Colonial North America: Countway Library of Medicine

145

Diaphoretics

be justly Styled the Opprobrium Medicine, much which proceeds from the too liberal use of cathartics; my practice has been after a verry lenient cathartic to administer an anodyne diaphoretic and the Cretaceous Mixture, after which I administer as a tonic to the Intestines an infusion of the black berry root, the manner of preparing the infusion is as follows.

Rx Manipulus Aq. Bullien lbi [1 pound]

Put them in a teapot and let them simmer by the fire to ⅔ and then give a desert spoonfull every two or three hours, after a little time the bowels will become so constipated as to require a gentle laxative; This medicine though so little known to Practitioners Is I believe by far the best tonic we have in such cases, it is also peculiarly adapted to the Diarrhea of Old People.