Note 44 — OF THE DYSENTERY.

This Practice of giving the Cortex with Opiates in the Dysentery is not new; for Dr. R. Morton, in his Appendix to his second Exercise on the Fevers, which appeared from 1658 to 1691, observes, that after the Plague of 1666 had ceased, a Fever from a milder Poison, attended with Gripes and Dysentery, began to make its Appearance. As the common Methods of Cure proved unsuccessful, and Dr. Morton observed Exacerbations and Remissions, he resolved to give the Bark mixed with Laudanum; and found it answer his Expectation. The first Patient to whom he gave it, was a man in Long Lane, who laboured under a Tertian Dysentery; upon observing a Remission, he ordered a Drachm of the Bark, mixed with a Grain of Opium, to be given every four Hours for six Times; and this removed both the Fever and Dysentery.—He says, he afterwards gave it, with equal Success, in the Quotidian Dysenteries, where he observed Exacerbations or Remissions; and he adds, that he does not doubt but that it will answer as well in Epidemical Diarrhœa’s, and Camp Fevers attended with such Symptoms.

Dr. Whytt of Edinburgh has given with Success a strong Decoction of the Bark, mixed with the confectio japonica of the Edinburgh Dispensatory, in the bad State of the Dysentery, when the Mouth and alimentary Canal were threatened with Aphthæ, and even sometimes after they had appeared. And Dr. Pringle mentions his having given the Decoction of the Bark, with Snake-Root and some Drops of Laudanum, in the Dysentery complicated with the malignant Fever. See Note to Page 245 of his third Edition on the Diseases of the Army.