blood, or when the inflammation is more nervous than vascular. Inflammation may be considered a disease in which the nerves and arteries are chiefly engaged, and after the arteries have been unloaded it partakes more of nervous excitement than vascular action, and in that case a blister or a rubefacient, by occasioning a determination of nervous energy to another part of the body, often succeeds in curing the disease. (See effects of vomiting on inflammation after abstraction of blood under the head of EMETICS, and of purging under the head of CATHARTICS.)

In cases of inflammation of the brain or its membranes, the application of a blister to the scalp (a common practice) has been found to aggravate the disease, even after copious bleeding, probably by increasing the determination of blood to the head. It appears to be too near the seat of the disease to act beneficially as a derivative. The application of a cold lotion and a blister, or mustard poultices, to the legs, is more judicious practice. When bleeding has not preceded the application of a blister in cases of inflammation of an internal part in a nervous subject, it has aggravated the inflammatory symptoms, apparently by increasing the feverish state of the body. In cases of chronic cough, attended with great difficulty of expectoration from debility, a blister is frequently applied over the chest, with the view of stimulating the muscles concerned in effecting the expulsion of mucus from the air-vessels.

Blisters are also employed in cases of palsy and muscular debility as stimulants. They are also sometimes applied to dropsical swellings of the legs, &c., for the discharge of the effused serum; but when the vital powers are considerably reduced, the blistered parts are very apt to mortify. In such cases small punctures by a lancet or by needles (acupuncturation) is preferred by cautious practitioners. Blisters are not employed by prudent practitioners in cases of inflammation of the kidneys, prostate gland, or bladder, because a portion of the cantharides is sometimes absorbed, so as to excite considerable irritation in the kidneys and at the neck of the bladder, often to a degree as to produce distressing strangury. Some theorists contend, that a blister has never this effect when inflammation exists either in the kidneys, bladder, or urethra. As the inflammatory excitement of the skin produced by the application of strong liquor of ammonia, the mustard seed poultice, or dilute muriate of antimony, will have the same effect as a blister, a prudent practitioner would employ such rubefacients rather than run the risk of increasing so serious and distressing a malady. When it is desirable to ensure the operation of a blister, or to expedite its action, the part should be previously stimulated by

the liquor of ammonia. The euphorbium plaster is sometimes used for the purpose of blistering, but it is more tedious and uncertain in its operation than the plaster of cantharides, commonly called blistering plaster. (See BLISTERING PLASTER.)

Directions for the Use of the Articles necessary to be kept for Domestic and Charitable Purposes.

Having explained the manner in which the various classes of drugs operate on the human body, both in a healthy and in a diseased condition, so far as the present state of the science will admit, I shall proceed to give directions for the exhibition and application of the articles which are generally employed in private practice, and which, as I have already observed, should be kept by the leading family in every parish that does not admit of immediate recourse to medical aid. In performing this very important part of domestic medicine, I shall take the articles according to their arrangement in the Family Medicine Chest, which I consider to be the most convenient that has been constructed. Of this chest, to which I have given the name of "The Family Dispensary," the following is a representation :

This chest, of different sizes, and others on different plans, with the bottles, drawers, &c., labelled with numerical references to this work, may be obtained, furnished with drugs of the choicest quality, on the lowest terms, at the Medical Hall, 170, Piccadilly, London.

29mitomos 21 The Five Bottles in the Front, for to rompil adt

Six Drawers in the Front, with Partitions, for

48. Peruvian Bark, or Rhatany

Two large Drawers in the Front, for) &

The small round impressions on the thin weights stand for so many grains.

The graduated measure is marked from half a drachm to an ounce, and the drop measure from one to thirty drops.

By a tea-spoonful, is meant one drachm; a table-spoonful, half an ounce; a wine-glassful, two ounces; and a tea-cupful, three ounces, or a quarter of a pint. A drop is generally considered to weigh a grain, so that sixty drops are reckoned equal to a drachm, or tea-spoonful; but in all cases, the smallest doses should be measured, as drops greatly differ both in size and weight. The size of a drop varying according to the consistency or specific gravity of the liquid, the quantity in the bottle, and the thickness of the edge from which it is dropped, and the most active part of ethereal or volatile articles evaporating during the time of dropping, the smallest dose of a liquid should be measured, and for this purpose, the drachm is divided into sixty parts, which are termed minims; but as many drops adhere to the measure, allowance should be made for them, or the measure should be rinced out with the vehicle, or the articles with which the minims are to be mixed, so that no portion may be lost. Since this regulation, the minim, commonly called the drop measure, is generally used. Many chemists and apothecaries in compounding prescriptions, drop the articles, instead of using the measure, when minims are ordered, and as the drop of different articles considerably varies in quantity, (of some fifty drops making sixty minims or one drachm, and of others one hundred and twenty drops), the medicines so dispensed, particularly when the article is of an active or powerful nature, such as acetate of morphine, prussic acid, the arsenical solution, &c., have been productive of serious mischief. Some chemists and apothecaries suppose that one drop of any liquid is equal to a minim, others consider a drop and half to be a minim, and others, for every minim ordered, add two drops. It is common for physicians to order two minims of an article, as oil of cloves, &c., when, if the quantity of five minims be measured, the whole will adhere to the glass; and when the article is an oil, it often happens that the ingredients with which it is to be mixed will not dissolve it, and consequently it cannot be got out of the measure. In such case, the compounder is really under the necessity of making use of drops, but he should ascertain how many drops of the article will make

the number of minims ordered. Spoons likewise vary too much in size to be used as measures for the exhibition of potent medidicines.

The following characters are in general use:-
jone, ij two-as 3j one drachm, zij two drachms.

gr: granum or grain.

m: minimum or minim.

R. (Recipe) Take.

a aa or ana, of each.

ss. the half-as 3 ss. half an ounce.
Cong. (Congius) a gallon.

Cochl. (Cochleare) a spoonful.

The doses specified throughout this work are for adults, which must be increased or diminished according to the strength and habit of the patient, and the age, by the Scale given under the head of Catalogue of Drugs, in the Appendix.

It is customary to repeat the dose of an aperient medicine about every four hours till it operates, or to employ a lavement, which, if the costiveness prove obstinate, and particularly when attended with pain in the bowels, is preferable to a repetition of strong cathartic medicines.

Drugs are retailed in the quantities above a drachm, by avoirdupois or grocers' weights, and from a drachm, lower, by the troy or apothecaries' weight. In the compounding of medicines, the troy weight is always used. The avoirdupois or the grocers' weights differ very much from the troy or apothecaries', and in consequence of grocers dealing in drugs, mistakes are often made in the quantity of an article. The grocers' pound contains sixteen ounces, and the ounce sixteen drachms. The pound also varies, for the grocers' pound contains 7000 grains, and the apothecaries' only 5760; hence the pound of the latter is less than that of the former by 1240 grains, and the apothecaries' ounce, on the other hand, is greater than the grocers' - the former containing 480 grains, and the latter 437 grains. The measure of liquids also differs, one being used for beer and the other for wine. In medicine the latter is employed.

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