|
Ague Drop |
A solution of arsenate of potash;
Fowler's tasteless ague-drop, for which the Liquor arsenicalis
is substituted. It is used as a remedy in intermittent fevers.
[Thomas1875] |
|
Alienist |
A physician who devotes himself specially
to insanity. [Tuke1892] |
|
Bedlam |
A lunatic asylum, a corruption of
Bethlehem. The name of a religious house in London converted
into a hospital for lunatics. [Tuke1892] |
|
Blister |
Any substance which, when applied to the
skin, irritates it, and occasions a serous secretion, raising
the epidermis, and inducing a vesicle. Blisters are used as
counter-irritants. By exciting a disease artificially on the
surface, we can often remove another which may be at the time
existing internally. [Dunglison1868] |
|
Bloodletting |
A term embracing every artificial
discharge of blood for the cure or prevention of disease. It is
general, as in venesection and arteriotomy, or topical, as in
the application of leeches, cupping glasses, or by
scarification. [Thomas1875] |
|
Cucurbitula |
A cupping glass. [Thomas1875] |
|
Cupping |
Application of cucurbitula, or cupping
glasses. [Thomas1875] |
|
Flummery |
A preparation of oatmeal, which forms a
light article of food during convalescence. [Dunglison1868]. |
|
Flying Blisters |
A mode of treatment employed by the
continental practitioners for the purpose of insuring a more
diffusive counter-irritation. According to this plan, the
blister remains only till it produces a rubefacient effect; a
second blister is then applied to some other part, and so on in
succession. [Thomas1875] |
|
Goitre Sticks |
In South America the stems of a seaweed
are so called, because they are chewed by inhabitants where
goitre prevails.-Royale [Dunglison1855] |
|
Ladrerie
|
A vulgar name for elephantiasis, or lepra.
Also. a hospital for the reception of the leprous. Leper
Hospital. [Dunglison1855]
|
|
Laparotomy
|
Surgical incision
into the abdominal wall; often done to examine abdominal organs.
[Wordnet]
|
|
Lazaretto |
A hospital for persons afflicted with
contagious disease. A building set apart for the performance of
quarantine. [Thomas1875] |
|
Nimgimmer |
A physician or surgeon, particularly those
who cure the enviable disease. [Grose1823] |
|
Nostrum |
Literally, our own; a term applied to a
quack medicine, and indicative of exclusiveness. [Hoblyn1855]
A quack medicine; private remedy. [Cleaveland1886] |
|
Panacea |
A pretended remedy for every disease.
[Thomas1875] |
|
Panada |
Bread, boiled in water to the consistency
of pap; sometimes administered to the sick. [Dunglison1868] |
|
Perkinism |
A mode of treatment introduced by Perkins,
of America, and consisting in the application to diseased parts
of the extremities of two needles made of different metals,
called by him metallic tractors. [Hoblyn1855] |
|
Pest House
|
A hospital for patients affected with plague or other infectious
disease. [Heritage]
|
|
Piss Prophet |
A physician who judges of the diseases of
his patients solely by the inspection of their urine.
[Grose1823] |
|
Placebo |
Applied to a medicine given rather to
please than benefit the patient. [Thomas1875]
I please; a medicine to amuse rather than
benefit. [Cleaveland1886] |
|
Plugging |
The introduction of lint, or other
substance, to stop hemorrhage. [Cleaveland1886]. |
|
Quackery |
"Mean or bad acts in phsic," comprehending
not only the absurd impostures of ignorant pretenders, but also
unbecoming acts of professional men themselves. [Thomas1875] |
|
Quarantine |
The period during which vessels from
infested or suspected ports are debarred from entering into a
healthy one, and from landing their goods, crew, or passengers,
unless to be confined in a lazaretto. [From the Italian quaranta,
"forty;" because it usually lasted forty days.] [Thomas1875] |
|
Repellent |
Applications are sometimes so named which
make diseases recede, as it were, from the surface of the body.
[Hooper1843]. |
|
Royal Stitch |
The name of an old operation for the cure
of bubonocele. I t consisted in putting a ligature under the
neck of the hernial sac, close to the abdominal ring, and then
tying that part of the sac so as to render it impervious by the
adhesive inflammation thus excited. [Thomas1875] |
|
Scurvygrass |
Cochlearia Officinalis, a cress used as a
salad and as a remedy for scurvy. [Stedman 1918]. |
|
Shucks |
A strong tea of corn-shucks, used as a
remedy for chronic malaria in the southern United States.
[Gould1916] |
|
Squill |
The dried sliced bulb of the white-bulbed
form of the squill ( Urginea maritima ) of the Mediterranean
region or the dried sliced bulb of a related Asian plant ( U.
indica ) that contains one or more physically active cardiac
glycosides and was formerly used as an expectorant, cardiac
stimulant, and diuretic. [Merriam Webster].
The dried inner scales of the bulbs of any
of these plants, used as rat poison and formerly as a cardiac
stimulant, expectorant, and diuretic. [American Heritage].
Example from a 1926 death certificate
from New Brunswick, Canada: "Indefinite - Said to have had a
cold then given a dose of squills."
 |
|
Tincture |
A solution of any medicinal substance in
alcohol, or diluted alcohol, prepared by maceration, digestion,
or percolation. A solution in spirit of ammonia is termed an
ammoniated tincture, and a solution in ethereal spirit, an
ethereal tincture. [Thomas1875] |
|
Vaccinia |
Cowpox; also called Variola vaccina. A
disease originating in the cow, with which, if the human body be
inoculated, it is preserved from the contagion of smallpox.
[Thomas1875] |
|
Venesection |
The minor operation of opening a vein with
a lancet, otherwise called phlebotomy; a bleeding or blood
letting. [Thomas1875] |
|
Zwangsjacks |
Straight-Jacket. [Tuke1892] |
