_Camphor_ (_pellets medicated_ with the pure tincture) _Veratrum_ 3d, and _a.r.s.enic.u.m_ 3d, should be taken in rotation--a dose morning, noon and night, in the order named; so as to take a dose of each every twenty-four hours. If any sense of weakness or trembling comes on, use the _Camphor_ oftener; if pain or uneasiness in the bowels threatening diarrhoea, use the _Veratrum_, and for increased thirst with uneasiness at the stomach _a.r.s.enic.u.m_ more frequently.

TO PREVENT DIARRHOEA

Where it is prevailing as an _epidemic_, _Ipecac_ at night, and _Veratrum_ in the morning will often _suffice_. For _teething children_ give _Ipecac_ and _Chamomilla_ in the same manner.

TO PREVENT DYSENTERY

In hot weather when bilious diseases prevail, use _Mercurius_ 3d, _Podophyllin_ 2d, and _Leptandrin_ 1st in rotation, giving one dose a day.

In the winter, or when _Typhoid fevers_ prevail, use _Mercurius_ and _Rhus_ tox. alternately a dose every day.

TO PREVENT ITCH.

A dose of _Sulphur_, or rubbing a little flour of sulphur on the hands, will generally suffice.

TO PREVENT COLDS

Keep the _arms_, _hands_ and _chest_ well clothed and warm.

_Affecting_ the _head_ as _catarrh_, or the pelvic regions keep the _feet and ankles warm and dry_. Affecting joints and muscles as Rheumatism--protect the _Spine_ (back) from colds and currents of air.

After an accidental exposure as by getting the feet wet, or being caught in a shower, drink _bountifully_ of cold water, and take a dose of _Nux_; followed in an hour by _Aconite_, if any chilliness is felt, or _Copaiva_ if the head is "stuffed up."

In winter and spring when the weather is mild, but there is snow, or the ground is damp, more clothes are necessary than when it is freezing hard and the air is dry.

PREPARATION OF MEDICINE.

As it often becomes necessary for the pract.i.tioner to make more or less of his own dilutions and attenuations, some brief instructions especially to new beginners, may not come amiss.

Medicine is prepared by mixing it with distilled water, or purified 98 per cent. Alcohol; or if solid and dry, by reducing it to powder and triturating (rubbing) it in a mortar with pure sugar or Sugar of Milk.

The liquid is called _dilution_, the powder _trituration_. The attenuations are mostly made at the decimal (1-10,) or centecimal (1-100) ratio and numbered 1, 2, 3, &c., by putting ten drops of the liquid with ninety drops of Alcohol, or ten grains of the powder with ninety grains of Sugar for the 1st, and ten grains or drops of the 1st with ninety more of Alcohol or Sugar, as the case may be, for the 2nd, and so on to any desirable extent.

If the centecimal attenuation is adopted, one grain or drop is used instead of ten, as in the decimal.

I prefer the decimal to the centecimal ratio. Not that there can possibly be any difference in the action of the medicines, at the same attenuation, whether it was brought to that state through a series of 1-10, or 1-100; the 3d at the 1-100 ratio of dilution being _precisely the same_ as the 6th at 1-10. My preference for the decimal ratio is based upon the greater convenience and accuracy of measuring larger quant.i.ties.

_Accuracy_ is very desirable, but the practice of _guessing_ at the amount as pursued by some, is anything but accurate. When one makes his dilutions by putting the fluid into a vial and "_pouring it all out_,"

_guessing_ that he has a _drop_ left which is to medicate the ninety-nine drops of Alcohol or water, he may put in by guess, I am inclined to _guess_ that he knows nothing, _accurately_ as to what dilution he is making. (See Hull's Laura, introduction, also Jahr & Possart's Pharmacopoeia and Posology.) For if the vial is small and quite smooth there may not be a drop left, or if it is rough, there may be several drops.

Yet some physicians make their dilutions thus, and insist upon the superiority of the centecimal over the decimal attenuations.

Whatever ratio is adopted, should be _accurately_ followed. Have true scales for weighing solids, and a graduated measure marked from ten drops up to one hundred for liquids; then _always_ weigh or measure _accurately_ the medicine, as well as the substance with which it is to be attenuated.

The measure and mortar, after using them for one medicine, can be cleaned preparatory for another, with scalding water, rinsing them with purified Alcohol, then drying.

Never smoke or chew Tobacco in any place, but if you are such a _slave_ to habit, that you must do it despite your good sense and better judgment, never do either, or have tobacco or any other odoriferous substance about your person when you are preparing medicines, or they are exposed to the air. Keep the medicines excluded from the light and air as far as practicable.

Triturate the powders thoroughly for an hour or more upon each, and shake the dilution from fifty to one hundred times, more for the higher attenuations.

It is better to medicate pellets in large bottles, filling them half or two-thirds full, put in just liquid enough to wet every one, but not so as to dissolve any. Shake them until all are equally wet, and let them stand for four or five days, if practicable, shaking them up two or three times a day until all are dry.