Erasmus Darwin

“ A contagious disease, in which the hair is said to become alive and bleed, forming inextricable knots or plaits of great length, like the fabled head of Medusa, with intolerable pain, so as to confine the sufferer on his bed for years. ”

“ This great excitement of the two sensorial powers of irritation and sensation is so great, when the pustles are diffused over the whole surface of the body, that a torpor succeeds the sudden ceasing of it ”

“ Elderly people, who have been much addicted to spirituous drinks, as beer, wine, or alcohol, are liable to an eruption all over their bodies; which is attended with very afflicting itching, and which they probably propagate from one part of their bodies to another with their own nails by scratching themselves. I saw fatal effects in one such patient, by a too extensive use of a solution of lead; the eruption disappeared, he became dropsical, and died ”

“ Opium contributes much to expedite the cure both of the simple gonorrhœa, and of venereal ulcers, by increasing absorption both from the mucous membrane, and from the surface of ulcers.
3. Lepra. Leprosy. Leprosy of the Greeks. The skin is rough with white branny scales, which are full of chinks; often moist beneath, and itching. The scales on the head or arms of some drinking people are a disease of this kind. The perspirable matter designed for the purpose of lubricating the external skin is secreted in this disease in a too viscid state, owing to the inflammation of the subcutaneous vessels ”

“ Whence the diseases consequent to the hasty cure of the itch are diseases of debility, as tumid viscera, œdematous swellings, and St. Vitus's dance, which is a debility of association. In the same manner indigestion, with green evacuations, are said to follow an injudicious application of cerussa to stop too hastily the exsudation behind the ears of children, Class I. 1. 2. 9. And dropsies are liable to succeed the cure of old ulcers of the legs, which have long stimulated the system. ”

“ And at the same time lest the syphilis, or general disease, should supervene, the patient might take a quarter of a grain of corrosive sublimate of mercury twice a day, as directed below?
2. Syphilis. Venereal disease. The contagion shews itself in ulcers on the part first inoculated, as chancres; ulcers on the tonsils succeed, with eruption on the skin, especially about the roots of the hair ”

“ Mix one grain of emetic tartar with forty grains of chalk, and divide into eight papers, one to be taken twice a day, or with magnesia alba, if stools are wanted. The child should be kept cool and much in the air. ”