which you
may add a few drops of paregoric or laudanum.
  The whooping  cough is generally most severe during
night:  to allay or  ease the cough, the use of paregoric
or laudanum  will be highly necessary—for  doses see
table.  I have found  great benefit in  my practice  by
using  in this  complaint  the tincture of  assafoetida—
which is nothing more than a small lump of assafoetida
steeped fo^ a  few days in  a little whiskey, or any kind
of spirits—of this tincture you are to give a few drops
whenever the cough  is severe, and you  will find it to
allay the  irritation of the  system, and mitigate or calm
the cough. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           503
   Doctor Robertson, in the January  number of  the
London  Medical  Repository,  states  that, of all  the
remedies  he has ever employed in whooping cough,
friction—which  means rubbing—on the region of the
stomach with the tartarised ointment, has been the most
undeviatingly useful: for as soon as the pimples begin to
appear on the breast, the disorder begins to abate.
This  ointment is  nothing  more  than emetic tartar
mixed with a little hog's lard.   For a  description
how  to prepare it,  look  under the head "tartarised ^
ointment."
                    MEASLES.
   The measles generally make their appearance in the
spring season.  It is a contagious, or catching disorder,
and like the whooping cough, attacks  but once  during
life.
   Symptoms.—For a few days before they break out
on  the body,  the child complains of sickness; seems
dull and heavy;  very great thirst; short, dry  cough,
with frequent sneezing, as if laboring under a  severe
cold;  the eyes look red, and much inflamed. On the
fourth day, the eruptions, or red pimples—which  resem-
ble flea-bites—make their appearance on the face and  *"
neck, which soon extend  to the breast, and  then cover
the whole body.  In three or four days they begin to
go off; at the same time, the fever which always accom-
panies the measles, begins gradually to decline.   In
some  cases, the fever and cough will continue without
lessening in their violence for several days or a week
after the measles have entirely disappeared. 
504           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
                    REMEDIES.
  As soon as the sickness or drowsiness is observed,
and you have cause to apprehend, from the symptoms I
have already described, that your child is about to take
the measles, open the bowels by castor oil, so as to pro-
cure two or three stools: the next evening—for it is at
this  time the fever is  at the highest—give  a gentle
vomit, or puke, of antimonial wine.  You will find, by
giving gentle pukes, that the child will be greatly reliev-
ed, by lessening the fever and oppression—this being the
cause of the  drowsiness  and  stupor.   If the vomit
should both puke and purge, so much the better, for the
child will be the sooner relieved.   When the fever and
cough continue for  a few days after the measles  have
entirely disappeared, a dose of castor oil will be proper,
and which should be occasionally given during its con-
tinuance.  About this time, there is a dark and offensive
matter remains in the bowels that produces this fever,
and which  ought and  must be removed by means of
these gentle purges.   You will always know if the fever
continues, by the dullness, thirst,  and w7ant of appetite.
Sometimes the measles and whooping cough attack the
child at the same time;  when this is the case, a physi-
cian should  be immediately  called, as there is consid-
erable danger.
  The diet in this complaint ought to be low; such as
mush and boiled milk, chicken soup, &c.  Nothing to
be taken  cold or hot, but moderately warm.  Exposure
to cold or damp must be avoided, or the disorder may
strike in, which would be very dangerous.   Let the
child be  kept in a room neither hot nor cold, but of a
pleasant  temperature.   And you  are to recollect that
spirituous liquors of any kind, administered in any way, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          505
is  highly improper.  Bleeding is sometimes necessary
when the inflammatory symptoms run high, or the cough
is very severe; but it ought always to be performed, if
possible, under  the advice of a  physician.  Blisters
applied between the shoulders or on the sides, will abate
the cough, and may be safely used at any time during
the complaint.
                    WORMS.
  The worms which infest the human body  are—the
long round worm, the maw, or thread w orm, the tape or
long joint worm, and the fluke worm.  The long round
worm  is called by the physicians, the ascaris lumbri-
coides,  deriving  its name  from slipperiness.  It  has
three nipples at its head, and a triangular mouth in its
middle.  Its length is from four to twelve inches, and
its thickness,  when at its largest  size, about that of a
common goose-quill.  The body is furrowed  on each
side, and the tail somewhat  blunt.   This worm is  quite
common in children, andnot unfrequently  it crawls  out
at the mouth.  It  is generally of a  milky brownish or
ash color.
  The  maw or thread worm—called by physicians
ascaris vermicularis—has a blunt head; the tail  of
the male is blunt, but that of the female quite sharp and
winding.  It is  generally from two to four inches long,
quite small, about the size of a small thread, of a white
color, and very  elastic or springy.
  This worm is generally found in  the straight gut, or
fundament—most commonly in children, but not unfre-
quently it is met with in grown persons  also.  They  are
frequently found in the intestines, or guts, in the form
                        64 
506          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
of a ball so completely covered with a"slimy mucus,  as
to prevent the medicines  which are usually given for
worms,Trom acting—or in other words—causing their
discharge by stool.  In women, they sometimes  escape
into the vagina, or womb, and thence into the urethra,
or canal* through which the urine passes—and they  are
also found in the intestines of children.
  The  long  thread worm—called,  medically speaking
tricocephalus dispar—is from  an inch  and a  half to
two inches long—of a clear white;  the head is  sharp;
the body of the male is constantly in motion, in a curved
or winding form.   The female  is straight, with  a blunt
head and sharp tail; they contain a  brown matter, and
generally inhabit the large intestines.
  The long tape worm—called by medical men taenia
solium—is from one to six hundred feet in length: it is
gifted with the power to contract or  enlarge its diameter:
that is, to draw up or increase  its size at pleasure.   It
rolls itself into a round form,  and falls from  one side of
the stomach to the other on turning, when in a  recum-
bent or lying position.   When cramped by the position
of the patient, or by hard pressure  over the belly, or
disturbed  by food which  does not agree with it, by
medicine,  or some  disease proper to  it, or tormented by
the approach of death, it leaves  its hold, leaps about and
falls, as it  were, into convulsions or fits.
  The  broad tape worm—called,  medically, bothrio-
cephalus  lotus—the head  is longer than it is broad;
scarcely any neck.  Its  body  is flat; generally from
ten to twenty feet long, and at its broadest part, from  a
quarter to a half an inch across, and of a white color.
  The fluke worm is about an inch long, and of a dirty
yellowish, greenish or brownish color;  you will know  it
by examining the worm which infests the livers of ani- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          507
 mals, as the sheep, the hog, the goat, &c. being the
 same worm.
   It is extremely difficult to say what are the original
 causes which produce worms.   It is therefore impossi-
 ble that any physician, however learned he may be, can
 determine  with any  kind of certainty,  the origin.
 That improper diet and food, assists in producing worms,
 is correct; but it is only true so far as this improper food
 deranges  the action of the  stomach  and  bowels, and
 weakens  their action; for  worms seldom  occur  if the
 action of the bowels is healthy,  strong and vigorous.
 "Few infants have worms until they are weaned, which
 is to be accounted for on the principle, that the bowels
 are in better order during  suckling than  afterwards*
 when the diet is more varied and indigestible."
   To the learned and distinguished Robley  Dunglison,
 Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the University
 of Virginia, I am indebted for the highly valuable infor-
 mation on this subject.
   Climate, infancy, weakened state of the bowels, and
 improper  food,  favor the  production of worms.  That
 climate has a particular influence, and is favorable  to
 the origin  of certain worms, is evident.  A fourth part
 of the inhabitants of Grand Cairo have the tape worm;
 and in Holland—according to Rosen—it is  quite com-
 mon.  In the United States is quite rare.
                     SYMPTOMS.
   The head is generally affected; the face  is pale, and
 sometimes of the color of bees-wax;  the lower eye lid
 becomes of a leaden color; itching is  felt  in the nose
 occasionally picking it; the saliva, or spittle  runs down
over the pillow  during sleep; the breath has a remar-
kable bad fcetor, or bad  smell; frightful  dreams; the
child cries in its sleep and  awakes with great terror; 
508
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 itching about the navel; creeping or tearing pain  in
 the belly, or a pricking and gnawing about the stomach;
 constant hunger,  and yet the system becomes weak;
 frequent itching of the fundament; frequent  dry cough,
 with tickling in the throat, accompanied  with slow fe-
 ver; these  symptoms,  singly or  together, denote  the
 presence of worms.
                     REMEDIES.
   A  great  many medicines are daily  employed for
 worms.  From long experience, and an extensive prac-
 tice, I have  had a  fair opportunity of testing their
 virtues, at the  head of which stands calomel,  worm-
 seed oil, Carolina pink  root—sometimes  called Indian
 pink root, or pink root—and  spirits of turpentine; all of
 which, when properly given,  are valuable medicines for
 expelling worms.
   You  are  first to  commence by giving the  child a
 suitable dose of calomel;—for which see  table of med-
 icines.   You are occasionally to  repeat  this medicine
 as long as the stools have a  very offensive smell; and
 look unnatural.  On the days between the administer-
ing the  calomel, give the child a  little aloes,  pounded
 very fine, and mixed with honey.  For dose see table.
"I have never known a case of failure," says  a  distin-
 guished  physician,  "when  the patient,  or child  was
 freely purged with calomel, and  then given  either the
 worm-seed oil, agreeably to the directions on  the phials
 in which  it  is  sold, or  the  Indian  pink root in tea."
 For a description of this root  look under  the head Car-
 olina pink root. The oil should be given  on an  empty
 stomach in the morning, on a lump of sugar, and when
 the pink root is used  make tea of it,  by pouring a
 quart of boiling water  on a handful of the roots, of
which you are  to give a cupful night and morning to 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          509
the child; and  to cause him  to  take  it more readily,
you may add milk and sugar: by this means  children
will take it as soon as any other tea.  Sometimes the
pink root will occasion the eyes  to become sore; when
this  is the case, you are to stop using it until  the  eyes
are  perfectly well;  this is produced,  as  is  supposed,
from  some other root which  grows with the  pink  root,
and is frequently  gathered with it.   After using  the
pink root for a week or ten  days, give a dose of calo-
mel or castor oil.  In those species of worm which I
have described as uncommon, in our country,  their ex-
pulsion, or discharge is  produced by  spirits of turpen-
tine, in large doses  requiring the advice and atten-
dance of a physician.
   Mr. Cloquet, a  distinguished physician of France,
affirms, that he has seen the long worm, or the one  to
which  children are  most subject, evacuated, or  dis-
charged by stool, after the belly had been  rubbed  with
a mixture of ox's gall and common soap, oil of tansey
or of camomile, mixed with  spirits in which  camphor
has  been dissolved, or garlic;  and by the  application
of a plaster  composed of common yellow wax, lithar-
age, assafoetida, and galbanum, applied to the belly.
   Pure  air, simple  digestible food,  exercise, and the
use of all those means by which the system is  strength-
ened, should be attended to; otherwise as  soon as  they
are expelled, they will again return.  For this purpose
occasionally administer to the child or person subject
to  worms,  a simple  dose  of charcoal in new milk.
According to the latest and most enlightened experience
of the Medical Schools in  Europe, charcoal is  highly
recommended. 
DESCRIPTION OF  MEDICINES.
                  REMARKS.
  I have now given a full and  general  description, of
the important diseases to which the human body is
liable, and of the various remedies to be used in their
cure.  I shall now proceed to describe, as  far as prac-
ticable, all the valuable roots, plants,  and so on,  possi-
ble to be included in  the  work.  I  have  observed in
several books, purporting to have been written for  the
use of families, descriptions  of many plants and roots,
merely calculated to  fill up  and increase  the size of
such works, without being of any benefit as  medicines,
or even affording any useful information to  the reader.
I shall therefore, mention only such as are truly  useful
as medicines, and whose virtues are  highly important
in the cure of diseases.
           SENEKA  SNAKE ROOT.
  This root possesses more virtues than any one  used
in medicine; and of all the roots used in medicine it is
by far the most valuable.  It  is now more than eighty
years, since its virtues were made known by physicians,
by Doctor John Tenant, who learned its use from the
Senagaroes  tribe  of Indians.   By  rewarding them
liberally, he obtained their secret remedy against the
bite of the  rattle-snake, which he called snake  root on 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          511
that account.  According  to their practice, it was ap-
plied both outwardly and inwardly: either chewed and
applied to the wound, or in the form of poultice.  Doct.
Tenant  thought  the Seneka a certain remedy against
the bite of the rattle-snake, but it has since been doubt-
ed.   A reward was given to the doctor for this dis-
covery,  by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania.   The
Seneka was recommended by him, to be used in pluri-
:sy; and  in this disease  it  is a truly valuable remedy,
after the free use  of the lancet and the warm bath.  Sir
Francis  Milliman,  Doctor Percival, and many  other
distinguished physicians, have borne testimony in favor
of its powers as a diuretic in dropsies—diuretic means
whatever acts on the urinary organs so as to produce
an evacuation of  the water from the bladder freely.  In
croup this is a valuable medicine: and the discovery of
it being such,  is due to Doctor Archer, of Hartford
county, Maryland, who first discovered its great effica-
cy  in croup,  that frequently unmanageable disease.
My practice is, in the first instance to employ the lancet,
in the next the warm bath, and in the next the Seneka
snake root, as directed under the head of croup.  Giv-
en as a strong decoction, which is made by pouring on
one or two ounces of the  best root, coarsely pounded
with a hammer, about a quart of boiling water,  which
is to be stewed down to  half a pint or less, in a close
vessel over a slow fire:—a tea-spoonful  every hour, or
indeed every twenty minutes to a child as the case may
be dangerous or otherwise,  will answer the effect in
croup.  It is of infinite service if it  pukes the patient
when given in this  way;  because it brings, on a dis-
charge of mucus  or tough  slime from  the  mouth and
throat, which almost always relieves the person afflicted.
It is proper, if the case is  a  dangerous one,  to give a 
512           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
dose of calomel with the snake root, adding to the cal-
omel  a small portion of ipecacuanha; in fact, in this
disease, when very dangerous, I give large doses of
calomel when I resort to this remedy: in  simple and
gentle cases  of croup, an emetic of ipecacuanha, and
the warm bath, will frequency give relief.   A strong tea
made of this root, and given as in croup, is an excellent
remedy for the hives, or for rheumatism of an inflam-
matory nature; and in violent colds, it is an admirable
medicine to promote perspiration or sweating.  Used in
these cases, the best form is that of a handful of the root
to a quart of boiling water, giving a wine-glassful of the
decoction every two hours, if  a grown person, and
increasing or lessening the quantity as  may  seem to be
necessary.
   The virtues of this root, in obstructions, or stoppages
of the menses or  monthly  discharges, are absolutely
incalculable; and every woman should return thanks to
the author of all good, for  giving such virtues to this
root as are possessed,  perhaps, by no other, in relieving
this diseased state of the female system which, of all
others, is probably  the most dangerous.   When the
menstrual discharge is looked for and does not appear,
four  ounces of the decoction above described  ought to
be taken in  the course of the day—indeed, as much
ought to be taken as the stomach will bear without incon-
venience.  When sickness to puking is induced—which
is sometimes the case when the stomach is weak or irri-
table—add in the tea or decoction sonic cinnamon, or
calamus, or angelica, or a little ginger; either of these
in addition, will cause the stomach to retain the decoc-
tion: there  is no danger in the Seneka snake root, for
I have frequently  given it  in very large doses in croup.
The only difficulty is, that it sometimes passes off by 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          513
stool, without being productive of its usual  benefits  in
female cases—the remedies for which will be spoken of
under the proper heads.  But in dropsy, this purgative
effect of the seneka snake root is of great and  impor-
tant service, as well as its active and  powerful influ-
ence on the urinary organs.  In  all dropsical swellings,
it  ought to  be used very freely,  and will always be
found a medicine of high and inestimable  value.  I
will close the  notice of this great  root,  by observing
that  it has the confidence of the  most distinguished
physicians  of the  United States, as  well as  those of
Europe.   The discovery of its  virtues  in  female ob-
structions, is due to Dr. Hartshorn, of Philadelphia, one
of the best men, and whose  heart is devoted  to the
cause of suffering humanity.
                  SASSAFRAS.
  A particular description of sassafras is unnecessary,
being known and found in every  part of the western
country.   The root, bark, or flowers, made into a  tea,
is used considerably by the people in  the  country.  It
cleanses any impurities of the  flood,  and  if  distilled,
affords a valuable oil, which is  a good  remedy in rheu-
matism.  It ought to be  rubbed on the afflicted parts
in small quantities: and if taken inwardly, a few drops
are to be given on  a lump of sugar, being highly stim-
ulating.  The oil rubbed on wens is considered a good
remedy, and  frequently  removes  them entirely.  The
sassafras bark, mixed with sarsaparilla, makes a good
diet  drink for cleansing impurities of the blood, &c.
                        65 
 W4          GUNN'S DOMESTIC  MEDICINE.
                SARSAPARILLA.
  This root was first brought into notice by the Span-
iards, in the year 1563, and was for some time after*
wards, considered a  certain cure for venereal diseases;
[see page 346, where you will see venereal described.]
It, however, afterwards proved unsuccessful, either  for
want of proper attention, or from want of knowledge
how to treat the complaint.
  This little root has excited a great deal of  inquiry
and discussion among medical men, throughout  Europe
and  the United States, as to whether  it really  is or is
not, a cure for this wretched disease, the venereal.   It
has fallen several times into  almost entire neglect,  and
as often been again revived into use.  It has, however,
lately been brought forward, with much higher  reputa-
tion than it ever  held before, and if used in the  manner
I have described in venereal, may be  relied on  as a
certain cure.   Years of practical experience have con-       %
vinced me of the fact, even  in the worst  of the com-
plaint.  I will go  still further, by asserting that  the
virtues of  this  root are not yet fully  known and duly
appreciated; and I sincerely regret, that the limits  of
my work  will  not permit me to go more fully into  the
great benefits I have  witnessed from its use in   chronic
affections  of the liver—for a description of which  dis-
ease, see  page 241.
  In scrofulous sores, in all  diseases of the skin,  and
for cleansing the blood, it  will be  found valuable.   In
rheumatism, gout, and to stop the effect  of mercury, or
to remove any bad consequences which have been pro-
duced  by its  use, the sarsaparilla  is  also good.   In
weakness of  the stomach  called dyspepsia, [see that
head,]   it is an excellent remedy, by  giving tone  and
strength to the bowels and stomach.  The method of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           515
preparing it is  simply boiling, after washing  it clean,
in the  proportions of an ounce  of the  root, split  and
finely cut up, to two  quarts of water, which must be
boiled down to  one quart, and suffered to  get cold be-
fore it is  taken.   Take of it  from a pint to  a quart
daily, or as much as the stomach will bear.  The bark
of the root contains the virtues.  You  must obtain it
sound;  and recollect always, that it looses its powers by
being kept any  length of time.  The tea should always
be made fresh  every day.  Sarsaparilla grows  plenti-
fully in the western country, and may be  found along
creeks, and on the banks of rivers.  It is a  small  run-
ning vine when torn from the ground, and extends some
distance from  the head,  which  is of  a  dark  brown
color on the outside, and a pale white within.   When
cut into short pieces  it splits easily, and has  a very bit-
ter taste.  The main vine is about the  size  of a com-
mon goose-quill.   It is  a native of the  Spanish West
Indies, from whence it was  formerly imported,  until
discovered to  be also a native of the  United States.
The imported root is  not quite  as large as ours,  and  is
of a darker color and much wrinkled on  the outside.
It may be considered as one of the most  valuable  roots
in the western country,  and although possessing great
power, is entirely  innocent.  It  ought  most certainly
to be used, in all  cases in which mercury has had  any
effects on  the  system,  or  in  which there is the  least
doubt that any  infection lurks in the system connected
with venereal 
516
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
              JAMESTOWN  WEED.
   Sometimes  called jimson, thorn-apple, stink-weed:
 and, by the learned, usually called  datura stramoni-
 um.  Whether this plant is a native of the United
 States or not, cannot at this late period be  known;  nor
 is it material  that the fact should  be ascertained,  be-
 cause it is now found in  every  part  of  the American
 Union, from the state of  Maine, to the Mexican gulf,
 and from  the Atlantic sea-board, to the Rocky, or Ore-
 gon mountains.  It was  first noticed by  the original
 settlers of Virginia, at Jamestown, from which circum-
 stance, it  took the name which I  have  adopted.  Be-
 verly, who in very early times, wrote a history of  the
 first settlement of Virginia, thus  speaks of its effects on
 a party of British soldiers, who had eaten of the  leaves
 of the Jamestown weed as boiled greens.  "One would
 blow up a feather into the  air,  whilst another  would
 dart  straws at it  with great fury;  another  would sit
 stark naked in a  corner of the  room, grinning like a
 monkey,and making mouths at the  company;  whilst
 another would caress and  paw his companions, and
 sneer in  their  faces.  In this frantic  condition they
 were confined, nnder the  apprehension that they might
 destroy  themselves, though   it was  observed  that  all
 their actions were those of  innocence  and good nature.
 They were by no means  cleanly,  and would  have
 wallowed  in their own excrements, had they  not  been
 prevented.  After the lapse of ten or  eleven days, their
 senses again returned, without their being able to re-
 member any thing that had occurred  in  the  interim."
 I will give for the satisfaction of my readers some ac-
 count of the discovery  of  the  medical properties of
the Jamestown weed, and  also adduce  several cases in
proof of those  medical  properties,  abridged from the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
517
 account of Doctor Storck, whose authority  may  be
 relied on.
   "In the months of June, July and August, I observed
 in the neighborhood of Schoenbrun,"  says the doctor,
 "great quantities of the Datura Stramonium, or  thorn-
 apple.  I well knew that this  plant was altogether out
 of use as a medicine, because several authors had pro-
 nounced it  highly dangerous.  On the 23d of  June
 1760,1 went out very early in search  of the weed, and
 gathered a large quantity  of it, and resolved to give  it
 a fair trial, notwithstanding all I had  heard and read
 respecting its poisonous effects, and of its producing in-
 sanity or  derangement  of mind.  I  next  cut off the
 roots  and  threw  them  aside;  then  beat  the leaves,
 branches  and stalks in  a  large marble mortar, and
 pressed  out about  one gallon of  the juice.   This  I
 evaporated to the consistence of an extract, over a slow
 fire, in a glazed vessel,  often stirring it with a  wooden
 spoon to prevent its burning; and the  extract,  when  it
 became  cold,  I found  to  be a  black brittle mass.   I
 laid a  grain and  a  half of  this extract on  my  tongue,
 dissolved it against the roof of my mouth, and swallow-
 ed it  down.   It  neither  produced  disorder of my
 body, nor the least derangement in my  intellectual fac-
 ulties.   After making several experiments  on  myself,
 and perceiving no manner of disorder,  I concluded that
 the extract could be safely given  to patients in  small
 doses.  We happened at that time to have a case in the
 hospital, in which it  might be presumed  this extract of
 thorn-apple, (which  the reader will please to remember
 we call Jamestown weed,) would be of  service.  Before
 using it however, I consulted both  ancient and   modern
writers, and all to no purpose.  They had all laid  it
down in explicit terms, that it would disorder the mind, 
 518          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 destroy the ideas and memory, and produce convul-
 sions.  These were all  dreadful effects:—but notwiuV
 standing a query suggested itself to my mind  in the fol-
 lowing form: "If the thorn-apple,  by disordering the
 mind,  causes madness in sound persons, may we not try
 whether by changing and disturbing the ideas and com-
 mon sensory, it might not bring the insane, and persons
 bereft  of their reason, to sanity, or soundness of mind,
 and by a contrary motion, remove  convulsions in the
 convulsed."  This  notion, I confess, was  far-fetched,
 yet it was not without some good success.  The experi-
 ments I made were as follow:
   "Case 1st. A girl aged twelve years, had been  disor*
 dered in her mind two months; she answered confusedly
 when  asked any questions,  and what words she did
 utter were very  imperfectly articulated.   She was  sul-
 len and  refractory, and could be  prevailed  on  by no
 means to  do any thing.  All the  medicines she  had
 taken had produced no effect.   I gave her half a grain
 of the  extract morning and night, and made  her drink
 after each dose, a cup of tea, 01 some  veal  broth.  On
 the third week she began  to  be less  sullen;  returned
 more rational answers, and spoke  distinctly.  In  two
 months time—continuing the use of the same medicine,
 and giving three doses each day—she  began to  reason
 extremely well, and said her morning and evening pray-
 ers with a  clear and distinct voice; gained a good
 memory, and gradually recovered her understanding.
  "Case 2d.  A  woman over  forty years of  age,  was
 afflicted  with vertigo, or  dizziness of  the head,  and
 could find  no  relief frorn the medicines; she became
 gradually disordered in  her mind, and finally  a degree
of madness accompanied her vertigo.  She was brought
to our  hospital  The medicines  first prescribed gave 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           519

 her no manner of relief.   She began to be raving  and
 furious;  rose  out of bed during the night, and by her
 bawling disturbed  and frightened the other patients—
 some of whom she would forcibly pull out of bed.  In
 this situation I  gave her—says  Dr. Storck—half a
 grain of the extract of thorn-apple twice  a day.  The
 first day she became more composed, but in the night
 she turned as furious as ever.  The third day, I gave
 her one grain  of the extract morning and  evening, and
 all the symptoms became milder.   She made some
 noise indeed, in the night, but soon fell asleep again.
 On the fourth day she began to give more  reasonable
 answers,  but  soon  fell  again  into  raving fits.   Her
 days and nights then became calm and quiet.   On the
 eighth day, I gave her one grain of the extract three
 times, and continued these doses until the fourth week,
 when all her  fury was laid.   Her madness went off;
 soundness of mind, speech and judgement returned, and
 she slept as soundly as any of the other patients: yet
 the vertigo frequently and suddenly returned upon her
 as before, and at  times with such  violence as to make
 her fall down as if in a fit, but she always retained her
 presence of mind.  It  was enough for the purpose of
 my experiment, that the extract  of the thorn-apple
 cured her madness; and perceiving that the vertigo was
 not removed,  I forbore its further  use.  She lived five
 months in the hospital.  All the functions of her mind
 were good and sound,  but the vertigo turned gradually
 stronger, and the fits of it became  more frequent, until
 at length a true fit of appoplexy carried her off.   I dis-
 sected her and found many of the blood vessels of the
 head  distended  or swelled, and one of them  turned
 bony for the distance  of an inch  and a  half: besides
which, says the doctor, I  found the  two anterior ventri- 
 520           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 cles of the brain distended greatly, and filled with many
 hydatids of all  shapes and sizes.  Hydatids arc  little
 animals, formed like bladders,  and distended with a
 watery  fluid.   All the viscera in the rest of the body,
 were in a very sound state.  From these  discoveries
 made after her death, it appears  that the vertigo of the
 patient  was an incurable  disease;  and it also appears,
 that the  extract of  the  thorn-apple,  or  Jamestown
weed, not only allayed her rage, but cured her madness
 without any bad symptoms."
   I have accompanied the  discovery  of the medical
 virtues  of the Jamestown weed by Dr. Storck, with the
 two preceding cases, to prove clearly to my readers, that
in the beneficence of his mercy, the great Father of the
Universe, has clothed our soil with means, and those
means  powerful ones,  of curing  our diseases,  with
which  we are measurably  acquainted and with the
medical  properties of which it is our duty  to become
familiar.  There is, in my opinion,  nearly as much
folly and stupidity in importing costly drugs at enormous
expenses from foreign lands, while we have their equals
at home,  as  there would  be in importing bricks and
timber  from  Europe to construct  our  habitations.
Industry and science alone can develope the immense
resources of this unrivalled country, and these we are
personally, morally, and politically bound to  employ.
   Every part of the Jamestown weed, exclusive of the
root—of which we know nothing by experiment—when
taken in considerable portions, operates as a strong nar-
cotic, or stupifying poison.  This is, however, no valid
objection to its medical  uses and properties;  because
some of our most powerful medicines, such for instance
as opium and aqua-fortis, invariably destroy life, when
injudiciously taken.   I am not alone in considering this 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          521

 plant as possessing high and invaluable medicinal pow-
 ers ;  it has been spoken of in terms of high commenda-
 tion  by many of the most distinguished physicians  of
 the present age, among whom are Barton, Fisher, Bige-
 low,  and King, of Connecticut.
    Among the Indian nations, the leaves of this weed
 are made much use of, especially in cases  of wounds,
 contusions or bruises, ulcerations, and the bites of rep-
 tiles.   The extract of this weed, procured in  the manner
 above stated by Dr. Storck, is valuable in various cases
 of the chronic kind; by which I mean  those of long
 standing; also in all those kinds of epilepsy, commonly
 called  fits—those especially, which  give  warning  of
 their coming on, or those which occur at regular times.
 It  is  also a better medicine than  any thing yet known,
 for lessening  the pain  in sciatica,  or hip  gout.  The
 leaves of the  dried plant, smoked as we do tobacco, are
 of great  use  in attacks of spasmodic asthma—which
 means phthisic  accompanied with cramp.   In making
 use of this medicine internally, the  dried and pounded
 leaves may be given in  doses of a single grain.   If the
 first dose produces  no  sickness or  vomiting, you may
 give a grain of the leaves three times a day, and even
 increase the dose each time, until the  effects are felt by
 the patient, or relief  produced.  The extract, however,
 is always to be  preferred, given as before described by
 Dr. Storck, the real  discoverer of the medicine.   The
 bruised or wilted leaves are valuable in painful tumors,
 and, indeed, in most swellings accompanied  with pain.
 They  are,  in  these cases,  to  be applied  externally,
 and in  such quantities  as to preserve their moisture
 against the fever of such tumors.  The ointment made
from the bruised leaves, is also valuable, and is made by
       66 
522
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
boiling them in lard or tallow, straining it well, and set-
ting it off to cool.
  In the abridged extract from  Doctor  Storck, I have
shown the  value of this medicine in  mania, madness,
or frenzy;  and I now say that the value of this  discov-
ery in 1760, notwithstanding what has  been said  against
it, has been amply substantiated by experiments of many
distinguished men of the present age, among whom are
Barton and Fisher—in fact, Barton's experimental tes-
timony alone, would be quite sufficient: and here I wish
it to be distinctly noticed by those afflicted with epilepsy
or fits, that his testimony is clearly in its favor, as a most
powerful remedy, even  in deplorable  cases—he has
proved the fact from  actual experiment.  I wish the
reader also to bear in  mind the following facts, with
regard to  the value  of simple medicines:  the most
learned sometimes decry their use, because there is not
scientific mystery enough about them to excite the aston^-
ishment of the common people; and second,  because
they are often  abused  by  quacks and  pretenders, and
men who have not  perseverance and resolution enough
 to give them a fair triaL
                   DOGWOOD;
  The dogwood is so  common throughout the United
States as to require no description whatever; it is in fact
to be  found in  every forest in our country.  The dog-
wood bark is generally considered equal to the peruvian
bark; but I conceive  it greatly  superior, not only on
account of our always being able to  procure it fresh
from  the tree, but  because the peruvian bark  is old 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           523

before it reaches this country, and nearly, if not always
adulterated.  It is among the best tonic and strength-
ening medicines to be found in this or any other country.
The  bark of the root of the dogwood tree is the strong-
est; next in strength to which is the bark of the body
and smaller branches.  In  all intermittent  fevers—by
which I mean all fevers which go off and return again
—it is an excellent remedy;  and the only reason why it
cannot be given in other fevers, is  that when given in
actual fever, it increases the pulse, and by so doing, does
mischief; hence you  will see the necessity  of never
giving it except when the fever is entirely off.  In cases
where it produces pain, or griping of the bowels, a few
drops of laudanum  will remove the difficulty if given
with  the bark.   In most cases the dose  in  powder—
which is the best way  of giving this bark—is from thir-
ty to  thirty-five grains; and in some particular cases—
mentioned under the proper heads—an addition of the
snake root is to be made, in the proportions of thirty
grains of the dogwood bark to six grains of the snake
root,  pounded to a  powder.  The wood itself, of the
dogwood tree, is  considerably  used  by dentists—by
which I mean tooth-cleaners and setters—in  putting in
artificial teeth.   The young branches, stripped of their
bark, and rubbed with  their ends against the teeth, ren-
der them extremely white  and  beautiful.   These are
tooth-brushes of nature's presenting, and  are infinitely
better than those made of hog's bristles, and filled with
snuff, and such other delightful aromatics!   The negroes
of the southern states, and  those of the West India
Islands, who are remarkable for the whiteness of their
teeth, are in the constant practice of rubbing them with
the small branches of  the dogwood, or of some other
tree which will answer the purpose.  The ripe  berries 
524           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

of the dogwood, in spirits of any kind, make an excel-
lent bitter for common purposes, and  one well adapted
to persons of weak  stomachs, taken in the morning.
All the Indian nations  use the flowers  at the proper
season, in warm  water, or in spirits, as  a remedy in
windy colic.  The dogwood is an excellent remedy—
boiled strong as a tea or decoction—for  horses having
that destructive disease, the yellow water: a distemper
which carries off thousands of that  useful and noble
animal every year.   Horses having the yellow-water,
should be bled every day  freely, and given nothing to
drink but strong dogwood  tea.  The powdered bark of
this tree makes an excellent ink, and the process is very
simple:—Take half an  ounce of the powdered  bark,
two drachms of copperas,  two scruples of gum arabic,
or cherry-tree gum, and put them into one pint of rain
water; mix them together, and in a few days it will be
fit for use.  The medical virtues of this bark were dis-
covered as early as the year 1787.   It is an astringent,
and  also a stimulant, and the internal  use of it ren-
ders  the pulse always quicker, and often fuller than it
naturally is.
                 ALUM  ROOT.
  This is a native of all the North American forests,
from Georgia to Maine, and from the Atlantic ocean to
the Oregon, or Rocky mountains.  It is a very strong
vegetable  astringent; by  which I mean,  that when
applied to the human body, it makes the solids harder
and firmer, by contracting their fibres.  As  a powerful
astringent, it is usually employed in all cases of weak-
ness and irritability, and report  speaks favorable of its 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE,           525

virtues.  It is  generally used in external applications
'more than as an internal remedy:  in piles, for instance
—or hemorrhages from  any part of the  system: by
which I mean spontaneous bleedings.
                    GINSENG.
  This root is called by the people in the country gen-
erally, for shortness, 'sang.  It is found in great plenty
among  the  hills and  mountains of Tennessee, and
brought into Knoxville daily for sale.  Some few years
back  it was used as an article of commerce, and sent
to the eastward in wagons as a commodity of foreign
export,  and  afforded  considerable  employment and
profit  to  the gatherers  of it  who  resided near and
among the mountains.   It has latterly, however,  fallen
in price and value, as  an article of exportation, and
therefore but little of it is brought in for sale.
  This root was exported to China, and afforded to the
shipper a handsome profit—generally selling it in the
Chinese dominions for   its  weight in   silver.   The
Chinese attributed  great virtues to this root; so many
indeed, that at one period—1784—the price at  Pekin
is said to have  been eight or nine  times  its weight in
pure silver.   They considered it as a sovereign remedy
in all diseases incidental to their climate and  country,
and had no confidence in any  medicine  that was not
combined with it: and such was its astonishing reputa-
tion, that it  was rarely if ever, administered to the poor,
on account of the highness of its price.  They chew it,
and take it in strong decoction, so as to get all the vir-
tue from this precious  drug.  These people are remar-
kable  for their superstitious  prejudices,  civil,  moral, 
526
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
and religious: as a proof of which, they set a higher
value on those roots which have a resemblance to the'
human form, and ascribe greater powers to  them than
to those of a different shape.
   The ginseng has been fully tested  by the best physi-
cians in the United States, and they  ascribe to it noth-
ing more than its being a pleasant bitter, and a gentle
stimulant  for strengthening the stomach.  It gives all
its strength and virtues by being steeped in whiskey, or
any other kind of spirits.
               TOBACCO  PLANT,
  Called by the learned nicotiana tobacum.   This
very common plant was found  in  cultivation by the
Indian  nations, when  the  continents of  North and
South America were first discovered:—these, however,
are not  the only regions of the globe in which it is
found to  flourish:  the East Indies  have long been
known  to produce  it.   To describe the tobacco plant,
would be entirely useless; it would answer as  little pur-
pose, as to describe on paper the countenance of  an old
friend, with whom we  had long  before shaken hands,
and become perfectly familiar.  I shall, therefore, con-
sider it in no other light than as a medical drug.
  I shall first notice tobacco as a remedy for worms.
I do not recollect ever to have tried  it myself,  but Doct.
Barton expressly says—and his authority can in all cases
be relied on—that "tobacco leaves pounded and mixed
with vinegar, and applied as a poultice to the breast and
belly, will frequently expel worms, in cases where very
powerful  remedies have been resorted to in vain.   In
cases, also, where poisons of any kind have been taken 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          527

into  the stomach,  and emetics given internally, and
prove deficient in their operation, the tobacco poultice,
as just  described, if applied  to  the  stomach will act
powerfully, and force it to discharge the contents.  In
cases where the bowels are obstinately constipated, in
other words, where great  costiveness  exists, the leaves
of the tobacco plant, cured in the usual manner, stew-
ed in vinegar, and applied  to the belly, will be attended
with signal success, when the  most  powerful purges
internally taken  have failed.  The last mentioned ap-
plication—tobacco leaves stewed in vinegar—is a good
remedy in what physicians call ascites, or dropsy of the
belly—of which there are two kinds:  one kind is, where
the dropsical water is lodged in  the great cavity enclos-
ing the intestines, or guts,  &c.—this  is called  ascites
abdominalis by  medical  men.   The other is, where
the water is lodged in a membrane, suck, or tube, about
the womb, and is called ascite saccatus by physicians.
I will, for the satisfaction  of the reader, abridge a case
of the latter kind from a letter  of Dr. Cutbush, physi-
cian of the American Marine hospital at Syracuse.
The subject of the disease presumed by Dr. Cutbush to
be dropsy, was a young woman brought to him by her
parents. Some of  her former physicians—thirty-three
of  whom  had been consulted  in her  case—were of
opinion that her  disease was a collection of water in
the womb; others, that it was dropsy of the ovaria—
these are the parts taken out  of female swine  when
spaying—others, that it  was an enlarged  liver; and
others still, that it was an extra-uterine fetus, which is
a case  of conception, in which  the child is not in the
 womb where it should be, but in the cavity of the belly,
 outside of the womb.  On examination, Dr. Cutbush
 discovered a large tumor, or swelling in the abdomen, 
°28          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
or belly, which extended diagonally across it from the
left to the right.   The swelling, or tumor, which was
unusually great,  had a number  of inequalities on its
surface, which  could be easily felt, and  which, when
pressed upon,  produced extreme  pain; no fluctuation
or movement  of water, however, could be discovered
on such pressure.  The case was new to him : and in
addition greatly perplexing, because the first physicians
of Naples had  given contrary opinions respecting it,
and  had  also  disagreed  in their  practice.  She had
been  under the free use  of mercury  twice—once at
Naples, and once at Syracuse: at the latter place, mer-
cury had been given in large quantities by a surgeon
belonging to Lord Nelson's fleet, without any beneficial
effect.   "From this history and examination," says the
Doctor, "I entertained no hopes  of relieving her; but
the solemn entreaties of her parents determined me to
make trial of a remedy which I  had found useful in
obstinate tumors,  and which finally proved the disease
to be a dropsical  affection of the womb itself, or of the
right fallopian tube."  [These tubes  extend  from the
sides of the womb towards the ovaria—which I have
before explained—and are  supposed to grasp them in
sexual communication.]  "I directed  the leaves of the
tobacco plant, recently collected,  to be stewred in vine-
gar, and applied to  the abdominal tumor." The first
application produced sickness at  the  stomach, puking,
vertigo, or swimming in the head, great depression of
muscular strength, copious sweating,  and a loose state
of the  bowels.  Her pulse  become low; and the  vio-
lence of  the symptoms induced the doctor not  to con-
tinue the application long.  On the succeeding  day it
was repeated twice—morning and evening—and pro-
duced the same symptoms, but less violent; and attend- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          529

 ed  with an immoderate flow of water from the vagina
 and womb.  This remedy was continued twenty  days,
 and the patient  was completely cured.   No medicines
 were given, except a little opium, and some wines occa-
 sionally.
  In cases of drcpsy generally, the  tobacco  plant has
 been found very serviceable.  When given  in proper
 quantities, it acts as a powerful diuretic—or in  other
 words, it produces a great flow  of urine—entirely dis-
 proportioned to the quantity of liquor  taken into  the
 stomach.   This is a conclusive proof that it acts  upon,
 and dislodges the dropsical fluid from the system.  In
 cramps, or spasms it is also productive of much benefit:
 being well known to produce great relaxations of  the
 muscular powers, and unusual  prostraion of strength
 —on which account, it may also be given with advan-
 tage in cases of tetanus, or locked-jaw, and in fact, in
 all  cases where there appears to be  a derangement of
 the muscular energies, local, or relating to a  particular
part,  or  general, and  involving the  whole  system.
When tobacco is to be taken internally, by the stomach,
it ought either to be in the extract, as described by Dr.
Storck, or in infusion.  The infusion is made by steep-
ing an  ounce of tobacco leaves in a pint of boiling
 water, and give it by the tea-spoonful with much cau-
 tion.  One, two, or three table-spoonsful, in half a pint
 of warm  milk, or thin gruel, will generally  produce
 relief, if given in clysters, in cases of colic or very ob-
stinate costiveness,  where  all other medicines  have
proved  ineffecual.   If  these  quantities  produce  no
relief, and there is  no sickness of the stomach, the
clysters must  be repeated every half hour, gradually
increasing the infusion until one or the  other of  these
effects be produced.   In this way, the dangerous effects
       (V7 
530           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

of tobacco may always be avoided.  I will record  a
case in which obstinate constipation of the bowels was
relieved by an infusion of tobacco when all other rem-
edies had utterly failed:—In  the city of Charleston,
South Carolina, some years  since,  and before reading
medicine, I was  attacked at  night with severe colic,
which terminated in obstinate  constipation of the bow-
els.   The pain was so excruciating that I was  com-
pelled to send for a physician : it was Dr. Whitterage,
a  gentleman equally celebrated for his philanthropy,
and his profound knowledge of medical science.   Dur-
ing a period of ten days, apprehending an inflamma-
tion, and  consequent mortification of the bowels, this
gentleman resorted  to almost every known and power-
ful remedy, without effect.  As a last resort—of which
he candidly informed me—recourse was had to clysters
made of tobacco.  The first, which was a weak infu*
sion, had no effect;  and the doctor directed my nurse
to give  a  strong one at midnight.  Her fatigue caused
her to fall asleep, and it was neglected till  morning.
By this time—the tobacco having remained in the wa-
ter all night—the  infusion had  become unusually strong,
in which state a clyster of it was given.   The .immedi-
ate derangement  of my  feelings and  sensations, and
the horrible  nausea and  sickness  of the stomach  I
suffered, are  absolutely indescribable.  I perspired at
every pore, and so entire was the prostration  of my
muscular  powers, that  I  had  to be held on the close-
stool.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  I  could draw my
breath.  In a  few minutes, by an  almost unconscious
effort, an extremely  foetid discharge  took  place from
the bowels,  of the color and  consistence of molasses,
when I was entirely relieved.  Subsequent experience
has taught me to  believe that,  had this great and good 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          531

man applied  tobacco  leaves, stewed  in vinegar, to the
abdomen, whilst I was under  the operation of medi-
cines taken by  the  stomach,  I  would much sooner
have been relieved from  my miseries.  In concluding
this subject, it can scarcely be necessary to advise my
readers, that the tobacco  plant is an active and power-
ful  medicine, and dangerous when used to injudicious
excess.
                THE  UVA  URSI.
  Sometimes called the  bear-berry, the bear's whortler
berry, and the wild cranberry.
  The uva ursi—sometimes designated by the names I
have noted above—is a native of the mountains and
cold regions  of Europe, and  it is said, of the north-
ern parts of the United States.  It is  presumed, from
numerous and  well  authenticated  experiments,  to be
the  best remedy ever yet discovered  in all diseases of
the  urinary organs, whether of the  kidneys, ureters, or
bladder, and is therefore entitled to no ordinary consid-
eration as  a  medicine.   The  dose  usually given, of
the  powdered leave  of the uva ursi,  in any  kind of
syrup,  is from twenty to thirty grains, three  or four
times a  day,  which may  be  doubled in quantity, in
cases of extreme urgency and  danger.  The descrip-
tion of this plant, given  by the  celebrated Galen, which
is considered the most  accurate one on  record, is in
substance as follows:—it is a  low shrub, which  grows
and spreads itself near  the surface of the ground, and
has pensile, or hanging branches; bark  of a redish or
pink color, and is thickly  set with  oblong, oval, and
entire fleshy leaves.  The  flower is  oval  shaped, and 
532          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
broader near the base than the mouth, which has an
edge scolloped into five divisions, with small, blunt, and
curled points.  The fruit is  a roundish,  red colored
berry, similar in  appearance to the small wild cherry,
and contains five hard bony seeds, with plain sides, and
no more.  It is an evergreen, and produces fruit every
two years.   Every part of this shrub, particularly the
bark and leaves, has a bitter and astringent taste.   I am
thus particular in the description of it, because the bil-
berry, or red myrtle, is often mistaken by good botanists
for the uva ursi—they being so nearly alike as scarcely
to be distinguishable from each other.  The only dis-
tinguishing characteristics which can  be depended on
are these: the flower of the uva ursi has  ten stamina,
more commonly known by the name  of antlers, or
uprights, and the berries contain five seeds only—while
the other, the bilberry, or  red myrtle, has only  eight
stamina in the flower, and sometimes  twenty seeds in
the berry.   I have some doubts, notwithstanding the
opinion of the celebrated  doctors  Bigelow and Chap-
man, for both of whom I entertain a high respect—that
the real and genuine uva ursa of Galen, is not a native
of any known and inhabited part of the North Ameri-
can  continent;  and that its having  been measurably
brought into disrepute, like many other medicines, has
been owing to the fact of other plants having been mis-
taken for it, and  used  medically  in  its stead.  Galen
says that it is a  rare plant, and is  only  to be found in
the coldest countries, and in the neighborhood of moun-
tains covered with eternal  snows; and  that  he never
met with it but upon two of the highest mountains in
Europe, one of which was an Austrian Alp, called Gans,
and the other a Styrian  Alp, called the snowy moun-
tain, six leagues from  Marianstein.   We have no such 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
533
mountains in North  America, unless  the  Oregon  or
Rocky mountains,  west of the  Mississippi, of whose
botanical productions we know little—perhaps nothing.
But whether the uva ursi be an American plant or not,
it can always be had genuine in the shops, and my prin-
cipal motive for mentioning  any  doubts  respecting  its
being a native of this country, is to guard those afflicted
with diseases of the  urinary organs, against the use of
spurious or worthless plants in its stead.   The following
cases, abridged from a work of high authority, will show
the genuine  uva ursi in its true light.
  Case 1st.  "A man about sixty years of age, had
been about twenty years afflicted, at times with  a diffi-
culty of making water, which was usually voided by
single drops, accompanied  with  exquisite torture, a
foetid smell, and a  mucus mixed  with blood.   Some-
times  there  was a  total suppression of urine,  which
could only be relieved by the catheter.   He first took
proper laxatives for the relief of the bowels, and then
commenced  taking half a drachm of the uva ursi every
morning.  This prescription  was continued for seven
complete months;  by which time his  urine became
more frequent and full of mucus, but not so foetid  as
before; and  the pain which had  tortured him so many
years, was quite gone; he slept well;  had a  good appe-
tite ; grew strong; walked well; and made water with-
out any pain.
  Case 2d.   "This was also a man  about  sixty years
of age, who  had  for  a long time been afflicted with
exquisite pams, and a suppression of urine to so great
a degree, that for seven weeks he had never passed his
water but by the help of a catheter.  Half a drachm of
the powdered leaves of the uva ursi was given him every
morning, and a gentle dose of paregoric at  night; and 
534
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
after six days he had no further need  of the catheter.
Having persevered in the use of the medicine for four-
teen weeks, he was restored to perfect health.
  Case 3d.   "A man  came  to us, whose  name was
Christian: he was afflicted with hydrocele, or dropsy of
the scrotum, or bag, for which he had taken medicines
usually given in such  cases.   When this course was
finished, a defect in the urinary system began to threaten
—insomuch that in a short time his urine became of a
white color; was passed with great difficulty and pain:
and as soon as discharged, had  a very bad and  offen-
sive smell.   The catheter being introduced repeatedly,
evidently proved that there was a calculus, or stone in
the bladder.  The uva ursi was therefore given  in the
quantities before noticed; by which, in a short time, so
great relief was obtained, that not only a due retention
of urine took place, but it was also passed without pain,
in smell  and color  perfectly natural; and I assert it—
says the writer—that by continuing the use of this med-
icine for two months, every calculus sign and symptom
was entirely removed; although by sounding him again,
the calculus or  stone  was still  found  in the bladder.
This is the first, and the only person, among all I have
seen, who frequently made water of a healthy appear-
ance whilst a stone remained  in the bladder.  How it
came to pass, and by  what means the patient should
obtain such benefit from  this plant, as to  be entirely
exempt from  pain, and other inconveniences,  when
a stone still existed in  the bladder, is what  I must con-^
fess myself entirely unable to explain." 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          535

                SLIPPERY ELM.
  This tree deserves great  attention, as being among
the best remedies in our country.  I have mentioned
frequently, that in many diseases it should be used as a
poultice, and in many others as a clyster.   I shall now
describe the valuable  properties of this tree  more at
large.   The inner bark must be used—and that of the
young tree is preferable. As a poultice, nothing is supe-
rior, particularly in old gun-shot wounds.   During the
revolutionary war, our surgeons used it with the happi-
est  effects.   They  applied  poultices  of  it  to fresh
wounds, and always produced immediate suppuration--
in other words discharge of matter—and  a quick dis-
position to heal.  When any appearance  of mortifica-
tion was evident, the bark was  pounded, and boiled in
water, and made into  a poultice.   When applied,  it
produced immediately a surprising  change for the bet-
ter.  In dysentery  and consumptions, the inner bark
boiled in water and drank freely, will be found a valua-
ble medicine.  It is cooling and soothing to the bowels,
It may be made into a fine jelly, which if taken freely,
is a certain and astonishing remedy in all bowel and
breast complaints, and may be freely administered to
children.   This mucilaginous bark is so nutritive, that
it supplies the Indians with  food in times of  scarcity.
It is one of the most  cooling and  pleasant remedies,
and I may add, that it  is not only one of the most valu-
able articles we have, but deserves the confidence of
every person who practices or administers medicine. 
536
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
              JERUSALEM OAK.
  From this plant—which grows plentifully throughout
the State of Tennessee, and too well known by almost
every person to require a  description—the oil called
worm seed oil is made.  This oil has for some  time
attracted a considerable share of popular favor, as an
antidote against worms in children.  It is sold in almost
every store, under the name of "worm seed oil;" and
persons who purchase this oil or medicine, should be
careful that they are not imposed upon; because it is
very often adulterated  with spirits of turpentine,  by
which they are always disappointed in their expectation
of benefit.
  In its pure and unadulterated state there is no medi-
cine preferable to  the  oil made from  the  Jerusalem
oak for expelling worms from children; but it  must
never be given when the child has fever, because it will
in that case  increase the fever—the oil being highly
stimulating and inflammatory.  When this oil is admin-
istered, from eight to ten drops must be given to a child
two years old, on a lump of sugar—it ought to be given
three times a day, for three days  in succession;  after
which you must give a good dose of calomel, say five
or six grains, or a dose of castor oil—the calomel, how-
ever, is the most certain to produce a full discharge of
worms.   If no worms are discharged, and they are still
suspected to exist in the system, repeat the dose again,
and again, until you bring  them from  the child.  A
wine-glassful  of  a decoction of the Jerusalem  oak,
made by  boiling it in milk, in the proportion of a hand-
ful of the leaves to a quart of milk, is a dose for a child:
but the pure oil is by far the best. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          537
                    DITTANY.
  This handsome little  plant  belongs  exclusively  to
America, and is known by almost every farmer and his
family in the country.  It grows plentifully in Tennes-
see.   The dittany is  always found in dry soils, and in
shady and hilly places: it is used in slight fevers as a
tea: every old  lady  in the country  has more  or less
used  dittany tea  in  colds.  It  is excellent  to  relieve
nervous head aches,  and is a good  remedy in the hys-
terical affections of  women.  In South Carolina and
Georgia, the dittany is given frequently by infusing the
leaves in hot water and administering it as a tea, drank
as warm as  possible, to produce sweating..  The medi-
cinal virtues of dittany are  much the same as penny-
royal, mint,  and sage: it a perfectly innocent plant.
                  MAY APPLE,
   Sometimes  called wild lemon, duck's foot, ipecacu-
anha, and by the learned, podophyllum peltatum.
   This plant, which  possesses very important medicin-
al virtues, is presumed to be  an exclusive production
of the North American  continent: it is every where
found in abundance on congenial soils, from the state
of Maine to the Mexican Guif, and from the Atlantic
sea-coast to the Oregon  mountains.   In the language
of the learned, it is  a  perennial herbaceous  plant; in
other words, the roots do not perish  by  the  frosts  and
snows of the winter.  The May apple  is well  known
to almost every citizen in the United States: it has a
plain upright  stem, of a  yellowish green color, about
twelve or fourteen inches in height;  two large horizon-
tal leaves at the top, between which, and in the fork,
       68 
538
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
when in bloom, there is a white flower, which is suc-
ceeded by a yellow acid fruit.  Respecting the different
properties of  this plant, the reader is  desired  to recol-
lect the fruit is good for food—the leaves poisonous—
and that its medicinal  virtues are wholly confined to
the root.  The season  proper for gathering the root, is
late in the fall, when the leaves begin to drop: if gath-
ered in the spring, it is comparatively good for nothing.
The Indians  dry it in the shade, and use it in powders.
   The American May apple root is an excellent, gen-
tle, and effective purge, and is presumed by many cele-
brated practical physicians, to be greatly superior  to
the jalap obtained in the shops.  Practical experiment
has  proved  that this  root operates  more  gently as a
purge than jalap; that it operates a much longer time;
and that it is by no means so drastic and griping  as
jalap.  It is  also  preferable to jalap in other respects;
 it is less nauseous, and more easily  taken;  less irrita-
 ting  to  the  stomach  and bowels, and  may be more
 easily used  by  delicate  females and persons having
 weak and sensitive stomachs.  It may  be given with
 much advantage  in what physicians call colica picto-
 neum, or dry belly ache—sometimes a dangerous com-
 plaint—in intermittent  fevers;   and particularly  in
 dropsy, on  account of  its  producing continued  and
 large evacuations.   Taken in  a small dose, say of ten
 or twelve grains in powder, it is a gentle and easy laxa-
 tive : twenty, twenty-five, or thirty grains, usually oper-
 ate  with  activity  and  power;  and where  griping is
 apprehended, the mixture  of  eight or ten grains of
 ealomel will be of advantage. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
539
        CANCER ROOT—BEECH DROPS,
    Called  by  the  learned,  Orabanche  Virginiana.
  This plant  is the  natural growth of every part of the
  United States: is usually found  under the beech tree,
  and is of a sickly yellow, or pale pink color, and entire-
  ly without leaves.   The root, which  appears blunt and
  round at the bottom, and is  covered  with twisted and
  matted fibres on its  lower end, is of a yellow color;
  the stems and the branches are finely furrowed;  and on
  the ridges formed by these furrows, there will be found
  dark, purple, white  and  yellow  stripes.  Between the
  root and the first divisions of the stalk, there are blunt
  pointed and bud-like scales which stand out from the
  surface; and similar ones, but more resembling buds,
  are scattered along the branches nearly to their  tops.
  The  plant grows  from eight  to fifteen inches high.
 The reasons for my being thus particular in the descrip-
 tion of this plant, will be  presently seen.
   From the best information I can collect respecting
 the history of the Cancer root, it appears to have been
 originally a cure for cancers, used by the Indians,  and
 communicated by them to a surgeon  of  one  of the
 Pennsylvania regiments many  years  ago, stationed at
 what  was then called  Fort  Pitt.  The physician to
 whom the secret was communicated by the Indians,
 afterwards came to Philadelphia, and  advertised  for
 the cure of cancers.   He  had been the student of  Dr.
 Rush, who speaks  thus of the application.   "It gave
 me great satisfaction to witness the efficacy of the doc-
 tor's applications: in several cancerous ulcers, the cures
 he performed  were complete.   But when the cancers
 were much connected  with the lymphatic system, or
 accompanied  with a scrophulous  habit of  body,  his
medicine  always failed, and in  some  instances did 
540          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

evident injury."  The word "scrofula," is derived from
scrofa, a hog—because this animal is subject to a simi-
lar disorder, which means king's evil.   The  physician
who had the secret from the Indians, died in  1784, and
it was supposed the secret had died with him;  but Dr.
Rush procured from  one  of his administrators, some of
the powders, and found them  compounded of the dried
and pounded cancer root and arsenic; the proportion
of arsenic—of the pure white kind—was not more than
one fortieth  part  of the whole compound.   Most of the
cures effected by these powders, were situated about the
nose, forehead and cheeks, and upon  the  surface and
extremities of the body.   Cancers, taints of  the  fluids
of the body, or those which affect the  whole  lymphatic
system,  must be cured by diet and  internal medical
remedies.  Dr. Rush says, that the powder compounded
of cancer root and arsenic, in the proportions I have
mentioned, and  applied in the proper  cases of cancer,
produced inflammation,  which  separated the sound
flesh from  the  cancerous ulcer and its roots, and
that he  therefore  preferred  the  application of  those
powders to the use of the knife, in  all such cases.  I
will conclude these  remarks by observing, that the
cancer root  is a  valuable remedy in old and obstinate
ulcers, in which  it has often  been known to succeed,
when all other  applications  had failed.   It  must be
gathered in  the month of September. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          541

                   BONE SET,
  Sometimes called  thorough-wort, cross-wort, Indian
sage, and perhaps more properly, by the Indians, ague
weed.  The learned  name of it is  eupatorium  perfoli-
atum.
  The boneset is a valuable plant, and cannot be too
highly prized as a medicine.   I regret to  say, that at
this time most of its  medical  virtues remain unknown.
It has  been used  in the hospitals  in New York with
great success, given either as  a  tea or in power.  The
limited size of my book prevents me  from writing at
large on the great virtues it possesses: but I will merely
make this remark, that it is endowed  with more real
and genuine virtues than any plant  now  known.  The
stalk is heavy, and rises from  two to four feet, perfora-
ting or bearing  the  leaves at  each  join\  The flowers
are white, and appear in July  and August.  The leaves
at each joint are horizontal,  teethed  and  rough, from
three to four inches long, about an inch broad at their
base, gradually lessening to an acute  point, of a dark
green color, and covered with short hairs.  It is a native
of the United States, and is every where to be found in
Tennessee.  It is  generally found in abundance on the
edges of ponds which are  surrounded by thickets of
brushwood; in  low and damp woodlands; on the banks
of small water courses, creeks and rivulets, which are
deeply shaded  by the close foliage of the trees;  and
sometimes in open meadows, and waste  low lands.  I
do not know what the name  of bone set was  derived
from; nor do I think it very  material that the  reader
should  be informed; because real wisdom and useful
intelligence, have much more relation to the nature of
things, than to the mere names of things.   The medical
properties of this plant are  various and  powerful; nor 
 542          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

do I believe there is one which is a native of the soil of
our country, more entitled to  the attention and experi-
ments of medical men.  The  whole plant is extremely
bitter to the taste, and in some degree astringent;  by
which I mean, that when  it is applied to the tongue, or
any other part of the body, it contracts the fibres and
surface, without any voluntary exertion of the muscular
power.  It is  a  strong tonic  or  strengthener to  the
stomach;  and always when used internally, produces
an increased discharge from the skin, which, when con-
densed on the surface, is called sweat: in these respects,
from well attested experiments, its medical virtues  are
unequivocal as well as powerful.  It  can always  be
given successfully,   and  without danger,  in violent
catarrhs or colds, even when attended with  some fever;
because its stimulating effects  are too slight to increase
the fever, while the other qualities of imparting strength
and  causing perspiration, are in  active operation.  I
wish the  reader particularly to notice, that  I mention
the beneficial  effects of the bone set plant, in cases of
violent catarrh or cold,  because it is a  dangerous fore-
runner of phthisis, or pulmonary consumption, in very
many instances, and  ought always to be removed imme-
diately,  if  possible.  This plant  is  also an  excellent
remedy in ague and  fever, which  is the reason  of its
being called by the Indians, by a  name which in their
language signifies ague weed.  It is  also a valuable
remedy in all intermittent and remittent fevers, always
acting as powerfully  and beneficially as Peruvian bark.
In fact, I think it  in  many  cases preferable to the bark;
because it  can be  given  where  there  is considerable
fever; in which condition  of a patient, the bark cannot
be administered without great danger.  For this reason
also—I mean  because it never increases fever—it can 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          543

always be given, and has been repeatedly administered
successfully, not only in remitting bilious fever, but  in
typhus and yellow fevers.   Dr. S. G. Hopkins, of New
Jersey, a physician of much  celebrity, in an  extensive
practice of several years, during which the  intermittent
and remittent fevers were very prevalent, gave the bone
set freely, in warm  decoction, with  great success.  By
giving the bone set very copiously, he always  produced
sweating to  allay  the fever;  and in dangerous  cases,
pushed the remedy so far as to produce emesis, or vom-
iting,  and also purging.  He related to several  of his
friends, that many of the farmers in his vicinity, without
calling in a physician, had, by the  liberal use of bone
set tea, given warm, entirely succeeded in curing them-
selves and their families of  both intermittent and typhus
fevers.  The truth is, that in  low typhus, which is very
dangerous, and always attended  with an unusually hot
skin,  the bone  set is an  inestimable remedy.  It is
always used with  the best effect, in  a warm  decoction
of the flowers and leaves, which ought to be dried in
the shade, and  kept  for use; the warm decoction is
generally preferable to  the plant in substance; and from
one to two table-spoonsful,  given  every half hour, will
in most cases produce sweating without causing so much
nausea of the stomach as  to induce vomiting.  If the
fever  is broken, and you wish to give strength to your
patient, give the bone  set in  the  powdered leaves and
flowers, from twenty grains to a drachm, from three to
six times in the lapse of twenty-four hours.   Used in
decoction as above stated,  it is also  a valuable remedy
in yellow fever, as  has been proved by  repeated and
well attested experiments.  The  bone set is  also very
efficacious in removing active rheumatism—for descrip-
tion of which, look under that head:—but  it ought to 
514
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
be employed  in this  case  after blood-letting to reduce
the inflammatory action.
  With the  above commentary on the important uses
of this plant in medicine, I recommend it to the serious
attention of my readers.  It  affords another proof that
Providence has given us  the means of curing many of
our diseases,  without resorting to the adulterated  drugs
of foreign lands.
       COMMON BLACKBERRY BUSH,
   Called by botanists rubus villosus.  This  root is
every where known, and therefore requires no descrip-
tion.  It is eminently useful in all such diseases as are
to be treated with astringent medicines: the root par-
ticularly,  is  powerfully  astringent, and  when  used
medicinally, is  generally made into a tea.   When the
ripe fruit itself  is employed, it ought to be given in the
juice, or made into a syrup or jelly.  The tea or decoc-
tion is made by boiling a handful  of the bruised roots
in a pint and a half of water, until it is reduced to a
pint; thus prepared, it is given with success in diarrhoeas
and dysenteries—a small tea-cupful every two hours—
and has often  been  known to effect cures when many
other remedies  had failed.  In  the disease called  by
physicians,  cholera  infantum, known  by painful  gri-
pings and purgings  of children, a  weak decoction of
the blackberry root may  be given with good effects; but
as these purgings may in many cases be considered as
the efforts of nature  to remove the causes of disease, it
ought to  be given with  much caution, and not  until
proper evacuations have been made to remove offensive
matter from the stomach and bowels.   In fact, it ought
A 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          545

a> be given in no case of dysentery  or  cholera  infan-
tum, until all  offending matter, if any is presumed to
exist, be removed by gentle pukes and purges.  Black-
berry syrup, made from the ripe fruit, ought to be kept
prepared in all families, and given freely in all cases of
derangement of the bowels.
            BUTTON SNAKE  ROOT.
  This is a native of all the Southern States, from the
sea-board to  the  Mississippi;  the root  has a  sharp,
aromatic, and very bitter taste, and whenever chewed,
it produces a considerable flow of  saliva,, or spittle.   A
tea or decoction of it, taken internally, produces a dis-
charge from the skin, and expectoration from the throat
and lungs.  By many  physicians of reputation, it is
held in higher estimation  than  the Seneka snake root,
which it very much resembles in its effects.
                   CAMOMILE.
  The tame species is a native of Europe, but may be
cultivated in most parts of the United  States, and par-
ticularly  in  the mild climate of  Tennessee.   It  is
perennial: that  is to say, its roots  do  not die by the
frosts of winter, but shoot forth and blossom through
succeeding  years.   The flowers are generally used for
medical purposes, and sold in the shops : the single ones
are the best, because  they are the strongest.   Infusion
in water, extracts the  medicinal properties of the cam-
omile flower, which, drank cold, is  highly useful as  a
tonic:  in other words, it  will give tone and strength to
       69 
546          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

an irritable and weak stomach, repair a debilitated or
lost appetite, and operate favorably on  such young fe-
males as labor under what  is called green sickness:
which means the retention or  suppression of the menses.
It also operates as an anti-spasmodic: that is to say, it
relaxes the involuntary contractions of the  muscles of
all parts of the body, and  particularly of the stomach,
in what is commonly called cramp:  it is also of service
in  all nervous  weaknesses of females.  When taken
warm, and in considerable quantities, it aids materially
in  the  operation of emetics, or pukes,  &c. &c.—The
camomile flower when steeped in old whiskey, or in
any good spirits, and taken two or  three  times a day,
in moderate quantities, is an  excellent medicine to give
tone or strength to  a weak  stomach and restore the
appetite.   For women, given  in hysterical complaints,
this is a valuable remedy.
                IPECACUANHA.
  This root is a native of Spanish America; and in
the Spanish language, it means vomiting  or puking
root.   The  word ipecacuanha is  applied  to several
other roots which produce vomiting or puking to any
extent.  The proper or botanical name of this root is
the raicilla: I have, however, adopted the name  ipe-
cacuanha—by which  it is  most commonly known to
physicians.  This root was  first brought  into Europe
about the middle of the last century, but did not come
into general use until about the year 1786, when it was
introduced into the practice of medicine by Helvetius,
under the patronage of Louis XIV.  The ipecacuanha
is one of the mildest and safest emetics, or pukes, with 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          547
which we are acquainted, and has this great advantage;
that if it should fail to puke, it passes off by purging or
sweating; and further, if by accident  an over dose is
taken, it is attended with no danger; as the whole of it
is vomited with the contents of the stomach, as soon as
it operates.—The vomiting  or  puking is promoted by
drinking freely of warm water.
  The genuine ipecacuanha in its dry state, is a small
wrinkled root, about the size of a hen's quill, variously
twisted, and marked with  projecting  parts, apparently
like rings—ash colored.   Its taste is  sickening,  and
slightly  bitter, with little smell, and covering the tongue
with a  kind of mucilage.   On breaking the root, the
outer bark is very brittle; and it is in this  brittle  part
that the activity and power of the root as a puke resides
—the centre of the root being nearly destitute of medi-
cinal virtues.  This root is generally sold in  the shops
in a powder, that being the form in which it is used as
a vomit or puke: the powder is the color  of common
ashes.
  I have now described to you the imported ipecacu-
anha, or the medicine which is now  used throughout
all  the world under  that name; and  I may justly re-
mark, that it stands  at the head of vegetable emetics,
for the promptness, efficacy and safety of its operations.
   In powder, which is the manner in which it is  gen-
erally given, full vomiting or puking will be  produced
in  a grown person, by  a dose of a scruple, or half a
drachm: or you may put a  drachm  into  six tableT
spoonsful of warm water, and give a table-spoonful
occasionally, until it operates:  or you may steep  it in
wine, and give it in small doses,  until the  effect you
desire,  is produced. 
548          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  The medicinal uses of this powder, when properly
applied, are very great and  valuable.  In addition  to
its acting as  a vomit  or puke, when  given in  small
doses, so as to produce nausea—which means sickness
of the stomach—it generally produces  moisture of the
skin—or sweat—evacuation  of the bowels; and in still
smaller doses, it  generally stimulates the stomach, in-
creases  the appetite, and  assists  digestion.   In  small
doses, it acts  not only as a diaphoretic—which  means
sweating—-but as an expectorant—which means a free
discharge of  tough mucus and  spittle from  the mouth
and throat.   It is also a valuable medicine when given
in small doses, to stop spontaneous bleedings from  the
lungs and womb.  These bleedings are called hemorrh-
ages.  In intermittent fevers, it has generally succeeded
in stopping them, especially  when given about an hour
before the coming on of the  fever; and also  when
given so as to produce  vomiting at the time of the
fever, or  end of the  cold stage.   Great  benefits  are
often derived from this medicine in continued  fevers,
and particularly in the commencement of typhus fevers;
an emetic or puke of ipecacuanha, followed with  a
sufficiency of this medicine in very small  doses, to
keep up a gentle moisture or sweat, will, if attended to
in the early stage of this complaint, probably at once
cut short the  disease, or greatly lessen the severity and
symptoms of  the fever.
  Wine  of ipecacuanha is  sometimes substituted  for
the powder:  it is, however, better suited to children.
As an emetic or puke, the dose for a grown person, is
one fluid ounce—which is about  half a  large wine or
stem glassful.  For  a description  of this wine  of ipe-
cacuanha look under that head. 
             GUNN?S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           549

               COMMON TANSY.
  Tansy is perennial, or perpetual, and grows wild by
the sides of roads, and the  borders of fields, but is
most frequently cultivated in gardens, both  for culinary
and medicinal purposes: it flowers in July, and fre-
quently in June.  The leaves are generally used as a
medicine, and when steeped in whiskey, or any kind of
spirits, make a moderately  warm, and highly valuable
bitter for weak stomachs, very beneficial to children in
preventing worms.  It should be given to them in the
morning, on empty stomachs.  Some physicians have
spoken highly of its virtues in hysteric disorders, par-
ticularly those proceeding  from a deficiency  or  sup-
pression of the menses or courses.  An infusion or tea
made of tansy, and  drank freely, has  been strongly
recommended as a preventive of the return of gout
                      SAGE.
  This valuable garden herb was once supposed by
the ancients, to prolong the lives of those who  would
frequently use it.  They dedicated to it the following
maxim :—"How can a man die, in whose garden there
grows sage?"—in allusion to its many virtues.  It is too
well known, and too much used to  require a descrip-
tion.  It makes an excellent tea  to produce sweat or
moisture of the skin—and by adding a little lemon juice
or vinegar so  as to make  it pleasantly  sour, is a good
remedy in fevers. 
550           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

               RUE  AND BALM.
  Rue  is also a garden herb; the leaves of which,
made into tea, will  produce perspiration, or sweating,
quicken the circulation, and remove obstructions of the
blood.   It is valuable to  weak and hysterical constitu-
tions.
  Balm is also a garden herb, and affords a pleasant tea
to be drank in fevers.  When drank freely, it will pro-
duce perspiration or sweat, and of course, is  good in
slight fevers.
            AMERICAN  COLUMBO.
  This stately and  elegant plant is a native of the
United States, and is found in abundance in both Ken-
tucky and Tennessee.  It has various names: such as
Columbia, Indian  lettuce, columbo root, Marietta co-
lumbo, and wild columbo.  The stalk grows from eight
to ten feet in height; it is strong, juicy and fleshy, near-
ly square, and furrowed at the  sides, and  sends off its
leaves, which are of a deep  green color, at intervals of
six  or eight  inches, to  something more than  half its
length, and smaller leaves and flowering branches to
the top.  The root is  biennial—that is, it  lives  two
years—it is large, full of knots, plump and full, and of
a yellow color : the leaves are  occasionally opposite to
each other; and usually grow from four to eight togeth-
er : they are something  sharp, and sometimes oblong:
or in other words, oval, or  egg shaped, and sharp at
the points.  The flowers grow  in clusters, and are of a
greenish yellow, or cream color.
  The columbo root, which is  the only part to be used
—is a mild, pleasant, and highly valuable bitter—act- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          551

ing as a powerful tonic, or strengthening medicine.   It
is valuable in dyspepsia, or indigestion, and in diarrhoea,
or looseness of the bowels, arising from a redundancy
of bile.  It will generally  check vomiting or puking,
and will always be found beneficial in colic, or cramps
of the stomach, want of appetite, and cholera morbus
—which means puking and purging: it may be taken
in  substance—by which  I mean  powdered—a tea-
spoonful every three or four hours: or a decoction or
tea, a wine glassful three  or four times  a  day:  or you
may steep the root (say two  ounces)  in  a quart  of
old whiskey, which must stand  for a few days, that the
spirits may extract the virtues from the  root.  This
valuable bitter may be used three or four  times a day,
in doses of a table-spoonful or more; and  by adding a
few drops of peppermint to this  preparation, it is a good
remedy to  moderate the puking which  sometimes oc-
curs with pregnant women. All persons who are sub-
ject  to lowness,  or depression of spirits, instead  of
resorting to more dangerous stimulants, should use this
Columbo bitter freely.
        BLOOD, OR  PUCCOON ROOT,
  Sometimes called Indian paint, and  red root, but
learnedly denominated Sanguinaria canadenis.
  This plant is  a native of North America, from the
Canadian provinces to  the Gulf of Mexico, and per-
haps of no other region of the globe.  It is not only a
plant peculiar to the continent of North America, the
virtues of  which  are  so well  known to the Indian
nations, but its root is perennial: in  other words, it  is
not destroyed by  the frosts and snows of winter.   It 
552         GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

generally grows about  a foot high in rich wood lands,
and varies in thickness from a quarter to three quarters
of an inch in diameter—which means across.  It is
generally about the size and length of  a finger; fleshy
and round, and the end of the root has  the appearance
of having been cut off  by a  dull instrument, or as if it
had been broken off in removing it from  the ground.
The outside color  of the root is brownish, but on being
cut, the juice flows of a blood-red color.
  The  puccoon flowers early in April,  bearing  but
single flowers on each stem.  The blossoms are white,
the stems perfectly naked;  the  upper side of the leaf
of a pale, sickly green, and the veins which pass through
it, of an orange color.   The flower bud is of a faint, or
delicate rose color:  the seeds, which  are round  and
pointed, are very numerous.
  The leaves and  seeds of the  puccoon plant—which
is the name  I have adopted—like the seeds of  the
stramonium, or Jamestown  weed, are  poisonous, and
must never be used.  The root seems to contain all its
medicinal qualities; and is  closely allied  in  its  effects
on the human system, to the seneka snake  root, and in
some of its effects, to the digitalis purpuria,  or fox-glove.
A decoction or tea, as it is usually called, made of the
puccoon root, is highly  recommended in the treatment
of old and  indolent ulcers—which simply means  old
sores that do not seem inclined to heal—and the dried
and pounded  root, applied a few times, in some cases
of ill-conditioned  ulcers, with callous  edges, and  an
itcherous or itching discharge, seldom fails  to produce a
healthy state of the sores.   It is  an  excellent remedy
in croup, and  must be given in doses sufficient to pro-
duce vomiting, or puking;  some  physicians rely on it
wholly in croup.   It is also an  excellent remedy in 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           553

dropsy of the chest—called by physicians hydrothorax—
given in  doses of sixty drops of the juice three times a
day, and increased until  nausea or  sickness of the
stomach  follows each dose.   This root in powder, from
twenty to thirty grains, is an active emetic puke.  Dr.
Barton, one of the professors in the Philadelphia medi-
cal college, thinks it nearly equal to the seneka, or rat-
tle snake root, in cases of ulcerous  sore throat, croup
and hives, and diseases of this nature.  It is a valuable
medicine to produce a determination  to the  surface—
by which I mean sweating—and also  in colds, pleuri-
sies, rheumatism, and  other inflammatory  disorders.
When used for  these last  diseases, it  should be given
as a  tincture—which  is the root steeped for several
days in spirits of any kind—and  given in doses of ten
drops  every two or three hours, until a moisture or
sweat is  produced on  the skin.   This tincture  is also
valuable  in jaundice, in torpor  of the liver, attended
with colic and yellowness of the skin, a disease com-
mon to southern climates.   The puccoon root, made
into a tincture, and  gradually and cautiously  used, will
be found a valuable medicine in stoppages of the men-
ses or  courses in women.  I have used  it with great
success in my practice, when  every  other  medicine
usually resorted to  had failed.   My usual method of
preparing it is, to steep  about a handful  of the  root
sliced, in half a  pint of old whiskey, letting it stand
five or eight days, when  the  tincture is fit for use; be-
ginning with ten drops,  and gradually increasing the
dose, as  circumstances  may require.   But  you  may
give it in a decoction or tea—a handful of it  to a quart
of boiling water—a table-spoonful every two or three
hours, as the situation of the patient may require.
       70 
554          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE;

  This root, powdered very fine, and  snuffed up the
nose, is said to be  a certain cure for polypus, a fleshy
teat, or  grisly substance, which grows  in  the nostril,
gradually increasing in size, until breathing becomes
difficult, and  which sometimes, unless  removed, ends
in suffocation.  I have lately  made  experiments with
this  root  in  a disorder called tetter worm, and in
several  instances succeeded  in curing it when  other
valuable remedies  had failed.   Steep the sliced  roots
in strong vinegar ten days, and wash the part affected
two or three times a day.   I shall conclude my remarks
on this valuable root by  observing, that it possesses a
great many valuable qualities which are probably yet
unknown.   The  best time to  collect it for medical
purposes, is when  the seeds are ripe—which is about
the beginning of May.
                     SENNA.
  I shall first describe to you the foreign, or imported
senna, generally used in the practice of medicine;  after
which I shall describe the American plant senna, which,
on almost numberless trials, has proved to be but very
little, if any, inferior to the imported, or that  sold in
the shops,  and mostly used by  physicians.  I  have
used them both and  can discover no difference.  This
affords  another proof  of  a bountiful providence, in
bestowing on this people, a plant of so much value, and
one which, before its discovery here, we  were compell-
ed  to import from Egypt.  Here I again repeat what I
have frequently said in this work, that  all that  is re-
quired  of us are industry and attention, and  we will 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
555
discover in a few years, thousands of medical plants in
the western country, superior in  every respect to  the
foreign, by which we will have this further  advantage:
we will always have them fresh, and in full possession
of their virtues.
   The leaves of the senna are alone used in medicine.
The imported plant grows in  Turkey, Syria, and Per-
sia.  It is commonly called Alexandria senna, because
it was  once imported exclusively from the city of Alex-
andria in Egypt.  This medicine was originally receiv-
ed from the Arabians—and large quantities of it are
now brought from Nubia, which is known in Egypt by
the name of the valley or country of Barabras;  it is a
narrow valley through which the Nile flows, where the
view is confined on  two sides alternately, by a lofty
chain  of mountains.   Senna is the chief production or
commodity of this country.   It is not cultivated, but
grows  naturally on the sides of the hills and ravines.
Each person has the right of gathering what grows in
his district.  Two crops are  annually made, the pro-
ductiveness of which  depends on the  duration of the
rains, which fall periodically every year.  The first, and
most fruitful crop, is that gathered at  the  termination
of the  rains—the second crop is small. No  expense
attends the preparation of the  plants, which merely
consists in cutting and spreading them on the rocks to
dry.  This process, in that warm climate, only occu-
pies a  single day.  The senna is then put up in bales
of one hundred pounds, and the slave  merchants con-
vey them by camels to Sienne and Darao,  where they
are sold for eleven or twelve francs a bale—which is
about  two dollars and twenty-eight cents.   They  are
then carried to the farmer-general at Cairo—an officer
appointed by the government to examine and purchase 
556          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

them.  The sum fixed by him is from thirty to thirty-
three francs—which is about eight dollars and twenty-
seven  cents.  They are  then sold  by  them  to  the
European factors or merchants, for one  hundred and
six francs each bale, which  is  equal to twenty  dollars
and fourteen cents, and by them  exported to the differ-
ent  quarters of the world.  American citizens!  why
will you pay such accumulated and enormous expenses
to foreign governments and merchants, for an article
which is furnished  plentifully  by  the soil of your own
country?
   The demand for  this article from Europe every crop
is,  generally, from  about fourteen  to  fifteen hundred
quintals, of  one hundred pounds each.  The great de-
mand for this medicine, both in Europe and the United
States, has induced  the Egyptian merchants to mix with
it senna of an inferior  quality, which  sometimes occa-
sions it to fail in producing the immediate effect intend-
ed.   Although  this fraud,  when practiced, does no
serious injury, it frequently disappoints us in the active
operation of the medicine: the inferior senna, although
producing eventually the same effects, is much slower
and weaker  in its operation.
              AMERICAN SENNA.
  Having  given you the history  of the European, I
shall now proceed to  describe to you our own senna,
which  grows  abundantly in the United  States, and
particularly in the western country.   In fact, it is found
plentifully about Knoxville,  and on  the shores of the
Holston river.  I have told you that I had used both,
and could perceive no difference in  their operation— 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          557

and I now repeat the fact, that it may be the more for-
cibly  impressed  on  your  mind.   Notwithstanding
this, those who prefer  the  foreign senna to our own,
may  easily gratify  their preference,  as the  imported
kind is now cultivated  in North Carolina, and is found
to flourish abundantly.  It is evident  that we  do not
obtain the pure plant from  abroad: I have shown the
manner of adulteration: why, then, should we not cul-
tivate the foreign plant  sufficiently for our own con-
sumption,  if we must  and will have  it?   The  wild
senna  of America  is  a  most beautiful plant.  I will
describe it in as plain terms as possible—knowing at
the same time, that it is very difficult,  if not utterly
impossible, to delineate in mere language,  what can
only be known to the eye :—It  has frequently  several
stems from the same root;  these stems are, generally,
either entirely smooth, or furnished with a few strag-
gling hairs.  The larger sized leaves, I  believe, are
mostly confined to the larger branches, and are disposed
in pairs opposite to each other,  on the sides of those
branches which run out nearly in a horizontal direction
from the stem.   The flowers are  of a bright  orange
color, and are usually found on small sprays  or sprigs,
which shoot out in the angles formed by the stems and
larger branches.  Near the top the flowers are attach-
ed to the main stems.  The stems rise from two to four
feet in height.  The  leaves are  rather  long—green
above,  and  pale underneath; they should be gathered
about the last of August for  use.
   Dr. Barton,  an eminent physician, and professor of
Botany  in the  University  of Philadelphia, informs us
that he had some experience with the American senna
during  a  term  of practice in  the Marine Hospital of
that city.  "I have," says the Doctor, "for some months 
558
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
past, substituted the American  for  the  Alexandrian
senna, and very frequently employed  it.  I have, also,
in a single instance, used it in my own family.  I have
had reason to confirm  the high  character which the
American plant has long maintained."
  But, reader, whether you may prefer the imported or
the American senna, which I consider equal in their
medicinal powers, the following remarks are applicable
to both, or to either of them.
  The senna is a valuable purge, and  when  good, is
active in its operation,  and at the same time quite in-
nocent.   Senna is seldom given by itself, but is always
mixed with manna—a  description of  which will imme-
diately follow this.   When you enquire for senna as a
medicine at a doctor's  shop, always  ask for  a dose of
senna and manna, because these two medicines  are
always given together.   Sometimes a little salts is mix-
ed with the senna and manna, especially if you wish to
make the operation sure and  active.   In fevers, first
giving a good dose of calomel, follow  it  up  with  the
senna, manna, and salts: senna has but one fault; it is
apt to gripe during the operation : this  can always be
prevented, however, by  adding a little ginger.  But, I
believe, from an extensive experience, that after calomel
to remove bile,  if the  following  mixture  be  made up
and given, it is  superior and  more innocent  than any
medicine now known as a purge:—Take of senna and
manna,  each half an ounce; of ginger, one  drachm;
of salts  one ounce—pour on these medicines a pint of
boiling  water;   cover  over  the  vessel in which  you
make this tea, so as to prevent the  steam from esca-
ping.  This tea. is to stand until it becomes cool.  You
are to give of it to grown persons, one gill every hour
or two,  until  it operates freely.  According to  the age 
              GUNN'S Domestic medicine.          559

of the person, you are to give this tea in smaller doses,
and as it is quite innocent, it may be given to children
occasionally in small doses, until the desired effect is
produced—which  is a  free  operation as a purge.  If
you wish it to act as a very mild and gentle purge, you
may leave  out the salts.  I  repeat,  in  order  that you
may remember  it, that  whenever the bowels are ob-
structed, or whenever you require an active and search-
ing purge, senna, manna, and salts, in the proportions
I have just mentioned,  adding  thereto a  little ginger,
are superior to any means of operating on the bowels
now in use.
                     MANNA.
   The word manna, means a gift; it comes from the
 Syrian word mano,  being  the  food supplied  by the
 Almighty to the children of Israel in the wilderness:
 or it comes from the word  mahna, what is it? an ex-
 clamation used by the Israelites  on its appearance—so
 say the best authorities.
  The manna,  or medicine so called, and that which
 is mostly used by physicians, comes from Naples on the
 Mediterranean  sea.   The best manna is in long flakes,
 moderately dry, brittle, and crumbling, of a pale yellow-
 ish color, and considerably transparent; in other words,
 you can partially see through it.   If it is moist,  very
 sickly, and dark colored, it is considered of an inferior
quality, although not less purgative.   The manna is
 principally collected in Calabria, Apulia, and Sicily, in
 the warmest season of the  year,  from  the  middle of
 June to the end of July.   Various trees afford it: par-
ticularly a kind of ash,  called  manna ash.  It flows 
560          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

from the trunk of the tree when tapped, similar to the'
juice or sap of our sugar tree  when  used in the same
manner.   The liquor first flows from the tree like  a
white froth, extremely light  and of an agreeable taste.
The heat of the  sun, in a few days,  hardens it to the
consistence  we find it.  Manna has something the taste
of sugar, and  is siekish  and  searching on  the tongue.
Its great resemblance to sugar, both in appearance and
taste, induces  children readily  to eat  it—in its effects, it
acts on them as  a mild  purge.  Manna is, however, a
very feeble  purgative medicine, requiring  large  doses
for a grown person, say  an ounce or two: for this rea-
son, as I have before told you, and so directed, it must
always be mixed with senna and salts.  It ought never
to be given alone, except to small children, as a mild
and opening medicine.  See table of doses.
               WHITE  WALNUT.
  During our  revolutionary war, when medicines be-
came scarce, the  physicians of the  army  employed
the inner  bark  of the  white walnut as a  purge.  In
the dose of from ten to twenty grains, it operated well,
by  evacuating the bowels  thoroughly, and  was much
resorted to by them as a purgative, in all billious cases
of fever.   By the  addition  of eight or ten grains of
calomel, the efficacy of the white walnut may be great-
ly and beneficially increased.  As I  have stated to
you, the medicinal virtues of this bark are  confined to
the inner bark;  and the proper time forgetting it in the
full possession  of its virtues, is about  the month of
June, because the bark is at this time considerably more
powerful  than at other periods. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           561
  I  have used  the white walnut in my  practice, and
always found it among the best purgative medicines pos-
sessed in  the Western  country, and have very often
been  surprised that the  article is not kept in the family
of every farmer in the  country.  The manner of ex-
tracting the virtues of this bark, is  very simple:—It
is merely  to be  boiled in water  several  hours,  then
strained and  boiled again,  until it  becomes about  as
thick  as honey.   Two, three, or four pills which it can
be made into with a little flour, make a dose of this ex-
tract.   One or two of these pills,  taken at  bed time, is
a valuable remedy in the removal  of costive  habits of
body, which occasion head-aches, colics,  &c. &c.   By
increasing the dose, these pills are gocd in dysenteries
and bilious fevers, and will be doubly beneficial, if com-
bined or mixed with a little calomel.
                    RHUBARB.
   Rhubarb, properly so  called, is  the  root of a plant
designated by the learned, rhevm palmatum.  It  is  a
native of various countries  of Europe  and  Asia, and
might be cultivated with perfect ease perhaps, in every
part of  the  United States.  Attempts  have  been  suc-
cessfully made to introduce the culture of this valuable
drug  into  England: and  it  appears  from authentic
accounts, not only that immense quantities of it may be
produced there, but  that the English root is fully equal
to the best rhubarb obtained from Turkey  or  China.
The greatest difficulty seems to be in  drying  it  proper-
ly.   Its cultivation is by no means difficult; it is  merely
to sow the seed in  a light  soil in the spring: to trans-
plant the smaller roots the next spring, into a  light  soil,
                        71 
563          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINEL
well trenched, and set  them about  three  or four  feet
apart.  The  third year, the  plants  will  produce  the
flowers; but the roots are not to be raised  for use  until
the fall of the sixth year.  This is  the  whole process
of rearing the rhubarb:  a process which I am convin-
ced every American farmer is fully equal to.
   The  cultivation  of  this valuable  medicine in  the
United States, ought to b'e considered an object of high
individual and national importance.   That our climate
throughout the different States, particularly the Western
States, is fully equal to its production, there  can be no
doubt, as it has been fully ascertained by actual  experi-
ment,
   That it will grow  in Tennessee, I well know; be-
cause it is now flourishing in abundance  in the  garden
of Mr.  Woods,  fifteen  miles  from  Knoxville.   The
root was originally purchased  by  Mrs.  Woods,  from
some drug store in Knoxville, and planted  for the  pur-
pose of an experiment,  which has perfectly  succeeded.
I mention this fact in order to prove conclusively,  with
how much ease we might become  independent of for-
eign countries for thousands  of medical  drugs which
are annually  draining our country of immense sums  of
money.  Such experiments  as that made by  Mrs.
Woods,  ought to be made by  every person who has
opportunity  and leisure: They are duties the American
people owe both to themselves and their country.
   There arc three varieties of rhubarb found in the drug
shops; the Russian, the Turkish, and the  East Indian
rhubarb; the two first, the Russian and the Turkish, re-
semble each other in  quality and  appearance, whilst
the East Indian is of a somewhat  different  character.
The best Russian and Turkey rhubarb, is in roundish
pieces, with a large hole in the  middle  of them.   The 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          563
East Indian or Chinese rhubarb, comes to this country
in long flattish pieces, seldom, if ever, having holes in
them.   The Turkish rhubarb is the best, and  is gener-
ally used in this country.
   The marks of rhubarb being  of a good  quality are,
the liveliness of its color, when cut; its being  firm and
solid, but not flinty or hard; its  being easily pulverable,
which means  reducible to  powder;  and its appearing
when powdered, of a fine high yellow color; and  when
chewed, by its  imparting, to the spittle and tongue a
deep saffron color.
   Rhubarb is one  of the mildest, best, and pleasantest
purgatives  now  in use  in this or any  other  country;
because with its purgative powers, it is also astringent
and strengthening, and in this it certainly  differs from
almost every other purgative of the same class known
in medicine.   It is superior to nearly all other  purges
for another reason; it may be taken with  opium, and
act on the  bowels as well as if taken without  it.  This
is a vast advantage;  because where purging would be
connected  with  great  pain, its  being  combined with
opium, relieves the pain, while the rhubarb is  left free
to do its duty.  The operation of rhubarb is slower
and milder than any  other  purges; but  it is very cer-
tain in its effects, when given in  proper doses.  It may
always be given with innocence and safety, in  all cases
of extreme weakness, where a purge to open  the bow-
els becomes necessary,  and where violent and  severe
purging would be highly improper.  You will  find this
medicine very valuable and safe, as it  always acts with.
much gentleness in relieving the bowels.  It is a com-
mon and proper purge for children, even at a very early
period of life, and  in every situation where  their bowels
become  disordered;  particularly in  dysentary or lax; 
564
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 because it leaves the  bowels in a favorable  state,  after
 removing the offensive matter from them.  It is also an
 excellent purge for grown persons,  laboring under  this
 complaint.  In small doses, say from two to six grains,
 it is excellent for the stomach  when laboring under
 indigestion, generally  called dyspepsia;  and  mrst  be
 given in such small doses as not to purge, but to act as
 a tonic, or strenthening medicine.
  There arc various ways of giving rhubarb; such  as
 giving it in tincture,  which  means steeping it in  any
 kind of spirits: but the best and most certain  method
 of giving this medicine, and obtaining  the virtues  of it
 fully is to give it in fine powder.  A dose for a grown
 person is, from about  a  scruple, or twenty  grains, to
 half a drachm, mixed with  honey,  molasses, or  any
 kind of syrup.  The root chewed as tobacco, swallow-
 ing the saliva, or spittle,  is an innocent   and efficient
 way of taking it, for keeping  the bowels gently  open,
particularly   with  those  persons who are  subject  to
habitual  costiveness, indigestion, and  those  long  trains
of nervous diseases which afflict men and   women  who
are  subject to derangements of their systems  from cos-
tiveness.   In  such  cases, if they will chew the  root of
the  rhubarb, it will act as  a moderate purge, and gently
open the bowels: at the same time, it will act as a  tonic,
or strengthening medicine to the stomach, by which they
will always obtain relief 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.            565
                  INDIAN  PHYSIC.
    Tins plant is a native of the  United States; and  as
  its name imports, was a great favorite among the Indian
  nations.  It is almost every where found in the western
  country, inhabiting shady woods, and the rich sides of'
  hills and mountains, from the lakes of Canada  to the
  Floridas.  The number of  stems  proceeding from the
  root of this plant varies considerably; sometimes  there
  is  but a single one, and occasionally there are many.
  The stems are branched above,  say about two or  three
  feet from the ground; they are  round,  and commonly
  of a reddish color.  The  leaves are of a  deep green,
  long and pointed, and  the flower nearly white.   The
  root of this  iant, which is  all that is  used in medicine,
  is perennial: that  is to  say,  it is not destroyed by the
  frosts of winter.  It is composed of several long, brown,
  slendor shoots, which  run out from the bottom  of the
  stem, to some distance under the ground.  This  root
  possesses many of  the virtues of the  ipecacuanha, and
  is much used  by the country people, as  an emetic  or
*■ puke.   Given in the dose of tliirty or  thirty-five  grains
  in the powder, for a grown person, it is  an  easy,  safe,
  and certain  emetic; and if you give it  in what are
  called broken doses, of six or seven grains about every
  two hours, it will act as a sudorific;  in other words, it
  will produce sweating.  If  you give it in  infusion, or
  weak tea, a handful to a pint of boiling water, of  which
  you may take a small tea-cupful every fifteen or twenty
  minutes, it will produce vomiting.  The  active  power
  of this root,  seems  to  reside exclusively in its  bark,
  which, in addition to its emetic qualities,  probably  pos-
  sesses considerable tonic powers. 
 566          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE
          AMERICAN IPECACUANHA.
   This singular, and very useful plant,  is exclusively a
 native of the United States, and may be found in great
 plenty in the middle, southern, and  western states.  It
 nearly always grows in  loose, moist, and sandy soils,
 and is very often found flourishing  in beds of almost
 pure sand.  The leaves of this plant vary so much in
 shape and  color—and in  fact, the  whole plant itself
 varies so much in its different states, that it is often mis-
 taken by those unacquainted with its habits, for several
 distinct species  of plants.  The  stems are numerous;
 they are nearly white below the surface of the earth or
 sand, and of a reddish color, or a pale green or yellow-
 ish hue  above  it.  The leaves are opposite  to each
 other, and generally of an oval form; I say generally,
 because they are sometimes  of a long oval,  sometimes
 pointed, and, unfrequently,  linear.   In  the  month of
 May, while the plant is  inflrver,  the leaves are  very
 small; but as it advances in  age, they  become greatly
increased in  size.  The  seeds of the flower  are  only
Shree in  number, enclosed  in a  triangular,  or  three
square capsule, 01 case.  I mention  these things  par*
ticularly, because they afford the hest possible  means of
knowing  the plant.  The root is  perennial;  in  other
Words, it is not killed by the f osts of winter.   It is from
three to seven feet in height, and from half an inch to an
inch and a half in diameter,  or across, and of a yellow-
ish color; sending off towards its upper part, many small-
er roots, about the size  of smdl quills.
   I believe, and am sustained in the opinion by  sever-
 al high uthorities, that the American ipecacuanha,  the
plant just described to you, is superior  in  its medicinal
properties to ay other  species  known.  The root  of
this  plant alone is to be used; if  the stems  and leaves 
\>

* j£                GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           567
bast  possess any medical virtues,  they  are  yet to be dis-
of mi  covere(j by experiment.  It is a powerful emetic, both
wge  safe and certain in its operation, and is applicable to
j^^ nearly all  cases in which  emetics are required.  In
  d*  small doses of from five to ten or fifteen grains, it is an
omy  excellent emetic or puke; but if given in doses of twen-
thor
     ty grains it operates downwards, as an active  purge.
'£*<   Larger doses produce, in addition to the above effects,
     heat, vertigo, (which means swimming in the  head,)
     and great prostration or loss of strength.
       Dr. Barton gives us the following experiments  on the
     American  ipecacuanha,  which  I transcribe for the
     contemplation of the reader.  "A portion of the dried
     root was finely pulverised, [powdered] and administer-
     ed with caution to several patients.  I at first commen-
     ced  with small doses,  of three,  four  and five  grains.
     In these.quantities, the powder produced nausea, [sick-
     ness of the stomach,]  and determination to the skin,
     [sweating,]  as  small  doses of ipecacuanha do.  On
     increasing  the number  of grains to ten, vomiting was
     produced, with occasionally an operation on the bow-
     els.  Fifteen grains I  found sufficient to produce full
     vomiting in most cases;  and in a single instance, hav-
     ing  given  the powder  to an  extent of twenty-five
     grains I had  reason  to be  alarmed  at the cathartic
     [purgative] effect which ensued and continued for four-
     teen hours, attended with  distressing sickness  at the
     stomach.   I have tried  the American  root in various
     combinations, and can confidently assert, that in  all the
     instances it has proved equal if not superior to the im-
     ported ipecacuanha.   It has some advantages  which
     the  foreign article does not  possess.   Its occasional
     purgative effect is  no  more than what follows the for-
     eign medicine.   This  view  of  the  subject   derives 
 568          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 peculiar importance from the well known fact, that the
 imported ipecacuanha,  is rarely if ever  good,  and
 perhaps seldom genuine."
   In this plant,  or rather root for that alone is to be
 used, we see another instance of the bounty of Provi-
 dence in furnishing us  with  an  article  possessed of
 great medical virtue, the production of our own  soil.
 And here again I repeat, that we  have only to develope
 the resources of our own country, to become complete-
 ly independent of foreign lands for our u eful medical
 drugs.  Even opium, as I shall shew you in the proper
 place,-can be made here, in sufficient quantities for our
 own consumption.   We  are  in fact, paying enormous
sums annually, for what nature and our own exertions
 would furnish us.   Foreign ipecacuanha, adulterated,
 and  inferior to our  own,  is costing us three  dollars the
pound, while we can have our own for nothing.
BUTTERFLY WEED,  OR PLEURISY  ROOT.
   The butterfly weed, or  pleurisy  root,  called by the
learned, asclepias  t.irberosa,  is a native  of every state
in the  American Union, and abound-, particularly, in
the southern and western states.  It flourishes best, and
grows to the greatest  peifection  in light, sandy  soils,
and  is  frequently  found under  fences,  and  near old
stumps  in grain fields.  From twenty to thirty stalks
the size of a pipe stem frequently  rise from  the  same
root,  and stand  in  almost  every  direction.   These
stalks are round and woolly,  and of a reddish brown
color on the  sun side.  The leaves are placed very
irregularly, and are spear or tongue shaped, and cover-
ed with  a fine down on the  lower side.  The stalks 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
569
rise from one to two  feet in height, and spread to a
considerable  extent;  and  at the extremities  of the
branches are found clusters of small shoots, on which
are found the flowers, when in bloom—which is about
the month of July or August.   The clusters of shoots
from  the ends of  the branches, as also the  flowers,
resemble those of  the common silk  weed, for which
this plant is sometimes mistaken.   There is, however,
this difference between them, and it ought to be partic-
ularly noticed: the flowers of the silk weed are of a
pale purple hue, while those of the butterfly weed are
of a beautiful bright orange  color, and are succeeded
by long  slender pods, which  contain the seeds.  The
seeds have a delicate kind  of down or silk attached  to
them.
   The root of the butterfly  weed is spindle or carrot
shaped,  of  a light brown color  on the outside, and
white and coarse within.   It  has long been celebrated
in the southern Atlantic states, and particularly in Vir-
ginia and the Carolinas, not only as a powerful remedy in
pleurisy, but in pneumonic diseases generally: by which
I mean  diseases of the lungs.   This root possesses one
remarkable power:  given in proper quantities, it affects
the skin, and produces copious perspiration or sweating,
without  heating the body.   Given  in the simple form
of a decoction or tea, it often produces sweating, when
all  other remedies have  failed  in their  effects.  The
powdered root sometimes acts  as a mild purgative on
the bowels; but it  is more particularly and inestimably
valuable in  producing expectoration, or the throwing
off of  mucus from the  throat and  lungs; in  causing
perspiration or sweating, when other remedies fail, and
finally,  in reducing obstinate feverish affections.   Its
efficiency and power  in fevers have been attested by
                        72 
 570          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 many of the best  physicians in the  United States.   In
 feverish affections, proceeding  from an inflammation of
 the  lungs, in colds  recently taken, and  in diseases of
 the  chest  generally, this root  is an  excellent remedy.
 It is to be  given in a strong infusion or tea; say a small
 tea-cupful  every  two  or three hours.   Many families
 have long  resorted to this root as a domestic medicine,
 to relieve pains  in the stomach, indigestion, colic, and
 so on, and  for these  reasons, call it wind root.  Doctors
 Chapman and Bigelow, whose  testimonials alone in its
 favor would  be sufficient to establish its reputation, for
 the  virtues I have ascribed to it, speak in  very high
 terms of the  medicinal powers of this root.
  "As a diaphoretic,'1 [or medicine which sweats,] says
 Dr.  Chapman, "I think this root is distinguished  by
 great certainty and  permanency of operation, and has
 this inestimable property, that  it produces  its effects—
 sweating, without much  increasing the force of the cir-
 culation,  raising  the heat of the surface,  or creating
inquietude  or restlessness.   On  these  accounts, it is
well suited to excite perspiration in  the forming stages
of most of the inflammatory diseases of  winter, and is
not less useful in the  same cases, at  more  advanced
periods, after the  reduction of the feverish  action by
bleeding.   The common notion of its having a peculiar
 efficacy in pleurisy,  I am inclined to believe is  not
 without foundation;  for certain  it is, that it very much
 relieves the Oppression  of'the  chest  in recent catarrh,
 cold in the head and throat, and promotes  perspiration
 in protracted inflammations of the lungs." 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
571
                      JALAP.
   This  plant was originally found  native in Mexico,
near the celebrated city  of Xalapa, from  whence it
derived  its  present name, jalapa.    It has  since been
discovered  growing plentifully near  Vera Cruz, and in
our own  countries of Florida.   And on the authority
of Dr. W. P. C.  Barton, I take upon myself to assert,
that it is also certainly a native of the state of Georgia.
The root of this  plant alone  is used for medicinal pur-
poses; and  when of good quality, comes to us in slices
which are solid and heavy, and of a dark  grey color
having little smell, and scarcely any taste. When swal-
lowed however, it affects the throat with a warm  and
pungent sensation.
    This root is a powerful laxative  medicine or purge;
its activity  resides  principally,  if not  wholly,  in  the
resinous part, which even when taken in  small doses
and alone,  will  sometimes gripe severely.  The great
activity of jalap as a purge, causes  it to be much used
in the onset or commencement of bilious fevers.   Com-
bined with  calomel, in  the  proportions of ten grains
each, was the purge generally given  in yellow fever, by
the great Dr. Rush,  of Philadelphia, and which  caused
his students to give him the ludicrous nick name  of "old
Ten in Ten."   Used as what physicians call a hydra-
gogue,  by which  they mean any medicine which  will
expel water from the cavities of the body, the jalap  root
is entitled to all the praise that has ever been bestowed
on it by the medical profession; yet I am induced to
believe,  from actual experience,  and  the  practice of
other physicians,  that it produces a  better effect in all
dropsical cases,  when combined  with  cremor tartar.
Ten grains  of jalap with one drachm of cremor tartar,
constitute probably,  one  of the best medical t prescrip-
J 
572          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
tions  ever known, where long continued purging  is
required  in  the  cure of a complaint.  The dose  of
jalap, when combined with any other medicine, is from
twenty to  thirty, and  even up  to forty grains.  Our
common  May apple  root, has sometimes been called
the jalap of the United States.  But I am of the opinion
noticed above; that the genuine jalap  of  Mexico is a
native of the State of Georgia,  and  probably, of all
the southern states.  Perhaps  this would be an inquiry
worthy  the attention  of the lately established Medical
Board of Tennessee, especially if they intend  to  re-
munerate the country for the privileges granted to them
by  the legislature.
 PRICKLY  ASH OR TOOTH ACHE  TREE.
  The prickly ash is a native of the United States, and
also of the  West India Islands,  where  it sometimes
grows  to  the height of sixteen  feet.   There are two
kinds of the prickly  ash in the United States, which I
believe possess the same medicinal  powers: one is call-
ed  the ash-leaved zanthroxylum, which grows in the
northern states, and particularly in  the states  of Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, and the  other is known by the
name  of the prickly yellow wood, growing abundantly
to the south and south-west of the states I have  men-
tioned.  The fresh juice obtained from the root of the
prickly ash, is an excellent remedy in that painful com-
plaint called dry belly ache.  This discovery, like most
others  of importance, was the result of accident:  it was
made by watching a female slave in  one of the West-
India Islands, who ^collected the  root in the woods, and
gave two spoonsful  of its  juice  every two hours to a 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
573
negro  suffering  severely under this colic.  The medi-
cine caused a profound and  composed sleep, for twelve^
hours, when all sense  of pain, and other distressing
symptoms had vanished.  The cure  was rendered final
by giving an infusion of the juice as a diet drink.
   The most important discovery, however, relating  to
the prickly ash, or yellow wood, is the following:—The
juice of the root preserved in spirits  of any kind, given
in doses of about a wine-glassful,  has  repeatedly re-
moved the most obstinate epileptic fits.  I do not know
precisely the manner  in which this preparation ought
to be managed, but would give it in the dose of a wine-
glassful morning and evening.  The leaves and rind
of the prickly  ash or  yellow  wood, in  their taste and
smell resemble those of the lemon, and  possess a simi-
lar volatile oil.    The bark  has a separate acrid, or hot
and  biting principle, which it will communicate either
to water or spirits of  any kind; this acrid or biting
principle, however, is not perceived when the bark  or
liquid  is first taken into the  mouth; it gradually makes
itself known, by a burning sensation on  the tongue and
fauces, sometimes called the palatine arch,  or cavity at
the root of the tongue.    Chewing a small  quantity of
the  bark, produces  a  great flow of saliva, or spittle,
and  is very often used  in  this way to cure the tooth-
ache.
   The bark of the prickly ash has also acquired a con-
siderable name as a remedy in chronic rheumatism, by
which I mean rheumatism of a long  standing.   Taken
in full doses, it  produces a sense  of heat in the stom-
ach, and a strong tendency to  prespiration,  or sweating,
and  consequently much relief in  rheumatism.  The
dose is twenty grains of the  pounded bark, to be taken
three times a day;  or you may  boil an  ounce  of the 
574
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
bark in a quart of water, and take this tea, or decoction
in the course of the twenty-four hours.  In the West
India Islands this strong decoction of the bark is  used
with great  success, as a  wash for old and  foul ulcers,
which it always greatly cleanses, and disposes them to
heal up.  The West India people also mix the pounded
bark with what are called dressings of such old sores.
The value of this remedy for old ulcers, is attested  by
numerous instances of its  success, to be found in the
London Medical and Physical Journal.
                INDIAN  TURNIP.
  The Indian  turnip is  a native of every part of the
United States; it  grows in  low  rich  meadows  and
woodlands, to the height of from two to  three  feet, and
is too well known to require a very particular  descrip-
tion.  The leaves are but three in number, of a round-
ish or oval form; the stalk  of  a  purple  color,  and the
berries of a bright and beautiful scarlet.   In  its recent
state, that is, when first dug up, the root  is exceedingly
hot, sharp, and  biting  to  the tongue; and on being
swallowed, a sharp acrimony is sensibly  felt  about the
fauces, or cavity at the root of the tongue.
  Of all  the American roots, the Indian turnip has the
highest reputation  in  country practice, as  a  remedy in
pulmonary or consumptive  complaints:  it  is  also given
with considerable success in asthma, and in coughs of
long standing.   My own  experience has  convinced me,
that it is  among the most valuable of our  expectorants,
or medicines which cause a dislodgment of mucus from
the throat and lungs, and that it is a good  remedy in
croup and whooping cough.  The green or recent root, 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          575
boiled in hog's lard to the consistence of an  ointment,
has been  found very useful  in  tinea capitis, or scald
head,  in which I would always  recommend its use.
When given in consumptive complaints,  the fresh root
should be boiled in sweet milk.   When  the dried root
is to  be given, it  must be finely  grated in the sweet
milk—one  root in half a pint of milk, and well boiled
before it is  taken.  Some acrimony or sharpness should
be perceptible to the throat and tongue, or the root has
probably lost  its powers.  The ointment. I have men-
tioned above, is valuable also in some diseases  of the
skin:  such  as ring worm, tetter worm, and so on.
            WILD CHERRY TREE.
  Th.s tree is so very common as  to require no de-
scription.   The bark of this tree, or the bark of the
root, which is still better,  combined with the  bark of
the dogwood, when employed in the cure of ague and
fever, bilious fever, and other diseases where tonic or
strengthening medicines are proper, is by no means in-
ferior to  the  best  Peruvian  bark.   Combined with
Virginia snake root, in the proportion of one part of
snake root to four parts of ihis  bark, it is an excellent
remedy in intermittant fevers of an obstinate character,
and  long standing.   You may either give it in powder,
in the same dose that you  would Peruvian bark,—see
table of doses; or you may give it as a tea,  or decoc-
tion.  It has also been found very useful in dyspepsia,
or indigestion, and in consumption of the lungs.   Infused
plentifully  in strong  sound  cider, it will in most cases
remove jaundice, especially if preceded by  a dose or
two of calomel: and a strong decoction of the bark is 
576           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
an excellent wash for old and ill-conditioned ulcers.   It
is a singular fact, that the leaves of the wild cherry tree
will poison cattle: nor is it less singular than true, that
the distilled water  of the leaves is  a powerful poison
to most animals.  This effect seems to be- independent
on the presence of  the same poisonous principle which
exists  in  peach kernels,  and  other  substances  of a
similar kind,  lately shown to  be prussic accid, the
strongest poison known to us.
            AMERICAN CENTAURY.
   This  is  a very elegant little plant,  a native  of the
United States; and is no less  valued for its medicinal
virtues, than admired for its simple beauty.  The root,
consisting of a  few  thick yellowish  fibres,  generally
sends up but a single stem, which grows from a foot to
eighteen inches high: this  stem  is smooth and four-
sided,  and where the branches shoot off, it has gener-
ally  two leaves, which grow opposite  to each  other:
indeed, the leaves of  every part of the  plant  grow op-
posite  to  each other, and are oval and sharp  at the
points.  The flowers are  very numerous; growing at
the points of the branches, from two to five in number,
and are generally of a beautiful pale rose color.   This
plant is in full flower  in the month of July.
   Every part of  this little plant is a pure strong bitter,
and parts with its medicinal qualities to both water and
spirits—it has no astringent powers.  On stomachs that
are weak, it exerts a strengthening influence, and is
considerably used in  the southern states in intermittent
fevers.   In  fact, by the best practitioners in the Union,
it is general!}^administered in  fevers: Dr. Barton says,
A 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           577

"it was often employed with much benefit in the city of
Philadelphia, in 1793, in  certain stages of the yellow
fever."   On  the whole, centaury  may be confidently
recommended for its pure bitter, tonic and strengthening
virtues.  It ought  to be taken as  a decoction or tea,
and always taken cold: it may be given in  powder, in
doses of from ten to twenty grains, but I think not with
the same advantage.   In  relaxations  of the stomach,
and  general  debility  of the system, mixed  with  cala-
mus or angelica root, it forms an excellent and strength-
ening bitter.  This root is called by the country people
centry.
 LOBELIA INFLATA, OR INDIAN TOBACCO,
   It has been affected that the discovery of the medi-
 cinal virtues of this  plant, is involved in unexplainable
 mystery;  but it long since  has constituted a portion of
 the standard  materia medica: it is an annual or bien-
 nial indigenous plant, usually a foot or more in height,
 with a fibrous root, and  a solitary, erect, angular, and
 very hairy stem, much  branched about mid  way, but
 rising  considerably above the summits of the highest
 branches.
   The leaves are scattered, sessile, oval, acute, serrate
 and hairy. The flowers are numerous, disposed in leafy
 terminal racemes, and supported on  short arillary foot
 stalks.  The segments of the calyx are lined and point-
 ed : the corolla, which  is a delicate  blue color,  has a
 labiate border, with the upper lip divided into two, the
 lower into three acute segments.
  The united anthers are curved, and enclose the stig-
ma : the fruit is an oval, striated, inflated capsule, crown-
       73 
578          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

ed with the perristent calyx, and containing in two cells
numerous very small, brown seeds.
  This species of lobelia is a very common weed, grow-
ing on the road sides, and in neglected fields, throughout
the United States.  Its flowers begin to appear towards
the end of July, and continue to  expand in succession
till the occurrence of frost.  The plant, when wounded
or broken, exudes a  milky  juice.  All parts of it are
possessed of medicinal activity;  but, according to Dr.
Eberly, the root and inflated capsules  are most power-
ful.   The plant should  be collected in August or Sep-
tember, when the capsules are numerous, and should be
carefully dried: it may be kept whole or  in a state of
powder.
   Dried lobelia has a slight irritated  odor, and, when
chewed, though at first without taste,  soon produces a
burning, acrid impression upon  the posterior parts of
the  tongue and  palate, very  closely  resembling that
produced by tobacco, and attended in like manner with
a flow of saliva, and a nauseating effect upon the stom-
ach.  The  powder  is of a greenish  color: the plant
yields its active properties readily to water or alcohol,
and water distilled from it retains its acrid taste:  it has
not been accurately analyzed.
   Medical properties and uses.—Lobelia is emetie,
 and, like other medicines of the same class, is  occa-
 sionally cathartic, and, in small doses, diaphoretic and
 expectorant; it is also possessed  of narcotic properties.
 The leaves or capsules, chewed  for a short time, occa-
 sion  giddiness, headache,  general tremors, and ulti-
 mately nausea  and vomiting; when swallowed in  the
 full dose, the medicine produces speedy and severe
 sweating, and great relaxation;  its effects in  doses  too
 large or too  frequently repeated, are extreme prostra- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          579

tion, great anxiety and distress, and ultimately death
preceded by convulsions: fatal results have been expe-
rienced from its empyrical use.
   These are more apt to occur, when  the poison  as
sometime happens, is not rejected  by vomiting: in  its
operation upon the system, therefore, as well as in  its
sensible properties, lobelia bears a  strong resemblance
to tobacco.  It  is  among the medicines which were
employed by the  aborigines of this country, and was
long in the hands  of empyrics, before it was introduced
into regular practice.  The Rev. Doct. Cutler of Mas-
sachusetts, first attracted  to it the attention of the pro-
fession.  As an emetic it  is too powerful and too dis-
tressing, as  well  as too  hazardous in its operation for
ordinary use.  The disease in which it has proved most
useful is spasmodic asthma, the paroxysms  of which it
often  greatly mitigates, and sometimes wholly relieves
even  when not given in doses sufficiently large to pro-
mote  active vomiting: it was  from  the relief obtained
from  an attack of  this complaint, that Doct. Cutler was
induced to recommend this medicine.  It has also been
used  in catarrh, crout, pertussis,  and other pectoral
affections, but generally with no better effect than may
be obtained from less  unpleasant and safer medicines.
Administered by injections it produces the same distres-
sing  sickness of  stomach,  profuse perspiration,  and
universal  relaxation as result from a  similar  use  of
tobacco.   Dr. Eberle administered  a strong decoction
of it successfully by the rectum, as a substitute for this
narcotic  in a case of strangulated  hernia.  It may  be
given in substance, tincture or infusion: the dose of the
powder, as an emetic, is from  five  to twenty grains, to
be repeated if necessary:  the tincture is most frequently
given. The full dose of the preparation for an adult is 
580          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

half a fluid ounce, though in asthmatic cases it is better
administered in the quantity of one or two fluid drachms,
repeated every two or three hours, until its effects are
experienced.   This  is the whole secret of the  great
Lobelia.
                 PEPPERMINT.
  Peppermint is originally a native  of Europe, but it
is now cultivated in almost every garden of the United
States.  The roots of the peppermint should be trans-
planted every three years, otherwise the plant is apt to
degenerate into  the flavor  of the  spearmint.  This
plant is certainly so common, that a  description would
be entirely unnecessary.  From  this plant the oil is
distilled, which, when  mixed  with  alcohol or proof
spirits, makes  the essence of peppermint sold in  the
shops.
  Peppermint is a warm stimulate to the stomach,  and
through that medium to the rest of the body, holding a
first rank in the  list of medicines called carminatives:
which means those medicines  which dispel, or scatter
the wind  from  the stomach and bowels.  It is  also
beneficial in allaying spasmodic affections of the stom-
ach  and bowels; removing sickness of the stomach;
dispelling flatulence, or wind, and in removing all colicy
pains.  It  is  very  often beneficial when  cramp takes
place during the operation of an emetic, or puke.   The
green leaves stewed in  spirits, or hot water, and appli-
ed to the  pit of the stomach as warm as they can be
borne, will often stop puking when some of the  best
remedies fail. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          581

                    GINGER.
  Ginger is a perennial plant, originally  found  in the
East Indies, but at present cultivated in  all the West
India Islands.  I think it highly probable, that the gin-
ger would grow  well in all the southern  and western
states, particularly in  Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia,
and  South Carolina.  In the West India  Islands, it is
cultivated very much in the manner that  we cultivate
potatoes  in this  country, and is fit for digging once in
every year.   There are two sorts of ginger, the black
and the white.  The black ginger consists of thick and
knotty roots, of  a yellowish grey color  on the outside,
and an orange or brown color in the inside.  The white
ginger is not so  thick and  knotty as the black,  and is
internally of a  whitish grey  or bright yellow  color.
The white is firm and resinous, more pungent or sharp
in its state than the black, and consequently a higher
price.  Pieces which are  worm eaten, soft, light, and
easily broken, you are always to reject.
  Ginger has a  fragrant smell, and  a  hot, biting, aro-
matic  taste,  and is  very useful  in  flatulent or  windy
colics, and in all cases of looseness and weakness of the
bowels or intestines; it does nott heat the  system  so
much as the different  kinds of pepper,  but is much
more durable in its effects.  Some time since, the  pow-
der of ginger, taken in  very large doses in sweet milk,
was considered a very valuable remedy in gout.   I
have never tried it myself, and therefore cannot say as
to its correctness, but the experiment would be an  inno-
cent one, and is very easily tried.   I think it unneces-
sary to say any  thing more on the subject  of this  root;
every old lady  in the  country is acquainted with  its
general character and medical virtues. 
 582          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

                      OPIUM.
   Without  this valuable and  essential medicine, it
 would be next to impossible for a physician to practice
 his profession, with any considerable degree of success:
 it may not be improperly called, the monarch of medi-
 cinal powers, the soothing angel  cf moral and physical
 pain.
           "Charmed with this potent drug, the exalted mind,
           All sense of woe delivers to the wind :
           It clears the cloudy front from wrinkled care,
           And soothes the wounded bosom of despair!"
   There are two  kinds of this drug known  in  com-
 merce, distinguished by  the names of the Turkish and
 East India opium.   The Turkish opium is the best: it
 is considerably  solid and  compact, possesses  some
 degree of tenacity or stickiness, and when broken leaves
 a shining fracture.   It is of a  dark  brown  color; and
 when first taken into  the  mouth, produces a nauseous
 bitter taste, which soon  becomes acrid, with some de-
 gree  of warmth.  The best kind of Turkish opium is
 in flat pieces, and generally covered with leaves used in
 packing  it, and has nearly double the strength of that
 brought from the East Indies.
   The East Indian opium is not so solid as the Turkish,
 being sometimes not much thicker than tar, its color
 much darker, and its taste more  nauseous and less bit-
 ter.   By these distinctions, which are obvious to  even
 tolerable judges, you  will easily know  the Turkish
 opium from that of  the East Indies.
   Opium is combined, or  in other words, mixed  with
 more medicines for  the cure of diseases, than any other
 drug  known to, or used by medical men.  In every
patent medicine sold in the shops,  especially for the
relief of  pain  in  diseasel, opium forms the principal
portion.  Bateman's drops and Godfrey's cordial,  both 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          583

of which  have sustained  their character for  near a
century, have opium for their bases or principal parts,
and  they are certainly valuable medicines.  Were I to
trace back the use of opium as a medicine among man-
kind, it  would bropably be  found among the Greeks;
but the  limits  of my book will not permit me to go
minutely into its history : suffice it to say, that this valu-
able, singular, and astonishing drug, seems capable of
changing our very nature to a more  exalted state of
being, at the same time that it holds in due and proper
subjection, without impairing it, the rationality of the
mind
   Opium  is made from the white poppy, which is or
can be cultivated in all  our gardens; it  is probably a
native of  the warmer parts of Asia.  Some  attempts
have been made to cultivate it extensively in England^
but the climate of that  country seems  to present an in-
superable  obstacle to its being cultivated as a produc-
tive object of commerce.  The United States, however,
and particularly  the more southern and  western por-
tions of the  Union, on  the score of climate and  soil,
present  no difficulties in the cultivation of opium, in
amply sufficient abundance for the  consumption of all
our citizens.  This is  another proof, among several
others which I have adduced, evincive of the indepen-
dence of our country in the production of important
medical drugs, if we will only  employ  industry and
enterprise; the fact is, that  enormous  sums of money
are yearly  expended for  opium, which  go  into the
pockets of foreigners, that we could very easily produce
from our own soil.  The leaves, stalks, and capsules of
the poppy, which capsules mean the cases containing
the seeds, abound with  a milky juice, which must be
gathered when the seeds are nearly ripe. 
584
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
   The manner of  collecting this juice is as  follows;
Aftpr the  sun has gone  down, or about the twilight of
evening, make several incisions or cuts, lengthways, on
the surface of the capsules or poppy pods.  As I have
just told you, this is to be done when they  are not quite
ripe; and is  best performed with a knife made for the
purpose, having four or  five blades.  The  milky juice
which flows out from these cuts during  the night, must
be collected  the following day, after a sufficient time
has been allowed for the milky fluid to  become  inspis-
sated or thickened by the heat of the sun.   It is now to
be collected by a thin iron  scraper, made for the pur-
pose, and put  into an  earthern vessel.  This  is kthe
whole secret of opium  making, a secret  which every
man in this country ought to  know and profit by, and
the ignorance of which  has already  cost our citizens
millions of money; the price of foreign opium  in our
eastern^cites, much of  which is of an inferior quality,
is about four dollars the  pound.   The  operation of
cutting or scarifying the poppy pods, in the manner I
have mentioned, may be repeated every evening, or as
long as the pods will furnish the milky juice.   When a
considerable quantity of this juice is collected, you have
nothing to do but to work it with a wooden  knife or
spoon, until  it  becomes of a proper  consistency or
thickness, and to enclose it in the leaves of the  plant
itself, or in tobacco leaves.
   "A paper has lately  been read, in  the  Harrisburgh
Medical Society," says the Medical Recorder, "on the
cultivation of the poppy, and  the manafacture of opi-
um.  The author, who is  Doctor  Webster Lewis, of
Lewisburg, York county, Pennsylvania, has transmitted
a specimen of his manufacture of opium, equal  to the
best foreign opium  of the shops.  After many unsuc- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
585
cessful experiments, he has fallen on a mode of cultiva-
tion and preparation, both easy and profitable.   The
plan  will be put into operation in the ensuing season,
by several other members of the society, to whom he
has presented some of his best seed."  And, wi'thjre-
gard  to the cultivation of opium in the United States,
the following  extract of a  letter from  a  gentleman in
England, to a citizen of the United States, will  throw
much light  on the subject.   "Let  me entreat you to
make an experiment on the  cultivation  of opium.  I
caused a great increase of this article at Patna; it used
to sell 225 rupees the cake,  of  160 pounds: and has
been sold for 300 lately.   The  company sells to the
amount," annually,  I presume, "of fifteen millions of
rupees, two and sixpence sterling,  amounting to  one
million eight hundred and seventy five thousand pounds
sterling.  I know it can easily be produced in Ameri-
ca, and is  the best article of commerce that can be
sent to China."  If these representations  be correct, of
which there can be  no doubt,  the cultivation of the
white poppy,  and the manufacture of opium, are not
only easily  practicable in the  United States, but would
afford an immense revenue to the citizens, as an arti-
cle of commercial exportation: and the fact is, if the
real state of the case were truly known,  that  we yet
remain in comparative ignorance of the multiplied and
inexhaustible resources of our own country.
   There is  a considerable  difference  between  the
effects produced by wine or spirituous liquors, and those
produced on the system by opium.   The excitement of
pleasurable sensations, produced by wine or spirits, is
acute and  powerful, while these sensations last;  but
they are of extremely short duration.  The one is a
flame which soon subsides, and leaves nothing but the
       74 
586
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
ashes of self reprehension and  bitter reflection behind
it;  while  the other affords  a  steady,  agreeable and
permanent glow of pleasure, physical and intellectual,
which lasts frpm ten to twelve  hours.   But the  princi-
pal jUstinction between these stimulants of the human
system,  lies  in this: that wines or spirits disorder and
confuse  the intellectual faculties, while opium in all its
forms if taken in  proper quantities, introduces order,
harmony and pleasurable serenity among them.   Wines
or spirits,  unsettle and cloud the judgment, and deprive
us of our  intellectual self possession; while opium, on
the contrary, produces a just  equipoise between  our
intellectual strength and sensibilities; arouses all  our
dormant faculties;  and  disposes them to harmonious
and pleasurable activity; and with regard  to the tem-
per, moral energies and physical sensations in general,
opium produces that sort of simple and  vital animation,
that cordial warmth of feeling  and sensibility which we
would almost suppose to have accompanied man in his
primeval and unfallen state. Wine or spirits, if taken
to any excess, always lead  men to the brink of absurd-
ity and extravagance;  and beyond a  certain  point,
invariably produce a distraction of the mental  facul-
ties; while opium, on the contrary, soothes our  irrita-
tions of feeling, concentrates our intellectual energies,
and robs  pain and  misfortune of their stings.   This,
however,  is  but one side of the picture.   Opium, as I
have already told  you, although a very valuable medi-
cine in  many diseases, and also always  producing those
agreeable sensations I have attempted to describe, when
used to aimitonsiderable excess, especially if persisted
in, has  m^y advantages and miseries attending it.  It
is used  by the Turks to great excess, because all wines
and spirituous liquors are prohibited by the Mahoinme- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          587

 dan creed.  Opium, if habitually taken,  or  in other
 words, when it is made use of as a stimulant or luxu-
 ry, and not as a  medicine, affects the  physical system
 in a terrible manner, and produces the same sufferings
 as those which arise from intoxicating liquors.   When
 the pleasurable effects I have before described begin to
 cease, or the effects of the opium begin to die in the
 system, the feelings are as agonizing and  dreadful  as
 can possibly be  conceived;  the  mind becomes weak,
 irresolute, heavy,  dull and languid;  and  the  body
 averse to activity or motion of any kind, is not  only
 disposed to sleep, but seems little affected by objects of
 pursuit which usually put it in motion.  If the dose of
 opium has been very considerable, all  these symptoms
 continue to increase, until tremors, convulsions, vertigo,
 stupor, insensibility and total deprivation of muscular
 strength succeed—when death usually closes the scene.
 All these symptoms appear singly or combined, in pro-
 portion to the comparative moderation or excess of the
 dose, and  the  peculiarities of the constitution  of the
 person.  Therefore use not  this drug, but as intended
 by  the Great Father of the  universe,  the universal
 parent of mankind; because used as a medicine alone,
 it is  an invaluable  blessing, in the  relief of pain  and
 suffering, and in soothing  and tranquilizing the system
 with balmy and refreshing slumber.
  Having  under the  head of each disease  mentioned
 particularly, when  it  was necessary to make use  of
 opium or laudanum which is nothing more  than opium
 dissolved or steeped in any kind of spirits—for which
 look  under the  head laudanum—I  shall now close
these remarks.   Opium and  laudanum  which are the
same things in substance and effect, are always efficient
in mitigating or  subduing  pain, and in overcoming 
588
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
spasm or cramp; in fact, they are the chief means em-
ployed by physicians in these  cases.   I have now, as
fully as the limits of my book will allow, described to
you this great and effective medicine, which is valuable,
powerful, and if properly used, innocent.  In a small
dose, it acts as a stimulant; in a moderate dose, it eases
pain and procures sleep, and in  an over dose, when the
person is not in the habit of using it, the consequences
will always be fatal.   It is therefore evident, that  this
medicine should be used with great judgment and  dis.
cretion.   The  average dose of opium  is' about  one
grain: and the dose of laudanum for  a grown person,
about  from  twenty-five to thirty-five drops, in a little
cold water.   For a child about the period of birth, the
dose of laudanum  is half a drop;  but the  table of
medicines, to which you will  please to refer, will ex-
plain the doses of both  opium  and laudanum, for  all
ages.
                HORSE  MINT.
  Horse mint grows very abundantly  in all parts of
the United States, and is so extremely common  as to
require  no  description.   A  tea made either  of the
green or dried leaves, will stop  vomiting, or  puking—
especially in bilious fevers.   It will also act,  in simple
cases, as a valuable remedy for promoting, or bringing
on the menses, or courses  of women, when  they are
obstructed.  In  this instance, it may be placed on a
footing  with rosemary,  pennyroyal,  and  many other
simple herbs.   All this, however, is well known to every
old lady in  the country. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
589
  CASTOR  OIL—AND HOW TO MAKE IT.
   This  oil, which is essential to the preservation of
health in every family, is made from the seed of a
plant called palma christi, which is a  native of most
countries lying within the  tropics, and  will grow and
flourish in  all  temperate latitudes.   In the process of
manufacturing this oil,  the outer coat  or  covering of
the seed  or bean, must  first be taken off;  in the next
place, you must bruise them in considerable quantities,
and afterwards subject what may be called the pumice,
to a pressure  sufficient  to  throw out the oil.  The oil
thus extracted, is called cold expressed oil, and is by
far the  best.   That extracted  by  boiling  the bruised
seeds in water—another process  of preparing it—is
more nauseous, of a much darker  color, more  easily
becoming rancid or stinking, much  more  disagreeable
to take, and much more active in its operation on  the
system.
   The palma  christi will grow in any climate or soil in
the United States; it rises to about ten or twelve feet in
height, and is  usually about the size of a common corn
stalk,  having very large and beautiful spreading leaves.
Whether you extract the  oil cold,  or employ boiling
water in  the process, you must first collect the branches
having the ripe seed on them, and expose  them to  the
sun until perfectly dry.  Then lay them on the scaffold
or floor,  and  beat them with a light flail, to separate
the hull  or shell from the seed—after which, to dislodge
every particle of shell, you may pound  them gently in
a wooden mortar.  Tak.e care that you get all the cov-
ering off the  seeds, because there  is  an  acrid  skin,
which if intermixed with the oil, sometimes makes; it
operate  as a  puke, and always as  a drastic or griping
purge.   It is  not improbable that  the  oil  obtained by 
590           GUNN'S DOMESTIC medicine.

boiling, is saturated or filled with the properties of this
skin, which  forms another of my objections to boiling
the seed. If you prefer, however, to extract the oil by
boiling, you  must put the seed, divested of their cover-
ing, in a vessel of boiling water: in about twenty min-
utes, a dirty scum will rise, which must be taken entire-
ly off.   The clear oil will then rise, which must be put
into a vessel without water, kept warm by a slow fire—
taking care  that it does  not arrive at a  boiling  heat.
As soon  as  it  becomes  clear and transparent  from
taking off the scum which arises, and which will make
an inferior kind of oil, you must put the clear oil, when
cold, into clean bottles, and cork them  well.  The kind
of palma christi which produces the  finest oil, is the
species of Which the stalk is of a pink color.  I neg-
lected  to mention in the proper place, that the quantity
of water in  the  first vessel used,  should be three
measures to one of seed, which should  be frequently
stirred, to prevent any  portion from sticking to the sides
and bottom of the vessel, which would give  the oil a
burnt taste—you must  also be careful  that it does not
boil over. The dose for a grown person is two table-
spoonsful, and for  an infant  a tea-spoonful,  even at
birth.
 DIRECTIONS FOR  PRESERVING  ROOTS,
      HERBS, FLOWERS  AND BARKS.
  Roots which are annual, or  grow and die yearly,
should be collected before they shoot on their stocks or
flowers:  roots which are biennial, or  which live  and
grow two years, should be collected in the harvest of
the  first  year, or in the  spring of the second year: 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          591

perennial  roots, or  those which survive the frosts of
winter, should be gathered before the sap has begun to
mount, or after it has returned to the root.—When a
root is worm eaten,  or  otherwise decayed, you are al-
ways to reject or refuse it; the medicinal virtues of
such a root are destroyed.
   You are now, with a brush and some cold water, to
cleanse the roots newly dug up,  and to let them remain
in the water as short a time as possible;  after which
you are to cut the  small and useless fibres or strings
from them, if there be any, and carefully  to  dry them
in a moderate heat.  Roots which consist wholly  of
fibres or strings, of which there are several kinds, the
black or  Virginia snake-root, for instance,  are  to be
dried as soon as possible, by a regular and  moderate
heat.  But should the root be aromatic, which means
spicy and fragrant, like ginger for instance, you are to
dry it in a cool, airy, dry situation, turning it frequently,
in order that you may retain its virtues and fragrance.
If roots that you obtain are thick and strong, you are
to split them  in thin pieces,  and  string them on a cord
or twine, so as to admit the air freely to them in dry-
ing; if they are covered, which is sometimes the case,
with a thick tough bark, peel them while fresh and dry
them.   Some roots are apt to lose their virtues  by dry-
ing; when this is the case,  you  have nothing to do but
to keep them buried in dry sand, which will preserve
them in such a manner that they will always be  fit for
use.
   Herbs and flowers are always to be gathered in dry
weather, and  not until the. dew is off.  They are then
to be dried in as short a time as possible, by the gentle
heat of a stove or fire; for  by  this  speedy method of
drying, the herbs and flowers retain their virtues, which 
592
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
are usually destroyed by the common method of drying
them in the open air and in  the  shade.   When  herbs
and flowers  retain their virtues, they generally also
retain much of their natural color.
  Barks and woods, for medicinal uses, are to be gath-
ered in spring or in autumn, and from the youngest and
most vigorous trees, because their most active and pow-
erful virtues are at those periods residing in them.  If
they are of the  resinous kind, by which I mean rosin-
ous merely, they are to be gathered in the spring; but
if they are of a gummy nuture, you must always gather
them in the fall, or autumn:—You are to recollect dis-
tinctly, that all decayed and injured parts of any of the
articles  I  have mentioned,  are  to  be entirely rejected.
Persons are very frequently disappointed in the medici-
nal effects of roots, herbs, barks, &-c.: this is generally
owing to the want of due care in obtaining and prepar-
ing such vegetable substances  in due time, and in  a
proper manner.
SULPHUROUS FUMIGATION, OR SULPHUR
                     BATH.
  I have  repeatedly mentioned  in  the  course of the
preceding pages, that this bath was a most invaluable
remedy in which this head is referred to: I shall now,
therefore, endeavor to give  as minute and plain a de-
scription of it as possible, and in as common and plain
language as I can find.
  The fumes of sulphur were employed as a bath, and
a remedy against many diseases as early as the time of     t
the celebrated Hippocrates.   After falling into disuse
for a very long period, this  bath has  of late become a
J 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           593

 matter  of general interest—especially since the experi-
 ments made by Dr. Gales in 1812—and since his publi-
 cations on the efficacy of sulphurous fumigations in the
 cure of many obstinate diseases.  Dr. Gales made his
 first trials of this remedy, by placing a small  basin of
 sulphur and nitre under the bed clothing of the patient,
 who was stripped naked, and exposed to  the fumes of
 the contents of the basin: at the same time that these
 fumes were confined to the body  by the  bed clothes,
 and prevented from reaching the mouth and nostrils of
 the patient, by wrapping his neck  and shoulders very
 closely  with the clothing of the bed.  This method was
 found, on fair experiments, to be imperfect and unsatis-
 factory; and he afterwards adopted in place of it, what
 he very properly  called his fumigatory box, which  I
 shall now describe:—
   This box is merely a wooden case, something resem-
 bling a  pulpit, in which the patient can sit upright in a
 chair, with his head above the top of the  box, and his
 shoulders immediately below it.  Underneath this box,
 and connected with it, are the parts which  are necessa-
 ry for producing the fumigations to be applied to  the
 naked body.  The lowest story is the ash-pit: the mid-
 dle one contains the fire, and the uppermost one is the
 hearth for the sulphur.  The floor of the  box  itself, is
 immediately above the hearth  for  the  sulphur, and is
 bored, or perforated  full of holes, in order that  the
 fumes of the sulphur, when  heated by the fire below,
 may ascend through the  bottom of the box, and com-
 pletely surround,  touch, and envelope the  naked body
 of the patient. The top of the box is so  constructed,
 that the whole, or opening in the  middle of it, closely
 embraces the neck, and effectually prevents the fumes
of the sulphur in the box from reaching the mouth,
      75 
594
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
nose, and eyes of the patient.   This description, reader,
is the whole secret of the sulphur bath, so much talked
of, so little known, and  so rarely used in the United
States.  When the seat  of the disease to be  removed
is on  the face or  any part of the head, the vapor, or
fumes of the sulphur from the box, may be applied to
the part affected by means of a flexible pipe—by which
I mean one that can be  moved in different directions,
like the leader of a  fire  engine, reaching from the box
to any part of the  face  or head.  This sulphur bath
must  be taken from fifteen minutes to an hour, accord-
ing to the state of the patient, and the stubborness of
the disease to be removed.   Immediately after taking
it, the patient ought to  retire to bed  for an  hour or
two.
   I have mentioned in another page of this book—that
when the remedies  there noticed for rheumatism have
failed, recourse must always be had to sulphurous fumi-
gation, which  I  have  now  accurately and  plainly
described  to you.   The truth is, it  is  an  active  and
powerful remedy in very many diseases besides rheu-
matism.  It is an excellent remedy in psoriasis palma-
ria, which is a very obstinate species of tetter, confined
 to the palm  of the hand; also, in psoriasis  scrotalis, in
 which the skin of the scrotum, or bag containing the
 testicles, is afflicted with heat, itching, tension, or tight-
 ness, and appears of a red color.  In cases where the
 skin of the scrotum, or  bag  is thus affected,  the above
 symptoms are succeeded by  a hard, thickened, brittle
 texture of the skin, and by painful chaps, cracks, and
 excoriations, or scalings off  of the skin, not easily to
 be healed by any other means than sulphuric  fumiga-
 tions.  This remedy is  also valuable in what physicians
 call  psoriasis inveterata: which is known by universal 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          595

dealings of the skin of the whole body, which becomes
harsh, dry, and much thickened.  This disease com-
mences with a few irregular, though distinct patches on
the extremities; these patches next appear on different
parts of the body; and lastly, they become what is
called confluent, and spread over the whole surface of
the body.  The skin is then red, deeply furrowed, and
so stiff or rigid, as to  impede the movements  of the
joints: and so quick is the formation or exfoliation of
the scales from the body, that the  bed  is frequently
found covered with them.
   I  have now occupied more space under this head
than I at first intended;  but considering the vast impor-
tance  of the sulphur  bath,  and its  most  valuable
qualities  in cases  where  the human  system  has
been charged with mercury,  which requires  remo-
val,  I think  the space  well  and  profitably occupied.
For a further description of this  bath, see pages  145,
and  550, 3d  volume of the  Medical  Recorder:  the
limits of my book preventing my giving a minute detail
©f their valuable remedy.
               BLOOD LETTING.
   Every person  should not only know how to open a
 vein with a lancet, but should also be acquainted with
 the cautions that are necessary to be known for avoid-
 ing danger; because many cases may, and do  occur,
 where medical assistance cannot  be had in time, and
 where actual loss of life occurs for want of bleeding.
   To bleed in the arm, you are to  apply a ribband, or
 other broad ligature, an  inch or two  above  the  elbow
joint, and to draw it so tight as to compress the veins 
596           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

of the  arm immediately under the bandage, and to fill
and swell them immediately below it.   As soon as the
vein rises in  which you intend  to  bleed, place  the
thumb of your left hand about an inch below the place
you intend to pierce, or open with the lancet; and then
with your right hand, holding the lancet firmly between
your thumb  and  fore finger, making the  incision ob-
liquely, or slanting in the  vein, without, changing the
direction of  the lancet;  because, by raising the handle,
the point of  the lancet would be so much lowered as to
cut the under part of the vein, and perhaps dangerous-
ly wound an artery.
   When you have drawn the quantity of blood  intend-
ed, untie the ligature, or bandage, and close the orifice,
or hole.  To  do  this properly, you must place  your
thumb on the orifice, and press with a moderate force,
so as to bring its sides,  or  edges together.  The flow-
ing of the blood will now be stopped, and you must next
apply a compress, made by twice doubling a piece of
linen, about two inches  square, and placing it between
the thumb and the orifice: over this, you are to place
another compress, or thick folding of linen, about four
inches square, so as to fill up the hollow, or bend of the
arm.   When this is done, you are to confine the folds
of the linen,  by  passing  over them,  crosswise, both
above and below the elbow joint, a ribband or broad
tape, in the  form of the figure eight, and to finish with
making a knot over the linen.   If the bleeding should
continue, the bandages  are to be taken off for a few
moments, and while the thumb of the operator is press-
ed firmly on the orifice, or hole, so as to bring  its side,
 or edges together;  the coldest water is to be poured on
 the arm, or the orifice, or hole itself washed with sharp
 vinegar.  If it is convenient, a piece of adhesive, or 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
597
sticking plaster, placed over the orifice, will generally
stop the flow of blood.
   To bleed  in the foot, a moderately  tight bandage
must be placed above the ancle joint: after which, you
are to  open the fullest and largest vein with a  lancet,
observing the same conduct I have laid  down for you
in bleeding in the arm.   If the  blood  does not flow
sufficiently, you will  easily remove the difficulty by
placing  the foot  in  warm water.  On removing the
bandage above the ancle, the blood will cease to flow;
and it it should not, the bandage I have described for
the arm, a piece of court, or any other sticking  plaster
will generally stop it.
                TOPICAL BLEEDLNG.
   To bleed topically : that is to say,  to bleed from
some particular part of the surface of the body, you
are to proceed  in the  following  manner, if you employ
leeches:—The part is to be scarified, or slightly cut in
shallow gashes with the point of a sharp lancet, or by
a scarificator, which is an instrument with a number
of lancets, acted on by a spring.  The leeches  are to
be previously prepared, by allowing them to creep over
a dry cloth, or  by  drying them.  In order  to  attract
them, the scarified part should be moistened with a little
cream  or  sugar; and if  the blood about the surface
should not induce them to fix themselves, you are to
confine them to the place by applying a wine glass over
them—they will then  soon take hold.
   If you  bleed topically, by cupping,  you are  to pro-
ceed in the following  manner:—You are, in the first
instance, to scarify the part in the way I have just told
you, with  the point of a sharp lancet, or with a  scarifi-
cator, such as I have described it to you.  When this
is done, you must take a  cup, and exhaust it of  the at- 
598
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
mospheric air it contains.   This is done, by burning in
and over it, some soft paper, dipt in spirits of wine, or
any other  kind of proof spirits.  When  the flame is
nearly, or quite exhausted, and the air in the cup conse-
quently destroyed, you are to  place the mouth of the
cup over the scarified part.  As the cup cools, it will
stick fast, and as it were,  suck the  little scarifications,
or gashes, and fill itself with the blood, in place of the
air, which cannot get in.  When the cup is full, it will
easily be removed by raising one side of it.  Burning
the air, as I have told  you, and applying the cup as I
have described, may be repeated as often  as you may
think necessary; or dipping the cup in  hot water and
immediately applying  it  over the  scarified  part, will
cause  it to take  hold  or draw.  This  is the whole
secret of cupping—about  which so much has  been said
by medical men, and so little understood by the  general
community.
  After bleeding  in the arm, or wherever  else  a vein
is opened, there  is  sometimes a swelling of the part,
called by physicians ecchymosis.  Whenever this takes
place, you must shift the position of the limb frequently,
so as to produce a free discharge  of blood  from the
tumor, or rising.  If this will not do, you are  to double
pieces of linen, dip them in brandy  or other spirits, and
compress them on the  tumor by bandages.   If  neither
of these measures will answer, the  tumor, or swelling,
must be opened with a lancet, the coagulated blood let
out, and the sore treated as a common wound.
  There is another effect  which  sometimes  follows
blood letting: which is an acute pain, felt  on the first
introduction of the lancet, and immediately communi-
cated to the extremity  of  the hand or foot.   Here you
must apply cloths, wrung out of  sugar of lead water, to 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          599

the whole limb, and renew them frequently.  You must
also resort to bleeding, cooling purges, and very simple
food, for the purpose of preventing inflammation.  If
these  measures do not answer, you are to give lauda-
num in considerable doses:  and if laudanum also fails
in producing good effects, you must divide, or cut the
nerve, or tendon, which was pricked by the lancet.
   Sometimes an artery is wounded in bleeding.  You
will know this, by the tremulous, or pulsatory motion
with which the blood flows, and by the blood being of
a lighter and richer color than that which flows from
the veins: and besides  you will be unable to stop the
blood by the usual pressure.   The cure may be attempt-
ed, however, in the early stage, by compressions and
fiandages, in the usual way, and by living on very low
diet: but should these fail, a surgical operation must be
performed,  by taking up the  ends  of the artery, and
securing them with ligatures, or ties, until they re-unite,
or grow together again, or until the circulation of the
blood can be again restored.
         CLYSTERS OR  GLYSTERS.
  Language almost fails to  express  the great value
of this innocent and  powerful remedy, in very many
diseases to which mankind are daily and even hourly
subject; and I most sincerely  regret to say,  that it is a
remedy not only too little known, but too seldom used
in the western country, both by physicians and in fami-
lies.   This disregard for the great virtues of clystering,
must either arise from  the supposition  that  the opera-
tion is too troublesome, or from a false  and foolish deli-
cacy, which forbids the use of an instrument, by which 
600
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
thousands of lives have  been preserved in extremely
critical circumstances, and  with which  every mistress
of a family should be perfectly acquainted, so as to be
able to administer a clyster when required in sickness.
And I do here most positively assert, and that too from
my own experience, that hundreds to  whom I have
been called in cases of colic, must have died, had it
not been for the  immediate^ relief given by clysters: I
will mention one strong instance, to prove the correct-
ness of my assertion, to which many others might be
added, if the limits of my work would permit.  While
practicing in the  state of Virginia, I was called on at
midnight to attend a stranger, who had arrived but a
few moments before in the mail stage.  The gentleman
was one of the judges of the supreme court, in  the
state of New York.   He stated to me  that the colic
had been coming on him, for a considerable time before
the  stage stopped.   By the time I arrived, his misery
was so extreme, that he repeatedly exclaimed—-UI must
die, unless immediate relief be given me."  After  ad-
ministering all the usual remedies, which are enumera-
ted  under the head colic, without giving him  much
relief, I  commenced administering glysters  of water
pleasantly warm; and on the first being thrown up the
bowels, he received more relief than had been produ-
ced by all other remedies I had  tried.   He felt an
immediate exemption from pain, and after two or three
more had been given, a copious discharge by the stool
followed, and he was entirely restored.
   Glysters principally act, by exciting the lower  por-
tion of the intestinal tube, and sometimes  from   the
effects of sympathy.   In the latter cases, the discharges
are generally copious, or in other words of large quan-
tity ; and to produce these full discharges by stool,  you 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          601

are frequently to repeat the clysters of warm water, so
tempered as to be pleasant to the feelings of the patient,
and in such quantities as the bowels will bear.  I have
continued to give  these injections of warm water for
an  hour or more in many  instances, before I could
overcome or subdue spasm  or colic; and in cases of
great constipation, which means that the bowels are so
bound up that the  patient cannot have a stool, the wa-
ter  is to be thrown up as far as possible, and the edges
of the fundament pressed together as you draw out the
pipe of the instrument, so  that the clysters may be pre-
vented from returning until it has produced the intend-
ed  effect.  When I have had cases of the kind I have
mentioned,  after  throwing  the  warm  water up  the
bowels as far as  possible,  I have always closed  the
fundament on drawing out the  pipe, because without
this necessary precaution, in very many instances, the
water would  return with as much rapidity as it was
thrown up with*—You will, therefore, see the necessity
of  following my example, and the directions I have
just laid  down; and you are in all cases of danger, to
repeat the  clysters of pleasantly warm  water, as often
and in such quantities as the bowels will admit.
   The best method of administering glysters in extreme
cases, is first to give purgative medicines in the usual
manner, and as directed under the different complaints
mentioned in this work; and when it becomes necessary
to  use glysters, to give them so as to assist the medi-
cines taken into the stomach in their operation.   For
instance, when you give a purge in the  usual way, you
know that it will require  some time to operate: now,
if  you wish to  hasten  the  operation of this  medicine,
 pive a  glyster  or two of  warm water,  especially in
spasm, croup, or costiveness, and you will find yourself
        76 
602          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
speedily relieved of the spasm or  colic; because the
water will soften the hardened excrements in the bow-
els, and assist in bringing off any undigested food which
may have remained in them.  Whenever  a purgative
medicine has been given, and you  in proper time ad-
minister a glyster to assist its operation, the alimentary
canal is soon completely evacuated or  cleared  of its
contents.   I have somewhere  before  told you, that
there are hard lumps of excrement in the lower bow-
els, Which require to be removed by the finger of the
physician, or by an instrument calculated for the pur-
pose:  now, your  own good sense will  always  teach
you, that these clysters will  always soften  the concre-
tions or lumps of excrement alluded to, and give you
relief by a stool.
   In  fevers and inflammations, any man  of common
judgment must  know,  that glysters made of slippery
elm bark, which I have frequently directed and admin-
istered, must and  will tend to cool the whole  system,
allay the heat and  irritation of the  bowels, and  gently
assist the medicine which had  been given to  operate.
They will also  produce a determination to the skin,
which means a gentle moisture or sweat.   I have told
you that tepid or warm water always opens the bowels;
but the  very  reverse of this practice is sometimes re-
sorted  to, in  desperate circumstances, and with great
advantages, by some of the  most  distinguished physi-
cians.   In some cases of very obstinate constipation,
the meaning of which  has been sufficiently explained,
relief has frequently been  obtained,  when all other
remedies had failed, by a glyster of the coldest water,
even of iced water.   In such extreme cases, however,
when all other means have  failed, and the  constipated
state of the  bowels is  likely  to prove  fatal, the last 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           603
 resort is, and you are only to adopt it in such cases, to
 dissolve from twenty to sixty grains of the emetic tartar
 in water, and give it as a glyster: ipecacuanha may be
 used  in place of emetic tartar, and is sometimes prefer-
 red for safety.  In the numerous cases  of constipation
 and colic to which  I have been called, and some of
 them  very dangerous ones, I have never been compelled
 to use more than  twenty grains of emetic tartar in the
 clysters I have  mentioned : and even when this quantity
 is to  be used,  it  ought to be  administered  under the
 direction  of a physician,  and never but in extreme
 cases, and as the last alternative.  I shall here mention
 a remedy for the colic, which has lately been discovered,
 and which is said to give immediate relief  Give by
 the mouth, fifteen grains of calomel  and two grains of
 tartar emetic, which you are to  mix in honey, molasses,
 or any kind of  syrup.
  In  common cases  of constipation, when the bowels
 are not easily moved so as to produce a stool:  or in
colic,  arising from indigestion, or from  having  taken
some  improper  food  into the stomach, or from having
gone some time without a passage, if you wish to has-
ten the operation  of a purge, or if the stomach  is too
 weak to bear one, all that is required is a simple  laxa-
 tive glyster, made of two table-spoonsful of castor oil,
 or sweet oil, mixed with the same quantity of molasses,
and put into about a pint of pleasantly warm water, to
 which you may add a table-spoonful  of common salt, if
you wish the clyster  somewhat  stimulating.   This is a
simple  and  innocent clyster, requiring nothing for its
administration  but the  instrument for injecting it into
the bowels,  which will hereafter be described, with the
method of making clysters, either simple  or more active
as the complaint may require. 
604          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  Glysters are frequently used in dysentery or flux, to
soothe and  quiet the bowels, relieve the pain, and  re-
strain the too great frequency of the stools.  In these
cases, the clysters are to be niixed with some laudanum,
and some mucilage, such as slippery elm tea.   I have
mentioned these things  under their proper  heads, and
in such  complaints, as  require their use:—see colic,
page 200—cholera morbus, page 203—and dysentery,
page 256, together  with many other cases in which
glysters are recommended.
  There are many persons, both men and women, who
are constitutionally  subject to costiveness:  by which I
mean, being bound in their bowels so that they cannot
have their regular stools.  This costiveness arises from
a variety of causes;  such as diseased liver, indigestion,
torpor of the  bowels, and from improper food being
taken into the stomach and bowels, and always produce
spasms or colic pains; for remember this, that whenev-
er your  stomach and bowels  are  disordered, you will
become  costive, your head will be confused and other-
wise distressed, your spirits will become low and deject-
ed, and  the whole train  of hypochondriacal  feelings
and sensations will  haunt ycu.  All these  last symp-
toms can easily  be  relieved by a simple glyster, made
of equal quantities of milk and water, and thrown up
the bowels; for by this your bowels will be relieved of
their load, which always produces irritation, and your
mind and feelings soon experience an agreeable change.
You,  who are  always  taking medicines to keep your
bowels open, and whose stomachs are becoming  ex-
hausted and worn out by medical drugs, let me advise
and entreat you, as  a friend  and  physician, who  has
witnessed throughout France, the great and surprising
benefits arising from this simple operation, to abandon 
              GUNN'A DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          605

the idea of constantly  taking medicines.  Your good
sense must teach you,  if you will give yourselves time
for reflection, that they  must and will eventually destroy
the coats of the stomach, and vitally impair its powers;
and that when you do  really require medicines to sub-
due  the disease, your system  will have become  so
habituated  to them as to  require tremendous doses;  or
so completely  worn  down by their constant use, as to
produce no effect. In  France, there is scarcely a fami-
ly unprovided with an  instrument for glystering,  which
is always used when there is  the slightest obstruction
or costiveness of the bowels.  These people mostly use
a simple clyster of milk  and water, and sometimes
water alone; in  summer they use cold water, and  in
winter,  water pleasantly warm.   It is to the warm bath,
and to the  common use of clysters, that are to be attri-
buted in a  great degree,  the cheerful dispositions, the
uniform health, and the practical philosophy with which
these people bear the hardships and misfortunes of life;
in fact,  if you take from  a French physician the warm
bath,  and the glyster pipe, he cannot practice medicine
with any kind of success.—The importance of glysters,
both  in the hands of  physicians and families, has be-
come so well known, and is now so highly valued, as to
call forth the commendations of the most eminent phy-
sicians of both Europe and America.
   The  old plan  of administering  glysters,  was  by  an
assistant; it was both inconvenient and indelicate, and
has been measurably  superseded, except in cases of
infancy and extreme weakness, by a new and valuable
invention,  called a self pipe.   The common method of
using the old-glyster pipe, is as  follows:—You  are to
take a  beef or hog's bladder, which has been blown up
and suffered to get dry; and after inserting or fastening 
606          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

a short hollow reed or quill in  it, cut off at both ends
of the barrel,  you  are  to  put  the  glyster  itself into
the bladder.   The end of the reed  or quill, or of the
glyster pipe of the shop,  if you use  one, is  now to be
covered with some oil or lard, and  gently put up  the
fundament about an inch, by an  assistant, and the sides
of the bladder squeezed together gradually, so  as to
throw its contents as far as  possible  up the bowels, but
a full description of the  particular mode of glystering
in this way, will be given in the  sequel, or conclusion.
   The new invention  consists of a  pewter syringe or
pipe, called a self pipe;  the  meaning of which is, a
pipe that can be used without an  assistant.  It is so
constructed as to be Used by yourself, or by an assist-
ant, if you are so weak as to require  one.  The pew-
ter syringe holds nearly a quart, and by a screw a long
pipe is connected to the springe, which holds the glyster
itself.  All that is required, is to put the  small tube
into the fundament,  and gradually to  bear on the han-
dle of the syringe, which, as you bear down steadily,
throws the glyt-ter up the  bowels.    The  force with
which the glyster is thrown  up the bowels, depends on
the pressure of the  handle  of the pipe.  You are to
recollect that  the force, unless  it be  very gentle and
steady, is never to be  used; ail  you have  to do, is to
press gradually on the handle of the syringe, by which
you will feel the distension of the bowels as  the glyster
is  thrown up.   When  a  glyster  is to  be thrown up by
an assistant, the long pipe or  tube is to be unscrewed,
and a shorter one, made  for the purpose, screwed  on,
which is to be used as   a  common squirt,  on  which
principle it acts.  One of these pipes may be purchased
at any drug  shop, for about  two dollars; and I trust
from the great advantages to be  derived from this val- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          607

uable instrument, which in very many  instances has
even saved life, that no family in this country will long
be without one.   I shall now state  the  manner of ad-
ministering a glyster, in such a way that it  may be
understood by any person possessed of the least judg-
ment.
  In giving a clyster by an assistant, the patient is to
be laid on  the edge of the bed, with the bottom a little
over the edge, and the knees drawn up near the belly.
The clyster pipe is  then to be taken, the finger placed
before it to keep in the contents, and  applied to the
fundament.   On pushing in the pipe, the finger is to be
taken away.  The pipe is to be pushed up very gently,
the operator's hand near the thighs, a little backwards,
towards the backbone, and then the contents are  to be
forced out, by gently pushing the handle of the syringe
with one hand, while with the other the syringe is firm-
ly held; or if a  bladder and pipe are used  there is
nothing to do but to introduce the  pipe to the funda-
ment as just described, and to gradually and gently
squeeze the bladder, so as  to empty the  contents into
the  bowels.   Glystering is  one of the most powerful,
innocent, mild and beneficial remedies  known in the
science and practice of  medicine.
                   FRICTION.
  Friction, in medicine, means the act of rubbing a
diseased part with a soft brush, a coarse linen cloth, or
with flannel, or by rubbing  in the body or diseased
parts, oils, unguents, and other matters in order to ease,
relieve, and cure them.  This exercise or rubbing, con-
tributes remarkably to the  health, particularly of seden- 
608           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

tary  persons; for it  excites and kindles  the natural
warmth,  diverts  deductions,  promotes  perspiration,
opens the pores, and Jends to dissipate stagnant humors:
This  operation  is also  particularly beneficial  to the
nervous, debilitated and  studious—being a useful sub-
stitute for  other  exercises.  Hence  I recommend to
such individuals to spend half an hour every morning
and evening in rubbing their whole bodies, especially
their limbs, with the brush or flannel.  It ought, however,
to be  observed, that this practice will be of the greatest
service when the stomach  and bowels  are  empty.
Lastly, I venture to  assert, that the  most important
purposes to which friction may be rendered subservient
in the  animal economy, have  hitherto been  almost
entirely neglected: I  am convinced from experience,
that medicated frictions, or the introduction of the most
active medicines into  the  human system, by rubbing
them  in properly  on the surface of the body, is attended
with the most happy  effects, especially in  all chronic
diseases.  Common sense appears to have  long since
pointed  out  this excellent method  of  administering
medicines, even to the Indian savages, though it is little
practiced in  the  United  States, where the stomach is
doomed to be the field of battle, for  deciding commo-
tions and irregularities in our complicated frames.  But
who  is hardy enough to maintain,  that the digestive
organ was by nature destined to become the exclusive
vehicle of drugs, and  to serve as their common  labo-
ratory? 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
609
                       ISSUES.
    Issues are small ulcers or sores, formed by artificial
 means, in various parts of the body, for the  purpose of
 procuring discharges of matter, considered beneficial in
 many diseases.  They were formerly considered merely
 as drains, to carry off  noxious or foul humors from the
 blood, and were therefore opened as near die affected
 part as practicable.  But, as it is now well known that
 they produce benefit, as well by sympathy as by acting
 as a drain, they are  usually placed where they will be
 the least dangerous and inconvenient.   The most prop-
 er parts to place them in, are between the ribs, on either
 side of the back bone, in the  hollow above the inner
 side of the knee, in the outer and fore part  of the
 shoulder, in the.nape  of the  neck; in  fact, wherever
 there is cellular substance enough for the entire protec-
 tion of the  parts  underneath.   They  must never be
 placed near any blood vessel of a large size, nor over
 a tendon, or thinly covered bone, nor over what is called
 the belly of a muscle.  There  are three  kinds of them;
 the  seton or  cord, the pea  or pepper issue, and the
 blister issue.
   When you take off a blister, and wish to convert the
 sore into an issue, a discharge of matter can easily be
 kept  up for  any length of time, by dressing the part
 once a  day with  any ointment mixed with  a little
 powdered Spanish flies.   If the discharge  is too small,
 put a little more of the Spanish flies into it; and  if too
 large, put a little less into the ointment, or desist from
using the ointment for  a few days, until  the discharge
be sufficiently diminished. This is called the blister
issue.
   When you want what  is called the pea or  pepper
issue, you must make an incision, or cut with a lancet,
       77 
610          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

large enough to admit  one or more peas  or  grains of
pepper, or any thing else  that will keep the  sore run-
ning.  When this opening is made with a  lancet, or
any  other sharp instrument, the skin must be pressed
or pinched up together, and the  cut made of sufficient
size  to admit the substance to be put into it.   The em-
ployment of caustic, however, is  the best mode of open-
ing an issue: this caustic is the  lapis infernalis of the
drug shops.  The caustic must be made into a kind of
paste, with a little soft soap or water.  You are then to
put on an adhesive  or sticking piaster, with a hole in
the middle of it;  and in this  hole, on the  skin, you are
to spread the caustic paste, and cover it  with another
sticking plaster, to keep the paste from  spreading.   In
four days the place will become sore,-and separate so
as to admit whatever you may choose to place in it, for
the purpose of keeping it running.
   The seton, or cord  issue,  is  always  made when a
large quantity of matter  is required  to  be discharged;
it is frequently put in the back of the neck, for diseases
of the head  and  eyes, and between the ribs for com-
plaints of the breast.   The cord which is to be intro-
duced, ought to be of cotton and silk  threads, either
not  twisted  together, or  very loosely twisted.   A part
of the cord must then be besmeared and smoothed with
some kind of ointment, and  passed through the skin
and part of the flesh, leaving a few inches of the cord
hanging out  on each side, to be  moved backward every
day, for the purpose of keeping it running. 
             DISPENSATORY,
   OR  CLASSIFICATION  OF MEDICINES.
  The  medicines required for common and  useful
purposes, are very few in number, compared with the
hundreds you see displayed in doctor's shops for mere
show, or because they possess some simple and innocent
virtues.  I assert it without fear of contradiction,  that
more than one half of the medicines now in use, could
be very  easily dispensed with, and not the least incon-
venience be felt  for the want of them.  When you see
an  extensive drug store, filled with drugs, tinctures,
essences, &,c. &lc. &c.  it always ought  to remind you
of  a dinner table,  covered  with many unnecessary
dishes,  where two  of  the substantial  ones, properly
cooked, would answer  the same  purpose.  This hint
will be sufficient  to apprise you, that there are many /
different medicines which produce the same effects on
the  human system, and consequently that there area
great many  which  are  absolutely  useless: and the
choice of which, even  by physicians, depends not so
much on the characteristics or  nature of the diseases,
as on the particular caprice or  partiality of the physi-
cian himself.
  Under the head of each disease, I have mentioned
the principal medicines  now  in  use to effect the cure,
and also those which are held in the highest estimation
by the most distinguished medical  men.  But, as the
classification of several  that may be useful to those who
have but a limited range of selection, I shall proceed
to classify and describe them  as minutely as my limits
will admit. 
612           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  You will recollect that when you are in the habit of
taking medicine often,  or any particular  medicine fre-
quently, your system will become so habituated to the
effects, that large and more increased doses will  be
required  to produce the usual effects.  This doctrine is
proved to you, by thofce who have long been accustom-
ed to the use of opium, spirits, or even tobacco.   Man
is the creature of habit, and can easily bring his system
to bear,  by slow degrees, medical drugs which would
in the first instance produce  death.   By this rule, you
are to remember,  that in  giving  medicine, you are to
vary  it  in larger  or smaller doses, according to the
strength or weakness of the patient, as your good sense
and discretion may dictate.  What would at  times act
only as a good purge, would in other cases, and where
the patient is weakly  and delicate, be productive of
fatal consequences.  Therefore, always take the consti-
tution, the state or  condition of the person,  and the
particular character of the disease into consideration,
before you administer medicines.
             EMETICS OR PUKES.
  These are medicines which, on being received into
the stomach produce  vomiting  or puking.  They are
called emetics by physicians, and are given in a great
variety of cases, which you will see enumerated in the
body  of this work.   Their operation will  always  be
increased, and rendered much easier  by drinking milk
or blood warm water  in considerable quantities, after
the first operation.
  Ipecacuanha.—This is the  mildest of pukes; the
dose for a grown  person is from fifteen to twenty grains, 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           613

dissolved  in  warm water; say, five or six  spoonsful;
give one spoonful every ten minutes until it operates.
   Tartar Emetic.—This is my favorite puke.  You
will always find it of superior efficacy in bilious fevers.
It is the most generally used by physicians in producing
full and  copious  vomiting or puking.  A dose for  a
grown person is from five to six grains, which you are
to dissolve in five or six table-spoonsful of warm water,
and one table-spoonful of which you are to take every
ten minutes, until it operates.
  Antimonial  Wine.—This is nothing more than  tar-
tar emetic dissolved in wine.   This dose is two or three
tea-spoonsful, given every ten or fifteen minutes, until it
operates.   Antimonial wine is made as follows:—just
dissolve forty grains of emetic tartar, into a large wine
glass  of warm  water, which is about two ounces of
water.  After the emetic tartar is dissolved, add to this
water about half  a pint of Tencriffe wine: after stand-
ing a few hours it will be fit for use.
  In cases where  an  emetic  or puke is necessary for
children,  antimonial wine is nearly always given to
them, and that  too at a very early  age.  I  have n^ver
hesitated, when necessary, to give it to children when
first born, to  relieve difficult  respiration  or  breathing,
where there was an accumulation of phlegm.  The
dose in such cases, ought not to be more than one or
two drops; this  medicine, however,  is much  oftener
given to children of more advanced age.  At any peri-
od under  one year of age, and over four months, the
dose  when  intended to produce vomiting, is from five
to ten  drops, according to the necessities of the case,
which is to be repeated at short intervals of time, until
the effect  is produced.  But, in the dangerous disease
called croup, and I wish you particularly  to recollect 
614           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

this, a  larger quantity of the  antimonial wine should
be given, because there is in this disease a great insen-
sibility to the operation  of emetics.   In an attack of
croup, therefore, you need not  be afraid to give a child
six months old, from twenty-five to thirty drops, every
fifteen  minutes.
   White Vitriol.—Of all the  emetics or pukes known
in medicine, this is the quickest in its operation, and
ought always to be  given in cases which  require an
immediate evacuation of the stomach :  these cases are
generally those in which poisons have been swallowed.
The dose is  from twenty to thirty grains, in a cup of
warm  water:  this medicine is  called by physicians sul-
phate  of zinc.
   The connexion of the stomach with every part of
the body, and the great power it exercises over all por-
tions  of the system, and particularly  over the brain,
have been fully explained to you: the fact is, as I have
before stated, that I  consider the  brain as  the father,
and the stomach  as the mother of the system.   In con-
sequence  of the  very close  connexion between  the
stomach and  head,  emetics or pukes  act as  powerful
and valuable remedies, in all  diseases connected  with
the brain and its dependencies.  They not only relieve
the  stomach,  by discharging its  acrid, vitiated, and
sometimes oppressive contents; but they, at  the same
time,  promote the  secretion  and  evacuation  of bile.
They  also, and that powerfully, promote a determina-
tion to the surface,  by which I mean  perspiration or
sweating: the fact is, that a moisture can be  produced
 on the skin,  either  by vomiting  or puking, or by the
 mere  nausea  or  sickness of the stomach, arising  from
 emetics given in  proper  doses.  I  have not space here,
 to enumerate all the advantages arising from  emetics; 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          615

they will be found under the different heads of diseases,
as treated in this work.
   I will now give you some directions, as to the admin-
istration of emetics, in particular cases and states of the
system.  If the  person to  whom you wish  to give  a
puke, is of a full and fat habit of body, with a, short
neck, a great determination of blood to the  head, you
should draw some blood from the arm before giving the
puke.   By doing this, you will render the  puking easy
and copious, and prevent all danger of appoplexy from
too great a determination of  blood  to  the head of the
patient.  Doctor Chapman,  one of the professors of
the Medical School  of Philadelphia, states explicitly,
and in strong terms,  that many lives have been endan-
gered, and some actually sacrificed,  for want of this
necessary precaution of bleeding.  In all cases where
the necessity of  a puke is urgent, and especially where
poisons have been swallowed, give a full dose of emetic
medicine at once; but in common cases, you may give
an emetic in broken doses, as I have directed :  this will
prevent too great violence in the operation.
  You should, if convenient,  always give an emetic on
an empty stomach, and in the morning; because at this
time, it will always act  with greater certainty and effect,
and with much less distress to the patient.  When you
find  that an emetic acts too  severely, and you wish to
check the operation, give from twenty to thirty  drops of
laudanum in a little toddy, and apply cloths wrung out
of warm water to the pit of the stomach :  or you may
apply stewed garden mint to the stomach; or drink thin
chicken soup, with some salt in it, so as to turn the oper-
ation downwad.   If  these measures fail, give a glyster,
in which you are to put  double the quantity of lauda-
num usually given by the mouth; and  if this also fails 
616          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

put a large blister over  the pit of the  stomach, and
poultices to  the feet, made  of  pounded  mustard seed,
corn meal, and vinegar.  The quantity of laudanum I
have mentioned, has reference to grown persons, and
not to children.   In all cases consult the table of med-
icines.
              ACTIVE PURGATIVES.
   These are such medicines  as  purge freely.  When
 you use them with  the intention that they shall act
 mildly on the bowels, and only keep them gently open,
 they are called laxatives by  physicians: the medicines
 are usually mixed with honey, molasses, or any kind of
 syrup that is convenient; their operation is always pro-
 moted by mild drinks, such  as thin gruel  pleasantly
 warm, or any kind of warm tea.   If at any time you
 take a  purgative medicine, such  as calomel,  for in-
 stance, and it  should  not  operate  in due time, it will
 always be proper to assist  the  operation by  some one
 of the laxative medicines.
  Calomel.—A purgative; the  dose for a grown person
 is from fifteen to twenty grains—and I now again, for
 the last time, tell you, that small doses of this medicine
 act more unkindly than large  ones.  In a  reasonable
 dose, calomel  will work off without assistance, while
 in a small dose, it is liable to  remain in the system, if
 not removed by the  assistance of laxative medicines.
I am now speaking of the calomel  when given with
 the intention of purging.
  Calomel and jalap: purgative;  ten grains of each,
mixed with honey, molasses, or any kind of syrup, is a
dose for a grown person.   This valuable  preparation 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICNE.          617

 was a favorite  with  the celebrated  Doctor Rush; he
 generally gave it in fevers—it both  purges and sweats
 freely.  Twenty  grains of each, mixed as above, is a
 dose for a grown person.
   Calomel and gamboge: purgative;  ten  grains of
 calomel,  and three grains of gamboge,  mixed with
 honey, molasses, or  any kind  of syrup, is a dose for a
 grown person: it is a valuable and active purge, given in
 bilious fevers.
   Lee's anti-bilious pills: purgative; they are made
 of  five grains  of calomel, ten  grains  of jalap, two
 grains of gamboge, and half a grain of  tartar emetic.
 This is a valuable preparation, and  very  easily made;
 and  the  information 1 have  given,  will  enable you to
 prepare these pills yourself, and always to have  them
 fresh  for use.  Those  obtained  from the stores are
 generally old, hard and dry, and  do not  operate as if
 fresh and newly made.
   Cook's pills:  a  valuable purge,  particularly when
 the liver is diseased, and  in. female  complaints, where
 obstructions and irregularities  take place in the month-
 ly discharges.  These pills are made with equal quan-
 tities of rhubarb, aloes and calomel, ground  fine, well
 mixed together, and  made into pills of a common size,
 with a little honey or syrup.  A dose of tiiese pills for
 a  grown  person  consists  of  three  or four  of them,
 which operates freely as a  purge.  These pills may be
 frequently taken,  until the desired effect is produced.
   Salts, senna, and  manna:  purgative;  take of  each
 of these articles  half an ounce, and put  them into  a
 pint of hot water: after which you  are  to cover the
 vessel in  which  you make the  preparation.  For a
 grown person, take of this a tea-cupful every hour until
it operates freely.
       78 
618          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

   Salts and tartar emetic: purgative;  to  a common
dose of salts, add  one grain of emetic tartar—this is a
very valuable purge to remove bile.
   May apple, jalap, rhubarb:  purgatives;—the roots
of these plants, act, in doses from thirty to  fifty grains
each, taken separately, as an effective purge.  If either
of these roots are  given with calomel, the dose should
be from five to ten, or fifteen grains of calomel, mixed
with about twenty grains of the May apple, jalap, or
rhubarb root well pounded.
                   LAXATIVES.
  These are medicines which gently open the bowels.
  Castor Oil, an innocent and valuable medicine; the
dose for a grown person, is from  two to three  table-
spoonsful.  The  most agreeable  way of taking  this
laxative oil, is in coffee, or a  little spirits of any kind.
  Sweet oil—generally called olive oil.   It acts on the
bowels the same as castor oil.   The dose for a grown
person is from two to three table-spoonsful: like castor
oil, you may take it in a little spirits or coffee.
  Charcoal in powder.—This is one of the most val-
uable and innocent  medicines we possess, particularly
for  persons laboring  under  dyspepsia or indigestion.
To persons of a costive  habit of  body, the use of
pounded charcoal is invaluable, from its always keep-
ing the  bowels open and regular.  The  dose  for a
grown p^Son is one table-spoonful, mixed  with honey,
milk, or cold water.  The preparation of charcoal as
a medicine is very simple.  It consists in merely burn-
ing the charcoal used by smiths,  over  again:  to do
which, you are to place it in an iron vessel, and expose 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
619
it  to a  hot fire until it  becomes  of a red heat;  then
suffer it to cool,  pound it very fine, and put it in a dry
bottle, which is to be tightly corked.  This is the whole
secret of preparing charcoal for medical purposes.  It
is  an excellent medicine in all depraved conditions of
the stomach, and it will also check the violent vomitings
or puking which accompany bilious and yellow fevers;
and I will now disclose to you a secret respecting the
use of charcoal, which  is probably unknown to the
physicians of the United States.   Whilst I was at Ha-
vanna, a city in the island of Cuba, I discovered the
secret, by which the Spanish physicians check and re-
lieve the approaching symptoms of black vomit in yellow
fever: the medicinal preparation is charcoal and oil of
turpentine mixed;  but I could never ascertain the quan-
tity of each.  This matter, however, can easily be as-
certained by experiment.
   Magnesia, calcined.—-Two  tea-spoonsful  of this
medicine is a dose for a grown person;  it must be taken
in  half a tumbler of cold water.  If you take uncalcined
magnesia, a table spoonful will be required as  a dose.
This  medicine corrects  acidity of the stomach, and
gently opens the bowels.   It is  also well adapted to
women in a family way, and to persons afflicted  with
dyspepsia or indigestion.   A dose taken at bed time,
will generally afford  to dyspeptic persons a pleasant
night's rest,  by aiding the digestive powers.
   Cream of Tartar.—-This is a cooling and innocent
laxative medicine,  and is remarkably welP»adapted to
the warm season.   It may be taken in co^d wgler sweet-
ened  with sugar.   The  dose for a grown person, is a
table-spoonful, in a tumbler of  water.
   Manna.—This is the most innocent laxative medicine
made use of in the practice of physic.   On account of 
 620          SUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 its extreme mildness in operation, it is better adapted to
 infants than any purgative known.  Used as a laxative,
 it is seldom  given to grown persons alone, but generally
 combined or mixed with senna: the compound is called
 senna and manna.  If the manna be given alone, the
 dose for a grown person is from one to two ounces, dis-
 solved in hot water.   If you give  it combined with
 senna, half an ounce of manna, with the same quantity
 of senna made into a tea, with about a pint of boiling
 water, is  the dose for a grown person.   [See the heads
 senna and manna,  in the index.]
   Flour of Sulphur.—This is nothing but brimstone,
 purified and  powdered very fine.  From one tea-spoon-
 ful to  ten, or about the same  quantity given in broken
 doses, three  times a day, will moderately purge a grown
 person.
   Whenever any  of the above purgative  or  laxative
 medicines purge too much, and the patient is becoming
 weak, if  you wish  to  check the operation, you are to
 give a dose of laudanum, from twenty to thirty drops;
 or you may  give a  glyster, in which you  arc to  put
 double the quantity of laudanum taken by  the  mouth,
 and at the same time apply hot cloths, wrung out of
 boiling water, as warm as they can be borne, to  the
 stomach of the patient: either  of these  measures will
 stop the operation of these medicines.
  In some cases, from the bowels being  torpid, medi-
 cines of a purgative nature will net produce a passage.
 In such cases, you  are to wait a reasonable  time  for
 their operation; if they do not  operate, you  are to give
 glvsters.   [For instructions, see head glysters, in index.]
 If these means  fail, as they sometimes do, instead of
giving  heavy doses  of medicine by the mouth, give
glysters of warm water, and at the same time pour the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          621

 coldest water over the belly of the patients.   Sailors,
 when at sea, and when they have no medicine on board,
 frequently relieve  themselves  from costivenes  of the
 bowels, by merely lying with their  bellies over the but
 of the cannon, the coldness of which seldom fails to pro-
 duce a  strong disposition to stool.   In severe constipa-
 tion of the bowels, when the common remedies fail to
 procure a passage or stool, give a mixture of castor oil
 and  oil  of turpentine,  of each half an  ounce at one
 dose—and if it does not operate in due  time you are
 to repeat the same.  This powerful and valuable dis-
 covery has been  lately  used with great  success in the
city of New York.
                   STIMULANTS.
   Stimulants  are medicines which  excite the whole
 system into action;  the best of which are, our common
 spirituous  liquors,  intended by Divine Providence as
 medicines, but which we abuse in their employment as
 luxuries of daily use, by which  they are converted into
 poisons, pregnant with deadly mischief; destroying the
 reasoning  faculties, and entailing upon the unfortunate
 devotee, a train of  corporeal afflictions which infallibly
 eventuate  in  his premature  dissolution.   They are,
 therefore, to  be regarded, rather than a  blessing, as a
 curse upon posterity and a nation.  It is a fact certainly
 known to those who are in the habit of constantly using
 stimulants, that  they require to  be frequently adminis-
 tered,  or else  they lose  their  power: that  when  the
system has, for any length of time, been accustomed to
those stimulants, it  is necessary  gradually  to increase
the quantity, to produce the same action upon the sys- 
622
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
tern which was excited by their early or first use.  The
stimulants generally considered medicinal, or used in
medicine, are as follows:
  Sulphuric Ether.—This is  a valuable  stimulant in
eases of great debility or weakness, in hysterical cases,
in cramp of the  stomach, in  checking  vomiting or
puking, in allaying sea-sickness, and discharging wind
from the stomach.  Externally applied to  the  head, it
will greatly assist in  relieving head ache.  Ether is to
be kept well corked, or it will lose its  strength; and
when it is taken, it must be drank as quick as possible
after it is  mixed with water, or it will lose the power or
effect it is intended to produce.—Dose, from one to
three tea-spoonsful, mixed in a stem or  wine glass of
cold water.
  Spirits of Hartshorn.—This is a strong and active
stimulant; it is generally used in hysterical complaints,
and nervous head  ache, and is also a valuable remedy
in dyspepsia.  See page 133.   By the  alkaline proper-
ty which it possesses, it neutralizes acid in the stomach,
at the same time communicating strength to that organ.
In all extreme cases of debility of the stomach, attend-
ed with vomiting and spasms, as is  frequently the case
with habitual drunkards, hartshorn will be found a most
valuable remedy.—It will relieve the sting of the bee,
wasp, and other insects, by keeping the wounded  part
wet with it.—Dose from one to two tea-spoonsful.
  Opium, and  the preparation  made from  opium call-
ed laudanum, when given in small doses, act as stimu-
lants—when  given in larger doses, produce  sleep and
relieve pain.   For a  full discription  of  both  these
articles, see head  in  index, and for doses, see  table of
medicines. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          623

  Spirit or Oil of Turpentine, when taken internally,
is one of the most active and diffusible  stimulants, per-
vading the whole extent of the system, but with greater
force to certain parts; and in cases where the bowels are
obstinately constipated  or  bound; in puerperal, or child-
bed fever, and in epileptic fits, particularly where these
complaints are  brought on by worms, it also acts as an
evacuant or purge. The  dose is from three to four tea-
spoonsful alone, or with a small portion of water*
  Spirit of Lavender.—This  is a mild and pleasant
stimulant, and  is generally administered to females in
hysterical  affections.    When  mixed  with sulphuric
ether in equal  quantities, it is valuable in  debility, or
weakness of the system.  The dose  of lavender alone
is three tea-spoonsful.
  There  is  nothing more difficult in  the practice of
medicine, than to determine when it is proper to pre-
scribe  stimulants: nor is it possible for me here to point
out  to  you the exact time, or to give further light  on
the subject, than in advising you to be guided  by the
state of the system; and avoid their application during
fever, as they  invariably increase it;  and  never pre-
scribe  them in  any case, until proper  evacuations  have
been made.  It  is only  in the protracted  and  feeble
stage of diseases, that they can be resorted to with any
hope of advantage.  By watching  their operation, you
can readily perceive by the absence or presence of the
following  symptoms,  whether their administration  is
proper or  not: pain in the head; delirious wanderings,
or in other words, the patient talks wildly; great watch-
fulness; stricture, or  tightness  of the  breast; restless-
ness and  anxiety, with a  hot, dry skin,  parched tongue,
and a quick, small,  and  corded  pulse.   Upon  the 
624          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

appearance of any, or  all of the above symptoms, you
are immediately to desist in the use of stimulants.
                  ANODYNES.
  Anodynes are those medicines which ease pain and
procure sleep.
  Opium, in doses of from two to five grains.  See
table of medicines; and  also for a full description  of
opium, see that head.
  Laudanum, made by  dissolving an ounce of opium
in a pint of good spirits of any kind—it is generally fit
for  use in five or  six days.  Fifty drops of laudanum
are equal to two  grains of opium.   For doses of this,
or any other medicine, refer to the  table of medicines.
  Paregoric, made by adding a half a drachm of opium
—or one ounce of laudanum to a pint  of spirit of any
kind, and mixing with them half a  drachm of flowers
of benzoin, the same quantity of the oil of anise-seed,
and one scruple of camphor.   The dose  is three  or
four tea-spoonsful.  For  the different ages refer to the
table of medicines.
              ANTISPASMODICS.
  Anti-spasmodics are medicines which arc given to
remove spasms or cramps, and generally used by physi-
cians for this purpose.
  Opium or Laudanum, in  doses depending on  the
extreme urgency or danger of the case. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           625

   Hot Toddy,  made with  spirits, hot water,  and
 sweetened with sugar.
   Sulphuric Ether, dose from two tea-spoonsful  to a
 table-spoonful, in half a cup of cold water.
   Asafoetida, a  lump weighing  from eight to ten, or
 even twenty grains; or if you  use the tincture, which is
 nothing more than asafoetida steeped in whiskey as
 follows:—take of asafoetida, two ounces, and put it in a
 pint of old whiskey, or good spirits of any kind; let it
 stand for ten days, and the tincture is ready for  use.
 Dose from one tea-spoonful to four, mixed  in a little
 cold water.
   Essence  of Peppermint,  given in  a large dose,
 mixed with  hot toddy.
   The best  means for removing  spasm, are  the  warm
 bath—see  page  156—bleeding  freely,  and applying
 cloths wrung out  of hot water, or hot salt to the skin,
over the part where cramp  or spasm is seated.
                     TONICS.
  Medicines which increase the tone of the muscular
fibres, and thereby strengthen the whole body.
  Peruvian Bark.—This bark is obtained from South
America: there are three kinds—the red, the yellow and
the pale.  The  red  bark when pure, is the be^t.  It
has, however, been ascertained that the medicinal pro-
perties of our common dogwood, are equal, if not supe-
rior, to the imported bark.
  The dose, in substance, of the Peruvian bark, is from
two to  four  tea-spoonsful, in a stem or  wine glass of
water,  taken every  three or four hours,  when there
is no fever.  If it should disagree with the stomach, it
       79 
626
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MED1CINP;
may be given in decoction, by putting an ounce of the
bark in a quart of hot water, to which add a little Vir-
ginia snake root, frequently called black snake root, to
which add  a  small portion of cinnamon or  ginger.
When it becomes cold, you are to mix  with  it half a
pint of the best Madeira  or  Teneriffe wine.—Dose a
stem or wine glassful every two or three hours.
   Dogwood Bark, or Wild Cherry-tree Bark, pound-
ed fine and taken in doses of thirty or forty grains, are
equal to the Peruvian bark.  I have been in the habit
of using in my practice, equal quantities of the barks
of dogwood, wild cherry  and poplar, (I allude to the
poplar of the forest, of which our boats are  made,)
these three barks steeped  in good  spirits of any kind,
and administered in moderate doses, say three or four
times a day, is superior in its tonic effects, to any medi-
cines I have ever used.  The bark  of the poplar is one
of the most valuable medicines we possess; I can assert
from experience, that there  is  not  in all the materia
medica, a more valuable  and  certain remedy for the
dyspepsia or indigestion, than poplar bark.  In hysteri-
cal complaints, this bark,  combined with a small quan-
tity of laudanum, is a  valuable remedy.  In worms it
has been prescribed to a child when convulsions or fits
had taken place; after taking a few doses, several dead
worms were discharged with the stools.  The dose of
 the powder, to a grown person, is from twenty grains to
 two drachms; or the bark may  be used in tincture:
 that is, steeped in spirits, or as a  tea:  its virtues are
 always greatest when given in substance or powder.
    Columbo Root is a  mild, but powerful tonic, com-
 municating vigor to the  stomach:  when properly ad-
 ministered, it does not produce stricture, nausea, or in
 other words, sickness of the stomach, and oppression; 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          627

 and is well adapted  to dyspeptics,  or those  persons
 laboring under indigestion; for the stomach will bear
 this substance with advantage, while most other tonics
 produce disagresable symptoms.—This  medicine will
 also restrain, or stop, vomiting,  or puking:—it is fre-
 quently  substituted for Peruvian bark, in consequence
 of its  milder action  on the  system.  Dose from ten,
 twenty, to thirty grains of the  powder, in half a tea-
 cupful of milk or cold water, three  times a day.   In
 dyspeptic cases, or enfeebled digestion, small doses  an-
 swer better than large ones.  The tincture is a useful
 form of administering this medicine, which is prepared
 as follows:—Take  of Columbo root  three  ounces,
 bruise it with  a hammer;  put  it in  a quart  of good
 spirits of any kind, or good wine, let it stand five days,
 shaking it frequently, then strain it, and it is fit  for use:
 it should be taken  occasionally through  the  day,  as
 pleasantly prepared as the stomach  is capable of re-
 ceiving it.  ^-—
   Nitric Acid.—Read diseases of the Liver, where
 you will find a full description of this medicine.
   It is a most powerful tonic, particularly in  chronic
 affections of the liver, and where the constitution has
 been much injured  by the use of mercury,  or ven-
 ereal diseases.  The best method  of taking it is,  to
 make a quart of cold water  pleasantly  sour with the
 medicine, and add to it sugar or any  kind of syrup,
 which renders it agreeable to the taste, when it may be
 drank  through the day in such  quantities as the stom-
 ach will bear.  In taking this medicine, however, it is
 best to take it through a quill, as the acid  is apt to in-
jure the teeth.
   Gentian  Root.—This makes a strong and valuable
 bitter, and is much used in weakness of the stomach, 
628          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and  to  increase the  appetite.  Take  two ounces  o
Gentian root, one  ounce of orange  peel, and half an
ounce of canella alba,  put  them in a quart  of good
spirit of any kind,  or good Madeira or  Teneriffe wine:
after eight or ten days, shaking it frequently  so as  to
extract  their strength, it then  yields  a  pleasant and
healthful bitter, and may be used at pleasure, or as the
stomach may require it.
   Virginia Snake Root, sometimes called black snake
root, wormwood, tansey, camomile flowers, horehound,
wild centaury commonly called centry, and  hops;  all
of which  yield  a  pleasant  and innocent bitter when
made strong, by boiling, and then adding to the tea  an
equal quantity of spirit: or  as a tincture by steeping
them for several days in good spirit of  any kind; these
articles may  be used separately or  mixed together, as
you  may have it in your power to procure them.
   Elixir Vitriol.—It is  a  very pleasant and useful
tonic; it restores and strengthens the appetite, and gives
tone to the digestive organs, and restrains those sweats
which  frequently occur  after severe fevers called  by
medical men colliquative sweats, which  means those
sweats which melt down, as it were,  the strength  of
the body.   Elixir  Vitriol is one of our most  popular
and  highly  esteemed  medicines,  for  restraining  he-
morrhage,  which  means flooding  from the uterus  or
womb,  and in haemoptysis, which  means spitting  of
blood.  The dose  is from fifteen to twenty drops, every
two or three hours, mixed in a stem or wine  glass of
cold water, or in  as much water as will make it plea-
santly sour.
   Iron in its operation on the system, evinces all the
effects of a powerful and  permanent  tonic; no medi-
cine, perhaps, leaving  behind it such lasting impres- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          629
sions.  It increases the  activity  and  volume  of the
pulse, corrects the state  of the blood and  secretions,
and invigorates or strengthens the whole system.  The
numerous advantages arising from the use of Iron, as
a medicine, are embraced within the sphere of chronic
debility.
  The chalybeate waters of which  the  western coun-
try  abounds, are springs impregnated with iron,  and
are found upon almost every branch and creek.  The
water of these valuable springs should be used by per-
sons laboring under the following  complaints: Chloro-
sis,  which means green  sickness [see  that head,] in
hypochondriasis,  commonly called vapors, or low spir-
its;  in hysterical  affections; the  whites,  a  disease to
which women are subject, [see that head;]  paralysis,
or palsy,  [see that head;]  in scrofula,  or king's evil;
rickets in children; and in  dyspepsia,  or indigestion,
[see that head.]   I have now enumerated the various
cases in which the chalybeate waters are beneficial, as
well as the principal  complaints in which iron  is em-
ployed.   When this medicine is used in  substance, it is
generally  obtained from  the  apothecary, or doctor's
shops, in the form of rust of iron, and given in doses of
five or ten grains, three times a day, mixed in syrup of
any kind.  By putting a few grains of rust  of iron
in a bottle filled with  common soda water, it makes as
valuable a chalybeate drink  as the water of any  of the
springs  which are impregnated with iron.  I again, for
the last  time, tell  you  that tonics must not be given,
when they produce fever. 
 630          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE".

                  SUDORIFICS.
   Sudorifics are medicines  which produce free and
 copious sweating.  Diaphoretics are those which occa-
 sion only gentle perspiration, or moisture of the skin.
   Tartar  Emetic, called  by  physicians, Tartarized
 Antimony, when given in  small doses, so to produce
 slight sickness at the stomach, is more generally attend-
 ed with perspiration, and is proper in fevers.
   Nitrous Powders.—To sixty grains of Nitre—which
 is nothing more than  Saltpetre—pounded very  fine,
 add sixteen grains of calomel, and one grain of tartar
 emetic:  mix them well  together,  and then divide  the
 compound into eight equal portions, one of which you
 are to give every two or three hours, in a little syrup of
 any kind.  If these powders should purge, which they
 sometimes do, you should omit or leave  out the calo-
 mel.—The Nitrous Powders are considered a valuable
 medicine in bilious fever.
   Dover's Powder.—This  powder is one of the moot
 certain sudorifics, where it  is  often difficult, by  other
 means to produce a copious sweat.   The dose is from
 five to twenty grains, according as the person's stomach
 and strength can bear  it.   It is proper to avoid much
 drink immediately after taking this  medicine; for by
 so doing it is apt to be vcmited or puked up, before it
 has had due time to operate as a sweat.   The manner
 of preparing them are as follows,  if you cannot obtain
 them already prepared  at any apothecary or doctor's
 shop: Of ipecacuanha, in powder, and opium in fine
 powder,  each one drachm, vitriolated tartar,  or salt
 petre, (either will do,) one ounce finely powdered; you
 are to be very particular to grind all these articles to-
gether into  the finest powder; when thus ground as
fine as it is possible, you have  prepared and ready for 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
631
use, this valuable medicine.  Opium  intended to make
these powders, ought to be  pounded  in a mortar per-
fectly fine, during the coldest weather, and kept for this
purpose in a bottle.  In warm  weather, the opium be-
comes  too  soft to admit of being reduced to powder.
Dover's Powder is one of the  most valuable remedies
we have, for quieting the bowels in dysentery or flux,
after proper evacuations have been made.
  Antimonial  Wine  and  Spirits of  Nitre.—Take
equal quantities of each, and mix  them together; the
dose is one, two, and three tea-spoonsful: if it inclines
to vomit, or  puke, you are to lessen the quantity  of
antimonial wine one half to two of the spirits of nitre.
This is valuable in fevers to promote  perspiration.
  Ipecacuanha, given  in small doses—say one or two
grains—every two or  three hours, mixed with a little
warm water or syrup, will excite perspiration.
  Seneka Snake Root, Virginia snake  root, butterfly
weed, sometimes called pleurisy root, dittany, bone set,
called by some, thoroughwort.  These roots or herbs
are all valuable for their sweating powers. For a full
description of each, refer to their different heads.
           OINTMENT FOR SORES.
  Simple Ointment.—This, as  its name expresses, is
innocent, and merely intended to keep the parts  soft,
and  from  exposure to  cold;  made by melting  four
ounces of beeswax  with a half a pint of sweet oil; or
in a less quantity, observing the proportions.   Suet, and
clear hog's lard will answer if the oil cannot be conve-
niently had. 
 632          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

   Balsilicum Ointment.—Healing and exciting; used
 in dressing sores.   It is made by melting one ounce of
 beeswax, one ounce of resin, and an ounce and a  half
 of clean hog's lard together.
   Lead Ointment.—For dressing sores of an  inflam-
 matory nature.  Pound very fine, one drachm of sugar
 of lead, and  mix it well with six ounces of hog's lard.
   Red Precipitate Ointment.—This ointment  is gen-
 erally used for curing the itch; it is also valuable for
 old sores on  the legs, when applied in the dry powder,
 after cleansing them well with castile soap; it will  also
 destroy what is  called proud flesh.   The way to make
 this ointment is, to  mix one drachm of the powdered
 precipitate with an ounce of  hog's lard, and rub them
 well together.
   Tar Ointment.—Used in diseases of the skin, par-
 ticularly scald head;  made by melting  together equal
 quantities of  tar, and the best mutton suet.
  Jamestown Weed.—This valuable plant, of which I
 have given a full  description, under the proper head,
 forms one of  the best ointments for piles and old sores,
 made by first bruising, and then stewing the leaves in
 hog's  lard, and then" strained;  the proportions in which
 the leaves and lard are to be mixed, are about  one
 part of the leaf  to one of lard.
   Turner's Cerate.—This ointment, which is so cele-
 brated in burns, [for a full description of its extraordin-
ary virtues, refer to that head,] is prepared as follows:
take of calamine in fine powder, half a pound, bees
 wax the same quantity, hog's lard one pound; melt the
wax with the lard, and put it out  in the air, when it
begins to  thicken, which  it will do as it gets cool, mix
with it the calamine, and stir it well until cold. 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           633

    When you inquire for this article at an apothecary
  or doctor's shop, ask for calamine in powder;  it is  a
  mineral  imported from England  and Germany, and
  found in mines intermingled  with the ores of different
  metals.
    Blistering Ointment.—Take of Spanish flies—call-
  ed, medically speaking, cantharides—beeswax, resin
  and  tollow, equal quantities of each;  melt first the
  wax, resin and tallow together, the flies are to be taken
  and pounded very fine, and mixed with the composition
  a little before it becomes entirely cold or firm.
    Tartar Emetic Ointment—Called by  physicians,
 Ointment of tartarized  Antimony.—This is a valuable
 external or outward stimulant, and forms a most bene-
 ficial  application  in all  deep  seated inflammations,
 especially, of the chest.   It occasions a pustular erup-
 tion on the skin, or in other words, numerous pimples,
 which discharge in a short time; these discharges, or
 runnings  may be kept up by the occasional application
 of the ointment as expressed under  that head.  The
 method of making this  ointment is as follows: take of
 tartar emetic one drachm—or two, if you wish to make
 it strong—mixed  well with one  ounce of hog's lard,
 and it is fit for use, or if you prefer it sprinkle it on a
 piece of  leader, on  which  an  adhesive, commonly
 called  a  strengthening  plaster, has  been previously
 spread, taking care not to cover the edges of the  adhe-
 sive plaster with the ointment, so as to prevent it from
 touching and adhering, or sticking to the skin.
   Volatile Liniment—This is a valuable  preparation,
 to be rubbed on the skin as an external stimulant in
 sore throats, rheumatism,  spasms,  pains,  &c.  After
rubbing it well in, which  should be continued  from
twenty  minutes to half an hour,  flannel should be
       80 
634           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

wrapped around the afflicted  part.  Volatile Liniment
is made by mixing  equal quantities of spirits of harts-
horn and sweet oil;  by adding to this mixture, a tea-
spoonful or two of laudanum, the preparation will be
much improved in its efficacy in relieving pain.
                    MERCURY.
   I shall mention only such  mercurial medicines as
are daily and commonly used.
   Calomel, is considered the most valuable of mercu-
rial medicines, in every disease in which I have directed
its use.   Full, plain, and explicit directions have been
given as to the doses, and the effect intended to be pro-
duced by this mineral, and the injuries which frequently
result from its improper use.
   Blue pill.—There is scarcely an indication  to be ful-
filled—says Dr. Chapman—by mercury, the  purgative
effect excepted, to which this preparation is not adequate.
It is much prescribed in cases  where salivation is de-
manded, and as an alternative, which you will see fully
described in Diseases of the  Liver.   The  blue pill is
made by  triturating, or  rubbing quicksilver  with  the
conserve  of roses, till the globules, or J'ttle balls of
mercury,  are entirely  extinguished  or destroyed; the
pills should be so prepared as to contain about a grain
of the metal; the dose in general is,  a pill in the morn-
ing, and one  at night.  This is the mildest preparation
of mercury, but it is by no means an inactive medicine.
The dose may be increased,  if  necessary, to as high as
six pills.                            r
   Mercurial Ointment—generally known by the peo-
ple of the country as oil of baize.   The old plan of 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          635

preparing  this ointment required great labor.   The
following is % quick and effectual method of preparing
this  article: take an ounce and a half of balsam  of
Peru,  to  every pound of mercury;  triturate for  ten
minutes, and the mercury will be not only extinguished,
but apparently oxydised.   Then add the proper pro-
portions  of suet and lard  to make an  ointment.  As
soon as the whole is well mixed, which may be done
in three  minutes, the ointment has a fine  blue color,
and possesses full activity.
              SWAIM'S PANACEA.
  This medicine, on  its first  appearance before  the
public,  excited great hopes  of being  an invaluable
remedy for several complaints supposed to be incura-
ble, particularly scrofula.  The high recommendations
which accompanied it, by some of the most distinguish-
ed physicians of Philadelphia, entitled it to some confi-
dence, and so much were  its virtues appreciated, that
this medicine sold for the extravagant price of five dol-
lars  per bottle; its  immediate  and  successful  sales,
realized to Mr. Swaim a large fortune.   In due time,
however, like all patent medicines, it sunk into dignified
retirement, being nothing more than an old friend with
a new face: its principal and  component part,  being
the same  as the French  medicine called Rob Syphili-
tique,  which is corrosive sublimate—one of the most
active preparations of mercury.
  Swaim's Medicine, is made from sarsaparilla, marsh
reed grass, borrage flowers, senna, rose leaves, sassafras
and  winter green; these articles are boiled together in
water,  and strained  off; sugar and honey are then 
636          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

added, so as to form  the consistence  of syrup, when
the most active mercurial preparation, corrosive subli-
mate, is mixed with it.
  The Rob, in its effects, is similar  to Swaim's medi-
cine; its preparation, however, is more simple, and the
addition of the former, adds  nothing to  its virtues.
Both these medicines are only valuable in the seconda-
ry stages of that  dreadful disease which  I haye  so
plainly described under the head venereal.
                 LIVERWORT.
  This plant grows  so  abundantly,  and  is so  well
known in the western country, that a description would
be unnecessary.  The excitement produced throughout
the United States in consequence of its being a suppos-
ed remedy or cure for consumption, led to a full inves-
tigation of its  virtues, when, like  thousands of  its
predecessors, it  has only  proved to  be  an innocent
palliative remedy.  By using it as a tea,  it assists ex-
pectoration, or a discharge from the lungs; allays the
irritation of the cough; and in some instances, lessens
the frequency of  the hectic symptoms.    See  head
Consumption. 
ADDITIONAL DISEASES, &c
                EATING SNUFF.
   Nothing is more difficult to be  accounted for, even
 by men of acute  and profound observation, than  the
 strong attachments of the human species, to practices
 which are absolutely at war with nature, and hostile to
 every principle of enjoyment and  happpiness.  How
 the use of tobacco, under any form, could ever have
 become a  luxury among mankind, especially consider-
 ing its nauseous and disgusting qualities, is an enigma
 not to be solved on common principles.   We can easily
 account for our attachment to  food  and even to those
 luxuries of life which have any thing tempting in their
 use, by referring them  to instinctive impulses  to  the
 preservation  of life, and  our native propensities  to
 heighten the enjoyments of existence:  but  to account
 for our attachments to habits and practices,  which are
 absolutely disgusting, offensive, and highly injurious
 to health, and which almost invariably lead to immoral
 and  dangerous excesses, we  are  compelled to refer
 them  to the degeneracy of our species,  and  the entire
 corruption  of their moral  tastes  and  feelings.  The
 use of tobacco in any way, unless as a  medical appli-
 cation to  the  system, the instances of which will  be
 found under the proper head, is dangerous to health, to
 happiness, and morals.   In support of the truth of this
 doctrine, it would be idle to adduce proofs; those who
use tobacco are conscious of its destructive effects, and
those  who do not, may hourly witness its dreadful con- 
638
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
sequences, on the health  and morals of society. •  We
are all well acquainted with the effects of chewing and
smoking tobacco, and taking snuff in  the  common
way;  but we have something yet to learn and disclose,
respecting the hitherto unheard of practice, among  the
females of our country, of regularly eating Scotch snuff!
It appears from what I have been informed on  verita-
ble authority, or I certainly would not  believe it  pos-
sible, that the practice among our ladies, of eating daily
considerable quantities of  Scotch  snuff, arose in the
first instance from their  using it as a tooth powder—
yes, most courteous reader, a tooth powder!  If this is
any thing more, than a mere pretext for the filthy and
disgusting practice, which  taints the breath with a
fetor worse than asafoetida,  deranges all the  physical
sensations, and the whole nervous  system; imparts to
the very cheek of youthful beauty the loathsome com-
plexion of a cake of bees-wax!  Subverts, ruins, and
finally destroys the digestive powers of the stomach;
and renders that stomach  a filthy reservoir of dregs
and crudities, which taint and corrupt the whole system;
the eaters of Scotch snuff may be induced to abandon
the destructive practice,  when I point out to them a
much better tooth powder—which is nothing more nor
less, than powdered charcoal, mixed with peruvian or
dog-wood bark.
   In speaking of the evils which arise from eating snuff,
I have not enumerated the half of them:  the  fact is,
that language itself would  fail in classing  and giving
them  names.   We all know  perfectly  well, that the
stomach is the work-shop of the whole human machine,
and that when  its functions  are deranged or impaired,
the  whole system suffers in its remotest  extremities.
Hear what the celebrated Rush says, respecting  the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
639
practice of eating snuff:—"I have known two instances
of  death  from eating snuff   It is a  habit which is
increasing among the ladies  of  our country with a
rapidity only equalled by the ravages of ardent spirits,
and which is no less ruinous to health  and destructive
to life."
  The practice of eating snuff had its  probable origin
in using the Scotch snuff as a  tooth powder;—a fond-
ness is  soon  acquired for it, and hundreds  among us,
especially among our females,  get drunk upon it every
day.  Doctor Rush's views of this  subject are undoubt-
edly correct, but he  has  not said  all that might have
been said  respecting  the  consequences  of snuff eating.
He might have said that  those who are  in the practice
of eating snuff may easily be distinguished from those
who are not; he might have said, here is a snuff eater;
notice this complexion; it is a pallid, sickly yellow;  the
skin seems to be undercoated with a layer of snuff;
there  is nothing of the rose's bloom  of opening unsullied
beauty,  on this lank,  faded, and hollow cheek; look at
this eye—the owner is an eater of snuff; do you  see
any thing of that healthful brilliancy,  that sparkling
fire of  youthful beauty  which enchants mankind, in
that jaundiced, sunken,  hollow, dead,  and beamless
eye?  No: the vital  energies have been worn  out and
exhausted by snuff eating; the animations of youth
have been overpowered and killed  by this excess;  this
is but the  shadow of a human being!  Catch  a scent
of this breath;  is it pure  and sweet, with youthful pas-
sion's tender bloom?  does it  remind you  of the gale
of spring, that  gently shakes  the  blossoms from  the
orange  grove?  does  its  healthful  purity bespeak  the
paradise of sweets from  which it  comes?  No:  like
the  wind of night, that has swept the sepulchral shades 
640          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

of death, it comes with corruption  and infection on its
wings! *it  reminds you of disease, debility, decay and
death—of every thing but love!  Doctor Rush  might
have said  all this of the snuff* eater, and forfeited none
of his high claims to professional honors, integrity and
truth.
  I am decidedly of opinion, and I record the  allega-
tion  without fear of contradiction, especially  by those
who know any  thing of the subject, that of the two
characters, the drunkard and the snuff eater, the drunk-
ard is the  more  worthy personage, if consequences be
taken into consideration.   Snuff eating invariably pro-
duces langor, extreme debility, aversion to the  perfor-
mance of the common duties  of  life,  tremors of the
nerves, capricious and disagreeable temper, and restless
melancholy and  lowness of spirits,  unless the  person is
immediately under the disgusting  stimulant.  But this
is not all: snuff  eating always produces want of appe-
tite, nausea, inordinate thirst, pains  and distension of
the stomach, dyspepsia or indigestion, tremors of die
limbs and  whole frame, disturbed  sleep, emaciation  or
wasting of the body and limbs, epilepsy or  fits, con-
sumption  and death.   Nor  is this all: tobacco is  an
absolute poison;  a very moderate  quantity introduced
into the system or even applied moist to the  pit of the
stomach, has been known  to produce instant death.
The Indians of our own hemisphere have long known
of its poisonous  effects upon the  human system; and
formerly used  to dip the points of their arrows  in  an
oil obtained from the  leaves, by  which faintness and
death  occurred  from  their  wounds.  I was  once  ac-
quainted with a  young lady of the first respectability,
whose kind and affectionate heart  was possessed  of
every noble and   generous sentiment, who was in  the 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           641

habit of eating snuff.  She was taken dangerously ill,
and it became necessary to give her an emetic or puke;
and the fact was, that in the operation of the medicine
she threw up nearly half a pint of snuff from the stom-
ach.  How young, blooming, and tender girls, can bear
the use of snuff in this way, or indeed in any other way,
after experiencing the wretched sensations always pro-
duced by it, is to me absolutely unaccountable, unless
on the  principles 1 have mentioned; and I must, also,
here confess myself unable to account for the fact, that
the parents of these girls  knowing the evils  of snuff
eating, cannot merely overlook  the  practice in their
blooming  daughters,  but  absolutely encourage it by
their example.
  I really trust  that the preceding remarks, and they
are founded in  experience and truth, will have some
influence in restraining the practice of snuff  eating,
and in restoring  many of the fair of our country, to the
possession of their native charms  and beauty.
     INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.
  An inflammation of the lungs is sometimes an origin-
al disease, and sometimes derived from other maladies.
It is occasioned by the causes which bring on the pleu-
risy, by violent exercise, wearing wet clothes, obstruct-
ed perspiration, and ardent spirits.  In an inflammation
of the  lungs, the symptoms resemble those of pleurisy;
but the pain is not  so severe, and  the pulse  is not so
quick  and hard,  while  there is  greater  difficulty of
respiration, and  greater  oppression of the breast.  A
dull pain is  felt internally along the  breast bone, or
between the shoulders, augmented  by breathing; great
       81 
 642          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 solicitude near the heart; weariness and inquietude; loss
 of  sleep and want of appetite;  while a yellowish scurf
 overspreads  the tongue.  The veins in the neck are
 also dilated; the face inflated, while a dark red discol-
 oration prevails about the eyes and cheeks.
                    TREATMENT.
   An inflammatory attack upon an organ so necessary
 to existence as the lungs, is always dangerous, and re-
 quires speedy relief   The diet should  be extraordina-
 rily slender and thin.  Infusions of fennel roots in warm
 water, with milk decoctions of barley, and common
 whey, are most proper both for drink  and nutriment:
 the steam  of warm  water is also recommended as  a
 kind of internal fomentation, and a help to attenuate the
 impacted humors.  If the bowels are in a laxative state,
 if the patient thereby is not debilitated, no effort should
 be promoted by emollient clysters.   Bleeding and purg-
 ing  are generally necessary—but if  the patient spit
 freely, they may not  be required: the quantity of blood
 taken at the  commencement of the disease, should be
 large.   The  evacuating plan should be adopted early,
 but it should not be persevered in too long.  The solu-
 tion of gum ammoniac, with oxymel  of squills,  will
 promote expectoration or spitting:  it is from a free dis-
 charge of spittle that relief is principally to be expected.
 When the counteracting treatment does not succeed, a
 suppuration is formed, more or less dangerous accord-
 ing to  its situation:  if it occupies  the pleura, it may
 break  outwardly, and the matter will  be discharged
 without danger: when it occurs within the  lungs, the
 matter must be ejected by spitting: when it floats be-
 tween the  pleura and the lungs, it is said an  incision
 must be made between the ribs to liberate the confined
matter.   The same remedies and treatment are employ- 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          643

ed in this  disease as in pleurisy.   Inflammation of the
lungs is called by the doctors peripuenmony: the patient's
bowels should be opened by calomel or other purgatives.
Blood should be taken from the arm, and  a blister ap-
plied over the pain.  The  decoction of seneka snake-
root or butterfly root, should be freely used.  If the
patient should not be  relieved, (as often happens,) and
sinks into a state of general  debility, I then give the
chalybeate pill  night and morning: the patient should
also take every morning a new laid egg, beat up in  as
much old whiskey as  will cook it; fill up the  glass with
sweet milk warm from the cow.  This preparatidn acts
as a stimulus and an expectorant, and at the same time
nourishes the patient.   His drink should be buttermilk
whey.
         FALLING OF THE PALATE.
  The falling of the palate is attended with a tickling
in the throat, and soreness of the tongue: it proceeds
generally from a foul stomach.
                   TREATMENT.
  Take of sage tea half a pint, vinegar and honey two
ounces of each, and half a drachm of alum, and wash
the throat with it: alum  water will answer the same
purpose.  Apply salt and pepper to the elongated palate
by means of the handle of a spoon.   If these measures
fail, give an emetic. 
644          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
                   JAUNDICE.
  This disorder turns the white of the eye, as well as
the skin, yellow; the urine is saffron colored,  and will
stain a white cloth.
  The causes are, obstruction of bile; purges or vom-
its; an  obstinate  ague;  or  the  premature stoppage of
it by astringent medicines; remoter causes are, the bites
of vipers or mad  dogs or poisonous animals,  and vio-
lent passions;  infants,  when the  first stools are  net
sufficiently purged off, and pregnant women, are subject
to  it.  The symptoms are, excessive  weariness, great
aversion to motion, a dry skin, an itching  pain over the
body, the breathing difficult, oppression of the  breast,
heat in the nostrils, a bitter  taste in the mouth, sickness
at the stomach, flatulency and  vomiting.  Where  the
disease  is simple, it is not dangerous; where  it besets
the old and  debilitated, and is complicated  with other
maladies, it often proves fatal.
  Regimen.—The focjd should be  light  and cooling;
stewed  prunes, boileof  or  roasted apples, preserved
plums, boiled  spinage^ veal or chicken soup, with light
bread, are very propeh  A cure has sometimes been
effected by living  on raw eggs,  or  sucking a  raw egg
every morning.  The drink  may  be buttermilk, whey
sweetened, or decoctions of cooling opening vegeta-
bles.  Where  there are no symptoms of inflammation,
as much exercise as the  patient can  bear,  will  be benfi-
cial; walking, running, riding  on horseback or in a
carriage,  or a longl journey,  have great  restorative
efficacy.  Such amusements as promote circulation, and
cheer the spirits, may be indulged in with advantage, i
                    TREATMENT.
   The  patient should first be  bled, an emetic should
then be given, castile soap may also be administered in 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          645

sufficient quantities to keep the intestines open; or the
salt of tartar may be taken in doses of twenty or thirty
grains three or four times a day, dissolved in the infu-
sion  of columbo.  The patient should be bled more
freely where there is pain about the region of the liver;
a slight salivation is produced.  The warm bath should
be used, and a blister may be laid over the pained part.
Three or four spoonsful of olive  oil may be  taken to
alleviate the pain, or one or two tea spoonsful of ether,
or thirty drops of laudanum. Bags of hot salt may
be laid  on the  right side, and after the obstructions are
removed, the tone of the system  may  be restored by
the use of columbo, nitric  acid,  dogwood  or cherry-
tree bark, with porter and wine.
        SCROFULA OR KING'S EVIL.
  Symptoms.—Small tumors appear behind the ears or
under the  chin.  The feet, hands, eyes,  breast, and
armpits and groins are liable to its attacks.  These
knots in time break and become  ulcers, from which a
thin watery humor is discharged.
  Regimen.—The food should be very low, light and
easy of digestion, as good light bread, soup of the flesh
of young  animals, with an occasional glass  of wine.
The patient ought to take as much exercise as he can
bear, in dry, open air, but it should not be too cold.
                   TREATMENT.
  Warm  fomentations are injurious.  Bathing in cold
water,  or the  sea where it is convenient, and keeping
the bowels open with salt and water will be  highly
salutary.  A  tea spoonful of salt  dissolved in  water
should  be  taken  every   morning,   Peruvian  bark 
646          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

and  steel alternately every two weeks, or nitric acid
will be of great service.   Muriate of lime in doses of
from ten to  eighty drops gradually increased, three or
four times a day, diluted with  water or tea, is said to
be a very valuable  remedy.  The solution of arsenic
may be given twice or thrice a day after a suppuration
has  taken  place.  Mix  well  together one pound of
finely  powdered bark and  one ounce of white lead
pulverized;  this  powder applied  to  scrofulous ulcers,
will act beneficially, or let an  ounce of  sugar of lead
be  dissolved in a pint of water; keep on the  ulcers
linen cloths moistened in this solution.
  The ulcers should also be washed with salt and water
every morning.   Before  a tumor breaks, it should be
anointed with fresh butter stewed to an oil twice  a day,
bathing it in with a hot shovel.  When the tumors  break,
apply to them a plaster of molasses stewed down to such
a  degree  of thickness,  that when spread it will not
run: if the disease is  attended with  general debility,
chalybeate medicine should be taken.  Time and sim-
ple means are the surest remedies: the cure cannot be
humored.  The diet and drink should be of a light and
cooling nature.  Cold  should  be  guarded against, and
exercise  should be taken: in this simple manner I have
cured cases that have baffled regular practice.   When
the lumps are first  coming, relief may be  obtained by
anointing them with oil of fresh butter, and warming it
in with a hot shovel.   I have given the practice of other
physicians as well as my own. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
647
          NIGHT  MARE,  OR INCUBUS.
   The patient in sleep feels an oppression or weight
 about his stomach  and breast: he groans—is in great
 distress, and dreads suffocation—he fancies himself in
 some imminent danger, and tries to escape, but finds he
 cannot move—he imagines himself about to fall over a
 precipice—be drowned in a  river—or consumed in a
 burning  house.  Causes.—Indigestion, debility, reple-
 tion, late and  heavy suppers, great fatigue, sleeping on
 the back, intoxication.
                    TREATMENT.
   As the person afflicted  generally moans or manifests
 distress,  he should be waked, as that brings immediate
 relief.  Those who are subject to this complaint should
 eat early and light suppers, and take a glass of pepper-
 mint water after supper to assist digestion: windy food
 should be avoided.   A hard  bed should be preferred.
 When the complaint proceeds from debility, the chaly-
 beate pill may be taken; or steel, bark or columbo, may
 be administered in ordinary doses: if it arises from a
 full habit, a spare diet  will be proper, as well as vene-
 section and purging.  Severe study, anxiety, and what-
 ever will oppress the mind, should be carefully avoided.
 It will be prudent in those who are frequently troubled
 with this complaint, to have a companion to sleep with
 them, lest at some time the stagnation of blood should
 continue  so long as  to stop the functions  of life, and
terminate in death.
« 
648          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

HYDROPHOBIA,  OR THE BITE OF A MAD
                      DOG.
  Whenever it can be done, the part that is injured
should be cut out immediately, and  by this means the
poison will be hindered from entering into the system*
When this cannot be done, caustic should be applied
without delay, so as to change the nature of the wound, or
the part affected may be washed, then burnt with a hot
iron more extensively than the wound itself, then fill it
with mercury and keep  it open for some time.  Mercu-
ry also should  be employed  inwardly  and outwardly
to produce salivation.   Large doses of opium,  it  is
said, have proved beneficial.  The caustic volatile al-
kali, may  upon experiment  be  discovered to be an
antidote to the bite of a mad dog as well as to that of
poisonous serpents.   Emetic weed, scull cap, and chick
weed  are deemed valuable remedies in hydrophobia.
                    RICKETS.
  This disease  originates from  weakness, and  any
cause that produces debility disposes to it.  The head
and  abdomen are  unnaturally enlarged—the face  is
flushed and florid.  It sometimes affects the bones which
become crooked, unnatural and deformed.   The appe-
tite is bad, the digestion imperfect, and  the solids
relaxed.
                   TREATMENT.
  Exercise is the most effectual remedy.  Much may
be accomplished by nutricious  diet and wholesome air.
Gentle vomits and cathartics should  be given to cleanse
and purify the system.  It should then be braced with
tonics, as bark, steel, and columbo; but perhiips nothing 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
649
will so effectually invigorate and renew the constitution
as the chalybeate pill.  Bandages will also be useful in
reducing the enlargement of the head.
               ST. VITUS' DANCE,
   Is a species of convulsions.  Its approaches are evin-
ced by languor and love of inaction, and long protracted
constipation of the bowels.  Presently the face is con-
vulsed and the limbs twitch and jerk and  many strange
gesticulations are exhibited.  As costiveness is too com-
monly the  cause of this disease, purgatives are usually
necessary; if continued, the symptoms will gradually
abate, an J the patient, strange as it may seem, will gain
strength, and  show  by his walk, countenance, and
appearance that  he  is recovering.   Cathartics  are
mainly to be depended on; though, sometimes tonics may
be employed successfully.
               TO  CURE  A WEN.
  Wash it with common salt dissolved in water every
day, and it will be removed in a short time.  Or make
a strong brine of alum  salt; simmer it over  the fire.
When thus prepared, wet a piece of cloth in  it every
day  and apply  it constantly for  one month,  and  the
protuberance will disappear.
       82 
650
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
               MORTIFICATION.
  Before a mortification comes on, the part affected
is in a high state of inflammation,  a burning and  ex-
ceedingly painful sensation is felt, and where a  wound
is  the cause, it becomes dry,  and the flesh around  it
assumes a purple color.   This stage is called gan-
grene; the next  step  is  mortification.    When gan-
grene ensues, a strong lye poultice will generally arrest its
progress.   When this fails, I apply the steam of wool,
and continue the application for hours until the patient
becomes  easy.  The  principal ingredients  which  I
use  to stop  a mortification, firtt washing the wounds
with a decoction  of  spikenard, are wool, bacon rinds
and life everlasting; the steam of these conveyed to the
wound, or mortified  parts, will,  when  perseveringly
applied, make the unsound flesh slough off, then nature
will generate new  flesh and the patient  will get well.
But, perhaps an example or two  will illustrate more
forcibly and  clearly my mode  of treatment in cases of
mortified  wounds.  I  was called  on not many years
since to a man, who had got his leg broke in falling a
tree, his leg was very badly mangled, part of the bone
drove six inches into the ground.  The accident hap-
pened  in the morning; I was sent for and got there in
the evening.  I found that the arteries were  not entire-
ly destroyed,  and stated my belief that I could save the
leg.  I gave him two spoonsful of castor oil with fifteen
drops of laudanum, and washed the leg in warm milk
and water.  After cleansing it in this way,  I boiled a
quantity of spikenard in water and made a dressing with
which I washed the leg twice a day.
  After using this decoction, I applied a poultice of
sweet  milk and flour to the leg, until a  mortification
took place—an event which I was anxiously anticipa- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
651
ting.  Knowing that such a mass of bruised, lacerated
flesh must sooner or later die, I prepared myself for the
occurrence.   On  the morning of the fifth day, he be-
came restless: I enquired how he was, and he inform-
ed me, that his leg felt as if it was in the fire.   I had an
oven filled with wool, bacon rinds, and  life everlasting;
into it I threw red  hot irons.  I had a tube  three or
four feet long, extending from a hole in the oven to  the
fractured leg, over which I had made  an arch so as to
confine the steam to the wounded part.   I  continued
this course, still filling the oven with wool, and throwing
in hot irons, all that day, all the subsequent night, and
until ten o'clock next morning—when the patient said he
felt as easy as he ever had done in his life: the use of the
steam was  then discontinued.   The mortified flesh
sloughed off in pieces as thick as  a man's hand, until
the whole of the dead and bruised parts came off, which
was nearly  all the  flesh from the knee  to  the ankle.
All the bone of the leg was then taken out.   After the
mortification was stopped, the same treatment was pur-
sued : the leg was washed as at first with a decoction
of spikenard twice a day, and a poultice of sweet milk
and flour was applied until the cure was complete.  The
patient was made to drink plentifully of  dogwood  tea;
 his diet was light, and his bowels kept open by doses
 of castor oil or salts.  The leg was stretched out straight
 and kept in an easy posture, so that it might be as long
 as the other when  the new bone was  formed. It soon
 became sound, and was as useful to thet patient as if the
 accident had never happened.  This is  my treatment,
 and  in my hands it has never failed to arrest mortifica-
 tion  before it became general.  I have never known a
 general mortification to be stopped : this may be recog-
 nized by the patient's  becoming stupid or languid, and 
652          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

vomiting a dark, bilious matter.  This course persever-
ingly pursued, with the  aid  of a little  common  sense,
will, it is hoped, supersede the horrid practice of cutting
off limbs whenever a black spot appears on them.
                     WHITE SWELLINGS.
           There are twTo kinds of white swellings—the acute
        and scorbutic.   The acute is the most common, and
        will first occupy our attention.   There is no disease to
        which the human family is liable that will, if not taken
        in time, inflict more severe and lasting misery.  It does
        not attack persons above the age of twenty-five years:
        children between five and fifteen are more likely to  ex-
'.        perience its violence and severity.  No diversity of soil
)        nor salubrity of climate, can ward off  its assaults: its
        ravages extend from the sea-shore to the mountains, and
        are most frequent in  the most temperate and  healthy
!■'        atmosphere.  Children of the finest constitutions and
(ij       of the greatest  activity, are most liable to its  attacks.
\       If the patient survives the  severity of the first  assault,
        he may for many years drag out a painful and  misera-
        ble existence—his  macerated body filled with  sores
        from  the crown of his head to the sole of his feet, and
        his sufferings so protracted, violent, and agonizing, that
I        when he dies, as he will of a hectic fever, his  friends,
ji       relations, and even  parents, feel comfort hi the  thought
ij       that death has relieved him from  his  miseries, and
j| ?.      willingly consign to the tomb the mortal remains of  the
;        unhappy victim.
           Causes.—This disease is brought on by suddenly
        cooling the body after it has been overheated by violent
        exercise.  It is often produced by working too  hard— 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
653
  by running or jumping, and then  going  immediately
  into water;  or lying down on the cold ground and going
  to sleep:  sometimes the first symptom is, a pain in the
  part infected, and continues for several days before the
  patient is  seized with the fever: at other times, the first
  notice of the disease is, a violent attack, as of the bilious
  fever,  with  loss of appetite, and constant craving of
  water.  In  a  few days the disease locates itself, and
  extreme pain is  felt in the part affected; but although
  every part of  the human frame is liable to its assaults,
  it most frequently fastens on the limbs.  The part com-
  mences swelling most commonly, though not always,
  without changing  its  color; for  sometimes the  whole
  limb is highly inflamed.  The patient finds no rest day
  nor night; the pain is augmented on  every movement
  of the limb  affected, which continues to settle for five or
  six weeks before it breaks.  By this time the  patient is
  reduced to a skeleton by his excruciating  pains.   After
  the abscess breaks and commences  running, the suffer-
  er will gradually gain strength and begin to move about,
  although his wound is still running, and the disease
  unconquered.
                     TREATMENT.
    Though this disease has long baffled the skill of the
  most  eminent physicians  of the world,  its pathology
  and  treatment  are but  imperfectly  understood and
  have,  as yet been imperfectly  elucidated.   When this
  disease begins with a pain in the limbs without  fever,
  it  may sometimes be relieved by making an ointment
  of hops, fit, or  if it cannot be had, of fresh butter and
  red pepper,  and  rubbing the part affected  twice a day,
  drying it in  with a hot shovel or iron.  If, after doing
.  this the pain should still  increase, and the limb  begin
  to swell and puff, an incision should be made with a lancet 
654          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
the whole  length  of the blade, nor is  this operation
much felt or  dreaded,  so great is the pain of the dis-
ease ; on the contrary it gives relief.   This operation is
only to be performed by a skillful physician.  Place at
the bottom of the wound a piece of vegetable caustic
about the  size of a pea; after  waiting half an  hour
put in as much more in the same way;  continue to do
so three or four times  every day until you  get into the
cavity which always contains an oily fluid.  The flesh
also is always puffed up from the bone.   After you have
got to the bone, stop the use of the caustic, and make
a decoction, (not strong) of wild ivy leaves, and throw
it in  on the bone  with a syringe three or four times a
day.  After you begin  to use the ivy decoction, apply a
poultice of sweet  milk and  flour; under this treatment
the wound will soon commence a healthy suppuration
and the patient will in a short time recover.   As the
physician  is  seldom  called in until the  disease has
damaged the bone, if  the swelling is not opened in the
early stage, the oily fluid spoken of, will not be found;
for it is soon changed  into puss.  Whenever the physi-
cian is  called in, he must follow the directions given:
if the bone is injured,  it  may be known by the appear-
ance of the matter discharged :  it will be covered with
 specks  or eyes, such as are often seen in soup; if many
 of these are visible, the bone is unquestionably injured,
 and a speedy cure is not to be expected.  Nature must
 work, and her operations  must be  watched and aided.
 After the abscess  is opened, and discharging a healthy
 matter, the system must  be strengthened and  restored.
 The energy of the patient must be renovated before the
 cure of the  wound is  undertaken.   The chalybeate
 pill will be the proper  medicine.  When  the patient
 has  gained  sufficient  strength,  which  he  will not do 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
655
under five or six months, if the running still continues,
it will be an unerring proof that the  bone is injured.
The wound must then be gradually opened  by the ap-
plication of the caustic, as before directed.
         BEER FOR  CONSUMPTION.
  Take of spikenard root, if green, two pounds—if dry,
one pound;  of seneka  snake-root two ounces; of wild
cherry bark, of the root of devilsbit, each half a pound;
of the root of wild sweet potatoe, the root of burdock,
and of the bark of white walnut, each half a pound:
put these into ten gallons of water; boil it down to three.
Pour it off the roots, while boiling, into a  keg or jug,
and to this quantity add one quart of honey: in  a few
days it will ferment, and be fit for use.
  Of this decoction  the patient may drink two or  three
tea-cupsful a day.  This beer is to be given to patients
affected with the  livers complaint or  any kind of con-
sumption : it is useful in cases of debility of long standing
This medicine acts as a tonic, a cathartic, and  a stimu-
lant.   The white walnut is intended  only  to keep the
bowels open:  the patient will, therefore, judge and put
in more or less of it, as he finds its operation  more or
less powerful: if the patients  are easy operated  on, a
less quantity is to be taken. 
 
REMARKS.
  In making an addition to  this medical work, I feel
sensible of the insufficiency of space', to write as fully
and as plainly as I could wish, on such important and
useful subjects as might be communicated to my coun-
trymen.  The rapid sale of  my  book, and the great
patronage I have  received in  my humble efforts to be
useful to my fellow creatures, fills my heart with joy and
gratitude, and language is inadequate to express to my
fellow-citizens, how much I estimate their goodness, or
how willing I feel still to  continue my feeble efforts
through the assistance of Almighty God, to do them
good, and to unfold to  them such thing^in plain lan-
guage, as may soothe their bodily infirmities, and per-
haps be the means of relieving  them from pain  and
sickness.  To the profession of medicine the life of man
stands greatly indebted through  all its ages, from the
cradle to the grave, and that the use of second means
was  intended by  the Deity,  cannot be controverted.
Behold  the spontaneous  gifts of nature, yielding in
almost every fragrant herb and flower, medicine to heal
and  relieve our maladies, recalling to  our  minds the
splendid proofs of  the Divine  Majesty, showing the in-
comparable superiority of nature over the most elegant
works of human contrivance.  Behold, for a moment,
the forms and colors that  embellish the vegetable world,
and see hovv many thousands of the human race, like
the grazing cattle, without reflection, trample on the
flowery meads, and forget  that those plants are the works
       83
A 
658          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

of God, and intended by our Heavenly Father, in infi-
nite  mercy, for the use of his  creatures; wonder net,
then, that so many  constitutions are destroyed in this
country by the daily and  constant  use of mineral poi-
sons, which, if properly treated by  the medical plants,
would have been otherwise preserved, leaving the system
free  from the  effects of such medicines  as I  consider
worse than the original disease.   But the time is not far
distant, when the reflecting part of  this community will
be fully satisfied,  that the  medical  herbs and  roots of
the United States are better adapted to our constitutions
and  diseases, than the mineral poisons so constantly and
freely used in the present  day.  I have ever loved and
cherished an exalted opinion of the vegetable kingdom,
and  I never have prescribed a single  mineral, without
feeling  sensible  there  was something  defective in my
medical education.  And although I  have prescribed
them throughout my  work, in the spirit of truth, and
according to the practice of medicine at this time, I still
deplore, and conscientiously  acknowledge, that there is
not a substitute for  that herculean  remedy, calomel, in
which any confidence can be  placed, notwithstanding
the many boasted substitutes  daily advertised by quacks
and pretenders in the healing art, nor  has this invalua-
ble remedy, or boasted panacea of our profession, devel-
oped its powers so as to be perfectly and fully understood
by even the most learned and  observing practitioners.
That it has done much good to mankind, I  acknowl-
edge, by its affording relief in  many diseases which
would otherwise  have  proved incurable, or perhaps ter-
minated fatally, but whether the effects of this powerful
medicine are left lurking in the  system  for years, and
perhaps never eradicated, is  quite doubtful; theoccular
demonstration  of my  daily  practice,  and intercourse 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          659

 with my  fellow men, proves beyond the Possibility of
 doubt, as to die injurious effects er;:y}u-'- " i.  eviy cases
 by the indiscriminate use  of  caiomel. parted   'v  to
 those whose constitutions and inherent dL yrd^r  uej^t
 them to the most awful effects from this i.:edir .-.
   Then let me, as a parent bestowing his parting coun-
 sel and benediction on his children, advise you to avoid
 as  much as possible, this, as well as all other active
 medicines, remembering to administer it with  due cau-
 tion and judgment;  and when  required  to use it '  * :t
 be administered in active doses, by which I mer.    ?s
 to be removed from the system, and for this pu  o
 an active dose is by  far the best, by enabling it no   -.'.y
 to be beneficial, but work  itself off   You will hiid in
 the practice of medicine, that in nine cases out of ten,
 active purging will relieve;  you are also to  remember
 that the mind has a powerful  influence not only over
 disease, but  particularly  over  the   digestive  organs.
 Thus when the.mind is intensely occupied, the digestive
 powers of the stomach are  suspended; mental activity
 controls the functions of the stomach to an equal ex-
 tent.  During the period  of deep thought,  the vital
 energy of the  body is so entirely directed to the brain,
 that not only the  stomach, but  the extremities experi-
 ence a  diminution of excitement as  is proved by their
 coldness and insensibility.  This condition of the brain
will so affect the stomach and intestines, as even to sus-
pend the operation of active medicines.   Doctor Rush
states that during the Revolutionary war, he knew offi-
cers who were  unexpectedly drawn into battle after
having taken drastic cathartics, and yet suffered no  in-
convenience from them  until the  excitement of it had
passed away.  I have seen, too, distressing sea-sickness
promptly relieved by the mental anxiety  produced  by 
660          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

an engagement between vessels of war.  The stimula-
tion caused by this sublime spectacle, produced a revul-
sion from the stomach to the brain, and  thus relieved
the one of the irritation accompanying this distressing
disease, and the other from that depressed state indica-
ted by languid feelings and obtuseness of intellect.
The mind having such full and  powerful effects  over
the whole system, should be a  sufficient evidence to
guard you in many complaints, particularly in diseases
of the stomach, against the use of too  much medicine,
depending generally upon diet, moderate  exercise, rest,
temperance  in all things, particularly in eating,  change
of climate, in sea bathing, and the use of the tepid or
warm bath,  mineral springs, foot exercise in alt chronic
complaints, and in  assisting  nature, by innocent  rem-
edies,  to throw  off disease. Your  good sense  will
suggest to you the importance of time, and the remedies
mentioned in chronic disorders, by which I  mean dis-
eases of long standing, rather than destroying the coats
of the stomach, and paralyzing the last glimmering of
hope, by a farago of medicines.   Physicians  prescribe
much, but use hut few medicines themselves.  Let, then,
this hint suffice, by showing you  that much is to be ex-
pected  by simple  remedies,  discriminating  judgment,
and the influence of the mind upon the coporeal body,
but do not understand me that I wish you to discard
medicine altogether, but by its limited use, and depend-
ing much on the simple, yet efficient directions  1  have
here recommended to you, you will have but  little use
for physicians or their prescriptions. 
ACCIDENTS.
   When an accident takes  place  by a  fall  from a
 horse, or a height, or being thrown from a carriage, or
 receiving a blow from a stick, or any similar injury to
 those I have mentioned, it will be proper, if possible,
 to bleed from the arm, but from any other part, if these
 parts are injured so as to prevent it.   The loss of blood
 must be regulated  according to  the  situation and cir-
 cumstances of the case: for frequently the injury has
 been so severe as apparently to deprive  the  patient of
 life: in this situation, you must await for the returning
 symptoms of animation, using friction;  or in  other
 words,  rubbing, so  as to restore the circulation; this
 will be  proper over the region of the  heart and stom-
 ach, temples, and the extremities, and  bathing the tem-
 ples with  the spirits in  which camphor has been dissolv-
 ed,'or spirits of hartshorn, or strong vinegar, at the same
 time applying it occasionally to the nose;  and should
 the person be able to swallow, or so soon as  they may
 be a little restored, it will be proper to give a little wine
 and water,  or water  and spirits of any kind, or any
 other gentle stimulant  that may be convenient.  In all
 cases of suspended animation, it is highly essential to
 continue  for a length of time, friction, and in many
 difficult cases, you  will find  the tepid bath of great
 service in restoring life;  for I have frequently witnessed
 the person restored,  when all, and even the  most dis-
 tant hope seemed at an end; therefore, let me implore
you in such cases, to use gentle and  continued friction 
662          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

on the body,  for some vital spark may yet linger, and
be warmed  into  animation—Providence  may bless
your kind efforts, and what heart-felt gratification will
it afford you  to  be the humble instrument of restoring
the life of a fellow creature, who, perhaps, in an unex-
pected and unprepared state,  has been thus situated,
with the last glimmering hope sinking fast into eternity.
If I  had  space—and I regret I have not—I could give
you several interesting cases that have fallen under my
care, and many I have  witnessed, particularly in  the
cases of drowning, in which the most happy effects
have been produced  by perseverance.  But  on this
highly important subject, let me refer you to the head,
Suspended Animation.
  In all cases, where  the patient is unable from severe
injury to  walk, it is necessary immediately to prepare a
conveyance—and  for this  purpose,  take  two  boards
sufficiently long and  broad, and then nail two cross
pieces with the ends projecting about a foot for handles
—or make, if the plank is not convenient, a litter form-
ed of the branches of trees.  On either of these, con-
vey your patient to  the nearest house.  If the  person
should be  bleeding, you must stop  the  blood before
moving him or  her.   In removing him on and from
this litter to the bed,  be extremely  careful,  as  many
serious accidents occur by being in too great a  hurry
and  alarm; frequently there is considerable pain inflict-
ed unnecessarily, by awkwardly stripping off the coat
or pantaloons; therefore rip up the  seams,  by which
you  very often prevent much unnecessary pain: recol-
lect never to use the least force.   When the patient is
stripped,  and the  room  cleared  of  all unnecessary
lookers on, which  is generally the case, much  to the
annoyance of the patient and his physician, particularly 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         663
if a female, then proceed to ascertain the injury, if a
male, with calmness  and firmness—if a female, with
tenderness and delicacy, yet with certainty, as to the
nature of the injury.   I would here remark in plain lan-
guage, as I have  always done  in  all my advice and
writings, that false delicacy has in many instances, de-
stroyed the lives  of many  females, that  might have
otherwise been easily preserved.  With these remarks
and directions, I shall in as few words as possible, and
in plain language, proceed  to  give  such  directions  in
surgery,  as may be easily performed by the most hum-
ble person who will attend to the directions.
   Injuries may  be  simple or compound; that is, it
may be a contusion or  bruise,  a wound, fracture,  or
dislocation, or it may be two or all of them united, in
one or several parts.
   A Contusion is of course the consequence of every
blow, and is known by the swelling and the skin being
bruised and discolored—wounds  of course require  no
explanation.
   Fractures, in other words broken bones, are known
by the sudden and severe pain, and by the appearance
of the limb being out  of shape—sometimes by its being
shortened, and by the person being unable to move it
without great pain.  But the most certain way to as-
certain it, is to  grasp the limb above and below the
spot supposed to be fractured, and by moving it gently
different ways, you hear a grating noise, occasioned by
the  broken ends  of the bone rubbing against  each
other.  Very often, however, before you can arrive to
render assistance, the limbs become much swollen.  In
such a case, always  reduce first  the  swelling, as  by
twisting the limb, or other experiments, it will give the
most excruciating pain to the afflicted person. 
664           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

   Dislocations, or in other words, bones being out of
joint, are easily perceived by the deformity of the joint,
which you can compare witli^ its fellow, and plainly ob-
serve the difference, and from the person being in great
pain, and unable to move  the  limb, and by its being
longer or shorter than common, and from the impossi-
bility of  moving  it  in  any direction, without great
misery.
            CONTUSION OR BLOW.
  If slight,  you must bathe the part  frequently with
cold applications, such as vinegar and water, ice water,
or cold spring water; this will reduce or keep down in-
flammation or fever, and must be occasionally used for
five or eight hours;  but if fever should come on, then
bleed, and purge well with salts, and diet the person on
the  lightest food and cool drinks.   If the fever should
still continue, you must repeat the bleeding and purging;
perhaps a good active dose of calomel,  followed by a
dose of salts, in this event, would cut short the  fever.
Be particular as to the patient's passing his water, as it
frequently happens from a blow, that the nerves of the
bladder become palsied, and the patient feels no desire
to make, although the bladder is full.   In this case, it
is highly important to attend to drawing off the water
by a catheter, an instrument for this purpose;  for direc-
tions how it is used, see under the  head directions for
passing Catheter.
  The  most  serious  effects,  however,  resulting  from
contusion, is when the blow is on the head, producing
either  concussion or compression  of the brain.   See
those heads. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          665

                    SPRAINS.
  Sprains are to be treated with the coldest, applica-
tions; and for this purpose, Nature's remedy is by far
the best—cold water.   Plunge  the sprained part into
cold water, and hold it there as long as you can bear
it;  after which, dry it with a coarse towel, and rub on it
spirits of camphor; by which I mean, spirits that cam-
phor has been desolved in; rub this  well in, and bind
it with flannel, and every  morning and evening, pour
cold water on it, from the spout of a tea kettle, held up
at a considerable height.  This simple remedy will
relieve you in a short time, and to a weak joint of any
kind, this is an invaluable prescription.  I have removed
the weakness of an ankle of long standing by it, when
all other applications failed.
        CONCUSSION OF THE  BRAIN.
  Symptoms.  The person  stunned—the breathing is
slow—great drowsiness and stupidity—the pupil of the
eye rather contracted, or drawn up—frequently vomiting
or puking.   After a time he recovers.
   Remedies.  Apply cloths dipped in cold vinegar and
water to the head; and if you have ice, its application
will be greatly beneficial.  So soon as the stupor is off,
bleed, and open the  bowels with epsom  salts,  or any
cooling  purge;  by all means confine him to* the'bed,
and the lowest and most cooling diet and drinks—the
room  kept dark but cool,  and no noise whatever.  In
this quiet situation, you  are  to endeavor to prevent in-
flammation of the brain,  which, if it conies on, must
be met  by  free  and  copious bleeding,  blisters, and
purging. 
666
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
      COMPRESSION OF THE BRAIN.
  Symptoms.  Loss of sense and motion—slow, noisy,
and  difficult breathing—the pulse is quite  slow  and
irregular—the muscles  relaxed,  as  in  a person  just
dead—the pupil of the eye enlarged, and will not con-
tract, even for a strong light—the person cannot be
roused, and bears a resemblance to one inflicted with
an apoplectic fit.
  Remedies.  Bleed  freely, and  shave  the head, and
apply cool applications to it until you can procure a
good surgeon,  and this must be done  immediately, or it
will  be too late, as there is nothing but an operation in
this case, that  will save life. 
WOUNDS.
   Wounds are of three  kinds: first,  incised wround,
 which means a clean cut; second, a punctured wound,
 which  means a  wound  produced  by sharp pointed
 instruments, as needles, awls, nails, &,c.; third, a con-
 tused  wound,  which means a wound occasioned  by
 round or blunt bodies, as musket balls, clubs, stones,
 and all gun shots wounds, are included in this last men-
 tioned term.
   Remedies.  In all wounds, the first thing to be done
 is to endeaver to stop the flow of blood; should this be
 but trifling, draw the edges of the wound together with
 your hand, and hold them in that position for some lime,
 when the blood will frequently stop.   If it still continue,
 and the quantity large, or  of a bright red color,  flow-
 ing in spirts, or with a sudden jerk, then clap your finger
 on the spot  it springs from, and press it with firmness,
 while you request some other person to  pass a handker-
 chief round the limb, (supposing  the wound to  be in
 one,) above the cut, and to tic its, two ends together in
 a hard knot.   A stick of any kind, must now be passed
 under the knot, (between the upper surface of the limb
 and  the  handkerchief,)  and  turned  round  and round
 until the  stick is brought down to the  thigh, so as to
 make the handkerchief encircle it with  considerable
 tightness; you  may  then  take off your finger; if the
 blood still flows, tighten the handkerchief by a turn or
 two  of the stick, until  the blood ceases.  The patient
may now be removed (taking great care to secure the 
668          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

stick in its position) without running any risk of bleed-
ing to death by the way.  As this apparatus must not
be left on for any length of time without destroying the
life of the parts, endeavor as quick as you conveniently
can, to secure the bleeding vessels; for I shall give you
such  ample and plain  directions, that any person of
common sense may take them up and secure them in a
proper manner, and perfectly safe.  In the  first place,
wax together three  or four threads of a sufficient length,
cut it into as many pieces as you think there are vessels
to be taken up, each  piece being  about a foot long.
Now wash the parts with warm v/ater, and then with a
sharp hook, similar to a crookek awl, or a slender pair
of pincers in your  hand, fix your eye steadfastly upon
the wound,  and direct the handkerchief to be gently
loosed by a turn or two of the stick; you will now see
the mouth of the artery from  which the blood springs;
seize it with your hook or  pincers, draw it  a little out,
while  the  person who assists you  passes  the  waxed
thread, called by medical men a  ligature, round the
artery or bleeding vessel; now tie it up tight,  with a
double knot.  In this way take up, one after the other,
each bleeding vessel you can see or get hold of.
   Should the wound be too high up in a limb to apply
the handkerchief, don't  be alarmed, for the bleeding can
still be commanded.   If it is the thigh, press firmly in
 the  groin, or if in  the arm, with the hand-end or ring
 of a common door key, make pressure above the collar
bone, and about its middle, against the first rib which
lies under  it.   The pressure is to be  continued until
 you can obtain  assistance, and then tie up the bleeding
 vessels as before  directed.  If the wound is  on the
 head, you must press  your finger  firmly on  it until a
 compress,  which means several folds of linen,  is fur- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
669
niphed; this is to be bound firmly over the artery by a
bandage.  If the wound is  in the face, or  so situated
that pressures cannot be effectually made, or you cannot
get'hold of the vessel, and the blood flows fast, put a
piece of ice, or a cloth wet with tanner's ooze, or flour,
and let it remain on until the blood coagulates; you can
then remove it, and apply a compress or bandage.   It
is important that this simple method I have described,
should be practised so as to enable any one to compress
the great arteries in these situations, thereby preserving
many a man  who  would, for the want  of this  simple
assistance, bleed to death before a surgeon or medical
aid could be procured.
              INCISED WOUNDS.
  The meaning of an incised wound, is a clean or fresh
cut.   Wash away all the dirt that may be in the wound,
with a sponge or linen rag and warm water; when the
blood is stopped, draw the sides of the wound nicely
together, then confine it in this  situation  by narrow
strips of sticking plaster, placed at short distances apart,
and  directly  across the wound.  Now  a  fold, or soft
compress of old linen or lint, is to be  laid over and
confined by a bandage.
  In many cases, you  will  find inflammation  follow.
If this should be the case, then remove the strips, and
bleed and purge the patient, and keep him on very low
diet, and as quiet and as cool as possible; in other or
more plain language, endeavor  to  keep down fever—
and  now  recollect that matter must  form before  the
wound will heal; therefore  it is best to 'encourage
it  by applying a soft poultice  of any kind,  until  the 
670
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINB
matter is produced;  after  which,  you may  use  any
simple ointment in this  place.  The usual or common
method of narrow strips of  linen, spread  with sticking
plaster, called by physicians adhesive plaster, form the
best means of keeping the  sides of a  wound together
when they can be applied;  yet if the wound is in the
ear, nose, tongue, lips, bag, by  which  I mean the pri-
vates, or the eye-lids, then use stitches, which are made
in  the following manner:  thread  a  common needle
with a double  waxed   thread, pass  the  point of  it
through the skin, at a little  distance from  the edge of
the cut, and bring it out of the opposite one at the same
distance.   Should the wound be large, so  as to require
more than one stitch, cut off the needle, thread it again,
and proceed on  to take as many stitches as necessary;
leave all the threads loose until all the stitches are pass-
ed, when the  ends of each  thread  must  be tied  in  a
hard double knot, drawing  the thread in  such a  way
that it bears a little on each  side of the cut,  When the
edges of the wound  are  partly  united by inflammation,
cut  then  the  knots,  and draw out carefully all  the
threads.   From  the plain matter in  which I have writ-
ten and explained to you, you will easily perceive,  that
in all wounds, after  stopping  the  flow of blood,  and
cleansing the parts, the important point is  to bring the
sides of the wound even, and together, so that it may
grow together as quick as possible, without producing
any  matter; this is called by physicians healing by the
first intention.   Now to produce this desirable effect, in
addition to what I have  already mentioned, you must
recollect  two things necessary to be attended to;  first,
the position of the patient; and secondly,  the  applica-
tion  of the bandage.   Let the position be such as  will
relax as much as possible, the skin and muscles of the 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          671

part wounded; by attending to  this strictly, you will
prevent, or in a great measure lessen the tendency to
separate or open.   My method in such cases, is as fol-
lows : take a common bandage of proper  width and
length, and pass  it over  the  compresses moderately
tight, so as to keep them in their proper place, and by
its pressure, the wound will heal immediately, and keep
it  from  separating  or  opening.   In many  cases, the
wound is so large and severely painful that the limb or
body of the patient cannot be raised or moved, for the
purpose of applying or removing  it;  then  spread the
ends of  one or two  strips  of linen  or  leather  with
sticking plaster, which may be .applied  in place of the
bandage  in  the following way:  stick one  end of the
strip to  the sound skin, at a short distance from the
edge of the compress, over which it is  to be  drawn
with moderate firmness, and secured in the  same man-
ner on the opposite side; if you see that it is necessary
to secure it more fully, apply a second or third, or until
properly secured.   As  I have before  told you, if vio-
lent inflammation comes  on, in all wounds  the  proper
practice is to reduce it by bleeding, purging, &c. but if
you see any symptoms of approaching locked-jaw, give
your patient wine, brandy, opium, porter, &,c.; in other
words, stimulate him freely, and give a generous diet.
            PUNCTURED WOUNDS.
  These  wounds, called  by  physicians  punctured
wounds,  are produced  by any  sharp  pointed  instru-
ments, as nails, awls, needles, &c.
  Treatment.  First stop  the  bleeding, then  with-
draw the needle, splinters, glass,  or any thing that may 
672
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
be in a wound of this nature, provided it can be done
easily; and if enlarging the wound a little, will enable
you to get any foreign body out, it  is best to  do so.
Though it is not always necessary to enlarge wounds
of this nature;  yet when  the weather is very warm, I
advise you not  to neglect doing so;  because it is a pre-
caution against locked-jaW, which occurs frequently in
wounds of this description.  I recollect a case in 1816,
that occurred at Savannah, Georgia. A Miss  D----
L----,  a most amiable  and accomplished lady,  in
making preparations  for a ball, by  accident, stuck  a
needle slightly in her heel.   The puncture being slight,
she attended the ball.  On the following day symptoms
of locked-jaw commenced; and  the second  day, not-
withstanding the  skill afforded her by several eminent
professional gentlemen, she died.   So soon as you en-
large  a  wound of this description as directed, pour  a
little turpentine into the wound, or touch it by caustic,
and then cover it with a poultice, moistened with lauda-
num; the object of the  poultice is to  form  matter.
When this is done, you must then treat it as a common
sore, with mild ointment  of any  kind. Frequently in
such cases, there is a  great deal  of pain; if so, give
laudanum in large doses,—you need not fear giving
laudanum in broken doses, until the patient gets ease;
for I have often given it as high as two hundred drops,
say thirty at  each dose,  before  partial ease  could  be
afforded.  In warm weather, inflammation often occurs;
in such a  case bleed in moderation, and purge freely—
recollect here to use the lancet with care and discretion. 
               GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          673

              CONTUSED WOUNDS.
   Wounds of this description are made by round or
 blunt  bodies, as  musket balls, clubs, stones, &o.  In
 such wounds you may have  little to fear of loss of
 blood, as they are attended generally by little bleeding;
 if any, it must be stopped.  If the  wound  is produced
 by a ball, and the ball can be felt, or easily got at, it is
 proper  to extract,—it is proper to do so, or any  piece of
 the wad or cloth, or  clothing should be withdrawn—
 for instance, if the ball can be plainly  felt immediately
 under the skin, then  make an incision across it and
 take it out.   But remember well, this  salutary  council
 —never allow any poking in the wound to search  for
 a ball or any articles  differently situated from  what I
 have plainly described, for many deaths occur, which
 if properly managed, or in other words, so much unne-
 cessary science dispensed with, would  have been en-
 tirely cured.  The best extracter in  such cases is a soft
 bread and milk poultice.  In fact, by long  experience
 and  reflection, I should say that gun-shot wounds, that
 have formed a lodgment must not be opened either
 lightly or wantonly; nor under  the idea of hunting for
 extraneous substances; for  the parts  themselves will
bring these to the surface, and such  as  cannot be thus
 extracted, give little trouble, nor  do they prevent the
 healing of a wound.  It is particularly  vain to hunt for
 balls, because they take a wayward course, and often
find  a lodgment where the surgeon or physician would
be least  inclined  to look for them.  Even if the ball
 can be felt, and yet the skin is sound, some eminent sur-
geons think it will not be prudent to extract  it before
the original wound is  healed, because, where it rests it
can  do  no harm, and  it is better  to  have only  one
 wound at a time than two.   When a ball has wounded
       85 
674
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
a cavity, as for example, the  abdomen, which means
the belly; if the ball has passed with little velocity, the
parts will heal  by the first  intention:  [You will recol-
lect I explained plainly to you the meaning of healing
by the first intention.]  If, however, it has passed with
such  velocity  or quickness, as to procure a slough,
meaning an inward huse, the adhesive  inflammation
will take place on the peritonaeum, meaning the skin
which lines the belly, and covers the abdominal viscera,
or in other words, the  bowels, and  the organs in the
belly  and  chest.   The adhesive  inflammation, as re-
marked, will take place on this peritonaeum ad around
the wound, which will prevent the general cavity from
taking part in the inflammation, although the  ball shall
have not only penetrated, but wounded, those parts not
immediately essential to life, in its passage through the
body;  for whatever solid viscus has been pierced, the
surfaces in contact, surrounding every orifice, will unite
by the adhesive inflammation, so as to form one contin-
ued canal,  with which  the  general cavity has no  com-
munication.  If any extraneous or  outward  body has
been carried in by the ball, it will be included in  these
adhesions, and  with the slough, will  be conducted  by
one of the  orifices  to the outward surface.
  If the ball has wounded the liver or the surface, these
may soon acquire  the healing disposition; if  the stom-
ach, intestines,  kidneys, ureters, or bladder, such inju-
ries are generally mortal;  for their  contents  escape
into the cavity of the abdomen or belly, and  universal
inflammation of the peritonaeum  takes place, attended
by great pain and tension or swelling, which terminates
in death.   But if the wound is small and the bowels are
not full, adhesions  may take place all round the wound,
which will confine the matter,  and make it go on  in its 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
675
right channel.  When a ball has not penetrated any of
the viscera of the abdomen, but only by contusion pro-
duced death in a part, whenever the slough conies away,
the matter contained in that viscus will escape, but as
the adhesive inflammation takes place between  the sur-
faces in contact, the new  channel will be  preserved
entire, and cut off the communication between the ex-
ternal air and the cavity of the abdomen.  This chan-
nel may, however, in time  be closed, and the contents
may pass by their accustomed course.  A young gen-
tleman was shot through the body; the balls,  three in
number, entered on the left side of  the navel, and came
out behind  just above  the superior vertebrae of  the
loins.  The first water he made was bloody—in less
than a fortnight, John Hunter, the  most  eminent sur-
geon of London, pronounced him out of danger, being
persuaded, that whatever cavities the balls had entered,
were united by the adhesive inflammation, so as to form
one  complete canal, and that neither  the extraneous
matters,  carried  in  with  the  balls, nor any  slough,
which might separate from the sides of the canal, nor
matter formed in it,  could get into the cavity of the ab-
domen, but must be conducted to the external  surface
of the  body, either  through the wounds or from  an
abscess  forming for itself, which would work its own
exit  somewhere.   Soon  after this conclusion,  some
faeces, (meaning that which  should  pass from the fun-
dament,) coming through  the wound, confirmed him
in his  opinion respecting the  efforts of nature, which
are great on such occasions to secure the cavity of  the
abdomen: yet he feared this  wound might in future
perform  the  functions of  the fundament.   He  saw
clearly,  that an intestine had received a bruise sufficient
to kill the part, and that till the separation  of slough 
676
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
had taken place, both the intestine and canal were still
complete, and  therefore did  not  communicate  with
each other, but that when the slough was  thrown off,
the two were laid into one at this part, and that there-
fore the contents of the intestine got  into this wound.
This  symptom,  however, gradually  decreased  by the
contraction  of this opening, till an entire stop to the
passage of the faeces by it took place, and the  wounds
were  healed, and the gentleman  entirely restored to
health.
   Having fully described to you the  effects of gun-shot
wounds, and their general effects, I  shall conclude, by
directing you in such cases, should  the inflammation
be great, to bleed and purge.  If your patient labors under
great pain, give laudanum,  and if the parts assume a
dark lock, threatening a mortification, cover them with
a  blister.  Where the wound is much torn, wash the
parts very nicely with warm  water,  and then (having
secured every bleeding vessel) lay  them all down in as
natural a position as possible, drawing their edges  gent-
ly together, or as much so as possible, by strips of stick-
ing plaster, or  stitches,  if  necessary.  Now  apply a
soft bread and milk poultice over the whole.
     WOUNDS OF THE EAR, NOSE, &c.
  Treatment.—Wash the parts well, so as to cleanse
them from all dirt, &c. and then draw the edges of the
wound together by as many  stitches as are necessary.
If the part is even completely separated, and has been
trodden under foot, by washing  it in warm water, and
placing it even, and accurately, in its proper place, by
the same means it may still adhere or grow on. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           677

          WOUNDS  OF THE SCALP.
  Treatment.  In wounds of the scalp, it is necessary
to shave off the hair.  After this operation is perform-
ed, wash the parts well, and draw the edges of the wound
together with sticking plaster.  If it has been torn up
in several places, wash and lay them all down on the
skull again, drawing their edges together as nearly as
possible, by sticking plaster, or, if necessary, by stitches.
Then cover the whole with  a soft fold or bandage,
smeared with simple ointment of any kind.
         WOUNDS OF THE THROAT.
  Treatment.  Seize and tie up every bleeding vessel
you can get hold of  If the windpipe is cut only partly
through, secure it with sticking plaster.  If it is com-
pletely divided, bring  its  edges together by stitches,
taking care to pass the needle through the loose mem-
brane  that covers the  windpipe, and not through the
windpipe itself. The head should be bent on the breast
during this operation, and secured by bolsters and band-
ages in that position, to favor the approximation of the
wound.
          WOUNDS OF  THE CHEST.
  If the wound in the chest is a simple incised wound,
draw the edges of it together by sticking plaster, cover
it by a fold or compress of linen, and pass a bandage
round the chest.   The  patient is to be confined to his
bed, kept  on  very  low diet, and  bled and purged, in
order to prevent inflammation. If, however, inflamma- 
678           GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

tion should come on, you must reduce it by copious and
frequent bleedings.  Should the wound be occasioned
by a bullet, extract it, and any pieces of cloth, &,c. that
may be lodged in it, if possible, and cover the wound
with a piece of linen smeared with  some  simple  oint-
ment, taking great care that it is not drawn into the
chest.  If a portion of the lung protrudes or projects
out, return it to its place immediately, but be as gentle
and cautious as possible.
          WOUNDS OF THE BELLY.
   In wounds of the belly, close it by strips of sticking
plaster, and stitches passed through the skin, about half
an inch from the edge  of the wound, and  cover the
whole  with a soft compress of linen, secured by a band-
age.  Any inflammation that may arise, is to be reduced
by bleeding, purging,  and a blister over the whole belly.
Should any part of the bowels come out at the wound,
if clean and uninjured, return it as quickly as possible;
if covered with dirt, clots of blood, &o. wash it carefully
in warm water previous to returning it.  If the  gut is
wounded, and  only cut partly through, draw the two
edges of it together by a stitch, and return it; if com-
pletely divided,  you  must connect the  edges by  four
stitches, at equal distances, and replace it in the belly,
always leaving the end of the ligature or thread project
from the external wound, which must be  closed by
sticking plaster.  In five or six days, if the threads are
loose, withdraw them  very gently and carefully. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
679
             WOUNDS OF JOINTS.
  In wounds of this description, you are to bring the
edges of the wound  together by sticking plaster, with-
out any delay;  keep the  part perfectly at rest, bleed,
purge, and live  very low, so as to prevent inflammation.
But should it  come on, it must be met at its first
approach by bleeding to as great an extent as the con-
dition of the patient will  warrant,  and  by  a blister
covering the whole joint.  If the joint seems like it
would  be a stiff one, keep  the limb in  that position
which will prove most useful; that is, the leg should be
extended, and the arm bent at the elbow.   Wounds of
the joints are always highly dangerous, and frequently
terminate fatally.
           WOUNDS OF TENDONS.
  Tendons  or sinews  are frequently wounded  and
ruptured.  They  are to be treated  precisely like any
other wound, by keeping their divided parts together.
The tendon which connects the great muscle forming
the calf of the leg with  the heel, called the tendon of
Achilles, is frequently cut with the adze, and ruptured
in jumping from  heights.   This accident is to be rem-
edied by drawing up the heel,  extending  the foot, and
placing a splint on the fore part  of the leg, extending
from the knee to beyond the toes, which being secured
in that position by a bandage, keep  the foot  in  the
position just mentioned.  The  hollows under the splint
must be filled with tow or  cotton.  If the  skin  falls
into the space between the ends of the tendon, apply a 
680          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

piece of sticking  plaster,  so  as to draw it out of the
way.  It usually takes  five or six weeks to unite, but
no  weight  should be  laid  on  the  limb  for several
months. 
OF FRACTURES.
  As I have before plainly pointed  out to you  how
fractures may be known, it will be unnecessary to dwell
on this subject.   It will, however, be advisable for you
to recollect this general rule: in cases where, from the
accompanying circumstances and  symptoms, a  strong
suspicion exists, that  the bone is fractured, it will be
proper for you to act as though it were positively ascer-
tained to be so.
   FRACTURES OF THE BONE OF THE
                      NOSE.
  Treatment.  From  the exposed  situation of the
bones of the nose, they are frequently forced in.  When
this is the case, any smooth  article that will pass into
the nostrils should be immediately introduced with one
hand, so as to raise the  depressed portions to the  prop-
er level, while  the other is employed in moulding them
into the required shape.  If violent inflammation fol-
lows, bleed, purge,  and live on the lowest kind of diet.
    FRACTURES  OF THE LOWER JAW.
  Treatment.  There is no  difficulty in discovering
this accident by looking into the mouth; and it is to be
relieved by keeping the lower jaw firmly pressed against
the upper one, by means of a bandage passed under
      86 
682          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

the chin and over the head.  If it is broken  near  the
angle, or that part nearest the ear, place a cushion or
roll of linen behind it, over  which the bandage must
pass, so as to make  it push that part of the bone for-
ward.  The parts are then to be confined in  this way
for twenty or twenty-five days; during  which time, all
the nourishment that is taken by the patient, should be
sucked between the teeth.  If, in consqquence of  the
blow, a tooth is loosened, do not meddle with it, for if
let alone, it will grow fast again.
  FRACTURES OF THE COLLAR BONES.
  A fracture of the collar bone is of very common
occurrence, and is known at once, by passing the finger
along it, and by the swelling, &c.
  Treatment.  To  reduce  it, seat your patient in a
chair, with his shirt off, and place a stout compress of
linen, made in the  shape  of  a wedge, under his arm;
the thick end of which, should press against the arm-
pit.  His arm bent to  a  right angle at the elbow, is
now to be brought down  to  his  side, and  secured in
that position by a long bandage, which passes over the
arm of the affected side, and round the body.   The
fore arm—meaning that which reaches from the elbow
to the wrist, is to be supported across the breast by a
sling.  It then takes from  four to five weeks to re-unite. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
683
         FRACTURES OF  THE ARM.
   Treatment.   Seat your  patient on a chair, or the
 side of a bed; let some one assist you to hold the sound
 arm, while  another person  grasps  the  wrist of  the
 broken one, and steadily extends it in an opposite direc-
 tion, bending the fore arm a little, to serve as a lever.
 You must now place the bones in their proper situation.
 Two splints,  made of shingle or stout pasteboard, long
 enough to reach  from below the shoulder to near  the
 elbow, must then be well covered with tow  or cotton
 and laid along each side of the arm, and kept in that
 position by a bandage.   The fore arm is to be support-
ed in  a sling.   Two smaller splints, may,  for better,
security, be laid  between the first ones; that  is, one on
 top, and the other underneath the arm, to be secured by
the bandage in the same way as the others.
   FRACTURES OF  THE BONE  OF THE
                  FORE-ARM.
  As I have before, and I again tell you, it is that part
which reaches from the elbow to the wrist, that is desig-
nated or  called the fore-arm.  When this  is fractured,
they are  to be reduced precisely in the same way, with
the exception of the mode of keeping the upper por-
tion of it steady; which  is done by grasping the arm
above the elbow.  When the  splints  and  bandage
which I have directed you how  to make, are applied,
support it in a sling. 
684
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
       FRACTURES OF  THE WRIST.
  Fractures of the wrist very  seldom  take  place.
When this accident does happen, the injury is generally
so great as to require amputation or taking it off.  If
it is possible to save the hand, lay it  on a splint, well
covered with tow or cotton.  This is  to extend beyond
the fingers—place then another splint opposite to it,
lined with the same soft materials, and secure them by
a bandage.  The hand is then to be carried in a sling.
The bones of the hand  are frequently  broken: in
such a case, fill  the/ palm  of  the hand with  soft com-
press or folds of linen or domestic cloth, or tow or cot-
ton, and then lay a splint on it long enough  to extend
from the elbow to beyond the  ends of the fingers, and
then to be  secured  by a bandage.  If  the finger is
broken, extend the end of  it until  it becomes straight.
Place  the fractured or broken bone  in its place, and
apply two small pasteboard splints, one below and the
other above, which you must  secure by a narrow ban-
dage.  The upper splint ought to extend from the end
of the finger over the back of the hand.  It may some-
times be proper to add two  additional splints for the
sides of the finger.
         FRACTURES  OF THE RIBS.
  When after a fall or blow, the patient complains of
a prickling pain in his side, we may suspect  a rib is
broken.   The way to discover it, is by placing the ends
of two or three of your fingers on the spot where the
pain is, and desiring  the patient to cough, when the
grating sensation will be felt.  All that is necessary, is
to pass a broad bandage round the chest, so tight as to 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          685

prevent the motion of the ribs in breathing, and to live
on a light diet.
        FRACTURES OF  THE THIGH.
   The thigh is perhaps the most difficult fracture to
 manage;  and to the ingenuity of one amongst the best
 men who ever lived, (Doctor Hartshorn, of the city of
 Philadelphia,) the world is indebted for an apparatus
 which does away the  greatest impediments that have
 been found  to exist in  treating it  so  as to  leave  a
 straight limb, without  lameness or deformity;  nor is  it
 the least of its merits,  that  any man of common sense,
 can apply it nearly as well  as a surgeon or physician.
   It  consists of  two  splints, made  of half or three
 quarter inch well seasoned  stuff,  from  eight to ten
 inches wide,  one of which  should reach  from  a little
 above the hip, to  fifteen or sixteen inches beyond the
 foot, while the other extends the same length from the
 groin.  The  upper end of the inner splint, is hollowed
 out, and well  padded or stuffed.  Their lower ends are
 held together by  a  cross  piece, having  two  tenons,
 which enter two vertical mortices, one in each splint,
 and secured there  by pins.   In the center of this cross
 piece, (which should be very solid,) is a female screw.
 Immediately  above the vertical mortices, are two hori-
zontal ones, of considerable length, in which  slide the
 tenons of  a second cross piece, to  the  upper side of
which, is  fastened  a foot block, shaped like the sole of
 a shoe, while in the other,  is a round hole, for the re-
ception of the head of the male screw, which passes
through the female one just mentioned.  On the top of
this cross  piece, to which the foot block is attached, are 
V
 686          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 two pins, which fall into the grooves at the head of the
 screw,  thereby  firmly  connecting them.   The  foot
 block, as before observed, is shaped  like the sole of a
 shoe.  Near the toe, is a slit  through which passes a
 strap and  buckle.  Near the  heel, are a couple of
 straps with two rings, arranged precisely like those  of a
 skate; of which, in fact,  the whole foot block is  an,
 exact resemblance.  A  long  male screw, of wood, or
other material completes  the apparatus.  To apply it,
 put  a slipper on the  foot of the broken limb, and lay
 the apparatus over the leg.  By  turning the screw, the
 foot block  will be forced up to the foot in the  slipper,
 which is to be firmly strapped to it, as boys fasten their
 skates.   By  turning the screw  the contrary way, the
padded extremity of the inner splint presses against the
 groin, and the foot  is gradually drawn down until the
broken limb becomes  of its natural length and appear-
ance; when  any projection or little inequality that re-
mains, can be felt and reduced by a  gentle pressure of
the hand.
  The great advantages of this invaluable apparatus, I
again tell you, are the  ease  with which it is applied,
and the certainty with which it  acts.   The  foot once
secured  to  the block,  in a way that any man of com-
mon sense  understands, nothing more is required than
to turn the screw until the broken limb is  found to be
of the same length  as the sound one.   It is proper to
remark, that this should  not be effected at once, it being
better to turn the screw  a little every day until the limb
is extended.  As  this  apparatus may not always be at
hand, it  is proper to  mention  the next best plan of
treating  the  accident.   It is found  in  the  splints of
 Desault, improved by Dr. Physic, of the city of Phila-
delphia,  consisting  of four pieces.  The first  has a 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           687

crutch head, and extends  from the arm  pit to six or
eight inches beyond the foot.   A little below the crutch,
are two holes; and near the lower end on the inside,
there is  a block, below which there  is  also a  hole.
The second reaches from the grain, the same length
with the  first, being about three inches  wide above and
two below.   Two pieces of stout pasteboard, as many
handkerchiefs or bands of muslin, with some tow and
a few pieces of tape, form  the catalogue of the  appa-
ratus—which is to be applied as follows:
   Four or five pieces of tape are to be laid across the
bed, at equal distances from each other.  Over the
upper two is placed one of the short pasteboard splints,
well covered with tow.  Then the patient is to be care-
fully and very gently placed on  his  back, so that his
thigh may rest on the splints.   One of the handker-
chiefs, or strong soft band, is to be passed between the
testicle and thigh of the affected side, and its ends held
by some person  standing near the head of  the bed.
The second  handkerchief is  to  be passed round  the
ankle, crossed on the instep, and tied under the sole of
the foot.   By steadily pulling these two handkerchiefs,
the limb is to be extended,  while with  the hand the
broken bones are replaced in their natural form.   Then
the long splint is to be placed by the side of the pa-
tient, the crutch in the arm pit, (which must be defend-
ed by tow or cotton,) while the short one is laid along
inside of  the thigh or leg.   The ends of the first hand-
kerchief  being passed through the  upper holes, are to
be drawn tight and secured by a knot, while the ends
of the second one pass over the block beforementioned,
to be fastened in like manner at the lower one.  All that
remains,  is  the  short  pasteboard splint, which  being
well covered with  tow, is to be  laid on top of the 
688
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
thigh.  The tapes being tied  so as to keep  the  four
splints together, completes  the  operations.  Cotton or
tow is to  be every where stuffed  between the splints and
the limb, and a large handful  of it  placed in the groin,
to prevent irritation from the  upper or counter extend-
ing band.  You must be  careful while tying the two
handkerchiefs, that  they are not relaxed, so that if the
operation is properly performed, the two limbs will be
nearly of an equal length.
   The superior advantages of  Hartshorn's apparatus
over  this, as well as others,  must  be evident to every
one acquainted with  the difficulty of keeping up that
constant  extension which is so  absolutely necessary to
avoid deformity and lameness, and which  is so com-
pletely effected by the screw.  Next to that,  however,
stands Dr. Physic's, which can be made by  any car-
penter in a few minutes, and  which,  if carefully appli-
ed, will be found to answer a good purpose.  Fractured
thighs and legs generally re-unite in from six to eight
weeks, depending, however, much  upon the age of the
patient.  Old persons frequently require three or four
months.  You must recollect  in such cases a straw bed
is best for your patient, or a mattrass, or  any bed that
will  not  yield, so as to keep the  limb in its proper
position.
   FRACTURES OF THE BONES OF THE
                      FOOT.
  This accident seldom occurs—the bone of the heel
is sometimes, though rarely, broken.  It is known by a
crack at the moment  of  the accident, a difficulty in
standing, by the quick swelling, and the grating  noise 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
689
on moving the heel.  To reduce it, take a long bandage,
lay the end of it on the top of the foot, convey it over
the toes under the sole of the foot, and then by several
turns secure it in that position.  The foot being extend-
ed as much as possible, carry the bandage  along  back
of the leg above the knee, where it is to be secured by
several turns, and then brought down on the front of
the leg, to which it is secured by circular turns.  In
this manner the  broken pieces will be kept in contact,
and  in the  course of a  month or six weeks will be
united.
  All fractures of the foot, toes, &o. are to be treated
like those of the hand and fingers.
OF DISLOCATIONS.
  The signs by which a dislocation may be known,
have been  already explained to  you.  But remember
that the sooner the attempt is made to  place it in its
proper place, the easier it will be done.   The strength
of one man, properly applied at the moment of the
accident, will often succeed in restoring the head of a
bone to its  place, which in a few days and even  hours
would have required the combined efforts of men and
pullies.   After you have made several trials with the
best apparatus that can be obtained, and you find you
cannot succeed, make the patient stand up, having all
things in readiness, and bleed him in that position until
he faints; the moment this occurs the muscles will  re-
lax, and a  slight force will often be sufficient, where
more  powerful ones  have been used  without  effect.
       87 
690
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
Also recollect to vary the direction of the extending
force.  A slight pull in one way, will often effect what
has been in vain attempted by great force in another.
         DISLOCATION OF THE LOWER JAW.
  Dislocation of the lower jaw is produced by blows?
or yawning, usually called gaping.  It is known by an
inability to shut  the mouth, and  the projection of the
chin.   To reduce it is quite simple: Seat the patient in
a chair, with his head supported by  the breast of an
assistant who  must  stand  behind him.  Your thumbs
being covered with leather (or a glove) are then to be
pushed between the jaws, as far back as possible, while
with the  fingers outside,  you  grasp  the bone, which
must be prest downwards, at  the  same  time  that the
chin is raised.  If this is  properly  done, the bone will
be found moving, when the chin  is to be pushed back-
wards, and the thumbs slipped between  the jaws and
the cheeks.   If this is not done,  they will be bitten by
the sudden snap of the teeth  as they come  together.
The jaws should be kept closed by a bandage for a few
days and the patien  live upon soup.
                OF THE  SHOULDER.
  This accident is quite common,  (and  the most so of
all  the dislocations  mentioned.)  You can easily dis-
cover it, by the deformity of the  joint, and the head of
the bone being found  in some unnatural  position.  To
roduce it to its proper place, seat your patient in a chair,
place one hand on the prominent part of the  shoulder
blade, just above the spot where the head of the bone
should be, while with the other  you grasp  the  arm
above the elbow and then pull  it outwards.
  Sometimes this will not succeed; if so, then lay the
patient on the ground, place your heel in  his arm pit,
and then steadily and forciby extend the arm by grasp-
ing it at the wrist. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           691

               OF THE COLLAR BONE.
   The Collar Bone is seldom dislocated; but should it
 take place, the treatment is, to apply the bandages, &c.
 as you have been already directed  for a fracture of the
 same part.
                  OF THE ELBOW.
   If  this dislocation  has  occurred by falling on  the
 hands, which  is most common, or  holds  his arm bent
 at the elbow,  and every endeavor  to straighten it gives
 him great pain, it is dislocated backwards.  Seat the
 patient in a  chair,  let some one  grasp  the arm near
 the shoulder, and another the wrist and forcibly extend
 it, while you  interlock the fingers of  both hands just
 above the elbow, and pull it  backwards,  remembering
 that under  those circumstances,  whatever degree of
 force  is required, should be  applied in this direction.
 The elbow is sometimes dislocated sideways  or later-
 ally.   To reduce it, make extension  by pulling at the
 wrist,  while some one  secures the  arm above; then
push  the bone into its place, either inwards  or out-
 wards, as may be required.  After the reduction of a
 dislocated elbow, keep the joint at perfect rest for five
 or six days, and then move it gently.   If  inflammation
 should come on; treat it as I have before told you in all
 inflammations—bleed freely, purge, &c.
           OF THE WRIST, FINGERS, &c.
   Dislocations of this nature are common,  and easily
 known, by the least examination; they are all to be
reduced by forcibly  extending the lower extremity of
 the part,  and  pushing the  bones in their  places.   If
necessary small bands may be secured to  the fingers
 by a narrow bandage, to assist the extension.   These
 accidents should  be  attended  to without delay; for if
 they are neglected for a little time, they become irreme-
diable or incurable. 
692          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
                  OF THE THIGH.
  Notwithstanding the hip joint  is the strongest one in
the whole body, it is sometimes dislocated.  The meth-
od of ascertaining this accident is  by a careful exam-
ination of the part.   Comparing the length and appear-
ance of the limb with its fellow,  &c.  sufficiently mark
the nature of the  accident.  I will proceed to state the
remedy:
  Place  the patient on his back, upon a table covered
with a blanket.  Two sheets, folded like cravats, are
then to be passed between the thigh and the testicles of
each side, and their ends (one half of each sheet pass-
sing obliquely over the  belly to the opposite shoulder,
while the other half passes under the  back in the same
direction) given to several assistants, or what is much
better, tied very firmly to a hook, staple, post or some
immoveable  body.  A  large and very strong towel,
folded as beforementioned, like a cravat, is now to be
laid along the top of the thigh, so that  its middle  will
be just above the knee, where it is to be well secured
by many turns  of a bandage.  The two ends are then
to be knotted.  If you have no pullies, a twisted sheet
or rope may be passed through the loop formed by the
towels.   If you  can  obtain  the  former, it  is better.
Cast the loop over the  hook of  the lower  block,  and
secure the upper one to the wall, directly opposite to
the hooks or men that hold  the  sheets which pass be-
tween the thighs.   A steadily increasing and forcible
extension of the  thigh, is  then to  be made by  the
men who are stationed arthe pullies or sheet,  while
you are turning and twisting  the limb to assist in  dis-
lodging it from its unnatural situation.  By these means,
properly applied, [thejiead of the bone  will frequently
slip into the socket with considerable noise. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          693

  Should you be unable to succeed, change the direc-
tion of the extending force, recollecting always, that it
is not by sudden or violent jerks that it can be put in
place, but by a  steady, increasing and continued  pull.
Should  all your efforts prove  unavailing, (I would not
advise you to lose  much time before you resort to it,)
make your patient, as before directed, submit in  such
cases to loss of blood, by which means in those difficult
cases you are to succeed.
                 OF THE KNEE PAN.
  If this small bone is dislocated, you will perceive it
at once by the slightest glance.  Now, to reduce it, lay
your patient on  his back, straighten the leg, lift it up to
a right  angle with  his body, and in that position  push
the bone back to its proper place.  Then keep the  knee
at perfect rest on a pillow for a few days.
                   OF THE  LEG.
  Accidents of this kind cannot happen without tearing
and lacerating the soft parts; but little force is required
to place the  bones in their  proper  situation.  Should
the parts be so much torn that the bones slip again out
of place, you had better  apply Hartshorn's or Desault's
apparatus, which I fully described to you for fractured
thigh.
                   OF THE  FOOT.
  Dislocation of the foot seldom takes place.   It, how-
ever, may occur; therefore I will give  you the  treat-
ment.   Let one secure  the leg,  and another draw the
foot, while you  push the bone in the contrary way to
that in which it  was forced out.   Then you are to cover
it with  folds of  linen dipped  in water in which sugar of
lead has been dissolved, and apply a  splint  on  each
side of the leg, so that  it reaches below the foot.   An
accident of this nature is highly dangerous, requiring 
694          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

the immediate  assistance  of a  skilful physician; as,
even then, all that can be  done to remedy them  is in
the speedy reduction of the bone, keeping the parts on
a pillow at rest, and subduing inflammation by bleed-
ing, low diet, and all such  directions as already given
to subdue fever.
             OF COMPOUND ACCIDENTS.
  I have fully,  and as plainly as I could, before told
you how to treat accidents of this kind, and what  plan
you are to pursue when single; it now remains for me
to state to you what is to be done when they are united.
For  instance, an accident happens  by which a  man
is thrown from a height.   On examination, a wound
is found in his thigh—it is bleeding profusely, his ankle
on examination is out  of joint, with a wound commu-
nicating with the cavity, and  his leg broken.  In the
first  place  stop the bleeding from the wound, then re-
duce the dislocation next, then draw the edges of the
wound together with sticking plaster,  and lastly apply
to the fracture, Hartshorn's or  Desault's  apparatus,
which I have so fully explained before, that any car-
penter can construct it for  you.
AMPUTATION.
  This means the cutting off a  limb, or other part of
the body.   How often do those accidents happen where
there is no physician, or regular surgical  assistance,
(often at sea, or at a distance in  the country,) and the
limb requiring immediate amputation,  or cutting  off
The only difficulty, I confess to you, is  to know when
this operation ought to lie performed; for it is sometimes 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
695
the case that the most skilful surgeon is mistaken, or at
a stand whether he shall operate or not.  I do know
several cases that have been preserved by the obstinacy
of the patient, refusing to have the operation performed.
But this was running a great hazard of life, and should
be in  all such cases ventured upon  with due caution—
and the operation  ought not to be performed  unless
under the most careful and sound judgment.   Now, to
perform this  operation,  requires  nothing but  firmness
and common dexterity, for any man, and that, too, to
perform it well.  Although, as I have told you, there
are many doubts whether an amputation should take
place or not, yet in others, all difficulty vanishes; as for
instance, when a ball has carried  away  an  arm; or
during a  storm,  a  tree happens  to fall and mash the
knee, the  leg  or  ankle, so that those parts are greatly
lacerated or torn, and the blood vessels are  severely
lacerated, also nerves and tendons;  or the crushing or
splintering of the bones,  almost necessarily resulting
from  such accidents, render immediate amputation an
unavoidable and imperious duty.  Now, you will ask,
what  shall I do for instruments with which to perform
this operation?  If it is difficult to  obtain surgical in-
struments, which  is often the case in the country or at
sea, it is of no consequence.   The instruments for this
purpose are few, and easily obtained, which, in all cases
will answer as a valuable substitute.  First, get a large
carving knife, with a straight blade—have the knife as
sharp and smooth as possible—a pen-knife—a carpen-
ter's tenon,  or mitre saw—a  slip of leather or linen,
three inches  wide, and twenty inches  long, slit up the
middle to the half of its  length—a dozen or more of
ligatures, each about a foot long, made of waxed thread
or  fine twine—a hook with a sharp point,  or a shoe- 
696          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

maker's crooked  awl will answer—a pair of slender
pincers—several narrow strips of sticking plaster, called
by physicians or surgeons adhesive plaster, or adhesive
strip—some dry lint—a piece of old linen, large enough
to cover the end of the stump, spread with simple oint-
ment or lard—a bandage  three or four  yards long,
about the width of your hand—a piece of sponge, and
some warm water.  You are now prepared fully to
perform amputation; which I will so plainly explain,
that any man, unless he be an idiot or an absolute fool,
can perform this operation.
            AMPUTATION OF THE ARM.
   How to perform the operation.  Give the pa-
tient, about half an hour before you intend operating,
sixty drops of laudanum; now having  all things in
readiness, seat him on a narrow and firm table or chest,
of a convenient height; he is now to be supported by
an assistant, by clasping him  round the body.  If the
handkerchief and stick have not  been previously ap-
plied, place it as high up on  the arm as possible,  (the
stick being very short,) and so that the knot may pass
on the inner side of it.   Your instruments having been
placed regularly on a table, and within reach of your
hand, while some one supports the lower end of the
arm, and  at the same time draws  down the skin, take
the large knife and make one straight cut all round the
limb through the skin and fat only; then with the pen-
knife separate as much of the skin  from the flesh above
the cut, and all around it, as will form a flap to cover
the face or end of the stump; when you think there is
enough  separated,  turn it back, where it  must be held
by an assistant, while with  the large knife you make a
second straight incision round the arm and down to the
bone, as close as you can to  the doubled edge  of the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
697
flap, but taking good care not to cut it.  The bone  is
now to be passed through the slit in the piece of linen
beforementioned, and pressed by  its ends against the
upper surface of the wound  by  the person who holds
the flap, while you saw through the bone as near to it
as you  can.   With the hook or  pincers you then seize
and  tie  up  every  vessel that bleeds,  the  largest first
and the  smaller ones  next,  until they  are  all secured.
When this is done  relax the stick a little—if any artery
spurt blood, tie it as before directed.
  The wound is now to be gently  and very carefully
cleansed with a spunge and warm water, and the stick
to be relaxed.   If it is evident that the arteries are all
tied, bring the flap over the end  of the stump,  draw
then the edges together with strips of sticking plaster,
leaving the ligatures hanging  out  at the angles.  Lay
the piece of linen, spread  with  simple ointment or
hog's lard, over the straps and a fold or pledget of
lint over that, and secure the whole by  the bandage.
Then put your patient to bed and  rest  the  stump on a
pillow.   The  handkerchief and stick are to  be left
loosely round  the limb, so that if any bleeding happens
to come on, it may be  tightened  at once by the person
who watches  by the patient.  If this accident should
take place,  by which  I mean the bleeding, the  dress-
ings are to be taken off, the flap  raised, and the  bleed-
ing vessel sought for  and tied up; after which, every
thing is to be placed as  before.   I have mentioned a
handkerchief and  stick;  these are  substitutes for the
instrument  used  by   surgeons  called a  tourniquet.
Remember, in sawing through  the bone,  a long and
free stroke should  be used to prevent any hitching;  as
an additional security against which, the teeth of the
saw should be well sharpened and set wide.
       88 
698          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

  It is of the greatest importance to attend to this cir-
cumstance.   The  ends of divided  arteries cannot at
the time of operation  be  got hold  of; or  being  in  a
diseased state, their coats give way under the hook; so
that it is impossible to draw  them out, and not unfre-
quently they  are found ossified, which  means  turned
into bone.  In all such cases, having threaded a needle
with  a ligature  well  waxed, pass  it through the flesh
round the artery, so  that when tied, there will  be  a
portion of it included in the ligature along with the
artery. The needle used by surgeons for this purpose
is a curved or crooked one; but a straight one will an-
swer.   When the ligature has been made to encircle
the artery, cut off the needle and  tie  it firmly in the
ordinary way.
   The dressings should  not  be removed for several
days, say from five to seven, if the weather is cool; but
if warm weather, it should be removed in three  days.
But this you must do with great care, after soaking it
well  with warm water, so that you can take  it away
without it sticking to the stump, bleeding or otherwise
producing pain.  Then apply a clean plaster of lint,
over which put a bandage as before directed;—which
dressing is to be removed  and a fresh one applied every
two days.  In about fourteen  or sixteen days the liga-
tures  will  generaliy come away; and in from three to
five weeks, (if all goes on  as might be expected, without
any accident,) the wound is well.
                  OF THE THIGH.
   Amputation of the thigh  is to be performed in the
same manner as that  of the arm, with one exception;
it being proper to put a piece of lint between the edges
of the flap,  to prevent them from uniting until  the sur-
face of the stump has adhered to it. 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE,
699
                    OF THE LEG.
   There are two bones in the leg, which  have a thin
muscle between.  In such  a case you must have an
additional  knife  to those I have before mentioned, to
divide it.   The  knife required for this purpose must
have a long narrow blade,  with a double cutting edge,
and a  sharp  point.   You can grind down  a carving or
case knife to answer every purpose; the blade however
must be reduced to  less than half an inch in width.
The linen or leather strip should also have two slits in
it instead of one.  Having  all your preparations in or-
der near you, your patient is to be laid on  his back, on
a table covered  with a blanket, or on a hard bed, with
as many persons as  may  be necessary  to hold him.
The handkerchief and stick  are then to be applied on
the upper  part  of the thigh.  One  person holds  the
knee, and another the foot and  legs as firmly as possi-
ble, while with the large knife the operator makes an
oblique incision  round the  limb, through the skin, and
beginning at five or six inches below the knee pan, and
carrying it  regularly round  in such a manner  that the
cut will be  lower down on the calf than in front of the
leg.  As much of the skin is then to be separated by
the pen knife as  will cover the stump.   (It is here im-
portant for you  to take the principal part of the flap
from the hinder part of the leg; for the cut being made
as directed, it should require only one inch of skin to
be raised in front, and of course you must  take enough
from behind to  meet it.)  When this is turned back a
second cut is to  be made all round the limb and down
to  the bones; when with  the narrow bladed knife be-
fore mentioned, the  flesh between them is to be divided.
The middle  piece  of the leather strip is  now to be
pulled  through  between  the bones, the  whole  being 
 700          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 held back by the assistant who supports the flap while
 the bones  are sawed—which should  be so managed
 that the smaller  one  is cut through by  the  time the
 other is only half off.  The arteries  are then  to  be
 taken up, the flap brought down, and secured by adhe-
 sive plaster with  bandages, as I have before  plainly
 explained to you.
                 OF THE  FORE-ARM.
   The  fore-arm  has two  bones in it; therefore you
 require  in this operation the narrow bladed knife, and
 the strip of linen with three tails.   Let the incision  be
 made straight round the part, as in the arm;  with this
 exception—complete as I  give  you directions in the
 case before this.
            OF THE FINGERS AND TOES.
   When amputations of this  kind  are  made, you must
 draw the skin back,  and make an incision round  the
 finger a little below the joint it is intended  to remove;
 turn back  a little flap to  cover the  stump,  then cut
 down to  the joint,  bleeding it so that  you can cut
 through the ligaments that connect the  two bones—the
 under one  first, then that on the side. The head of
 the bone is to be turned out, while you  cut through the
 remaining soft  parts.   Should you  see  an artery spurt
 out the blood, immediately tie it up; if  not, bringdown
 the flap, and  secure it by a strip  of  sticking plaster.
 And then put a narrow bandage over the whole.
      CONCLUDING REMARKS ON AMPUTATION,
   It often  happens in cases of amputation,  that the
 wound is apt to bleed after you have dressed it—there-
 by giving you considerable trouble.   (This is called  by
 surgeons secondary bleeding.)   Therefore  to  prevent
 this, if necessary, before the strips of plaster are appli-
ed to the edges of the flap, give  a little wine-water,  or 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          701

a little spirit and water, and wait a few moments to see
whether the increased force it gives to the circulation,
will  occasion  a flow of blood; if it does,  secure the
vessel it comes from.   But should there be a consider-
able flow of blood from the hollow of the bone, make
use of a small plug of  cedar; and if violent spasms of
the stump take place,  hold it carefully by your assist-
ants, and immediately administer large doses of lauda-
num; it may be understood as a general rule, that after
every operation of the kind, laudanum must and ought
to be given according to the sufferings of the patient.
               MORTIFICATION.
  In the general treatment of wounds and in surgery,
remember  always  to  stop  excessive  inflammation;
which, if allowed to go  to a  certain point, frequently
produces  mortification,  or  the death  of the parts,
Therefore, always be on your guard against fever—
which  you may easily  know,  by  heat, pain, redness,
and swelling.   Now, I again repeat, that you must bleed
and purge as much as you think your patient may be
able to bear,  from his situation, constitution, &c. &c.
These matters are to be entirely regulated by the ap-
pearances at  the time.  If the  fever and  pain should
suddenly cease, and  the part  which before was red,
swollen and hard, becomes of a purple  color and soft,
you are to stop at once  all reducing measures, put a
large  blister  over all the parts, and give good wine,
porter, barks,  and wine or quinine, or other generous
stimulants, so as to support  the sinking  condition of
the patient, for mortification has  or is about to com-
mence; and should you find the blisters should fail  to 
702          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MtCDICINE.

put a stop to the disease, and the parts look dead and
become offensive, cover them with charcoal, or ferment-
ing poultices, until nature separates the dead parts from
the living; during which time give a free, generous and •
strengthening diet and good wine.
  In mortification of, the fore-arm,  it frequently  be-
comes  necessary to amputate.  This ought never to be
done until after blisters  have been  fairly  tried to  the
sound parts above the mortified; as they often separate,
you should be careful to examine strictly the parts, so
as to discover, in time, that which may be  necessary.
               THE  CATHETER.
  A Catheter is a small surgical  instrument made use
of for drawing the water from the bladder.  There are
two kinds, male and female.  The difference between
them is very little; the male has but  one hole  in the
end that enters the bladder; the female has several;
this is the only difference  in  the  instrument.   By this
simple operation, which any  person of common sense
can perform, the lives of thousands have been preserv-
ed—and this is one among the many reasons I  could
advance, for  having explained the outward  parts  of
female generation so plainly.  Now many fools say
that I ought to have left  out  an explanation of these
parts.  And why  do they say so?  Because they do
not read the book, so as to see the necessity of writing
so plain.  Are we  ashamed  of the parts which the
diseases of our nature require to be  explained, so as to
obtain relief in cases of disease?  I am writing a book
not for the learned but  the unlearned, not for  amuse-
ment, but to explain, in plain language, the diseases to 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
703
which  we  are  subjected,  and the  method to obtain
relief from pain and sickness.  With these remarks I
shall proceed.
        METHOD OF USING THE CATHETER.
  Holding the  private  member near its head, between
the finger and thumb of the left hand; (standingat his
side;)  now with  your  right  hand you introduce the
point of the instrument into the passage, (out of which
flows the  urine,) the convex  side of the catheter to-
wards  the  patient's knees; then  gently, by no means
using force, push the instrument  down the  urethra, at
the same time  endeavor to draw up  the penis on it.
When  you first introduce the  catheter, the handle will
of course be near the  belly of the  patient; and  as  it
goes down the canal it  will be thrown farther from it,
until it enters the bladder, which you will know by the
water immediately flowing through  the  tube  into the
basin  or pot.   It sometimes  occurs that you cannot
succeed while the patient is on his back; if this is the
case, make him stand up, or you  may  place him with
his shoulders  and  back  on the ground, while his thighs
and legs are held up by assistants.  In difficult cases I
have been compelled to place the patient on his back,
and when the catheter was as far down as it would go,
I introduced the fore finger, well  oiled, into the funda-
ment, and endeavored to push the point upwards while
still pressing forwards with my other hand; by which
means I have often succeeded, when all other methods
failed.   You must recollect force  is never, on  any
account, to be used.  Vary the position of the instru-
ment  as-often as you  think  proper; even permit the
patient himself to try, but by all means use no force or
violence;  but humor the  instrument,  take your  time,
and be cautious, and you  will at last  succeed.  I will 
704          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

state to you a case.  During my practice in Virginia,
in Botetourt county, near the town of ^alem, a Mr. T.
a  young man in the prime of life,  was engaged in
raising a large  barn, when a part of the building gave
way,  and he was dreadfully mashed, with  a fall of
thirty feet.   I was immediately called in to his case; it
was such  as to  leave but little if any hope of his re-
covery.  One  of the  logs  having  fallen  across  his
privates, placed him in such  a situation as to be entirely
helpless.   In this critical and, I may add,  wretched
situation, he continued five days without passing a drop
of water.  I had made daily  unsuccessful  efforts to
introduce the  catheter,  but  widiout success;  his fever
and thirst very great.  I had bled . him very  copiously
every day, and endeavored by all means to reduce in-
inflammation.   His misery was excruciating from being
unable to pass his water.  All my efforts to  pass the
instrument,  from the bruised stat<*  of the parts, were
unsuccessful.  I then  determined, previous to an oper-
ation, to  make  the last  trial; when  I introduced  my
finger, as  before described, into  the  rectum.   Feeling
distinctly the point of the instrument, I passed it gently
into  the  neck of the  bladder, when  immediately the
water flowed.  So great and instantaneous was the
relief afforded him, that he  exclaimed, "I thank thee,
merciful God !"   By this  operation upwards of a  gal-
lon of water was  drawn off  From this  time his
recovery   gradually  commenced.    The  instrument
which I learned  him  how to introduce is continued, I
am informed, until this  time, being unable to pass his
water without it.  He is  still living  in  Virginia,  but,
poor fellow, entirely deprived of the  use  of his  lower
extremities.  I will now relate to you a second  case—
with  which I shall close my remarks on  the subject of 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          705
mis small but valuable instrument.   Two years since I
was called upon at night to visit a young lady  of the
most respectable family residing about ten miles from
Knoxville, said by the messenger to be dying.  On my
arrival, I found her in great misery.  She  desired the
room might be cleared of a!l save her sister, when she
with the greatest delicacy  declared  her misery was
from being unable to pass her water.  In this horrible
situation she had been  for four  days;  during  which
time, the whole catalogue of teas had been prescribed
from water melon tea to the full extent of twenty differ-
ent kinds.   All had been  poured  down the throat  of
this poor innocent girl, until she declared that she had
rather  die than drink another  draught.   On examina-
tion I found I had forgotten my catheter, but as  I  have
often done before, I made a temporary instrument.  I
took a common goose  quill, cut it  off at both ends,
made one of the ends perfectly smooth, passed  it into
the small hole  which I have so plainly described  in
the outward parts  of female generation, and  in less
than five minutes this amiable and  innocent girl was
entirely relieved, by an operation which any old wo-
man might  have performed, saved  me  a disagreable
ride of a very cold night, and the family an expense  of
ten dollars.  This lady is now married, and the mother
of a fine family.  I have often since  laughed with her,
about the quality and quantity of the teas administered.
I have mentioned this last case  to show you the actual
importance  and  indeed  the necessity  of explaining
these parts, which otherwise I should have veiled  in
different language or omitted them altogether.
       89 
SCARLET FEVER.
  This complaint is now raging violently through Vir-
ginia;  and within  a short time, has made its appear-
ance throughout the western  states, with considerable
severity in its  symptoms, and requiring active  and
prompt treatment—otherwise it generally proves fatal.
I have no doubt, by early attention to those symptoms
and remedies which follow, you will at once cut short
and easily control  this contagion, (for it certainly is a
contagious disease,) similar to the measles—distinguish-
ed or  known  from them, by  the spots making their
appearance on the second day of the fever; when, in
measles, they  usually make their appearance on the
fourth day.  The spots in scarlet fever being of a light
flaming red, while  those of measles  are of a dark red
color.  From  this  plain and  different appearance, you
can certainly distinguish at once the difference in the
diseases;  thereby enabling you to take  at once such
prompt steps as to arrest this disorder; which, if suffer-
ed to proceed, generally, and I may almost add always,
ends fatally.
  Symptoms.  Cold  and sudden chills stealing gradu-
ally over the whole body—with flushes of heat, great
thirst,  the head  ache, the skin is covered with  large
red or  scarlet  patches, which  after  a  short time unite
or come together;  then in a few days they disappear or
go off in a kind of scurf, like bran, and  the throat be-
comes  quite hoarse or sore, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
707
   Remedies.  As you value the life of your patient,
 depend  on emetics or pukes of ipecacuanha; which
 are to be given on the first appearance of the disease,
 to  be followed by a dose of salts or eight grains  of
 calomel and  eight of rhubarb; and  half of this dose
 for children.  If the pulse is full and strong, and the
 head aches, it will be proper to draw blood, and dash
 cold water over  the body very freely and  frequently.
 (Do not be alarmed at  this last remedy, for it will be
 the certain one in this complaint to relieve your patient,
 for I  have often used it with great success.)  There is
 no  disease in  which the advantages of cold  water have
 been  more successful  than in scarlet fever;  but  to
 receive the full benefit of it, it must  be often used and
 that freely; that is, as often as the  heat, &c. seem  to
 require the use of it, which perhaps  may be the case
 eight  or nine times in twenty-four hours.
  A fine remedy in this disorder is the Saline Mixture,
 made  as follows:  Salt of tartar  one drachm, water
seven ounces, essence of peppermint five drops.  When
 the salt of tartar is dissolved, add very gradually lemon
juice, or vinegar, until the  effervescence ceases. This
mixture to be  taken every hour—and to children, such
quantities of it as you  can conveniently  get  them to
take.   It is a cooling mixture, produces gentle moisture
on the skin, and keeps down inflammation, &o.  When
there  is a sore throat, use any innocent gargle, such as
sage and honey, with a little alum or borax  in it, so as
to wash or cleanse the throat frequently;  and apply a
mustard poultice to the throat.
  In scarlet fever  in the latter stage, it will be prudent
for  you to guard against putrescency, which symptoms
I will plainly  describe to  you, so that you may know
them; having  fully the marks of typhus fever—difficulty 
708
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
in swallowing—breathing hurried—breath hot—skin
dry,  and  burning  to  the  touch—a quick, weak  and
irregular pulse—scarlet patches break out about the
lips; and the inside of the mouth and throat are of a
fiery red  color.  About the third day,  blotches of a
dark red  color make their appearance about the face
and neck, which soon extend over the whole body.  If
you will examine the throat,  you will find a number of
specks,  between an ash, and a  dark brown color, par-
ticularly  on the palate, &c.—a brown fur covers the
tongue—the lips are  covered with little  pimples con-
taining acrid matter, which burst and produce ulcera-
tion wherever they touch.  If the case  is  a bad one,
the inside of the mouth and throat become black, and
are covered with running  sores, called ulcers.  When
these symptoms take place, it is a well marked case of
putrid fever, and contagious.  Be therefore careful, but
not afraid.  We cannot die in a better cause than in
discharging a duty  which we  owe to  God and our
fellow creature—the last and most solemn injunction of
our blessed Redeemer, "Love  ye one another," and
the beautiful inculcation  of  Divine Revelation,  "Do
unto all mankind as  you  would they  should do unto
you."
  For the  treatment of these last symptoms, read un°
der the head, remedies for putrid sore throat. 
EPIDEMIC  CHOLERA.
  This pestilence has swept from life one hundred and
forty millions of the human race, according to the most
authentic reports of interments, since August, 1817.
  Sharers of the same nature, warmed with the same
hopes, and as fondly attached  to  life as ourselves, all
have  been prematurely  swept  into eternity in quick
succession, overwhelming the  heart with sorrow  for
some  affectionate  parent,  some tender  companion, or
some  dear and near friend; and how many thousands,
no doubt, unprepared for so sudden a change from life
to the presence of the Supreme Judge of the Universe!
It is impossible to commence writing on this awful and
important subject, without reflecting on the rapid extinc-
tion of human  life, the cxcrutiating miseries so many
human beings must have  suffered, without shuddering
at the great sum of human misery inflicted by this com-
plaint; nor can we but be sensible of the insufficiency
of human efforts,  against the decrees of an overruling
Providence.  Now  are we not  warned by this  sad
and affecting scene, in language not to be mistaken,
"Be ye also ready."
  This destroying angel whom  the Eternal has em-
ployed to sacrifice so great a portion of the human
family, has, since  August 1817, been advancing over
the whole field of Europe; nor have oceans, mountains,
climates, or distance, preserved  us from its ravages.
Mysterious and uncertain in its course, having no reg-
ulated or physical agents by which its location could 
710
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
be certainly determined,  save  that of its  selection  of
the vicious, the uncleanly and intemperate.  Nothing
in my opinion can change the condition  of the atmos-
phere, which is essentially connected with  this com-
plaint.   In other  words, the disease is in the atmos-
phere;  and  although  no  preventive  can  be  taken
against  this complaint, yet much may be done towards
staying  its progress, and towards alleviating the force
of the attack.  The two best  preventives for cholera
from experience are temperance and great cleanliness;
for experience, throughout this disease,  proves clearly,
and without any doubt, that cholera spreads itself with
the most deadly  effects amongst those,  who are negli-
gent of personal  cleanliness,  and dissipated in  their
habits.  But notwithstanding  the  cholera  in  a great
measure was supposed at first  to limit its ravages prin-
cipally to this unfortunate part of the community, and
such as were greatly exposed,  yet time and daily expe-
rience prove, that many  thousands have  died  of our
most respectable  citizens, who were  certainly of the
opposite character to those I have mentioned.  Yet the
fact is, that all who  are within the atmosphere of chol-
era are  liable more  or less to suffer from  this complaint;
but what are the real and physical causes that produce
cholera, is as yet very uncertain, even to those medical
men who have  had great experience in it.  All that
can be said is that it is in the atmosphere; nor can any
thing change the condition of  the atmosphere which is
so essentially connected with this disorder.   The per-
sons most liable to  this affection,  says the French
Royal Academy of  Medicine,  in their report, are those
physically and morally debilitated; those weakened  by
excesses,  of whatever  kind they may  be; gluttons,
drunkards and gamesters, and women of imprudent 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          711

habits, and all persons suffering under the pernicious
effects of uncleanliness.   To  this testimony may be
added that  of all physicians and  others who have
watched this complaint, and the progress of the disease
in India, England, France, Canada and our own coun-
try.   In all these countries the intemperate, the  vicious
and the  lewd, when attacked,  have universally fallen
victims—and are the first to fall prostrate  before the
cholera,  and most difficult  to  cure; and as an  able
physician expressed  himself,  generally  beyond  the
reach of medicine.  The unhappy  inmates  of  the
houses of ill fame, and those of immoral uncleanliness,
in Paris, have been universally the first to be conveyed
to the cholera hospitals.
   I shall now proceed to give you a full and  perfect
account of the cholera—its commencement and march
throughout Europe and  the U.  States—the physical
agents, &c. conuected with the disease—its locations,
and the causes by  which it was more or less increased
or diminished in virulence, and if it is  not in some
degree attenuated  in its  dreadful effects, either by the
power of the climate, or by that of the social organiza-
tion of the people—and  whether the cholera is pesti-
lential or not, by which I mean catching—or how far
the assistance of medicine or art may go to counteract
the agents of this epidemic—together  with a  gen-
eral  and  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  disorder,
with the  conflicting opinions of the most  distinguished
physicians, aud their  treatment  of cholera, and  such
useful information  as  is  derived  from the  most  able
writers  on  the subject—with such  plain  directions
and in such  language as may be adapted to the capacity
of the people. 
712
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
  The Cholera  commenced in India, at Jessore, in
August, 1817, of which disorder ten thousand persons
died in the first two months.  In Mymensing, a district
watered by the Boiirrampooter, the Cholera prevailed
in two  successive  years—the deaths here were ten
thousand seven  hundred and  fourteen  persons.   In
1817, the complaint was mostly confined  to the lower
classes; but in 1818  the disease became  general, and
no rank was spared, and a tenth of the inhabitauts fell.
A precise  document is preserved at the city of Dacca,
a district  between  and near  the  confluence  of the
Ganges and Bourrampooter.  In sixteen months, from
August, 1817, to January, 1819, of 6354 sick with the
disease, 3757 perished—more than one-half.  In the
town of Sylhat, in three  thousand  three hundred and
sixteen  houses,  containing  eighteen  thousand  eight
hundred and ninety-six  inhabitants,  there were ten
thousand individuals attacked in five months; of whom
died one  thousand  one  hundred  and ninety-six, or
about equal to one in nine.  In the  district of Nuddea,
traversed by that branch of the Ganges called Hoogly,
of a population of one million three hundred thousand,
the cholera destroyed sixteen  thousand  five hundred;
there were attacked  twenty-five thousand, of whom
two-thirds died.  Of four thousand  seven  hundred and
eighty who received medical assistance, only one thou-
sand sixty-six died, or less than one fourth.   (Here is
an evidence of the advantages  of medicine.)   At Nul-
torc, between  the Ganges and Boiirrampooter, the mala-
dy was much  less severe—the deaths not exceeding one
in a hundred, in  consequence of being better acquaint-
ed with the treatment of this malady.   In the country
places, however, the fourth of the sick died, and in the 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          713

same district, only a short distance to  Bargulpore, the
cholera destroyed 15.571 in ninety days.  Not one in
a hundred  in  this  district that were attacked,  who
escaped death.  This may and is no doubt the cause
of the great  mortality; the country  being low, marshy,
and  filled  with stagnant pools.  In Benr^re?, fifteen
thousand people died; Calcutta  has  been visited severe-
ly four times since  18-3 7.  From Bengal  I  have not
been able t >  procure complete  document?,  or from the
citv  of Calcutta, wnich is the  seat of Government of
British India.  It appears, however, from the best evi-
dence  procured on the first eruption, that  in  1817, in
the three months and  a half previous to the 31st De-
cember, thirty-five thousand seven hundred and thirty-
six inhabitants of the city and suburbs were attacked
by the cholera;  of these  two thousand three hundred
died, or one  in fifteen; but from  the severe manner of
attack, the distance, the great aversion  of the Hindoos
against European medicine, and the  superstitious desire
to await the  termination of the  malady, they generally
resorted  to  some sacred place,  or near  an idol  or
wooden god,  and there waited  until death  terminated
their dreadful sufferings.  Thousands  and thousands
have  thus  perished  without seeking assistance,  and
consequently  their deaths not recorded.  At Calcutta,
the  proportion of men  to women was  as four to one.
Of three families, great or small, there was always one
or two of them who experienced a loss of from one to
two,  or three  individuals,  and in some cases five or six.
In the  English army in  India,  where the cholera was
opposed by all the powers of medical science, the mor-
tality, though  still considerable, was less dreadful.   The
division of the centre lost two  hundred  and thirty
Europeans,  out  of  a  corps of  three thousand  five
       90 
714          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

hundred; and five hundred and thirty-four natives, out
of about eight thousand.  The deaths varied according
to time, and were sometimes one in eight, and some-
times one  in three and a  half.   In the division  of
Ilansi, there were only two hundred and sixty cases of
Cholera; the loss  was from  one  to  five or six of the
sick.  In the division  of the left,  of  eight thousand
men, one hundred were attacked; and  forty-nine died,
or more than one third.  In fine, in  the division of
Nagpore, of four thousand men, thirteen  Europeans
and  two hundred  and  eleven individuals of the coun-
try, were attacked with the cholera.  Six of the  for-
mer, died;  and amongst the natives the loss was about
one  in  seven.  Considering  the eruption of 1817  and
1818, separately from those which followed, the English
physicians of Bengal  have asserted, that the mortality,
though immense, was  nevertheless exaggerated  or  in-
creased by fear; and that thousands have been destroy-
ed by the  alarm  or terror of this  disorder, is certain,
from authentic  information from all medical  sources.
Fear is one of the exciting causes of this disease.   We
have estimated, say the English physicians, the ravages
 as proportional to the extent and density of the respec-
 tive populations it struck.  The loss was more consider-
 able at the commencement and middle, than towards the
 end  of the eruption.  When  it  was  opposed by
 medical assistance, the deaths among the troops rare-
 ly amounted to the third of the sick, and was bounded
 frequently by the fifth.   When the sick were abandoned
 to themselves,  the  half of those  attacked generally
 perished,  and  sometimes  even two-thirds.   In  the
 island of Bombay, inhabited by nearly two  hundred
 thousand  people, it is fully established, that  in seven
  months there were fifteen  thousand nine hundred and 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
715
 forty-five cases of cholera.  Thus the  twelfth part of
 the population was infected; of whom two  thousand
 four hundred and thirty-two perished, or one in  six.
 In the Madras army in  five years there  were fifteen
 thousand eight hundred cases, of which three thousand
 seven  hundred and thirty perished.   Of the naive
 military, of seventy-one  thousand men, there  perished
 fifteen thousand eight hundred and thirty—or one in
 four.   The entire  loss among the native troops  was
 nearly a fourth.  The population of the British posses-
 sions of India, amount to forty millions, without com-
 prising recently conquered country.  The enumeration
 may be considered correct—therefore yielding in Indos-
 tan, an annual mortality, produced by  the cholera, of
 two and  a half millions  of people.  If  we reduce the
 preceding estimate one-half, allowing for intermittances
 of the malady, yet the ravages of the scourge over the
 five regions of India during the fourteen last years,
 will form a loss of eighteen millions of persons.  What
 must then have been the extent of its murderous effects,
 when we comprise its destructive course over  so many
 other  regions  of insular and continental  Asia, from
 which  it is impossible to  draw correct information.
  During the  prevalence of the cholera in Russia in
 1830, the progress of infection among the inhabitants,
 and the proportion of deaths to the sick, have differed
according to time and place.  The southern regions
 were those where the malady  spread the  most, widely
and with the greatest rapidity; those towns where the
disease entered at the  end of  autumn  suffered  but
 slightly.   The  province  of Caucasus in Russia, there
almost every where perished the half of those infected
with this  complaint, whilst the mortality amongst  the
nomadic tribes of  the great steeps  east and northeast 
716          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

from the Caspian, amounted  to  only  a fifth  of those
attacked.  The longest period in which  the  disorder
prevailed wis I 14 days; and  the shortest twenty days:
the i<;nrMT  beginning  in summer, and the latter in au-
tumn.  The  province of  Caucasus had the greatest
number of deaths; out of sixteen thousand attacked,
ten thousand  perished.  From the official lists which I
have been  able to collect on the prevalence of cholera
in Russia,  being  united  in  one  summary, yield the
following—which is far below the reality.  From the
middle of June  to the 15th  of  November, 1830, the
public documents establish the fact, that there were in
Russia fifty-four  thousand three  hundred  and sixty-
seven persons attacked  with the cholera, of  whom
thirty-one thousand two hundred and fifty-six  sunk un-
der its violence.   If I divide the  aggregate  numbers of
the sick, and  of the dead,  by  1071, I find that during a
period  equivalent  to three years, fifty-one  individuals
were attacked every twenty-four hours, by this disorder
—and  that out  of these, thirty,  or three-fifths died.
The numbers given by the official reports are certainly
below the truth, since, on one hand, a great number of
cases have escaped notice, and  on the other, a large
number have, from different  motives, been concealed.
I, therefore, from  documents  on  which you may rely
as correct, estimate without exaggeration, that  during
the prevalence of the cholera in Russia in 1830, the
infected amounted to one hundred thousand, and the
deaths to sixty thousand  persons.  At the same time,
the complaint had not then extended  over more than
one half of the Russian Empire.  '
   The Consuls of France, by their reports,  have lat-
terly enabled me to  collect  from their official docu-
ments, some few details of the cholera in Western Asia, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          717
and even in Arabia.  The Iman or  Sovereign inform-
ed  them that ten thousand of his subjects had fallen by
this disorder, and  that in consequence of the people
having exhausted  their means of burying the dead,
provision was made from the imperial  treasury; hun-
dreds  of dead  bodies  being frequently  exposed  for
weeks for want  of  the means of burial, and owin<* to
the fear  of the  contagious nature of the disease, thou-
sands  and  thousands have died in the  most wretched
state, who have  been permitted  from fear and  ignor-
ance to linger out  the most excruciating torture, with-
out a single friend to soothe, or wipe from their brow
the  cold and clammy  sweat of death.   It would  be
totally unnecessary for me to trace minutely, in a work
of this  kind, the various ravages in towns, districts,
&o. committed by this dreadful scourge.   I have, how-
ever, so far  as I deemed necessary,  communicated to
you the principal  and  first  locations of  the disease,
together with such official reports as I  deemed  inter-
esting  as to the principal  places of mortality in Eu-
rope.
  It may be  necessary here for me  to  state, before I
proceed further  on this important subject, the atmos-
pheric and  other phenomena, anterior to and contem-
poraneous with the disease in the sections of country
mentioned.    The  physicians and surgeons of India,
who have strictly noticed, and have reported faithfully,
such appearances,  describe frequent and  great devia-
tions from the usual order of the seasons, before and
during the existence of cholera; and  they speak of
unusually violent thunder storms, violent  squalls, and
storms of wind  and rain.   Earthquakes were also felt
in various parts  of Hindostan.  At the time when the
grand army under  the Marquis of Hastings suffered so 
718          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
dreadfully from the disease, the thermometer  ranged
from 90 to 100—the heat  was moist and suffocating,
and  the  atmosphere a dead calm.   At  the time this
complaint raged in Calcutta, the disease was attributed
to the extreme heat and drought of the season, follow-
ed by heavy rains,  and  the use  of unwholesome food.
In the island  of Java, the weather was very dry and
hot at the time the cholera broke out in  the month  of
April.
  When this complaint broke out in Bombay, the falls
of rain  were  unusually great  in August; and at Ma-
dras, the  weather was much  the same.   It has been
universally observed by those acquainted  with this dis-
ease, that  it has generally been accompanied  by a
cloudy, overcast state of the sky, sudden showers, com-
posed of large drops of rain,  resembling those  of a
thunderstorm, and a thick, heavy state of the air, giv-
ing it a whitish appearance; and  whenever the weath-
er  cleared  up,  the disease  gradually  disappeared.
Throughout India similar notices were  made of the
connexion between the disturbed state of the weather
and the  appearance of the disease.   In all instances
southerly and  easterly winds seemed to give vigor and
force to  the cholera.  Its  greatest ravages have been
during the heats of summer, subsiding most generally
at the beginning of winter.  During  the  prevalence of
the disease, the atmosphere is in a rarified state; and
exhibits a great tendency to  part  with  its moisture,
forming thick  clouds, heavy rains, or haziness, and to
become agitated  by storms.  The  same influence of
season on the appearance of cholera in  Persia and
Turkey is thought to be as evident as in India, for it
raged with great virulence for three years at various
places from  the  shores  of the  Persian gulf to  the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          719
Mediterranean, in one direction, and to  the borders of
Russia  in  Europe  in the other,  it prevailed only in
summer.  The weather  before the appearance of this
complaint in Mecca, (in 1831) was remarkable for the
excessive  heat—the thermometer  being  steadily as
high as  102 F., and  afterwards heavy rains,  with the
wind from south to south-east.
  Before  the  cholera appeared in Suez,  a very  hot
south wind prevailed.   At Cairo,  on the approach of
the disease, the wind was from the north-cast, and the
heat during the day was very oppressive, with  cold
nights.  At Nishmi  Novogored in  Russia, there  sud-
denly succeeded to a warm and dry state of the atmos-
phere, in the month of August, 1830, a continuance of
cold and wet.   At this time the cholera began—pre-
vailing winds south-east.
  The cholera appeared  at Riga at the  commence-
ment of uncommonly hot and sultry weather.
  In  Poland the cholera increased as the weather in
March and April  became  cooler  and more damp.
With  warmth  and  dryness of the  air the complaint
rapidly abated.  When,  however, in August and Sep-
tember the days  became very hot, and the  nights cold,
it again raged  to an alarming extent.  The prevalence
of the disease  at Moscow is stated to have been in  pro-
portion to the humidity or dampness of the atmosphere.
At Vienna the cholera broke out on the 13th of Sep-
tember after a  hurricane and much cold rain.   At
Dantzic, so irregular and unfavorable to  health  had
been  the  weather of the spring,  that pestilential  dis-
eases  were expected  from the irregularity of the season.
The prevalent  winds, in  most places in which the chol-
era committed its ravages, have been  easterly, from
north-east  to  south-east  Such winds  the late  Dr 
720          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

Rush of Philadelphia,  if you recollect, informed  us,
almost invariably  preceded and  accompaned some of
die  worst  pestilences,  and  various  fevers—such   as
plagues, yellow fever, and violent bilious and intermit-
tent fevers.
   Among the phenomena worthy of record connected
with the history of cholera, is the sickness, and mortal-
ity of animals antecedent to and  at  the  time  of  the
ravages of the disease, in  many  parts of the  world
where it prevailed.   On the most careful examination
of all the reports on cholera by the most able  physi-
cians, it is Conclusive that the complaint is not  trans-
missible either by  persons or goods, and fifteen years
experience proves that the disease arises in the atmos-
phere, and that all attempts to keep off this complaint
by restrictive measures have utterly failed.  More than
five  hundred instances  I could here  give you,  of  the
cholera  having  suddenly appeared in  a  district,  or
country, in which not the least  communication or in-
tercourse  had taken  place with  those affected with it.
And we learn from the  most scientific physicians, and
those too who have made the most attentive and dili-
gent research, that the cholera is not  contagious,  but
arises from  predisposing causes  within the range of
atmospheric influence—and how many facts have  we
before us by different writers on the East India cholera,
that in the very centre of extensive districts ravaged by
the cholera,  there are certain narrow strips or patches
of country, in  which there existed no natural obstacles
to the extension of the disease, but into which  it never
penetrated, although all around was one scene of des.
olation.   This part of the subject cannot be placed in a
clearer light than by simply observing that the instances
of immunity from the disease where unlimited  inter- 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           721

 course had been allowed, are in ten fold greater numbers
 than where restrictions  had been imposed and no in-
 tercourse  had been  enforced.  On the  contrary it is
 believed  that these quarantines  or  cordons (in other
 words  guards to prevent persons who come from a
 quarter in which the  disorder is known to exist) do not
 even give  an  opportunity of escape.   Their tendency
 and effect  are  the other  way.  As another proof of
 this disease not being contagious, except in filthy, close
 and ill  ventilated places, by which I mean filthy rooms
 and other  dirty places, that the  smell is sufficient to
 occasion sickness at any time—I say as another proof,
 the full and constant  intercourse of physicians, nurses,
 attendants and friends, almost constantly  with the sick
 of cholera, and the number of the  former who have
 been attacked  with the disease.  If  cholera were  thus
 communicable,  or catching, a large majority of  the
 persons designated, ought to have had the complaint—
 whereas,  in truth,  a large majority of them entirely
 escaped.   Those who  were attacked  were  not in
 greater  proportion than would have  suffered from any
 prevalent disease whatever.   At Moscow,  five hundred
 and  eighty-seven patients  affected with cholera,  and
 eight hundred and sixty  laboring under other diseases,
 were admitted into the hospital  of Ordinka.   This
 hospital consists of a  single building, three stories high
 communicating  by stairs  placed  within the boards.
 The same  attendants had charge of all  the patients;
 the different articles of furniture were distributed with-
 out distinction to the patients, and all the  clothes were
washed together by  the same persons.   Of the eight
hundred and sixty patients above alluded to, not a sin-
gle one became affected  with  cholera;  and of  one
hundred and twenty-three hospital attendants, two only
      91 
722
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
were  affected, a man and  a woman,  both  of whom
were  disposed to the disease from very irregular  con-
duct, and frequent admonitions had been given them of
their  danger but to no effect, when they suddenly  died.
Hundreds, nay, thousands of instances, might be addu-
ced of entire immunity  or  escape, after constant inter-
course with  the sick both  in India, Europe  and the
United States.  The women who washed the cothes
of the patients in the hospitals,  were entirely exempt
from the disease.  All the  attendants who helped the
patients in and  out of the  bath,  rubbed their  bodies,
dressed blisters &c, all escaped  the complaint.   This
with few exceptions has been the case in all the cholera
 hospitals, with which I have corresponded.   The phy-
sician general  to the town  hospital  of Dantzic, says
that there were  five waiters always near the patients;
 eight men were employed in rubbing and bathing; nine
medical  men visited the patients, of whom one was
always in the room in the  day time, and two watching
every night—no  one of these twenty-two persons fell
ill.   I have  visited, says Dr White, the Gateshead
hospital, during the time I had the honor of being phy-
sician to  that institution,  unber  all  circumstances of
physical depression.  I  have breathed the atmosphere
of its apartments for hours together;  yet I, the atten-
dants, nurses, all equally exposed, have equally escaped.
Not a single  individual  in  the profession has sustained
to my knowledge an attack since the disorder has pre-
vailed.  It is not reasonable to suppose, that physicians
and nurses should  be  entirely  free from  attacks of
cholera.   We ought on  the contrary to be surprised at
the proportion being so  small, when we consider how
the extreme fatigue and  loss of rest which they under-
go, must  peculiarly predispose  them  to  the disease, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
723
Very different, however, would be the  result, if physi-
cians,  friends and  attendants,  were obliged to render
their services in the close and  confined  quarters of a
city  or town, and in the damp, filthy, and ill-ventilated
houses of those who are in the great  number victims
to the disease.   Hence it becomes the  duty of all gov-
ernments, and the corporations of cities,  and all public
authorities,  to make timely and suitable provision  for
the reception of the poor and needy, and placing them
in the  earliest stage of the disease in comfortable hos-
pitals,  and  also  of cleansing dirty, filthy places, and
houses, cellars, privies, &c.
   From  a full  and impartial review of  all the reports
on the subject of cholera, with  the rise and progress of
the  disease, it proves  to  be an  epidemic,  depending
upon some peculiar  morbid change in  the constitution
of the  atmosphere, which, to speak  the  truth,  and in
plain language, is unknown to all medical  men.  And all
that can  be said on the subject is  this, that it is owing
to some unknown peculiarity of the atmosphere, some-
thing similar to that which gives  rise  to the ordinary
fever, and other complaints of the season of the sum-
mer and autumnal months.  That its severity or  miti-
gation  greatly depends upon the predisposing causes at
the time  of the location of the disease,  there  can  be
certainly no doubt:  for instance, such as intemperance
of every species—exposure to the dews of night—
sudden changes in the heat and dryness  of the atmos-
phere—excessive fatigue, and the system laboring un-
der  general debility—a want of cleanliness—food of a
bad quality, &c.  All  articles which irritate the stom-
ach and  bowels, prove exciting causes of the complaint.
Any sudden or  considerable debility  of the nervous
system is to be greatly dreaded, as of itself laying the 
724          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
 body open to an  attack of cholera.   On this  account,
 anxiety, fear, and  the depressing passions in general,
 should not be allowed to harass the mind.   Hundreds,
 I may  almost say thousands, have been destroyed by
 fear alone.   In your manner of living be regular, and
 do not suddenly change your habits, but maintain regu-
 lar hours of sleep,  regularity of meals, and the  accus-
 tomed daily exercise, strictly avoiding exposure  to the
 sun, great fatigue, night air  or dews, getting wet, care-
 fully avoiding situations in which the air is foul, stag-
 nant, and loaded  with moisture, and every thing which
 has a tendency to reduce the energies  of the system,
 either by over excitement or direct debility, and to im-
 pede the functions of the skin, or to induce disturbance
 of the  digestive canal.  To avoid cholera,  preserve
 habits  of strict temperance—no excess of any kind—
 no experiments to be made with medicine, by which I
 mean  the preventives of the disease  advertised  by
 quacks and imposters  in  every city.   Remember one
 important rule—strict cleanliness of person, clothes*
 and habitation.  Keep your feet warm  and dry, wear
 warm  clothing, so as to guard against sudden  changes
 of weather, and particularly  from sudden,  damp, cold
 moisture.  Avoid late hours, crowded assemblies, long
 continued menial exertion, sleep not in damp beds, or
 in low, damp, ill-ventilated  apartments, and shun, as
 you wish to avoid the cholera, at the  time it is raging,
 all  swampy  or marshy districts.  As many have been
 for years in the  habit  of taking spirituous  liquors, I
 should advise such persons to drink on sparingly and in
 proper moderation;  for we are truly creatures of habit,
 and I have  always believed that any sudden change,
 either in diet, drink or clothing, is highly injurious, par-
ticularly at a time when  cholera is prevailing in that 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
725
section  of country  in  which  you reside;  and under
any  circumstances  our habits  become  second nature,
and  if necessary, which is often the case,  it is prudent
to gradually desist,  or change them.  As I have before
told you, no medicine ought to be taken as a preventive
in cholera, for all medicines of this nature are amongst
the most  effectual means  of inducing an attack of the
disease.   During the prevalence  of the late epidemic
at Montreal,  the authorities  very judiciously  forbade
apothecaries making up and vending without  permis-
sion, the medicines  and quack nostrums eagerly sought
after, with a hope of preventing  or arresting the com-
plaint.  Time and  attention to the early symptoms of
this  disease are of great  importance.   But urgent as
may be the demand for assistance, it ought never to be
given from fear or as a  preventive,  (which has  no
doubt been often the  case,)  for hundreds have  died
from fear, as reported by many distinguished observers
of this malady.  Suffer me to remind you  of one  im-
portant  preventive, in  this epidemic—at all times and
under  all  circumstances,  to  place  a  reliance upon
Almighty God.  That  man must adhere with inviolable
constancy to whatever  is  good or great in life, who is
animated with the hope  of divine  approbation,  and
who relies with  assured confidence on  the  friendship,
protection, and assistance, of the great ruler  of all
things.  No difficulties, no dangers, no sickness, can
terrify him who has that  great Being on  his side, the
sole, the sovereign disposer of all events.
   After all my diligent research  and attention, I  find
the preventives against cholera may  be summed up in
a few words—pure air, good substantial living, tempe-
rance and regularity of life in all things, strict cleanli-
ness, and a tranquil mind. 
726
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
  Symptoms  of  Cholera.  I shall commence by
giving you what is termed  the Premonitory Symptoms
of Cholera—by which is meant  symptoms of the first
or forming stage of the disease—and on your paying
strict attention to these symptoms,  will greatly depend
the favorable issue of the case, and  if you do  not, in
nine cases in twelve the person will die.
  The person  attacked with  cholera  complains  of
weakness, as if he  had undergone fatigue; he  feels
frequently for a few moments, uneasiness in the region
of the stomach—but not so severe as to create  alarm.
Frequent evacuations or stools from the bowels, being
obliged to go to stool from  two to a dozen times a day
—and not much griped in passing them.  The coun-
tenance or features look unusually  sharp, sometimes a
little sick at the stomach, but this last symptom  is not
very common.  This early evidence of the approach
of the cholera, is not often attended to, and seldom no-
ticed but by those experienced in the complaints.  The
symptoms I have just mentioned may continue, varying,
sometimes better and then  worse from one to ten days,
before  the  second stage of the disorder  commences.
The stools at the first are generally of a dark brown or
blackish color.  As the looseness continues, they grad-
ually  become less and less of  a  natural appearance,
until they  look like  dirty water.  Some headache,
cramp of the fingers, toes and belly, and almost always
a swimming of  the head, and a ringing of the ears, ac-
company these symptoms.  Very frequently the bowels,
for two or three days, are costive or bound, and then
looseness will again  come on,  and  in a  few  hours
collapse  supervenes,  and  in general sickness  at the
stomach, and  vomiting  or puking.   Now remember
that on  an  early attention  to  this  looseness  of the 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.         727

bowels will greatly depend the cure, by timely applica-
tion  of such means as  I shall advise; or if it is con-
venient, and you fear to trust your own judgment, make
on the first appearance of these symptoms early appli-
cation to a physician.  Dr. Kirk, a distinguished medi-
cal gentleman, says it was found, from regular records
of upwards of four thousand patients, that this loosoness
of the bowels prevailed in every case.
   Symptoms of Marked  Cholera.  Having atten-
tively  perused all the numerous accounts which have
been published, of the various symptoms  by which  the
epidemic cholera  is accompanied,  I have thought it
only necessary to  give you  all the general  and well
marked  symptoms of the complaint, without noticing
every triffing deviation from the  ordinary course of
the disease.  All you wish  to be informed of is, when
you are about to take it, and lastly  when it has certain-
ly attacked.  I  have therefore selected for you  the
description of the Madras Report, founded on exten-
sive  experience  in the country in which I  enumerated
to you its awful ravages.
   This complaint generally takes place in  the night or
 towards morning.  You are taken sick at the stomach
 and vomit, or puke—the bowels are at once evacuated,
 that is in other words, you go to stool, and you seem to
 discharge or empty all their solid contents, and  feel,
 after  you  have  done, great exhaustion,  sinking  and
 emptiness—after  a short time you feel faintness, your
 skin becomes cold  and very  often giddiness or swim-
 ming in the head, and ringing in the ears; the power
 of moving your limbs  seems impossible—twitching of
 the muscles of the fingers and toes are felt, and these
 affections  gradually extend  along the  limbs  to  the
• 
728          GUNN'S DOMESTIC medicine.
trunk of the body.   The pulse from the first  is small,
weak, quick, and after a certain interval, but particular-
ly on  the  commencement of  spasms or of  severe
puking, it sinks suddenly, so as to be quickly lost in all
the external parts.  The skin, which  from  the com-
mencement  of the disease is  below the natural heat,
becomes  colder and colder;  it  is seldom dry—general-
ly covered with a profuse cold  sweat, or with a clammy
moisture.  In Europeans the skin often assumes a livid
hue; the whole surface becomes  collapsed; the  lips
become blue—the nails present a  similar  appearance,
and the skin of the feet  and  hands becomes much cor-
rugated and exhibits a sodden  appearance; in  this
state  the  skin is insensible,  even to the action of the
strongest medicines, such as warm  spirits, or spirits in
which camphor has been dissolved, or  in fact even the
action of the most powerful stimulants; yet the patient
generally  complains of oppressive heat on the surface,
and  wishes to throw off the  bed  clothes.  The  eyes
sink in their orbits, and  are surrounded with a livid or
dark circle; the eye becomes heavy and frequently the
whites of the eye diffused with blood, or in other words
blood shot.  The features of the face look sharp and
dead, and indeed  the whole  countenance assumes  a
cadaverous  aspect, and  its  appearance so uncommon
that  it is easily  observed  by  all to be strangely and
peculiarly unnatural.  There is  almost always urgent
thirst, and a desire for cold drink,  although the mouth
be not usually parched.   The  tongue is moist, whitish
and cold; a distressing  sense  of pain, and a burning
heat at the epigastrium or pit of the stomach, are very
common  in this disease.  Very  little water is passed,
bile, or saliva or spittle,  is secreted; the voice becomes 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
729
 quite feeble and hollow, having an  unnatural sound;
 the breathing is oppressed  and generally slow, and the
 breath of the patient is quite cold or deficient in heat.
   While these  symptoms  are going on, the stomach
 and bowels are  very much  affected  in different ways.
 After the first vomiting and stool, however severe these
 symptoms may be, the matter passed by stool is always
 of a watery nature;  and in some cases it is entirely
 destitute of color.  The stools often resemble muddy
 water;  and in others it is  of  a yellowish  or greenish
 color.   A very  common appearance  is that which is
 called in the  East Indies "congee stools," resembling
 water in which rice had been  washed, or  having  the
 appearance of numerous little slimy flakes, floating in
 the colorless water.  The discharge  from  the stomach
 by puking, and those from  the  bowels by stool, do not
 appear to differ  mucti, except  that the former, or that
 which is puked up, has mixed  with it portions of food
 which may have been eaten and not  digested. Neith-
 er the vomiting nor  purging  are symptoms of long
 continuance; they are either stopped by medicine, or
 the body becomes unable from weakness to puke or
 purge any longer;  and they, together with  the spasms,
 suddenly disappear a  considerable time before death.
 If blood be drawn, it looks  of a dark or black color,
 ropy, and flows  slowly  and with difficulty.  Toward
 the close of the scene, great restlessness comes on, and
 constant  anxiety and  distress; and death  takes place
 often  in  ten or  twelve hours, and  generally within
 seventeen or twenty hours from the commencement of
 the attack.  During all this  mortal struggle and com-
 motion in the body, the  mind  remains clear, and  its
functions undisturbed, almost  to the  last  moment of
 existence. The patient, though, sunk and overwhelmed,
      92 
730
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
and  almost  lifeless, dislikes to speak, and  is greatly
distressed if the  least disturbed—still, however, retain-
ing  the  power  of thinking,  and of expressing his
thoughts, as long as his organs are obedient to his will;
such symptoms are the most  common of the epidemic
cholera, where its tendency to death  is not checked by
medicine.  Cholera,  however, like other diseases, has
presented considerable variety in its symptoms; thus, it
may on one occasion be distinguished  throughout by
the absence  of  vomiting,  and by the prevalence of
purging; on another, by the  excess  of vomiting; and,
though  more rarely,  by  the  absence  of purging,
Spasms may be  generally present in one instance; in
another, it may not be observed.   Of all, the most
difficult is, that which is marked by a very slight com-
motion in the system—in which there is no vomiting,
hardly any purging, perhaps one or two loose stools, no
perceptible spasm, no pain of any kind, a marble cold-
ness, with  arrest  or stoppage  of  circulation  which
comes on  from  the beginning,  and  the patient  dies
without a struggle.
   Vomiting or puking, as  I have before told  you, if
entirely absent,  or if it has  taken place for a time, it
soon stops, from the stomach being paralyzed, or  in
other words, as if  it  were really dead or without any
feeling  or  sensibility.  Purging  is  a  more  constant
symptom than vomiting in this disease, and in all cases
of cholera, or most  generally, it is, as I have  before
said, the first symptom in  the disorder.  Purging has
been very rarely  absent  altogether—and  when  it is
absent, is quite a^bad symptom, for it denotes or shows
plainly that  the attack  is  very  dangerous.   There is
seldom  much griping or  tenesmus, which means a
 great and  constant desire to go to stool, without doing 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
731
much, and sometimes these desires are so sudden as to
be irresistible.  They also frequently  take place at the
same time, both puking and  purging with spasm, and
the  pulse  stops for a time at the wrist;  as  if these
symptoms originated at the instant, from one common
cause.  In  advanced  stages  of  the  disease,  purging
generally ceases, but  in  many  cases a discharge of
watery fluid  takes  place  on  every change of posture.
The matters evacuated after the first emptying of the
bowels have  been occasionally observed to be greenish
or of a yellowish appearance, turbid, of a frothy ap-
pearance, like yeast, and  quite frequently bloody; but
by far the most common  appearance is,  that  of pure
scrum (which means the appearance of whey,) so thin
and  colorless as not to leave a stain on  the patient's
linen.  The next in order of frequency is the  congee-
like fluid;  (I have before  explained  to  you what the
congee stools meant;) the  mucus is at all times so thor-
oughly mixed, however, with  the  scrum, as to give the
whole  the  appearance of milk.   The quantity of the
clear watery  fluid  which  is sometimes discharged, is
very great, and were these discharges to continue con-
stantly, it would afford a perfect knowledge  of the
cause  of the debility or weakness, thirst, thickness of
the blood and other symptoms; but it is reduced to a
positive certainty, that the  most fatal  and  rapid cases,
are by no means those which are distinguished by ex-
cessive discharges.  Death, on the contrary, has ensued
in innumerable instances after one or two watery stools,
without the development of any other symptom affect-
ing the natural functions.   Collapse has even come on
before any  evacuation by stool had taken place.
  The peculiarly calm and  undisturbed  state of the
mind in this  disorder, has been the subject of great 
732          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
surprise; instances are known of patients being able to
walk, and to perform many of their usual  avocations
in business, even after the circulation has been so much
arrested, that the pulse has not been  discerned at the
wrist;  the cases I allude  to, are those chiefly in which
it has begun by an insidious watery purging; and ma-
ny lives have been lost m consequence of the patients,
under these false appearances, not  having taken early
alarm, and applied for  medical aid.  In  other cases
again, the animal functions  appear to have  been early
impaired, and the  prostration of strength to have pre-
ceded most of the  symptorgs^ f^The  voice, in general,
sounds very weak, partakin^of the debility  prevailing
in the other functions; it iscommonly noticed as being
remarkably feeble, often almost unable to  be  heard.
Deafness has also been remarked in some instances to
have been completely established.   Coma does occa-
sionally occur,  especially towards the termination  of
the case, when it is  fatal; but delirium  has seldom
been observed in this complaint.
  Spasm has been held as one of the  most essential
features or certain accompaniments  of the epidemic
cholera, and  owing to which  circumstance  it has re-
ceived this specified name; so far, however, as relates to
the muscles of voluntary motion, and it is that descrip-
tion of spasm only to which I now refer, no symptom
is  more  frequently wanting.   Spasms of the muscles
chiefly accompany those cases in which there is a sen-
sible and violent commotion of the system; hence they
are more frequently found in  cases where Europeans
are the subjects of the disease, than when it attacks the
natives of India, and in robust patients, more  frequently
than in the  weakly.   In the  low or  more dangerous
form of cholera, whether in the European  or Indian, 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
733
spasm is  generally wanting, or is  present in a  very
slight degree.  The muscles most  commonly affected
are those of the toes and feet, and of the calves of the
leg; next  to  these  the corresponding  muscles of the
superior extremities, then those  of the thighs and arms
—and, lastly, those of the  trunk—producing the  most
distressing feelings to the afflicted  person.  It is deserv-  '
ing of remark, says Doctor Graigie  in  his account of
the disease, that in several instances, the first indica-.
tions of cholera were the twitching  of the fingers and
toes;  and a great many persons  who  resisted all the
other symptoms of the disease  were attacked by  this
twitching.  Of all the symptoms  of cholera, none are
so universally present, nor indeed  so  important and
fatal, as the immediate sinking of the  circulation.  It
musi  nevertheless be  admitted, that  where instant
remedial medicines have  been successfully practiced,
this symptom may not have  developed iteell| and that
there are even cases where an excited  vascular action
has been observed to accompany  the first perturbation
of the system in  cholera.   Some  intelligent  medical
gentlemen have entertained doubts whether such cases
belong indeed to this  disease; it  is, however, to be re-
membered, that these are precisely the cases which
yield most certainly and readily to  appropriate reme-
dies, and it consequently follows that the physician can
seldom have  an opportunity  of observing whether or
not this form of cholera will pass  into a more aggrava-
ted stage.  Cases, however, have occurred, in which such
degeneration has  taken place, and it has been followed
by death.   The symptoms of excitement have likewise
principally occurred among soldiers, in whom an effect
upon the  circulation  may  have been produced by the
quantity  of  ardent  spirits they  are  in the  habit of 
734
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
drinking daily.   The period at which a marked dimin-
ution of vascular action takes place, is somewhat vari-
ous.   The  pulse sometimes  keeps  up  tolerably  for
some hours, though very rarely; it more  generally be-
comes  small and accelerated at an early  stage, and on
the accession of spasm or vomiting, suddenly ceases to
be  distinguishable in the extremities.  The  length of
time during which a patient will  sometimes  live in a
pulseless state, is extraordinary.
  That remarkable shrinking of the features of fhe
face, which has  acquired the emphatic  term of the
"true cholera countenance," appears in every case, un-
less quickly stopped in the forming stage, by  medicine.
This  expression  of countenance, which  conveys so
truly, that of death itself, cannot be  mistaken; and by
an attentive observer, it will be perceived, that a similar
shrinking takes place throughout the limbs, and all the
projecting parts of the body.  No symptoms of cholera
are so  uniform  in their appearance and progress, as
those connected with the blood and its circulation.  It
is fully established, that the blood of patients  attacked
with cholera, is of an unnaturally dark color, and of a
very thick consistence.  In a great majority of the re-
ports of the physicians of India, it is stated unequivo-
cally, or without doubt, that after a certain quantity of
dark and thick blood has been drawn, it is common for
its color to change—becoming much  lighter.  When
this was the case, it was considered favorable as to the
termination of the case.  In India, when medical aid
was early administered,  and  the constitution of the
patient otherwise healthy, the recovery from  an attack
of the  cholera was generally very quick, owing to the
peculiar constitutions of these people, in whom there is
ordinarily very  little tendency to inflammation or fever. 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           735

But  in  Europeans, in whom there is  much greater
tendency  to  inflammation or fever, and a determina-
tion  to some  of the internal organs; consequently, the
recovery from the disease by them is not so sudden or
perfect.  When cholera, however, is  of long  continu-
ance, and when the congestions appear to have  been
thoroughly established, few, either  Europeans or na-
tives, who outlive  the attack,  are  restored to health
without considerable difficulty.
  I have now described to you as fully and as minutely
as the space allotted to me in this work would permit;
giving you the general symptoms of cholera, as it pre-
sented itself in the different districts of India, and they
agree in every respect with those observed in the disease
during its prevalence in Russia, Poland, North of Eu-
rope, the  Canadas, &-c. Sec.  This is proved by the
history of the disease, by the most able and distinguish-
ed physicians throughout Europe and India; particular-
ly the able report made by Dr. Keir, of Moscow, to the
British  Government, and  in  the  accounts  transmitted
from Montreal and  Quebec.  And all the reports made
on this fatal disease agree as to the principal symptoms;
that  in the generality of cases, there were the same ex-
cessive or constant  evacuations by puking and purging
of a watery,  turbid  fluid—the same  collapse of the skin
—coldness of the surface—sinking of the pulse—failure
of the strength—lividity  of the face, or purple cast—
shrinking of  the  features—spasms of the muscles, &c.
all of which  symptoms usually  take place more or less,
with some few variations, (perhaps very few,) owing to
the  peculiarity of the constitution, or  the  state  of the
system at the time of taking the disease.   For cholera,
in its severity and duration, by which I  mean the length
of time it exists,  depends much upon the local or pre- 
 736          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
  i
 disposing causes.  Therefore, if any decided difference
 has been  observed between  the character of cholera,
 as  it prevailed  in India, and after its extension into
 Europe, the Canadas, and the United States, it consists
 merely in the gradual amelioration of the complaint; by
 which I mean, that it sometimes gradually loses its
 severity; owing, as I have before told you, to the  pecu-
 liarity of the climate, the predisposing causes, inviting,
 more or less, the disease, wherever the disorder, which
 is in the air, may locate or settle itself.   And this  is the
 reason why the cholera rages  more violently at one
 place than it does at another; because the predisposing
 causes are greater.
  Therefore,  let temperance and  cleanliness  in all
 things, be the watchword -T for experience has  taught the
 people of the  United States, that  by due  caution, and
 early attention to the proper remedies, which are simple
 and easily understood, this pestilence may be, and has
been perfectly within the control of medicine—and that
this disease is  the same as the European cholera, is fully
established by the evidence  of various physicians of
eminence, who have witnessed the cholera both in India
 and Europe; and, as I  have before stated  to you, its
virulence or mitigation  entirely  depending upon  local
causes, or the  constitution, and the predisposition  to an
attack of this complaint.
                    TREATMENT.
  The Cholera has not  been  found to be less under the
 control  of proper treatment, than any other disease
 equally rapid in its course.  When remedies of a proper
kind have been administered in the early stage of the
 complaint, and judiciously managed, a favorable termin-
ation  has,  in  the  majority of cases, been  the result.
The difficulty  is, to induce patients, or  those attacked 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
737
with this disorder, to apply sufficiently early for medical
assistance.  With the loss of  a very few hours, the
chances  of recovery  are  greatly diminished.  "If the
disease," says Dr. Annesley, whose  experience in the
treatment of  epidemic cholera,  during its prevalence in
India, was considerable, "be taken  at its commence-
ment, or within an hour after the disorder attacks you,
it is as manageable as any other acute disease; but the
rapidity with which it runs through its course, requires
the most active exertions before it can be checked, and
the loss of an hour may cause the loss of life."
   The remedies most successfully used  in India, and
throughout Europe  generally,  will  be noticed.   The
variety of different means used, and the  peculiar opin-
ions of different medical  writers, many of which have
proved  unsuccessful, I  do not think it necessary to
mention in a book of this kind.  My object in writing
so ful'y on this subject, has been  to give  you a  perfect
and general  knowledge of the complaint, as to its vio-
lence and progress in India, and the principal remedies
which prove  to be the most successful in the cure of
cholera;  selecting from  the experience of the most dis-
tinguished physicians, such remedies as may  be relied
on in this epidemic;  after which, I subjoin the opinion
and advice by letter, of the distinguished medical gen-
tlemen of our own country, simplified*in plain language,
adapted to the people—closing this important subject
with my remarks and advice to my countrymen.
   The remedy, the good effect of which, in  the treat-
ment of cholera, appears to have been most  generally
acknowledged, and the early employment of which is
most insisted upon, is blood-letting.
   Bleeding from  the arm in  the first stage, when the
pulse is full, and  the  temperature not reduced, is often
       93 
738
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
sufficient to cut short the disease.   The patient always
feels immediate relief,  particularly, where the head
has been affected.   The bleeding should be performed
in a horizontal position; or in other words,  the patient
should lie  on the bed while bleeding him.  After the
bleeding, he must  remain quiet in bed for some time.
Doctor  Drysen, who  has  had great experience in this
complaint,  directs to increase  the flow  of the  blood
from the arm, by frictions or rubbing to the surface of
the body, with flannel cloths wrung out  of hot water,
or by bleeding while the patient is in the warm bath.
To sec  how to prepare  and use the warm bath, read
under that head.
   According to Mr. Bell, "in no case in which it has
been possible to  persevere  in  blood-letting,  until the
blood flows freely from  the  veins, and its  color is re-
covered, and the oppressed chest is relieved, will the
patient  die from  that  attack  of  the  disease."  He
directs  that when the blood has once begun to flow, it
ought to be allowed  to  bleed until these changes are
observed.  It is the opinion of  Doctor Kenedy, that in
ninety-nine instances out of a hundred, where patients
are said to have died "despite  of blood-letting, it will
be found on examination, either that no blood flowed
from the incision or opening  made by  the lancet, or
that it  came away  in  drops, or in a small  broken
stream, rarely exceeding a few ounces in quantity.  "On
the contrary," he adds, "where  blood was freely obtain-
ed to the extent of twenty or thirty ounces, and where
the depletion was followed by proper auxiliaries, or
other assisting remedies, the patients have usually re-
covered."
   The testimony of the German, Russian, and  Polish
physicians, has all been given in favor of the beneficial 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           739

 effects of blood-letting, when early resorted to in chol-
 era.
   The absence of the pulse is no reason why you should
 not use the lancet, unless it be  accompanied by other
 symptoms of great debility and  the system  has been
 exhausted by previous evacuations or purging, and the
 surface is covered with a  cold, clammy sweat.  Even
 under such circumstances, many  attest the advantages
 of blood-letting, especially when preceded by sinapisms,
 or in other words stimulating plasters of mustard to the
 belly, feet, ancles, &c.—the application  of dry heat
 and frictions to the surface, by  which is meant  bags of
 hot sand, bags of hot mush, bags of hot oats, bottles of
 hot water rolled in blankets, &c.—(this is dry heat,)—
 frictions or  rubbing, as before explained, and diffusible
 stimulants internally—either, spirits of hartshorn, bran-
 dy, wine, and liquors of all kinds, given inwardly, so as
 to excite or rouse the circulation of the blood.
   In some cases of cholera, says that able and expe-
 rienced physician, Dr. Lefevre, the pulse ceases to beat
 very early, but upon opening a  vein the blood flows
slowly at first, gradually the current becomes fuller and
stronger, the pulse beats  very sensibly,  and the heart
 thus relieved,  is enabled  to  continue  its  circulation.
The only cases in which bleeding  would appear of
doubtful propriety,  during the first  stage,  are those
occurring in old  debilitated or  weak persons, and in
constitutions completely broken down by intemperance.
   When blood  cannot be drawn from the arm, and the
spasms continue—when severe pain and burning heat
are felt at the epigastrium—when the skin is cold, and
deluged with a  cold clammy sweat,  and when there
is oppression at the  chest and difficulty of breathing,
excessive  pain  and  confusion of the  head, with great 
740
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
intolerance or dislike of light, no pulse, or a very indis-
tinct one, and a cadaverous or offensive smell from the
body, cupping is advised over the region  of the belly,
with frictions of turpentine externally or outwe.rdly,
and calomel given internally:  In  the  advanced  state
of the disease an  opportunity is sometimes afforded for
the drawing of blood.   This, according to Dr. Annesiy,
is marked by a struggle or  effort  of the circulation  to
overcome some resisting power, and is a most auspi-
cious or favorable  symptom, which should never  be
overlooked.   As  soon  as it occurs, bleeding, directed
with great judgment, should be resorted to.
  The patient, after bleeding should be warmly cover-
ed with bed  clothes, and allowed to remain  perfectly
still for a short period.
   Sinapisms and rubefacients, or  in other words,  in
plain English, meaning mustard poultices, mixed with
strong vinegar and  applied to the  calves  of  the legs,
inside the ancles, soles  of the feet, &o., to act asj a
stimulant employed in  low  states of fevers, and  other
diseases; and in cholera the object is to rouse the cir-
culation of the  blood, and to  supersede the use  of
blisters, which are in this disorder  too slow.   Rubefa-
cients mean that substance which, when  applied  to
the body or skin a certain time, makes a redness with-
out  blistering.  Sinapisms  and rubefacients are among
the most efficacious or best means  adapted to the cure
of cholera.  "It  may be said of them, that  they are
indispensable,  and there is hardly any  stage  of  the
disease in which they may not  be employed  with ad-
vantage—so long as the  disease endures, so  long will
their use be proper, and they should be repeated con-
 tinually."   The pain in  the  bowels, and  even  the
 sickness, are  often  instantaneously relieved by  the 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
741
application of  a large  mustard poultice  mixed  with
vinegar and applied over the region of the belly, and
much pain is saved the  patient if it be applied early.
In violent cases of the disease the application of the
mus:ard poultice mixed with  strong vinegar as before
directed, and  applied  to  the  ancles, wrists, calves of
the legs, inside of the arms and. thighs, and along the
spine, is recommended in  the strongest terms in various
treatises by  the best informed physicians of India and
Europe, on the cholera; and from the beneficial effects
which we have seen result  from the practice through-
out this complaint, that  is one which should never be
neglected; it would be as well probably to defer,  how-
ever, the sinapisms  or poultices until the full effects of
dry frictions have  been tested. When the skin has
been  excoriated or  inflamed by the use of sinapisms,
anodyne fomentations, or  in other words laudanum or
opium steam, applied to  the body, or even  pulverised
opium sprinkled over the  tender surface, will be  often
useful in relieving pain and sickness at the stomach.
  Dry frictions are  recommended as remedies of  great
importance and efficacy in all cases of cholera.  By
dry friction is meant rubbing well the whole body with
your  hands; hence, it can  only be recommended in
those cases where there are plenty  of attendants to
wait upon the sick.   Dry  frictions are  best adapted to,
and have been found most beneficial in the early period
of the attack.   "The object of friction is twofold.  1st.
To restore the circulation in the part, and the heat that
is dependent upwn it.  2d. To introduce remedies into
the system by absorption."  The first may be effected
by mere rubbing with the hand, or a warm flannel, or
the flesh  brush; and if persisted in, will  often restore
the circulation to the extremities, which were previously 
742          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

cold and senseless; but it requires great perseverence
and long continuance;  for it is necessary to keep up the
circulation after it is restored; and as I have before
told you, requires considerable assistance or attendants
to wait upon  the sick.   Various  liniments have been
proposed  to assist the effects of friction; but they may
be superseded by steady  rubbing with the hand, which
should be sprinkled occasionally with a little powdered
starch, or a little camphorated oil.  Where proper and
effectual  rubbing  cannot be  maintained,  stimulating
liniments  should be employed; because  little  rubbing
will suffice, and the  effect will  be  more  permanent.
The liniment composed of camphorated spirit and am-
monia, (meaning hartshorn,) will answer every purpose.
When the spasms are  severe, the spirits of turpentine
are best for rubbing with.   Rubbing the body with spi-
rits is improper, as their  rapid evaporation  will have a
tendency to increase the coldness  of the surface.
  Medicines may be introduced into the circulation  by
frictions, and thus certain indications fulfilled, when the
stomach is in  too irritable a  condition to retain the
proper remedies.  Especially may  local pain and spasm
be alleviated by frictions  with opium, hyosciamus, and
other narcotics, in the form of liniments or ointments.
  Dry Heat.   This remedy is strongly recommended
by many of the practitioners  who have witnessed the
cholera in the  north of Europe.   Mr. Kennedy, a dis-
tinguished physician, recommends it in the first stage of
the disease, after bleeding, the warm bath, and the
other remedies which are immediately .demanded.  He
remarks—"as  soon as the cramps are subdued,  or have
received a decided check, the patient should be removed
from the bath with all possible expedition, and be placed
between dry heated blankets.  Dry warmth should  be 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          743

further  afforded by  surrounding his  body and limbs
with bags and heated sand."  Here dry heat, be it re-
membered, is  the remedy, and not the sand which con-
tains it.  On this principle, bottles of hot water, rolled
in flannel, have been  employed;  and also  hot ashes,
bran, oat meal, hot mush, &o.   To prevent loss of time,
however, always take  the  first  or most  convenient of
the above articles  that may come to hand, so as to pro-
duce any heat as early as possible. You will recollect
the warm bath is always preferable in the first stage of
the disease, from its great power; "caution is necessa-
ry," says Mr.  Kennedy, "to prevent its  being too long
continued."
   The  following are the directions of Dr. Harnett, one
of the British Medical Commission, at Dantzic, for the
use of the warm bath.   "It has been found necessary
to guard against the indiscriminate use of the hot water
and vapor baths, or steam, (generally used  by a pipe
under the bed clothes.)  In hot weather, after perspira-
tion has broken out, and above all, in  the clammy stage
of the  disease; and after marked venous  congestion
has taken place, when it seems to increase  the latter,
which is particularly observable in the brain and heart.
The bath should  be used either in the critical moment
in the beginning of  the disease, or, at farthest, instantly
after, if admissible even then.   To obviate the deter-
mination of blood to the head, cold applications ought
to be occasionally applied  to it, while the patient is in
the bath.
   The patient should be most gently and otherwise judi-
diciously placed in the bath, with respect to the gradu-
ally inclined position of his body, and due  support  of
the head, neck  and shoulders; and the immersion  or
subjection should  be short, merely long  enough for the 
744          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

positive communication of heat and its effects, when he
ought to be as  gently and judiciously taken out, well
wrapped up in  hot blankets,  promptly laid in a bed,
and gently rubbed with warm, dry, coarse thread towels,
all over, and wiped dry as fast as the clammy sweat
oozes out.  There is much handy and careful personal
management requisite, in this essential part of the treat-
ment.
  Calomel.  This medicine has been greatly used in
cholera, by a majority of English surgeons  in  India,
and  it is  spoken highly of by such  of them as have
witnessed the disease in the north of Europe.   In ma-
ny  instances the use of this  powerful medicine has
been carried or given to an enormous  extent—doses of
a scruple  to half a drachm being considered the
smallest dose adapted to the  disease;  others, however,
have condemned  the use of the remedy  to this great
extent, and recommend it to  be given  in smaller doses
frequently repeated, and  in  general combined with
opium.  The evidence which  is advanced in favor of
the beneficial effects of calomel, under both mqdes of
administration, might at first view appear perfectly con-
clusive ; but in making up  an opinion  oh this subject,
it is necessary to recollect that in almost  all  the cases
which are adduced where  the  practice is supposed to
have been eminently  successful, ether  important reme-
dies have at the same time been employed—especially
bleeding, frictions, and stimulating applications  to the
surface—and very commonly the  warm bath.   Upon
the early and judicious employment of the last men-
tioned medicines, nearly all the writers agree that the
cure of the disease mainly depends;  by many they are
of themselves supposed fully  sufficient—and that the
various internal remedies that have been resorted to 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           745
are either  useless or absolutely pernicious.  Among
the physicians of Russia, Poland and Germany, there
are but few who recommend the use of calomel at all,
and the majority denounces, in very decided terms, its
employment in the  early stages of cholera, or  to the
extent to which it  was carried by the practitioners of
India. In  Warsaw, the result of experience showed,
according to Dr. Hille, that whether in larger doses, or
in smaller  ones frequently repeated, the calomel did
more harm than good; and  hence  its use  was either
entirely abandoned, or it was given in a single dose of
a few grains combined with opium.  Dr. Gibbs, writing
from St. Petersburgh, says expressly, that scruple and
half scruple doses of calomel would not do there; Dr*
Lefevre very properly  remarks, that small  doses com-
bined  with  opium can  be of no use in the first stage.
In  slight cases, he adds, where the quantity of opium
is sufficient to allay the spasmodic action, while time is
allowed for the calomel to act gradually, the combina-
tion however may be of service; but it must share the
same fate as all the vaunted nostrums which when ad-
ministered  indiscriminately, lose   even  the merit to
which they  are really entitled.
  In  Dunaburg, no calomel was administered, and of
seven  hundred and  forty-five  cases, many of  which
were in the last stages of the disease when first seen by
the physician, only seventy-five terminated fatally.
  Opium.  No remedy has been proposed in the treats
ment of cholera, which has so great a mass of testi-
mony in its favor as opium.  Nearly all the  physicians,
whatever may be their opinions as to the nature of the
disease, have administered it.   By some it is recom-
mended in  the  largest  possible doses; by others, how-
ever,  when given in smaller  doses, it  is  considered,
       94 
746          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
much more efficacious,  and less liable to  produce
injurious consequences.  Mr.  Orton, an eminent prac-
titioner,  considers it  "probable  that a single dose of
opium given alone at the  very  commencement of the
disease, would be  found in a great majority of instan-
ces to put  an effectual check to  its  progress."  The
Polish,  and a few of the  German physicians object
however, to the administering of opium in cholera.
  Internal Stimulants.  The application of ether,
brandy,  ammonia,  (hartshorn,)  and  other stimulants,
I find to be very generally recommended, especially in
the advanced state of the disease.  They are directed
to be used  or continued  until reaction is fairly estab-
lished, after which they are to be gradually relinquished.
In the early stage of  the disease, there is  less evidence
of their good effects  than  during  that period in which
the clammy sweat, icy coldness of the surface, scarcely
perceptible  pulse, and sunken countenance, indicate a
state of collapse,  which if not  speedily  removed, the
loss of the  patient is inevitable.  Many  persons have
employed the most powerful stimulants even from the
commencement of the attack,  and  with no sparing
hand.  This practice is highly improper, and certainly
by  experience known to  end  in fatal consequences.
Stimulants  require at all times, much judgment and
great caution in their employment,  or they will most
assuredly  produce far more harm  than good;  and
should  be  given under  no other circumstances than
those I have described, and even then, it is questionable
whether they do not produce more evil than benefit.
  Purgatives.  Thongh  considered by  many physi-
cians as indispensable remedies  in  the  treatment of
cholera, they do not  appear, with  the exception of cal-
omel, to have been very generally employed  until after 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE
747
the more pressing and violent symptoms of the disease
have been subdued.   At this  particular juncture it is
very generally admitted that they have been productive
of the best effects.  They are proper  so  long as the
bowels do not perform their  functions regularly, and
the stools have  an unusual appearance;  nor is  there
any danger of reproducing the  disease by their con-
tinuance, so long as we take these marks for our guide.
It is much more likely to  recur or return from neglect-
ing to administer them; for purging by calomel  is ne-
cessary,  for  you  will find the quantity  of unhealthy
matter which is often evacuated by stool, remains for a
long time after the complaint has been  subdued.   Such
is the experience of Doctor Lefevre, in regard  to the
use of purgatives.  He says,  they are found  indispen-
sable, by producing copious discharges of vitiated bile.
"A  full dose of calomel,"  remarks the  Doctor, "is often
useful in the beginning of the  convalescence,  as it acts
upon all the secretions.  But the simple purging, which
is so  requisite after  this  disorder, is best effected by
small and repeated doses  of caster oil."  The virtues
of this last medicine,  have indeed been extolled in a
very positive manner, by the physicians both  of India
and Europe.  "The  success  under  its use  was very
considerable, and there seems," says Mr.  Scott, "to be
sufficient evidence to warrant a more extensive trial."
It is admitted by all  that purgatives which produce
frequent  watery stools, with  griping,  are improper in
this disease—are very prejudicial, and ought and must
not be given.
  Enemata, which means glyster.  When the stomach
is so irritable that it will not retain anything, or constant
puking, by which the exhibition of remedies by the
mouth cannot be given, glysters, (called enemas^ will 
748          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

be proper, not only in the first attack of the complaint,
but in the latter stages of the disease also; especially in
such cases as have been attended  with much spasm,
and the bowels continue sore  for a  long time after, and
every motion  on the stool is productive of pain.   In
this case, an enema or glyster of half pint of flaxseed
tea, and ten drops of laudanum, produces immediate
relief—administered  in  this manner, the Opium is less
liable to  produce injurious consequences than  when
given  by the mouth.  Injections, or glysters in  plain
English, given of hot water  above  blood heat, have
been hignly spoken  of in cases of great collapse  or
sinking  and general coldness  of the skin.   After draw-
ing ap the water with a syringe, (or squirt,) and letting
this warm water remain up awhile, the water may  be
withdrawn by the syringe, and a fresh supply of  warm
water introduced.  Mr.  Fife  speaks favorably of injec-
tions of mustard—they have,  he says, promptly brought
on a discharge of urine, after it had been  entirely sup-
pressed.
  Muriate of  Soda.—(Nothing  in English but  our
common  salt.)—This has been spoken of by a few of
the continental  physicians, as a powerful remedy in
cholera, and is recommended by the eminent Mr. Searl,
as  an emetic in the commencement  of the case.  I
cannot  say that the evidence  in its favor is very strong.
It is true, we are told by Dr. Barry, that at St. Peters-
burgh, two German physicians declared in his presence,
at the medical council, "that during the preceding eleven
days, they had  treated at the custom-house hospital,
thirty cholera patients, of whom they lost none.  They
gave two table-spoonsful of common salt in six ounces
of hot water  at once, and one spoonful  of the same
cold every hour afterwards."   But let it be recollected, 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          749

that these gentlemen, as well as the others who have
recommended this remedy, always premised  bleeding,
(that is, first  bled, and then used  the  salt and  warm
water,) and also used other valuable remedies, upon the
importance and good effects of which in cholera, there
is but little difference of opinion.   It is thus that many
remedies in this, and other diseases, acquire a fictitious
reputation from being conjoined or mixed with others
of acknowledged power—when, had they been omitted,
the case would, in  all probability, have  proceeded as
rapidly, or perhaps even more so, to a favorable termina-
tion.
  Drinks.   A strange diversity of opinion exists among
the writers upon cholera,  as  to the proper drinks to be
allowed the patient.  By  some, dilutents of every kind
were entirely prohibited, in consequence of a supposition
that they increased the vomiting.  The great desire of
the patient is for cold water—he appears to labor under
the most distressing thirst, the calls of which, it must be
evident, cannot  be disregarded, without materially in-
creasing his suffering, and, eventually, the disease under
which he suffers.   Mr. Scott, in common with nearly all
the best practitioners, admits the propriety of allowing
some  bland  dilutent, but  maintains that it  should be
given  of tepid warmth.  He conceives that cold drinks
are always dangerous, and  generally  fatal.  This was
the opinion  very generally of the surgeons of India.
Mr. Annesley, however, gave cold water, with a slight
impregnation of  nitric acid—in other  words,  made
 pleasantly sour.   This was the  general drink at  the
 hospital under his care, and  was found to relieve the
 most distressing  symptom of the disease, the  burning
 sensation at the stomach.  From  the experience of the
 European physicians, it would appear very fully settled, 
750
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
that cold drinks are not more prejudicial than warm,
and when desired by the patient, should be freely given.
  According to Lefevre, iced lemonade has often been
taken with advantage.   The  diluted nitric acid, he
states, may be added with great benefit to the common
drink.  Fifty drops of the diluted acid, added to a pint
of water, sweetened to the taste, is a grateful beverage.
Dr. Drysen, of Riga, says that when the thirst is great,
warm, or even hot  drinks are the best, and are often
retained and  even desired by the patient.  He directs
infusions of various mild aromatic herbs, or when these
are unpleasant to the patient,  of common  tea.  But
when the patient desires earnestly cold drinks, they may
be given in slight  portions at a time, without fear of any
bad  consequences.  Fresh milk, moderately cool, he
states, has been found very beneficial;  and when the
diarrhoea is considerable, a decoction of rice or barley,
or thin tapioca, &c. may be given, and  when there is
entire absence of pain or tenderness of the abdomen
or belly—a little port  wine may be added.   A  cup of
strong  coffee, he  has  found very readily to stop the
vomiting or puking in  this disease—he advises  the pa-
tient, in case of the drinks being rejected by the stomach,
to be allowed  to  swallow small portions of ice some-
what rounded  into the shape of a pill by being rolled
between the fingers—a practice also recommended by
Brussais.
  The strongest testimony in favor of warm water, is
that given by Dr. Strum, a surgeon in the Polish Army:
writing from the encampment near Karmienka,  "The
treatment which  we now pursue is probably already
known  to  you, as  Dr.  Helbig has been  ordered  to
publish an account of it  by the government.  It con-
sists in nothing else than giving to the patient as much 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.           751

 warm, nearly hot water, as he is able to drink, in the
 quantity of a glassful  every  fifteen  or thirty minutes.
 By the time he has taken fourteen  glasses the cure is
 complete, with  the  exception  of a  slight  diarrhoea,
 which it is not proper suddenly to suspend.  The effects
 of this  plan  of treatment are so  quick  and effectual,
 that in two hours, or often sooner, the patient is well—
 particularly when it is commenced with  sufficiently
 early.
  Treatment of  the secondary stage  of Chol-
 era.   After the more  violent symptoms of the disease
 have been  removed,  that is after the vomiting  and
 purging have been suspended, the regular action of the
 heart established, and  the circulation and heat of the
 surface permanently restored, the attention of the phy-
 sician must be directed to  guard against or remedy
 local congestions, to prevent inordinate reaction, and to
 produce a healthy action of the bowels.   Congestion is
 most liable to take place after the first stage or that of
 collapse is over, in the liver and  lungs, and sometimes
 in the head also.   For this, moderate  blood-letting,
 local  or general according  to  circumstances,  is the
 most  certain remedy.   When febrile symptoms  with
 determination to the brain, present themselves, topical
 bleeding, (such as cupping, &c.) near the temples, will
 be found very successfully to relieve it. The judicious
 employment of blisters, and of cold applications to the
 head, will also be of advantage.  When the healthy
 condition of the bowels has not been produced by the
 remedies administered in the  first  stage,  moderate
 doses of calomel, followed by castor oil, or other  mild
purgatives, will be necessary.   As soon as the dischar-
ges have become healthy or well tinged with bile—that
 is, that you have fully roused  the liver into action—the 
752
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
patient may be considered out of danger, and the pur-
gatives discontinued; but not  until then.  Tenderness
or fixed pain in the region of the stomach, or any part
of the abdomen or belly, call for the immediate  appli-
cation of leeches or cupping.
  I have now fully, and as minutely as I  conceived it
necessary in a work of this kind, given you the various
remedies  which  have  been  proposed, and strongly
recommended, in the treatment of cholera by different
writers—together  with  the  practice of the most dis-
tinguished physicians in India and Europe.  You will
after reading attentively this subject see plainly that no
decided or positive or certain method is laid down for
the treatment of this  dreadful scourge of the human
race.   In plain language,  it  has commenced  in the
United States, and the physicians of this country have
been compelled to establish a practice founded on their
own experience,  and  to adopt or use such  remedies
according to the symptoms, or the effect of the disease,
at the time of its location, upon the habits, constitutions,
&o. and the effects of climate, together with such pre-
disposing causes as may exist at the time this disorder
is prevalent.
  I have subjoined for  your satisfaction and informa-
tion, several letters of the most enlightened and distin-
guished physicians of our conntry, and, when itbecomes
necessary, reduced their technical or medical terms into
plain  language, so that you might easily  understand
them.  Their  valuable information, and the distinguish-
ed  standing of their authors, deserve the confidence
and gratitude of the American people.
  Permit me, in cases of emergency, to recommend to
your particular attention the letters of Drs. Drake and
Pattison. 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          753

          LETTER  OF DR. DRAKE.
  Prevented entirely by indisposition, from laying be-
fore the readers of the Chronicle, last week, an account
of the progress of the epidemic; and not yet capable
of much effort of the pen, I shall scarcely fulfil my en-
gagement to furnish them with a history of the disease.
Twentyrseven days have now elapsed since the onset of
the pestilence, during which period the  whole number
of deaths, as far as it has  been ascertained, is  three
hundred and fifty-one.   Dividing the period  into three
equal parts of nine days each, the first  would average
about two daily, the second seventeen, and the third
twenty-one.   The greatest number of deaths was from
noon  on the nineteenth  to noon  on  the  twentieth, and
amounted to forty-two, or one out of every six hundred
inhabitants actually in the city at the time.   Since that
day the mortality has slowly diminished, and at present
there  is a general impression that the epidemic  is de-
clining.                               .        ■   <■■
  No age, sex, complexion or condition, has been ex-
empted from the impress of the  poison, but its mortal
effects have been very different, in different  classes of
the community.  Among the colored it  has gone  on  to
develop a fatal disease, far  oftener  in proportion than
among the whites, while among the  latter, the laboring
classes have much more frequently fallen victims than
those  who  lived in  ease and affluence.   Many drunk-
ards have been its victims, but the majority of this class
have as yet escaped.  More men have sunk than wo-
men,  but the names of the victims show that a great
number  of mothers in the lower and middle ranks  of
society, have died.  The great secret,  I apprehend, of
those diversities,  and of the comparative exemption of
the reading and affluent classes,  is simply  their  earlier
      95 
754
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
knowledge and  fuller  appreciation of the signs and
means of arresting the disease  in  its forming  stage.
Whenever, either in white or black, rich or poor, male
or female, old or young, it has been suffered to establish
itself in violent vomitings, coldness, cramps and pros-
tration,  it has proved fatal or been cured  in so small a
number that they constituted exceptions to  the  rule.
Could every man, woman, and child,  in the city, have
been taught what were the first symptoms, convinced of
the necessity of attending to them, and furnished with
the means of adopting the requisite treatment, I do not
hesitate to say, the mortality would have been far less
than has taken place.   For  the information of distant
readers where this disease may unhappily break out, I
shall briefly state the simple course, which in my own
practice, and that of a  great number of my medical
friends, has proved effectual for this purpose.  On the
very first occurrence of any complaint in  the stomach
or bowels, the patient must instantly  go to bed in a
warm room, and continue there until all disease has left
him.  This is the greatest point in the treatment, and if
neglected, nothing else will be of any avail.   His bed-
covering should  be warm and close, and he should be
enjoined to lie still.  In this situation, two objects are to
be kept steadily in view—first, to excite  the  skin into
:er dilation, and secondly, to excite the liver into a co-
pious secretion of bile, which being brought about and
proper j maintained, the patient is insured.   To accom-
plish these ends,-he must be made to  drink freely of a
weak tea of k  x  sage, thorough wort, sassafras, or
sn.ike .uot.   At the same time, he must take a powder
of ten grains of calomel and one of opium, which may
be repeated two or three times,  with or without the
opium, according to the judgment of the physician.  In 
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          755

fcnost cases bags of mush or bitter herbs may  be laid
over the abdomen, and are much preferable to  sina-
pisms, except  where  the  vomiting  is severe.  If the
patient should be  of a full habit or  have f ver, blood-
letting would be required.  In twelve or twenty-four
hours  after the commencement  of this course, it will
often be  necessary to administer a little rhubarb, castor
oil, or senna.   Such are the small  and simple means
by which  this  great pestilence may be arrested,  if at-
tacked in its forming stage.  Should they, as too often
happens, be omitted until spasms and prostration of the
vital powers come on, they are still  the most valuable,
but will  oftener fail than succeed.  They who  can be
made  practically sensible of these facts, will be saved.
They  who cannot, are liable to perish.
                      RELAPSE.
   All who have had cholera, in any degree, are peculi-
arly liable to relapses, and many of our citizens have
already  perished in this way.   The causes of these re-
lapses are chiefly two.  First, rising two soon from bed,
and going into the open air, by which the prespiration
is checked.  In no other disease is this  so dangerous.
I speak  according to  the  experience of other places,
and my own  observations in this.   Secondly, indul-
gence in diet.   Those who are recovering from cholera,
whether slight or violent, will relapse  and die, if they
indulge  in hearty  meals of solid food.   All they eat
should be liquid and mild, such  as  gruel, soup,  mush
and milk, rice, chocolate, and other articles of a light
kind.  Everything beyond this bill of fare is pernicious.
I hope  my  fellow-citizens will scrupulously  observe
what I stated; and I beg of all editors to co-operate in
disseminating  a knowledge of these most important
cautions. 
 756          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
           NEGLECT OF THE FIRST STAGE.
   It is lamentable to see how many continue to fall vic-
 tims to the epidemic from neglecting the  first stage.  I
 repeat the opinion,  and  would  reiterate it with every
 possihle solemnity, that few or none  would die of the
 epidemic if the first stages were attended to.  When-
 ever I have been able to get the  history of a fatal  case,
 I have found the  patient had  one, two, three, or more
 days' indisposition, chiefly of the stomach and bowels,
 before the spasms and coldness came on.   Now, in that
 forming stage, the malady is easily arrested; when it is
 neglected the patient generally dies.
   Could every one who becomes indisposed be induced
 to take instantly to his bed, and  send for a  physician,
 the epidemic would be forthwith  deprived  of all its hor-
 rors.  The Roman  maxim, "resist the beginning," is
 not  more applicable to any  other evil which afflicts
 mankind, than to epidemic cholera.
        CHOLERA AND THE STEAM DOCTORS.
   I  am told that a great many  persons effected  with
 cholera  apply to the steam doctors.  Many of these
 are no doubt cured;  but others must be lost, who under
 a different method might  have  been saved.  I  have
 often said to my friends, that some parts of the Thomp-
 sonian  practice would be well  adapted to  cholera,
 especially in its advanced stages; but it is a fatal  error
 to suppose that this method is  proper  in  all  cases.  I
 hope the steam doctors, many of whom I believe  are
 benevolent men,  will  candidly  consider  what I  am
 about to say.   A weak infusion  of lobelia, with  con-
 finement to bed and external heat, is extremely proper
 in the forming stages of the disease;  but many cases
 at the same time  require  blood-letting,  and all  that
require this latter remedy, would  be injured by the use 
             GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          757

of "No. 6" and other powerful stimulants.  The liver,
moreover,  is torpid  and  does  not  secrete bile;  it is
necessary, therefore,  to administer calomel liberally in
the early stages of the  disease.  Opium likewise is a
valuable remedy  in this stage,  and  contributes greatly
to palliate the sufferings of patients.
   Thus it  is, indiscriminate  omission of blood-letting,
calomel  and opium, cause many  to die who  might
have heed saved.
   One  grain of opium, to  ten of calomel, form a pro-
per dose which  may  be  given once, twice or three
times, and  will seldom fail  to  excite a flow of bile,
after which the patient is  generally  safe.  In  the stage
of collapse, "No.  6," and  every other stimulating arti-
cle in the Thompsonian plan, may be admitted; though
treated  in  this  manner or any other the patient  will
generally die.
   In concluding,  I must again solemnly and  affection-
ately warn the  community that no reliance is  to be
placed  on  any plan of treatment  that is not entered
upon  at the  very beginning of the disease,  and  that
taking to bed  in a  warm room at the onset  of the
complaint and continuing  in that situation for several
days is  indispensable to safety.
                      DANIEL DRAKE,  M. D.
   Cincinnati, Friday, October 26, 1832.
         LETTER OF DR. PATTISON.
  We have been compelled to give only an abridge-
ment of the letter of this distinguished individual, to his
friend, Dr.  Carmichael of  Fredericksburg, Va.  Dr.
Pattison is Professor of Anatomy in  the  city of Balti- 
758
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
more, is  one of the  most distinguished medical  men
now living; as a surgeon, there is not his superior.
Having long toiled  in the steep and  rugged road of
science, he has reached  the  summit and now stands
unrivalled  in  his profession.   As a philanthropist, his
generous heart is ever ready  to  soothe and to relieve
the afflictions of mankind.  Dr. Pattison, substantially,
says :—
  When the epidemic exists  in any particular district,
the state of the bowels must  be attended to with the
utmost solicitude, and the most  trifling irregularity at
once remedied.  I have before  been at some  pains to
press on your  attention the fact, that in  almost every
instance, the malignant form of the  disease is preceded
by diarrhoea; and I  would now state, that in this stage,
the complaint may, with  certainty, be remedied.  The
diarrhoea indicates mere  functional derangement; re-
move this, and  restore the  healthy secretions of the
liver, stomach, and the other  viscera which minister to
the functions of  digestion and  assimilation, and you
save your patient.  The treatment is very simple.   Im-
mediately on ascertaining the  existence  of the diarrhoea,
direct your patient to take one  of  the following pow-
ders:
     Powdered Rhubarb,             80 grains,
     Calomel,                        20 grains,
     Salts of Opium,                  1 grain,
     And divide into four equal powders.
   Should there be much pain and oppression in the
epigastrium; and, more especially, should the pain be
increased by pressure, apply from fifteen to twenty cups
over this part, and if the patient be of a plethoric  habit,
take blood from the  general  system.   Six hours after
the powder has  been taken, give from  six  drachms to 
•
              GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          759

an ounce of castor oil.  The dejections will be found
unnatural in their appearance, and  should  they  con-
tinue so, let the powder be repeated twelve hours after
the operation of the first one has ceased,  and follow it
up as in jhe former case, with a dose of oil.   Continue
this  treatment until  the  excretions  become natural.
Let the patient keep his bed, and take  the lightest and
most digestible food, and in the course of a few days,
his  health will  be perfectly re-established.   I  have
never yet, in the whole course of my experience, had
an  opportunity of treating a patient during the pre-
monitory  stage, in which I have  not succeeded  in
arresting the progress of the disease.  This is a most
consolatory truth, and one which cannot be too exten-
sively proclaimed.  It disarms the pestilence in a great
measure of its terrors, and it should have the effect of
calming the minds of the timid, and inspiring  them
with confidence.  Fear is, of all the exciting  causes,
the most powerful; the publication of these facts, prove
there is no ground for it.  By attention to  diet, and im-
mediately applying for medical aid, should the premon-
itory symptoms arise, every individual may feel himself
secure from danger.
   Should  your patient not have applied  to  you  for
advice, until the first  stage is verging on the  second,
the most energetic system of treatment will be required
to afford him any chance of recovery.
   So soon as the dejections lose their feculent  charac-
ter, and  assume the  appearance of rice water, then
 the disease may be said to be entering on  its second,
 and most alarming stage.   The  effect  on the system,
 when these dejections commence, is immediate.   The
strength  is   prostrated;   the   countenance  becomes
contracted and  ghastly; the spasms become more fre- 
•
,760          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 quent and more severe, and in  general, the distressing
 sensation in the  epigastrium is  increased.  If the case
 is now left to itself, collapse very speedily takes place;
 and indeed very  often in spite  of the best directed
 treatment, this comes on.  It would require me to fill a
 ream of paper, were I to attempt to speak of all  the
 plans of treatment which have  been recommended; I
 shall refrain from doing so, and shall confine my  re-
 marks to the indications which guide my own practice,
 and the measures I pursue in carrying them into effect.
 Before I do so, I beg leave to remind you, that I put in
 no claim to originality, either in my views  as  to  the
 nature of the disease,  or as to  the mode of treating it.
   My mode of treating Cholera Asphyxia, is, in fact,
 the one which has been so successfully adopted by the
 British physicians in India.
   Believing, as  I  have already stated, that the disease
 depends on functional  derangement of certain viscera,
 particularly those which fulfil  the operations of diges-
 tion and assimilation; in every stage of the disease, my
 indication  is, to restore the healthful performance of
 those functions.   Now, of all the medicines which  can
 be employed for this purpose, calomel is decidedly the
 most powerful, and to it I look as  the sheet-anchor of
 hope.   Let all your remedial measures, therefore, be so
 directed as to promote the operation of mercury on the
 system.  If your patient complains of  much pain in
 the epigastrium, let cupping-glasses be  applied;  and if
 the pulse will bear it, bleed from the general system.
 In the employment of general  blood-letting, considera-
 ble judgment is  required, and in determining the quan-
 tity, the pulse  must be our  guide.  Even  should  the
         •"V
 pulsation at the wrist  be scarcely  perceptible, still, if
 other symptoms should indicate the  propriety of bleed- 
GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          76l
ing, be not deterred  from employing  it;  you will fre-
quently find, that as the blood flows, the pulse becomes
more and more distinct.  If so, continue  the bleeding
Until the pulse begins to feel it.  The instant it sinks?
apply the finger to the wound in the vein, and prevent
the flow  of another drop.  General  blood  letting is
calculated either to  do much  good or to be attended
with much  danger.  I will therefore be excused  in
repeating that it should not be  prescribed without the
most deliberate consideration  of the  circumstances of
each particular case.  Emetics may in most cases  be
employed with much  advantage.   Whenever there is
much feeling of oppression and sense of  weight in the
region of the  stomach, they may  be  prescribed  with
safety.  Dr. James  Johnson, the  distinguished editor
of the Medico Chirurgical Review, a  gentleman whom
I consider as  one of the very first physicians of the
present age, and whose learning of the science of his
profession is  only equalled by the  acuteness and accu-
racy  of  his  judgment,  has  strongly  recommended
emetics  of mustard  and  water, in cholera, with the
view of moving the congestion which he believes exists
in the viscera.
   I prefer the salt and water emetic to any other which
has been recommended.  Its  operation is immediate,
and so soon  as it has  produced free vomiting, its nau-
seating effect goes off.  You will  frequently be much
struck with  the matter dejected by vomiting; substan-
 ces which may have been taken into  the stomach days
 before, will occasionally  be thrown up unchanged—a
 sufficient evidence  of the  impaired  condition^ of. the
 digestive functions.  Should you, when called to, a case,
 be of opinion that vomiting may be required, you will,
 of course, employ it immediately, as, until its operation,
       96 
 732          GUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.

 is over, you need not commence the calomel.  So soon
 as the vomiting from the emetic has ceased, begin with
 this most important remedy.
   Some practitioners  recommend  the calomel  to be
 used  in  large doses.  From my experience, I would
 prefer giving it in  small quantities, repeating the dose
 frequently; of course, the quantity and  the  frequency
 of giving it must be regulated  by the circumstances of
 each  particular  case.   One of  the  following pills,  I
 would begin  with, by giving every half hour.   The pills
 ought to be freshly prepared.  If they have been made
 for some days,  they have become hard,  and remain
 some time  in the stomach before they  are  dissolved^
 and every moment is of value in treating this disease.
   Take of Calomel,                   12 grains,
   PowTder of Cayenne or red pepper    12 grains,
   Salts of Opium,                       2 grains,
   Mix the mass thoroughly with a little gum arabic,
 and divide it into ten equal pills.
   It will be observed that each  of these pills contains
 the fifth of a grain  of the sulphate of morphia.  This
 I  consider  a most valuable remedy  in quieting the
 stomach  and  relieving  the spasms.  But  it is one
 which must be employed with judgment.   The indica-
 tions  for its employment are the vomiting and spasms;
 and so soon as it relieves these  symptoms  it  should be
 discontinued.  It is probable, after three or four of the
 pills  have been  taken, they will  disappear;  or at  all
events, become much mitigated.  Should  this be the
 case,  pills containing merely calomel, should  be substi-
 tuted  for those  with the morphia.  You had better
direct your patient to take  the calomel pills every half
hour, until about thirty  grains  have been taken; after
this quantity  has been  swallowed, diminish  the  dose, 
             DUNN'S DOMESTIC MEDICINE.          763

and let  him take  only  three  grains every half hour.
The medicine may be continued  in this quantity, nnd
taken at these intervals, until from a scruple to half a
■drachm more of calomel is taken,  after which  you had
better  allow the patient a  short  respite.  Should the
calomel  not of itself produce feculent dejections, after
it has remained in  the system for some time, it will be
useful  to give  a powder containing  twelve grains  of
calomel and one scruple  of rhubarb, and the operation
of this may be promoted by giving some hours after-
wards a  dose of castor oil.   The  great object I would
recommend you to have in  view,  is to introduce into
the stomach a considerable quantity of calomel in divi-
ded doses,  and then to  endeavor to obtain  feculent
dejections.   When the   rice-colored  dejections are
changed  into feculent ones, the  danger is in a great
measure at an end, but persevere in the use of calomel
until  the healthy secretions are  fully  re-established.
When the stools become natural,  and when the secre-
tion of urine,  which had been completely  stopped,  is
restored, your patient is  cured. All that is further re-
quired is rest in bed for some days, and care to avoid
taking any but the  lightest and most digestible articles
of food. 
GLOSSARY.
  It is thought advisable to add to my remarks on epidemic cholera,
the- lollowing Clossarv. in which  the most obscure  medical phrases
employed under this head are rendered into plain language:
       Collapse—Shrinking.
       Discrepant—Opposing.
       Diarrkaa—Looseness of the bowels.
       Recumbent—Lying on the bed.
       Reaction—Favorable change.
       Pseudo-choleric—Resembling Cholera, but really not the dis-
       Ejected—Discharged.                               [ease,
       Revulsion—Withdrawal.
       Cups—See cupping page 595.
       Abdomen—Belly.
       Moribund—Hopeless.
       Epigastrium—Pit of the stomach.
       Effervescent—Boiling.
       Spinage—Green thread-like.
       Gastric—Of or belonging to the stomach.
       Ducts—Vessel^ through which the blood runs to the bowels.
       Portal Veins—Veins  that supply the liver with blood.
       Secrete—To make or create,
       Cfflcinal—Such medicines as physicians use.
       Morbid—Diseased.
       Hepatic Veins—Those that secrete bile.
       Functionafer-Na t u r al.
       Intestinal is||e—Stomach and bowels.
       Vis vita—Poyfer of life,
       Deficiency of nervous energy—Want of strength in the nerves,
       Proximate cause—The disease itself.
       Venous congestion—Collection of blood.
       Torpid—Inactive.
       Sporadic—A single case.
       Alvine—Bowel.
       Sulpt. quinine—Salt of barks.
       Synopsis—General view. 
*1  Table of JJKedicines, with their Doses and Qualities Annexed.
Medicines.	Adults.		Fkom 20 to 15.		From 15 to 10.		From	10 to 6.	Qualities.
	From	To.	From.	To.	From.	To.	From.	To.	
Arsenical Solution.	5	12 drops.	5	10 drops.	4	8 drops.	3	6 drops	Tonic.
Antimonial Wine.	2	4 drachms.	2	34 drms.	2	3 drachms.	14	24 drams	Emetic.
Aloes.	5	20 grains.	4	18 grs.	3	15 grs.	3	12 grs.	Cathartic.
Balsam Capaiva.	20	80 drops.	20	60 drops.	15	40 drops.	10	30 drops	Corroborant,
Balsam Turlington.	20	80 do.	20	60 do.	15	40 do.	do.	do.	Do.
Bark peruvian.	4	2 drachms.	4	14 drms.	25 gr.	li drms.	20	60 gr3.	Tonic.
Calomel.	10	60 grains.	10	40 grs.	10	30 grs.	5	20 grs.	Cathartic.
Camphor:	6	20 grains.	5	15 grs.	3	10 grs.	2	8 grs.	Stimulant.
Cream of Tartar.	4	2 ounces.	i	14 ounces.	3	10 drams.	2	8 drms.	Aperient.
Caustic vol. alk. liq.	4	2 drachms.	4	li drms.	4	1 drm.	23	30 drops	Stimulant.
Columbo.	10	60 grs.	10	30 grs.	10	40 grs.	8	30 grs.	Tonic.
Chalk prep'd.	20	50 grs.	20	40 grs.	15	35 grs.	15	30 grs.	Absorbent.
Castor Oil.	4	3 ounces.	4	24 ounces.	4	2 ounces.	3	8 drms.	Purgative.
Ess. Peppermint.	10	60 drops.	10	50 drops.	8	35 drops.	6	20 drops	Cnrminative.
Elix Vitriol.	10	40 drops.	10	30 drops.	8	25 drops.	6	20 drops	T>nic. [sps
iEther Vitriolic.	4	2 drachms.	4	14 drms.	30 ds.	1 drm.	20	60 drops	Stirnula't &, anti-
Ginger.	5	23 grs.	5	20 grs.	4	18 grs.	3	15 grs.	Aromatic.
Gamboge.	5	15 grs.	5	10 grs.	4	10 grs.	3	15 grs.	Active purgative
Hartshorn Spts.	4	li drms.	4	1 drm.	20	30 drops.	10	40 drops	Stimulant.
Ipecacuanha.	15	30 grs.	15	25 grs.	12	20 grs.	10	15 grs.	Emetic.
 
A TABLE OF MEDICINES, WITH THEIR
Medicines.	Adults.		From 20 to 15.	
	From	. To.	From.	To.
Jalap.	15	40 grs.	10	30 grs.
Laudanum.	20	60 drops.	20	50 drops.
Magnesia.	4	2 drms.	4	li drms.
Manna.	1	2 ounces.	1	14 ounces.
Nitre.	10	30 grs.	10	25 grs.
Opium.	4	3 grs.	4	2 grs.
Paregoric.	1	4 drms.	1	3 drms.
Rhubarb.	15	40 grs.	12	35 grs.
Steel Dust.	5	25 grs.	4	20 grs.
Sugar of Lead.	1	5 grs.	1	4 grs,
Salts Epsom.	1	2 ounces.	1	2 ounces.
Salt of Tartar,	10	25 grs.	10	20 grs.
Spts. Lavender.	30	100 drops.	25	75 drops.
Sulphur Flour. ■	2	8 drms.	2	6 drms.
Sulphate Quinine.	2	8 grs.	2	6 grs.
Tartar Emetic.	3	10 grs.	3	8 grs.
Tincture of Steel.	8	20 drops.	8	18 drops.
Tincture of Foxglove	10	50 drops.	10	40 drops.
Tinctre of Cantharide*'	10	50 drops.	10	40 drops.
Vitriol White.	20	60 grs.	20	50 grs.
3 AND QUALITIES ANNEXED.
From 15 to 10.		From
From.	To.	From.
8	23 grs.	5
15	40 drops.	10
20	60 grs.	15
1	14 ounces.	4
8	20 grs.	6
4	1 gr.	
1	2 grs.	50
10	35 grs.	8
3	15 grs.	24
4	3 grs.	4
3	14 drms.	2
8	18 grs.	6
20	60 drops.	15
1	4 drms.	1
1	4 grs.	1
2	6 grs.	2
6	15 drops.	5
8	30 drops.	5
8	30 drops.	5
15	30 grs.	12
10 to 6.	Qualities.
To.	
20 grs.	Purgative.
30 drops	A nod)ne.
45 grs.	Absorbent.
1 ounce	Aperient.
15 grs.	Febrifuge <$*diur
	Anodvne.
100 drops	Ancdvne.
30 grs.	Purgative.
13 grs.	Tonic.
2 grs.	Astringent,
12 drops	Purga:ive.
15 grs.	Absorbent <$• Feb
50 drops	Cordial.
3 dims.	Aperient.
3 grs.	Tunic.
5 grs.	Emetic.
12 drops	Tunic.
25 drops	Diuretic.
25 drop?	Stimulant.
25 grs.	Emetic.
 
A TABLE OF MEDICINES, WITH THEIR DOSES AND QUALITIES ANNEXED.
Medicines.	Fr	OM 6 TO 4.	Fr	OM 4 TO 2. To.	Fn From.	OM 2 TO 1.	Under Oxe.		Qualities.
	From.	To.	From.			To.	From.	To.	
Arsenical Solution.	2	5 drops.	1	4 drops.	i	2 drops.	i	1 drop.	Tonic.
Antimonial Wine.	1	2 drachms.	1	li drachms.	1	li drms.	4	1 dram.	Emetic.
Aloes.	2	10 grs.	2	8 grs.	1	6 grs.	4	5 grs.	Cathartic.
Balsam Copaiva.	10	20 drops.	8	15 drops.	5	10 drops.	2	5 drops	Corroborant.
Balsam Turlington.	do.	do.	do.	do.	do.	do.	do.	do.	Do.
Bark Peruvian.	15	45 grs.	10	30 grs.	8	20 grs.	5	15 grs.	Tonic.
Calomel.	5	15 grs.	5	10 grs.	3	8 grs.	1	5 grs.	Ciithartic.
Camphor.	2	4 grs.	1	3 grs.	1	2 grs.	4	1 gr.	Stimulant.
Cream of Tartar.	2	5 drams.	1	4 drms	4	2 drms.	4	1 drm.	Aperient.
Caustic vol. alk. liq.	20	40 drops.	15	30 drops.	10	20 drops.	5	10 drops	Stimulant.
Columbo.	5	25 grs.	5	20 grs.	4	15 grs.	2	10 grs.	Tonic.
Chalk prep'd.	12	30 grs.	10	25 grs.	7	20 grs.	5	15 grs.	Absorbent.
Castor Oil.	2i	. 6 drms.	2	5 drms.	li	4 drms.	1	2 dims.	Purgative.
Ess. Peppermint.	4	15 drops.	3	12 drops.	2	10 drops.	1	6 drops	Carminative.
Elixir Vitriol.	5	15 drops.	3	42 drops.	2	10 drops.	1	4 drops	Tonic. [SPS-
JEther Vitriolic.	15	56 drops.	10	40 drops.	8	30 drops.	5	10 drop?	Stimula't & anti-
Ginger.	3	12 grs.	2	10 grs.	2	8 grs.	1	6 grs.	Aromatic.
Gamboge.	1	3 grs.							Aciive Purgative
Hartshorn Spts.	10	20 drops.	5	10 drops.	3	8 drops.	2	6 drops	Stimulant.
Ipecacuanha.	8	12 grs.	5	10 grs.	4	8 grs.	1	5 grs.	Emetic.
 
"W-
A TABLE OF MEDICINES, WITH THEIR D				OSES	AND QUALP	riES	ANNEXE1	).	06
Medicines.	From 6 to 4.		From 4 to 2.	From 2 to 1.		Under One.		Qualities.	
	From. To.		From To.	From.	To.	From. To.			
Jalap.	5 15 grs.		4 12 grs.	3	8 grs.	2	5 grs.	Purgative.	
Laudanum.	8 20 drops.		5 15 drops.	3	8 drops.	2	6 drops	Anodyne.	
Magnesia.	12 40 grs.		10 35 grs.	8	25 grs.	5	20 grs.	Absorbent.	CD
Manna.	3 6 drms.		2 4 drms.	1	2 drms.	4	1 drm.	Aperient.	C3 5*
Nitre.	5 12 grs.		2 10 grs.	2	8 grs.	1	4 grs.	Febrifuge & Diu.	2
Opium.								Anodyne.	• w
Paregoric.	30 60 drops.		20 50 drops.	10	• 40 drops.	2	20 drops	Anodyne.	G
Rhubarb.	5 25 grs.		4 20 grs.	4	12 grs.	2	10 grs.	Purgative.	s
Steel Dust.	2 10 grs.		1 6 grs.	\	2 grs.			Tonic.	
Sugar of Lead.	4 14 grs.		i lgr.	1 a	lgr.			Astringent.	H
Salts Epsom.	2 8 drms.		2 6 drms.	1	4 drms.	1	3 drms.	Purgative.	C
Salt of Tartar.	4 8 grs.		3 6 grs.	2	4 grs.	1	3 grs.	Absorbentdz. Feb'	
Spts. Lavender.	10 35 drops.		5 20 grs.	4	15 drops.	2	10 drops	Cordial.	
Sulphur Flour.	4 2 drms.		20 grs. 1 drm.	10	40 grs.	5	20 grs.	Aperient.	C >-<
Sulphate Quinine.	4 2 grs.		4 lgr.	i	4 gr.	i	4 gr.	Tonic.	2
Tartar Emetic.	14 3 grs.		1 2 grs.	4	1 gr.	i	1 gr.	Emetic.	
Tincture of Steel.	4 10 drops.		3 8 drops.	2	6 drops.	1	5 drops	Tonic.	
Tincture of Foxglove.	4 20 drops.		3 15 drops.	2	10 drops.	1	5 drops	Diuretic.	
Tinct. Cantharides.	4 20 drops.		3 15 drops.	2	10 drops.	1	5 drops	Stimulant.	
Vitriol White.	6 15 grs.		3 6 drops.	1	3 grs.			Emetic.	
			WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.						
20 S™'™ I make \] 3 scruples ) (	scruple [ drachm	8 drachm 12 ounces	1^!lp3|i6pflMsoZS|™ke!i			gal. pint	8fl'ddr'ms \jx\ 1 A1d ozs 60 drops j g \ lfl'ddr'm.		
 
LiJf ^A 
•■,v&---->~*»

 L j£->V  y.y,
'-**<-* '.;>>- >'•'-!
'*)v,*:>:.