Ointment

“ This word only occurs in two passages, one being the well-known proverb, "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour" (Eccles. x. 1) .
This passage requires a little explanation. By the word "apothecary" we must not understand a medical man, nor by the word "ointment" the mollifying substance used as an application for wounds. The ointment of Scripture signifies the various perfumed unguents used as scents and cosmetics for the living, as part of the preparation of the dead for the grave, and as an essential accessory to Jewish ritual. ”

“ And in closing his remarks on the statements of the advocates of the ointment, he says, "Lastly, it will cure a beast as well as a man, which I like best of all the rest, because it subjecteth the matter to an easy trial." ”

“ The affection rarely calls for treatment, as it tends to spontaneous recovery. Incision and evacuation of the matured lesions and a simple protective dressing of a mild ointment, such as oxide-of-zinc ointment, [p. 652] may be advised. If slight stimulation is desirable, ten or twenty grains of ammoniated mercury may be added to the ounce of the ointment. ”

“ If treated in any other manner, they dry up in one part to break out in another. Whereas, this Ointment will remove the humors from the system and leave the patient a vigorous and healthy man. It will require a little perseverance in bad cases to insure a lasting cure. ”

“ An ointment of them cures wounds, and is most fit for such as have inflammations, it being an herb of Dame Venus; it stops the terms in women, being boiled in white wine, and the decoction drank; as also the bloody flux; the ointment of it is not only good for green wounds, but also for ulcers and fistulas, especially such as abound with moisture. It stays the shedding of hair, the head being bathed with the decoction of it; inwardly taken it helps the retentive faculty of the stomach: it helps the gonorrhea in men, and the whites in women, and helps such as cannot hold their water ”

“ It is stimulant, detergent, and alterative; when diluted with an equal quantity of simple ointment or almond oil, it may be almost regarded as a specific in ophthalmia tarsi, smeared upon the cilia every night at bedtime.
520Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitrico-oxydi. L. An excellent stimulant application, well adapted for giving energy to indolent ulcers. If mixed with any ointment containing resin, it loses its red colour, passing through olive green to black, which depends upon the conversion of the red into the black oxide of mercury. ”

“ An ointment, prepared by beating the seeds, deprived of their shells, into a paste of the requisite consistence, with a little ghee, or simple ointment, has been found of great service as a local application in some obstinate Skin Diseases. ”

“ Similar ointments, one or two drachms to the ounce, may in like manner be prepared from any of the other preparations of tar, as, for instance, the oil of white birch. Where an ointment is not desired, the oil of tar, oil of cade, or oil of white birch may be employed, the remedy being thoroughly rubbed or worked into the skin. Attention to the mode of application should always be insisted upon. ”

“ In most cases, however, astringent and stimulating remedies are demanded from the start, such as: diachylon ointment, alone or with ten to thirty grains of calomel to the ounce; oleate of mercury, as a five- to twenty-per-cent. ointment; precipitated sulphur, one to three drachms to the ounce of benzoated lard, or lard and lanolin; a ten- to twenty-five-per-cent. ichthyol ointment; and resorcin lotion or ointment, ten to twenty per cent. strength. ”

“ It draws out the cause of your trouble, and a speedy cure ensues. Try Dr. Collie’s Ointment—Instant relief for Sciatica, Lumbago, and swollen joints.
It appeared, however, from a booklet sent with the ointment that rheumatism was only one among a large number of complaints for which the ointment was recommended; it was described on the label as:
A certain cure for Sprains, Bruises, Cuts, Burns, Chapped Hands, Eczema, Blood Poisoning, Whitlows, Sea Water Boils, Abscesses, Piles, Rheumatism, Sciatica, Lumbago, Pains in the Back and Loins, and all Sores and Ulcers of every description. ”

“ Treatment.—Mild cases are best treated by using an ointment containing resorcin two drachms, salicylic acid ten grains, and vaseline and lanoline, of each four drachms. The parts may be painted with iodine but this is somewhat irritating. An ointment of ammoniated mercury, two to five per cent., is often effective. Bad cases require the application of araroba (chrysarobin) ointment, but it should not be used unless recommended by a doctor. Goulard water or Wright’s liquor carbonis detergens (one tablespoonful to two pints of water) are soothing applications. ”

“ If it is slight, the treatment is equal with the former; but if it has penetrated deeper, it follows, that the inflammation is greater, and consequently the treatment requires more care.
120If the sore so burned is deep, and thence an eschar in the parts, digestive medicines should be applied. It will not be amiss to put a little Mercurial ointment (P) in the poultice. If the inflammation is very great, Bleeding, and other methods requisite to prevent a fever, should be observed. In general, the ointment No. III. will ever be found Efficacious. ”

“ Cancer Ointment.—White arsenic, sulphur, powdered flowers of lesser spearwort, and stinking chamomile, levigated together and formed into a paste with white of egg.
Elder Flower Ointment.—Lard, twenty-five pounds; prepared mutton suet, five pounds; melt in an earthen vessel; add elder flower water, three gallons. Agitate for half an hour, and set it aside; the next day gently pour off the water, remelt the ointment, add benzoic acid three drachms; otto of roses, twenty drops; essence of bergamot and oil of rosemary, of each, thirty drops ”

“ Aëtius commends a combination of turpentine and honey.
Avicenna and Haly Abbas recommend the same applications as our author. They make no mention of arsenic. Alsaharavius gives very particular directions for treating these ulcers; when the edges are hard, he directs us to rub them until they become red, or to cut them off and apply to the sore the green ointment; and when the ulcer is covered with much sordes, he recommends us to dress it with the Egyptian ointment. Rhases mentions antimony as an excellent application for cleansing foul ulcers. ”

“ Where the patient is older, the strength may be increased by enlarging the quantities of the drugs ordered, or by giving one and a half or two powders for one dose. The ointment is to be well washed off every morning with soap-and-water, and the part bathed with the lotion before re-applying the ointment. An imperative fact must be remembered by mother or nurse,—never to use the same comb employed for the child with ringworm, for the healthy children, or let the affected little one sleep with those free from the disease ”

“ Nervine is also good for a puke; with, or without boneset, it is an excellent remedy for a fever, in the first stages.
Nerve Ointment.—Take of bitter sweet bark two parts, of wormwood and camomile equal parts; moisten with warm water, and add some animal oil; simmer over a slow fire ten hours; then strain and add 1 oz. spirits turpentine to each pound of ointment; to be used for bruises, sprains, callouses, corns or swellings. ”

“ Œnomeli, a mixture of wine and honey.
Œsypus, the name given by Dioscorides to wool fat.
Ointments among the Greeks and Romans were generally liquids. Anything used to anoint with, not being oil simply, was an ointment (miron in Greek, unguentum in Latin) . From the Greek word was derived Myrepsus, which meant an ointment maker.
Opiates were originally electuaries containing opium or some other narcotic. Gradually, however, the word [297] lost its significance and was used to indicate any medicinal substance of the same character. It is sometimes used for tooth pastes. ”

“ It requires more Resolution, however, than every Patient is endued with. The Wound should be washed and cleansed a considerable Time with warm Water, with a little Sea-Salt dissolved in it. After this into the Lips and Edges of the Wound, and into the Surface of the Part all about it, should be rubbed a Quarter of an Ounce of the Ointment No. 28; and the Wound should be dressed twice daily, with the soft lenient Ointment No. 29, to promote Suppuration; but that of No. 28 is to be used only once a Day. ”

“ Spermaceti Ointment.—This consists of a quarter of an ounce of white wax, three-quarters of an ounce of spermaceti, and three ounces of olive oil, melted as before. This is the common dressing for a blister.
447. Elder-flower Ointment.—This is the mildest, blandest, and most cooling ointment which can be used; and it is very suitable for anointing the face or neck when sun-burnt. It is made of fresh elder-flowers, stripped from the stalks, two pounds of which are simmered in an equal quantity of hog's-lard till [114] they become crisp ”

“ Upon the whole, the best method in the average case is to curette thoroughly, and supplement with momentary cauterization, with caustic potash, or with several days' use of the pyrogallic acid ointment. During the healing process, short exposures to the Röntgen ray—about every three to five days—is good practice.
The degenerative changes in the beginning of scurfy, seborrhœic spots or patches seen in old people can frequently be lessened or wholly stopped by the daily application of an ointment containing 5 to 10 per cent. of sulphur and 2 to 5 per cent. ”

“ The Ointment is to be stirr'd about with a Wooden Pestle; and when it begins to grow thick, you may add the Turpentine, the Galbanum purify'd and thicken'd, and the Gum Hederæ beaten to fine Powder, all which Ingredients were before incorporated together. Then the Ointment is to be continually stirr'd, till it be altogether grown cold. ”

“ Many are vaunted as such, but our experience is that good preparations are exceptional, and those furnished, instead of acting as expected, often give rise to irritation or marked aggravation. For the acute and subacute stages of the disease the ordinary cold-cream ointment may be in some cases advantageously prescribed. An ointment of equal parts of diachylon plaster and one of the petroleum ointments, as vaseline, constitutes an elegant preparation, useful when a mild, soothing application is called for. ”

“ BLUE OINTMENT Take the ointment of rosin, 4 ozs; finely ground verdigris, 1/2 oz; turpentine, 2 oz; mutton tallow, 2 lbs; oil of origanum, 1/2 oz; tincture of iodine, 1/2 oz. Mix all together. This is one of the best medicines that can be made for scratches, hoof-evil, and cuts, and is good to apply on fistula after the rowels have been taken out. It is as good for human as horse flesh. ”

“ In that way some scales remain and there is not so much inflammation and swelling resulting. The stain can be removed with a weak solution of chlorinated lime.
3. Tar Remedy.—Tar is also a good remedy in ointment forms. The skin should be closely watched to find out how sensitive it is to the tar's action, not only in this but in all skin diseases. Drugs should be changed occasionally, for they lose their efficiency.
4. Tar and Sulphur Remedy for.—Never use tar on the face, it stains.
Ointment of Tar 1 ounce
Ointment of Sulphur 1 ounce
Mix thoroughly and apply at night. ”

“ Within recent years there have been introduced a number of compound ointments that in their supposed range of therapeutic usefulness are scarcely equaled and certainly not excelled by the magic unguents of the quacks and charlatans of continental Europe, who, several centuries ago, essayed to cure all manner of disease by inunction or the simple application of compound ointments of secret composition. ”

“ In the second half of the eighteenth century the patents for compounded medicines become more numerous, but they are generally of no present interest. The names of a very few have come down to our day. Ann Pike’s itch ointment (patented 1760) may be noticed. To prepare this, pomatum and calomel were first mixed and allowed to stand several days; another ointment was made with hogs’ lard and Jesuit’s bark, and this was likewise set aside for a few days. These two ointments were then blended together, mercury added to them, and the mass stirred daily for some time. ”

“ An ointment consisting of half a dram of precipitated sulphur with half an ounce each of powdered starch and vaseline applied each night, and [Pg 147] hot water used on the face three times daily are also efficacious. Sulphur lotion is better than sulphur ointment.
COLD SORE; FEVER BLISTER.—Cold sores occur usually about the lips or at the angles of the mouth, although they may appear anywhere on the face. ”

“ Only so far as the name of God comes into the world is this ointment poured forth. In the Gospel, a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment poured it upon the head of Christ. One who was a sinner poured it upon his feet, and one who was not a sinner poured it upon his head. These are not narratives merely, but mysteries. It is not wonderful that the house was filled with the odour of the ointment, since the world will be. ”

“ Bathe the eyes frequently with it. Sties in the eyes are irritating and disfiguring. Foment with warm water; at night apply a bread and milk poultice. When a white head forms, prick it with a fine needle. Should the inflammation be obstinate, a little citerine ointment may be applied, care being taken that it does not get into the eye, and an aperient should be tried.
To Improve the Eyelashes.—Many people speak highly of this secret. Trim the tiny points slightly, and anoint with this salve: Two drams of ointment of nitric oxida of mercury, and one dram of lard. ”