Erasmus Darwin

“ The best manner of using arsenic, is by mixing one grain with a dram of lapis calaminaris, and strewing on the cancer some of the powder every day, till the whole is destroyed.
Cancers on the face are said to arise from the periosteum, and that unless this be destroyed by the knife, or by caustics, the cancer certainly recurs. After the cancer becomes an open ulcer of some extent, a purulent fever supervenes, as from other open ulcers, and gradually destroys the patient. ”

“ With the Production of new Vessels by internal Membranes or Glands, without Fever.
Where inflammation is produced in a small part, which has not great natural sensibility, the additional sensation does not produce an increased action of the arterial system; that is, the associated motions which are employed in the circulation of the blood, those for instance of the heart, arteries, glands, capillaries, and their correspondent veins, are not thrown into increased action by so small an addition of the sensorial power of sensation. ”

“ Cancer. When a schirrous tumor regains its sensibility by nature, or by any accidental hurt, new vessels shoot amongst the yet insensible parts of it, and a new secretion takes place of a very injurious material. This cancerous matter is absorbed, and induces swelling of the neighbouring lymphatic glands; which also become schirrous, and afterwards cancerous. ”

“ This kind of abscess, though not itself dangerous, has given opportunity for the inoculation of venereal matter in the hands of accoucheurs, and of putrid matter from the dissection of diseased bodies; and has thus been the cause of disease and death. When putrid matter has been thus absorbed from a dead body, a livid line from the finger to the swelled gland in the axilla is said to be visible; which shews the inflammation of the absorbent vessel along its whole course to the lymphatic gland; and death has generally been the consequence. ”

“ This inflammation begins either on or near the edges of the eyelids, or in the loose skin of them, and is sometimes very slow either in coming to suppuration or in dispersing. The skin beneath the lower eyelid is the most frequent seat of this tumor, which sometimes never suppurates at all, but becomes an incysted tumor: for as this skin is very loose for the purpose of admitting great motion to the eyelid, the absorbent power of the veins seems particularly weak in this part; whence when any person is weakened by fatigue or otherwise, a darker shade of colour is seen beneath the eyes ”

“ When a child is afflicted with an inflamed eye of this kind, he should always sit with his back to the window or candle; but it is generally not necessary to cover it, or if the uneasy sensation of light makes this proper, the cover should stand off from the eye, so as not much to exclude the cool air from it. As covering an eye unnecessarily is liable to make that eye weaker than the other, from its not being sufficiently used, and thence to produce a squinting for ever afterwards. ”

“ These fatal effects were probably caused by the disagreeable sensation of an inflamed liver, which used before to be relieved of the sympathetic action and consequent inflammation of the skin of the face, which was now prevented by the stronger stimulus of the application of calx of lead. The manner in which disagreeable sensations induce epilepsy and palsy is treated of in Class III. In some cases where habitual discharges, or eruptions, or ulcers are stopped, a torpor of the system may follow, owing to the want of the accustomed quantity of sensation or irritation. ”

“ A spot of inflammation sometimes begins on the inside of the lower eyelid, or on the tunica albuginea, and spreads an intertexture of red vessels from it, as from a center, which extend on the white part of the eye, and have the appearance of the wing of a fly, from whence its name. ”

“ In the sea-scurvy there exists an inactivity of venous absorption, whence vibices and petechiæ, and sometimes ulcers. As the column of blood pressing on the of origins of the veins of the lower extremities, when the body is erect, opposes the ascent of the blood in them, they are more frequently liable to become enlarged, and to produce varixes, or vibices, or, lastly, ulcers about the legs, than on the upper parts of the body. ”

“ A bit of cotton wool applied to the fundament to receive the matter, and renewed twice a day for a week or two, should always be used before examination with the probe. The probe of an unskilful empyric sometimes does more harm in the loose cellular membrane of these parts than the original ulcer, by making a fistula he did not find. The cure of a fistula in ano of those, who have been much addicted to drinking spirituous liquor, or who have a tendency to pulmonary consumption, is frequently of dangerous consequence, and is succeeded by ulcers of the lungs, and death. ”

“ An inflammation of this kind is liable to affect the eyes of horses; one cause of which is owing to a silly custom of cutting the hair out of horses' ears; by which they are not only liable to take cold at the ear, but grass seeds are liable to fall into their ears from the high racks in stables ”

“ Nor does it accord with the inflammatory rheumatism, as it is not attended with fever, and because the tumors of the joints never entirely subside. The pain or sensibility, which the bones acquire, when they are inflamed, may be owing to the new vessels, which shoot in them in their soft state, as well as to the distention of the old ones.
M. M. Half a grain of opium twice a day, gradually increased to a grain, but not further, for many months. Thirty grains of powder of bark twice a day for many months. ”

“ The exposure to cold is believed to be another cause of ulcers on the extremities; as happens to many of the poor in winter at Lisbon, who sleep in the open air, without stockings, on the steps of their churches or palaces. See Class I. 2. 1. 15.
M. M. A bandage spread with plaster to cover the whole limb tight. Rags dipped in a solution of sugar of lead. A warm flannel stocking or roller. White lead and oak bark, both in fine powder. ”