448. _Calamine Ointment, or Turner's Cerate._--This consists of half a pound of yellow wax and a pint of olive oil, which are to be melted together; this being done, half a pound of calamine powder is to be sifted in, and stirred till the whole be completely mixed.
449. _Sulphur Ointment._--This is made by rubbing well together three ounces of flowers of sulphur and half a pound of hog's lard. This ointment, if properly applied, is a certain cure for that nastiest of all nasty, and most easily-caught disease, the itch, which, although generally found among poor people, occasionally steals into the houses of the wealthy. The proper mode of managing it is, for the infected to rub himself well all over with the ointment, night and morning, for three days, during which time he must wear, without change, some old body-linen, stockings, and gloves, and lie in a pair of old sheets or blankets. Washing in the least degree is to be carefully avoided as the plague, for it will protract the cure. On the fourth day let him go into a warm bath, wash himself clean, and he will then be found quite well. Everything which had been worn during the cure should be burnt, sheets and all; but the blankets may be scoured.
450. The beneficial influence obtained from all such local applications depends upon the change of temperature they are capable of producing. Their results will vary with constitutions. Most patients, who suffer from chronic disease, point to a particular spot as the locality where they are most incommoded with "cold chills." This is the point for the application of the galbanum or other "warm plaster." A plaster of this kind to the loins has enabled me to cure a host of diseases that had previously resisted every other mode of treatment. The same application to the chest, when the patient complained of chilliness in that particular part, has materially aided me in the treatment of many cases of phthisis. In both instances, where _heat_ was the more general complaint, cold sponging has been allowed by an equally beneficial effect.
The ingredients of plasters, blisters, ointments, lotions, &c., what are they but combinations of the agents with which we combat fever? Their beneficial influence depends upon the change of motion and temperature which they produce by their electrical or chemical action on the nerves of the part to which they are directed. Cantharides will not blister the dead--they have very little effect even on a dying man!--_Dr. Dickson's Lectures._