Opera omnia medico-chymica

in which 1 dram approx. 3.9 grams of camphor and half a scruple approx. 0.65 grams has been dissolved. One or two drops of this compound, placed in a large cavity of a tooth (especially one that was treated with musk) or applied otherwise to the aching area, takes away all pain.

An external remedy is desired laudanum a tincture of opium in the form of pills smeared or pressed into the teeth, or applied externally on the cheeks dissolved with alabaster ointment (1 grain of laudanum to 1 dram of ointment). Also with a plaster of mastic and wax.

(A sudden remedy is crushed smartweed original: "persicaria" applied to the aching tooth or formed into a pill and placed in the tooth's cavity.)

CORRODED TEETH

For corroded teeth, a suffumigation medicinal smoke made from henbane original: "Hyoscyami" seeds delivered through a tube or funnel to the aching tooth helps.

CARIOUS TEETH

Decayed teeth are removed more quickly if they are gripped for some time with two fingers that have been moistened and dipped in a powder made from aquatic lizards that have been disemboweled and calcined burnt to white powder in an oven. The lizards are collected in April and May.

Likewise, a tooth pulled from the jaw of a dead man, if it frequently touches the decayed tooth with its root, eventually causes the tooth to fall out in pieces after several days.

DIFFICULT TEETHING

In the difficult eruption of teeth in children, let the jaws be frequently anointed with fresh butter, and they come forth more easily.

But if they seem to emerge in this way and necessity urges, take fresh blood from the comb of a rooster and anoint the gums with a finger only once or at most twice; they will finally emerge without difficulty or other complications.

EPULIS

For an epulis a tumor on the gum, the best treatment is cutting with forceps, followed by a gargle of myrrh and salt. Consult the dogmatic traditional physicians.

LOOSENESS, ROT, AND EROSION

Columbine original: "Aquilegia" seems to heal looseness, rot, and erosion of the gums by a certain property. A compound can be made from it thus:

2. Take powder of columbine leaves, sage, curly mint, and nutmeg, half a dram each; one dram of burnt alum; and three ounces of the purest honey.

Let the honey be heated over a fire and skimmed by gentle boiling. Then let the aforementioned powders be mixed in by sprinkling them gradually into the still-warm honey and kept for use. Let the gums be smeared with this ointment twice daily. (Note: A decoction of raspberry original: "rubi idaei" tips also works here.) If food is to be taken, let the mouth be rinsed with self-heal original: "prunella" water or an infusion of watercress in wine (especially in scurvy).

CLEANING PUTRID GUMS

For the cleaning of rotting gums, my second compound "green water" is most effective, about which see above under "Ailments of the Nose" and ozaena foul-smelling nasal ulcers.

GUM BOILS

For a gum boil original: "parulis" without inflammation, a gargle prepared from self-heal, sage leaves, and watercress is highly recommended.

If inflammation occurs, let a gargle be made from tobacco water distilled with salt of prunella purified saltpeter dissolved in it (or simply self-heal water).

Apply externally the pith of wheat bread boiled with milk (German: doch mich gar zerkocht thoroughly boiled to mush).

DISTILLATION TO THE JAW JOINT

In a "distillation" a dripping of fluid or rheum to the jaw joint, especially where immobility occurs, a small bag sewn with powder of tartar and common salt and applied externally (heated first at the stove) while hot, prevents the distillations. The immobility itself is removed with oil of rue or earthworms in which chamomile flowers have been boiled. Or if you prefer, add oil of chamomile to the previous oils and let the affected place be anointed while warm.

APHTHAE

For aphthae canker sores or mouth thrush, first use a decoction of savory in wine, with which the mouth should be rinsed frequently.

2. A decoction of speedwell original: "Veronica" is excellent, especially if a bit of honey of roses is added.

(Aphthae are most common in infants, for whom stronger and sharp medicines cannot be aptly used. Therefore, no medicine is more pleasant and successful than the juice of yellow carrots (German: den Saft von gelben mohren): both pressed out and thickened to the consistency of a syrup, with which the sores should be frequently smeared. I can recommend this from my own experience, see Practical Chemistry.)

Note: For stubborn aphthae, add a bit of spirit of vitriol sulfuric acid to these decoctions and they will not endure.

(Also water in which alum is dissolved.)

In aphthae from the Venereal Plague syphilis, the "green waters" described above under "Ozaena" resolve every difficulty, especially if peach-leaf water original: "Aqua persicariae" is taken in place of simple water, or if peach leaves are added to the second "oil of salt."

(For aphthae and any mouth ulcers, take Woad original: "Isatis" already finished, called gemahlen vveid by the Germans ground woad, as much as you like. Soak it in hot water and afterwards use that water to close the mouth; it heals by wiping it away immediately or shortly after. Hartmann in his manuscripts.)

THE CURE OF TOOTH PAINS

Tooth pain, because it usually comes from "defluxions" downward flows of fluid from the head, must therefore be treated immediately by things that inhibit the flow. Hence, a plaster of gum elemi or mastic should be applied to the temples immediately, which should be well heated before application.

Between the shoulder blades, let a large cupping glass original: "cucurbita" be applied without scarring.

From there, one must immediately resort to things that repel the matter and evacuate the flow, such as ripe galls boiled in vinegar, so that the vinegar is held hot in the mouth over the aching tooth for half or a full hour.

Then proceed to topical anodynes painkillers that remove pain by their hidden property.

But if the pain is continuous and does not yield to these, but arises from some imbalance of the head or the whole body, or matter flowing to the head and then to the teeth, the head must be provided for with evacuants, alteratives, and strengthening medicines, as well as the whole body.

The following topical remedies, by which alone pain is often removed, are excellent.

Desired laudanum, of which 3 grains with 2 drops of spirit of vitriol are applied to the aching tooth, while 1 pill is taken internally: the pain is lulled. Also apply a plaster to the temples and, if needed, cupping glasses.

Oil distilled from boxwood original: "buxo" has a clearly similar effect. Oil of Boxwood: Take as much shaved boxwood as desired and fill 3 parts of a glass retort. Place the retort in ashes and distill the oil and watery liquor, first with a slow fire, then stronger, and finally at the highest heat; the oil will distill. This same oil is better distilled by descent distilling downwards or through a bladder. Take 3 grains of this oil (from boxwood) with wine if the ailment comes from a cold flow, or with vinegar if from a hot one. Mix. Let the patient hold the mixture in the mouth and spit it out after some time. If the pain does not cease, repeat up to six times; finally, rinse the mouth with wine or vinegar, and the spasm is calmed.

Also, powder of galls soaked ten or twelve times in the juice of pellitory root original: "pyrethri" and dried with leaven. Mix and make a small ball which, when placed on the aching tooth, heals the pain, makes the teeth firmer, kills the little worms in their cavities, and draws out all flows that have fallen to the gums.

Finally, the last refuge in every sharpest pain is to apply a blistering agent behind the ears and on the neck.

Externally, the jaws can be anointed with oil of sweet almonds,

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and if there is a tumor, apply a melilot plaster. If the pain tends toward an abscess inside the mouth, make a cataplasm poultice of roasted fig with wheat flour. If it opens, dissolve honey of roses in plantain water and rinse the mouth with it.

AILMENTS OF THE TONGUE AND THROAT

RANULA

In a Ranula a cyst under the tongue, especially at the beginning, let the vein under the tongue be opened. Some apply a live frog to the nape of the neck, but the effect does not always follow.

PARALYSIS OF THE TONGUE

Paralysis of the tongue, after general treatment, is cured by rubbing the tongue with rocket original: "Erucae" seed and theriac a complex herbal jam. Also, oil of anise dripped onto the tip of the tongue. Also, balsam or oil of cloves. The spirit of black cherries restores lost speech to a miraculous degree.

APHONIA

Loss of voice original: "Aphonia" is generally treated like paralysis. Specifically, after a general purging of the head, the following are praised: 1. Lily of the valley water. 2. Anti-apoplectic water made from lily of the valley flowers and lavender (see above under Apoplexy). If turtle blood was mixed into either (mix the whole turtle blood in 2 or 3 ounces of water) and finally brought into use, namely by rinsing the tongue with the water or holding it in the mouth for a long time, the restoration of the voice will succeed more happily.

Where, however, the causes must always be considered, for according to their variety, the heaps of medicines also vary.

After the general treatments, local remedies should be directed to the affected place and also to the vertebrae of the neck and the nape. These should be sought from practical physicians.

STAMMERING

Stammering is removed with difficulty.

DEPRAVED, LOST, AND DIMINISHED TASTE

A bitter depraved taste is corrected by the use of candied chicory root; likewise, salt of chicory removes the bitterness of the tongue. Also, scraping the tongue itself with zedoary root or gentian.

If lost or diminished: 1. Prick the veins under the tongue. 2. Use a gargle, which is excellent in common mouth ailments and angina inflammation of the throat or quinsy.

Take one handful of garden mallow herb, red rose flowers, self-heal, speedwell, 2 scruples of salt each, and one dram of oak polypody root.

Boil in 4 ounces of pure water and 6 ounces of wine vinegar until reduced by the width of a thumb; then strain and lightly squeeze.

3. Make such a mixture: take half a dram of spirit of vitriol, 2 drams of spirit of wine alcohol, 1 ounce of honey. Mix like a liniment. After using the gargle, smear the tongue with this liniment, and it restores diminished taste shortly after.

TUMOR OF THE TONSILS

In a tumor of the tonsils from a cold cause, let there at least be external anointings with oil of sweet almonds, in which some distilled oil of wax has been mixed (for example, 1 dram of oil of wax to 1 ounce). Meanwhile, let gargles be made with long pepper boiled in common water.

INFLAMMATION OF THE TONSILS

In inflammation of the tonsils: 1. The aforementioned gargle (under lost taste) is effective.

Externally, anoint with simple oil of sweet almonds (without the addition of oil of wax). Also, a poultice of wheat breadcrumbs with honey quickly stops inflammations.

More powerful than all these is menstruum a solvent or medicinal liquid dissolved in vinegar and applied. Also, wild radish leaves applied externally.

ABSCESS OF THE TONSILS

In an abscess or rot and ulcerations of the tonsils, the gargle handed down above for depraved and lost taste has great power. It cleanses and heals, especially if plantain leaves are added. Thus its use is very beneficial in internal ulcers.

But for filthy sores, one must resort to stronger cleansers, such as the "second green water" mentioned above under Ozaena.

Afterwards, a decoction of speedwell with honey easily heals the same ulcers.

LAXITY OF THE UVULA

For a loose uvula, the compound gargle mentioned above (for lost and depraved taste) is best, especially if uvula-wort original: "Uvularia" is added (because of its signature the Doctrine of Signatures, where plants heal the body parts they resemble). Then take a powder of 1 scruple of long pepper, 2 scruples each of acacia juice and tormentil root. Mix to make a powder. Blow some of this powder onto the uvula after using the gargle (see the instrument in Fabricius Hildanus). Or pull the hair at the crown of the head upwards strongly little by little until it makes a sound; afterwards, sprinkle a little burnt alum over the uvula, and the laxity will subside. Rose seeds provide the same.

But if all these do little, take a fresh egg boiled hard, cut it in half lengthwise, and place it on the crown of the head with a bandage (very hot) for several hours until the laxity is removed.

INFLAMMATION OF THE UVULA

Any gargle takes away inflammation of the uvula provided it contains some fixed saltpeter. Thus, distilled self-heal water mixed with salt of prunella and used as a gargle takes away inflammation.

Note: The compound gargle described above for lost and depraved taste works wonderfully here.

ULCERS OF THE COLUMELLA

Simple ulcers of the columella the uvula (without malignancy) are easily cured, just like those of the tongue, the whole palate, and the throat.

Thus, a decoction of speedwell and honey with simple water, or a decoction of savory with wine, after proper gargling, perfectly cures such ulcers. (Note: let the drink not be very sharp, but tempered with sugar, which also consumes the descending rot.)

Sometimes for stubborn cases, one must resort to spirit of vitriol, which is added to such cleansing waters or decoctions so that it is barely felt (never use it by itself); it cures more quickly and powerfully, especially if mixed in plantain water.

Finally, the use of syrup of mulberries original: "diamori", or rather the pressed juice or salt of mulberries, is very helpful for these cures (it has a property for the mouth, which is why it is called Maulbeer mulberry by the Germans).

FOUL AND PUTRID ULCERS

In foul and putrid ulcers, besides what has been said, resort to the "green waters" prescribed above under Ozaena, which thoroughly remove all rot and foul ulceration so that a clean healing can follow more easily.

Let the lifestyle be convenient so the ulcers do not break out again.

VENEREAL ULCERS

In ulcers from the Venereal Plague syphilis in any part of the mouth and throat: 1. The disease must be recognized (see the signs below under Venereal Plague or the French Disease). 2. Turn to the general and particular treatments for that disease. In this way, the ulcers in those places will easily begin to pass away along with the disease. If not, turn to topicals, first the milder gargles and common decoctions.

If the evil cannot be restrained here, then the "green waters" described above under Ozaena are to be summoned...