Diseases > Domestic medicine

DOMESTIC MEDICINE.
land-scurvy from a milk diet. This preparation of
Nature is a mixture of animal and vegetable proper¬
ties, which of all others is the most fit for restoring a
decayed constitution, and removing that particular
acrimony of the humours, which seems to constitute
the very essence of the scurvy, and many other
diseases. But people despise this wholesome and
nourishing food because it is cheap, and devour with
greediness flesh, and fermented liquors, while milk is .
only deemed fit for their hogs.
The mosf proper drink in the scurvy is whey or
buttermilk. When these cannot be had, sound cyder,
perry, or spruce-beer, may be used. Wort has like¬
wise been found to be a proper drink in the scurvy,
and may be used at sea, as malt will keep during the
longest voyage. A decoction of the tops of the spruce
fir is likewise proper. It may be drunk in the quan¬
tity of an English pint twice a-day. Tar-water may
be used for the same purpose, or decoctions of any
of the mild mucilaginous vegetables ; as sarsaparilla,
marsh-mallow roots, &c. Infusions of the bitter
plants, as ground-ivy, the lesser centaury, marsh-tre¬
foil, &c. are likewise beneficial. I have seen the
peasants in some parts of Britain express the juice of
the last mentioned plant, and drink it with good effect
in those foul scorbutic eruptions with which they are
often troubled in the spring season.
Harrowgate-water is certainly an excellent medi¬
cine in the land-scurvy. I have often seen patients
who had been reduced to the most deplorable con¬
dition by this disease, greatly relieved by drinking
the sulphur-water, and bathing in it. The chalybeate-
water may also be used with advantage, especially
with a view to brace the stomach after drinking the
sulphur-water, which, though it sharpens the appe¬
tite, never fails to weaken the powers of digestion.