Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 193

=DYSMENNORH'A.= See MENSTRUATION.

=DYSPEP'SIA.= [L.] _Syn._ DYSPEP'SY, INDIGESTION. This complaint pervades every rank of society, and is, perhaps, of all others, the most general.

Few indeed are there who wholly escape it, in one or other of its forms.

The common symptoms of dyspepsia are--want of appet.i.te, sudden and transient distensions of the stomach, frequent eructations, heartburn, stomachic pains, occasional vomiting, and, frequently, costiveness or diarrha. Sometimes the head is affected, and dimness of sight, double vision, muscae volitantes, and slight vertigo, are experienced, along with a mult.i.tude of other symptoms, depending on a derangement of the functions of the nervous system.

The causes of dyspepsia are numerous. In the higher ranks of society it is a common consequence of over-indulgence in the luxuries of the table, of late hours, or of the want of proper exercise, both of body and mind. In the studious, and those who lead a sedentary life, it is usually caused by excessive mental exertion or anxiety, or by the fatigues of business, and the want of sufficient bodily exertion and of pure air. In the lower orders of society it generally results from inebriety, or a deficiency of proper food and clothing, bad ventilation, &c.; and is not unfrequently occasioned by the physical powers being over-taxed, especially soon after meals.

The treatment of dyspepsia depends less on medicine than on the adoption of regular habits of life. Moderation in eating, drinking, and the indulgence of the pa.s.sions; early rising, due exercise, and retiring to rest at an early hour, will do much to restore the tone both of the stomach and nerves. Excessive study and mental exertion should be avoided, and recourse should frequently be had to society and amus.e.m.e.nts of a lively and interesting character. If the bowels are confined, mild aperients should be taken, and if diarrha is present, antacids and absorbents may be had recourse to with advantage. The stomach may be strengthened by the use of mild bitters, tonics, and stimulants, and sea bathing, or the shower or tepid bath, may be taken, when convenient, to strengthen the nervous system. When dyspepsia is a secondary or symptomatic disease, the cause should be sought out, and the treatment varied accordingly. Among the aperient medicines most suitable to dyspepsia may be mentioned--Epsom salts, phosphate of soda, and Seidlitz powders, each of which should be taken largely diluted with water. An occasional dose of the '_Abernethy Medicines_' (which _see_) has also been recommended. Among antacids, are the bicarbonates and carbonates of pota.s.sa and soda, either of which may be taken in doses of half a teaspoonful dissolved in water; or, if the spirits are depressed, one or two teaspoonfuls of spirit of sal volatile will be more appropriate; and in cases accompanied by diarrha, a little prepared chalk. As bitters, the compound infusion of orange peel, or of gentian, are excellent. As tonics, small doses of bark, or of sulphate of quinine, to which chalybeates may be added, if there is pallor of countenance, or a low pulse, with no disposition to fever or headache.

When dyspepsia is complicated with hysteria, hypochondriasis, or chlorosis, the treatment noticed under those heads may be conjoined to that above recommended. When it depends on constipation, or a deficiency of bile, the mildest and most effective of all remedies will be found supplied in insp.i.s.sated ox-gall. "In all cases of incipient constipation, ox-gall is a remedy of undoubted efficacy; and even in protracted cases, when hope has almost fled--but where evidences of strangulation are not unequivocally manifested--it should never be omitted by the pract.i.tioner.

In habitual or chronic constipation, accompanied by indigestion, clay-coloured stools, and a feeling of oppression after food has been taken, it acts with almost specific certainty. When, however, the liver begins to a.s.sume its healthy action, its employment should be discontinued, and it will then produce all the symptoms of regurgitation of bile into the stomach. This state will be readily recognised as a favorable omen of returning power." (Dr Allnatt.)

=DYSPN'A.= Difficulty of breathing. It is generally symptomatic of some other affections. When it occurs in persons of a nervous or irritable habit of body, perfect quiet, a semi-rec.u.mbent posture, fresh air, and some small doses of ether, ammonia, or opium, will generally effect a cure. Those of a full habit require aperients and depletion. To prevent attacks of the kind, excess in eating and drinking, and the use of stimulants, should be avoided.

=DYSU"RIA.= [L.] _Syn._ DYS'URY. Difficult urination. It is generally symptomatic of disease of the kidneys, bladder, or urethra. The treatment depends on the exciting cause.

=EAR (Inflamma'tion of).= _Syn._ Ot.i.tIS, L. This affection, when it attacks the internal part of the ear, is generally accompanied with confusion of sound, deafness, and more or less fever. It is most frequent among children, and is commonly produced by exposure to draughts of cold air, and, occasionally, by foreign matters, as cherry-stones, insects, &c., having got into the external ear. In such cases, the removal of the offensive matter, and due attention to warmth and cleanliness, with a dose of laxative medicine, will be all the treatment required. The pain may generally be relieved by throwing warm water into the ear by means of a syringe, and fomenting the surrounding parts with decoction of poppy-heads and chamomile flowers. Should this treatment not succeed, a drop or two of laudanum, with one drop of oil of cloves and a little oil of almonds, may be dropped in the ear, and a piece of cotton wool introduced afterwards.

Cases of acute inflammation of the internal ear are occasionally met with in adults, which a.s.sume a very serious character, and demand the most careful treatment. See DEAFNESS.

=Earache.= Pain in the ear may arise from various causes, amongst which, in the absence of organic disease, cold, and that peculiar derangement of health popularly called 'nervousness,' are the most common. In the one case, the proper remedy is warmth; in the other, the attention should be directed to the restoration of the body to the healthy standard.

=Earache, Simple Cure for.= Take a common, tobacco-pipe, place a wad of cotton in the bowl, drop upon it 8 or 10 drops of chloroform, and cover with another wad of cotton; place the stem to the affected ear, then blow into the bowl, and in many cases the pain will cease almost immediately.--_Amer. Journ._

=EARTHS.= In _chemistry_, a group of metallic oxides. The princ.i.p.al earths are baryta strontia, lime, magnesia, alumina, berylla or glucina, yttria, zirconia, and thoria. The first four are termed ALKALINE EARTHS; the remainder, together with the oxides of the very rare metals erbium, terbium, norium, cerium, lanthanum, and didymium, const.i.tute the EARTHS PROPER.

The term _earth_ was very loosely applied by the older chemical and pharmaceutical writers, and the practice is still common among the vulgar at the present day. Thus, ABSORBENT EARTH (chalk); ALUMINOUS E., ARGILLACEOUS E. (alumina); BOLAR E. (bole); BONE-E. (phosphate of lime); FULLER'S E. (an absorbent clay); HEAVY E. (baryta); j.a.pAN E., or TERRA j.a.pONICA (catechu); SEALED E. (bole), &c., are names even now frequently encountered both in trade and in books.

=EARTHEN-WARE AND GLa.s.s, to prevent the Cracking of.= When quite new, all vessels of gla.s.s and earthenware should be laid to soak in cold water, and after some hours, this water, covering the vessels, should be gradually heated to the boiling point. It is a good plan to place a little hay on the top of the water.

Gla.s.s and earthenware vessels thus treated are far less liable to crack when subjected to the heat of boiling water than it would otherwise be.

=EARTH-NUT.= See ARACHIS HYPOGA.

=EAU.= (Fr.) Water. This word, like its English synonym, is applied to numerous substances, differing in their composition, sensible properties, and uses, of which the following are a few useful examples:--EAU DOUCE, fresh or river water; EAU DE MER, sea or salt water; EAU DE FONTAINE, EAU DE SOURCE, spring water; EAU DE PUITS, well or pump water; EAU DE RIVIeRE, river water; EAU DISTILLeE, distilled water; EAU DE ROSE, rose water; EAU DE VIE, brandy; EAU DE COLOGNE, Cologne water; EAU D'HONGRIE, Hungary water; EAU BeNITE, holy water; EAU FORTE, aquafortis; EAU DE SAVON, soapsuds; EAU DE SENTEUR, scented water, &c.

=Eau Athenienne.= (Hte. Bourgeois, Paris.) Pour nettoyer la tete et enlever les pellicules--for cleaning the head and removing scurf. An alcoholic solution of potash-soap, with some solution of potash and aromatic oil. (Dr P. Goppelsroder.)

=Eau Berger for Dyeing the Hair.= Two fluids for consecutive application.

No. 1 is a solution of 13 grammes sulphate of copper, 25 grammes nitrate of nickel, 30 grammes distilled water, 4 grammes ammonia. No. 2 is a solution of calcium sulphide, made by pa.s.sing sulphuretted hydrogen into milk of lime until it ceases to be absorbed, and then filtering from the excess of lime. (W. Engelhardt.)

=Eau Capillaire Progressive, pour retablir la coleur naturelle des cheveux et de la barbe. Formule rationelle, succes garanti.= Progressive hair-wash for restoring the natural colour of the hair and beard. Formula rational, success guaranteed (Dr R. Brimmeyer, chimie-pharmacien, Echternach, Luxembourg). (Schadler.)

=Eau d'Afrique, for dyeing the Hair Black.= Three fluids to be consecutively applied. No. 1 is a solution of 3 parts nitrate of silver in 100 parts water. No. 2 is a solution of 8 parts sodium sulphide in 100 parts water. No. 3 is a solution of nitrate of silver like No. 1, but perfumed. (Reveil.)

=Eau d'Atirona.= An elegant fluid cosmetic soap, by the use of which all imperfections of the skin will be easily and painlessly removed. It consists of 25 grammes of a spirituous tincture of cinnamon and cloves, 4 grammes soda soap, and a drop of peppermint oil. (Wittstein.)

=Eau de Bahama.= A black dye for the hair. It is a solution of sugar of lead perfumed with oil of anise, and containing flowers of sulphur in suspension. (Reveil.)

=Eau de Beaute, Eau de Paris sans pareille, or Eau de Princesses= (August Renard, Paris); with a German t.i.tle, "Rhumhehst bekanntes cosmetisches Wa.s.ser genannt Prinzessen-Wa.s.ser." The well-known and renowned cosmetic called Princesses' Water.' To experience the brilliant effects of this marvellous fluid we need only, after washing, habitually pa.s.s a small sponge moistened with the fluid gently over the skin, and allow it to dry without rubbing. By so doing our complexion will remain white, smooth, clear, and soft, even to extreme old age. Those, however, who are troubled with freckles, heat-spots, or any other eruption should use the water several times a day as directed. They need suffer no longer from any defect of the skin. Princesses' Water when shaken is a milk-white fluid contained in an oval bottle with a long neck, which holds 125 grammes. On standing it deposits a white precipitate. It is made from 25 grammes calomel, 45 grammes corrosive sublimate (so altered by the added perfume that the usual tests do not reveal it), and 122 grammes orange-flower water.

=Eau de Botot.= A mouth wash. Tincture of cedar wood, 500 grammes; tincture of myrrh and tincture of rhatany, of each 125 grammes; peppermint oil, 5 drops. (Winkler.)

=Eau de Capille= (Kamprath & Schwartze). A hair dye. A mixture of 16 grammes glycerine, 8 grammes hyposulphite of soda, 1 gramme sugar of lead (or an equivalent quant.i.ty of Liq. Plumbi subacet.), about 2 grammes precipitated sulphur and 130 grammes water, perfumed with a small quant.i.ty of eau de Cologne. (Hager.)

=Eau de Charbon, Dr Chattam's= (A. Ahnelt, Charlottenburg, the African traveller). A prophylactic and specific against syphilis. 150 grammes of a slightly red fluid, consisting of a watery solution of carbolic acid coloured with aniline and perfumed with 1 drop peppermint oil and 8 drops chloroform dissolved in 20 grammes spirit. (Hager.)

=Eau de Cythere.= A hair dye. A solution of 4 parts chloride of lead and 8 parts crystallised hyposulphite of soda in 88 parts distilled water.

(Hager.)

=Eau de Docteur Sachs.= For promoting the growth of the hair, preventing its turning grey, for protecting the scalp from all injurious influences, and for preserving it in a state of purity and health. A solution of castor oil in spirit containing picrotoxin. (Dr C. Schacht.)

=Eau de Fee--Fairy Water.= A natural hair wash (Lattke, Chemiker, Kiel).

Recommended as a preparation consisting solely of harmless vegetables. It consists mainly of a strong solution of nitrate of lead. (Himly.)

=Eau des Fees--Fairy Water.= A hair wash. A solution of 1-1/4 parts lead sulphite in about 3 parts sodium hyposulphite, 7-3/4 parts glycerin, and 88 parts water. According to the directions for use, more than three bottles of 120 grammes of the Fairy Water should not be used before the hair has been treated with Eau de Poppee, and, to raise it to the highest possible degree of beauty, with Huile regeneratrice d'Hygie. (Hager.)

=Eau de Hebe.= For freckles. To be applied with a small sponge in the evening and washed off in the morning. Lemons, cut small, digested in a closed flask with distilled vinegar, lavender vinegar, oil of lemon, and rosemary, and filtered.

=Eau de Java Anticholerique= is a solution of camphor and carbolic acid in spirit. (Ca.s.selmann.)

=Eau de la Floride.= A colourless fluid with a greenish-yellow deposit consisting of sugar of lead, 50 parts; flowers of sulphur, 20 parts; distilled water, 1000 parts. (F. Eymael.)

=Eau de Lech.e.l.le= may be replaced by a filtered mixture of 200 parts aqua aromatica, 300 parts aqua dest., 10 parts acid. carbol., 10 parts ol.

thymi, 20 parts acid. tannic.

=Eau de lys de Lohse= (Lohse formerly--before the French war--Lohse, Berlin). A cosmetic consisting of 2 grammes zinc oxide, 2 grammes prepared talc, 4 grammes glycerin, and 200 grammes rose water. (Schadler.)

=Eau de Mont Blanc.= A hair dye. A solution of nitrate of silver.

=Eau de Naples.= Neapolitan washing solution. A mixture of 12 parts borax, 100 parts distilled water, 50 parts rose water, 1 part camphor, 4 parts tinct. benzoin. (W. Hildwein.)

=Eau de Quinine--Glycerin Hair Wash, with Extract of Peruvian Bark= (A.

Heinrich, Leipzig). For removing scurf and strengthening the hair. 2 grammes balsam of Peru, 6 grammes castor oil, 60 grammes rum, 35 grammes water, 5 grammes tincture of red cinchona. (Hager.)

=Eau de Vienne.= A hair dye from Paris. Two fluids, one of which is a solution of nitrate of silver in ammoniacal water, and the other a solution of pyrogallic acid.

=Eau Dentifrice de Mallard.= Star anise, common anise, cinnamon, cloves, of each, 8 parts; guaic.u.m wood, 10 parts; brown cinchona, 6 parts; rose leaves, 5 parts; nutmegs, 2 parts, are placed in a displacement apparatus and percolated with 3 parts cochineal; 12-15 parts water, 1000 parts sp.

vini; sp. gr. 860. The tincture is displaced with water and 1000 parts are mixed with 7 parts of a mixture of peppermint oil, spirit of scurvy gra.s.s, and tinct. of benzoin, allowed to stand and filtered.

=Eau Dentifrice des Cordilleres.= An Indian recipe. 360 parts strong spirits, 330 parts water, 2-1/2 parts extract of red or yellow cinchona, 1 part oil of cinnamon, 2 parts oil of cloves, 3 parts oil of anise, 5 parts oil of peppermint. (Hager.)

=Eau Ecarlate--Scarlet Water.= (Burdel). For renovating red linen and woollen fabrics. Oxalium, 25 parts; soda, 16 parts; potash, 5 parts; water, coloured with cochineal and slightly perfumed, 1000 parts.

(Sauerwein.)

=Eau Lajeune.= A hair dye. An elegant pasteboard box, in which are three bottles of fluid and two bone-handled tooth-brushes. No. 1 contains a clear fluid consisting of pyrogallic acid 15 gramme, 3 gramme colouring matter of alkanet, 175 grammes spirit of wine, 27 grammes water. No. 2 is filled with a thick brown fluid, which from decomposition has produced a deposit sometimes brown, sometimes grey. This partly-decomposed fluid was originally a mixture of silver nitrate, 35 grammes; ammonia, 45 grammes; gum arabic or some similar mucilage, 25 grammes; distilled water, 23 grammes. No. 3, labelled "Fixateur," contains 75 grammes fluid, consisting of 5 gramme sodium sulphide, 7 grammes distilled water. The directions for use, translated into various languages, say--Dissolve 10 grammes subcarbonate of soda in half a litre of warm or cold rain water, and with this wash the grease from the hair. Afterwards rinse it in clear water, and dry it thoroughly with a cloth. Pour one part of fluid No. 1 into a saucer, and with brush No. 1 apply it to the roots of the hair.

Allow it two or three minutes to dry, then rub the hair with an old linen cloth to remove the superfluous moisture. Next repeat the operation, using fluid and brush No. 2, and without waiting wash the hair with warm or cold soapy water. This hair dye is quite harmless, and leaves no marks on the skin behind it. _To use it for the Beard._--The process is the same as that for the hair, except that instead of the soda solution, ordinary soap is to be used to cleanse the beard from grease. It often happens that when the user of the dye has not taken ordinary care in cleansing the hair, the latter becomes of a false and unnatural tint. In this case the Fixateur should be used. A small sponge should be moistened with this and pa.s.sed over the hair, which will make the colour natural and glossy. The Fixateur as well as the sponge must only be used in this way. It may be employed two days after the first operation without it being necessary to dye the hair anew. (Hager.)

=Eau Medicinales= are either simply watery solutions (HYDROLeS, HYDROLATURES, SOLUTIONS PAR L'EAU), or distilled water (EAUX DISTILLeES); or they are vinous or alcoholic tinctures or solutions of essential oils, aromatics, or more active drugs. See CORDIALS, HAIR DYES, PERFUMERY, SPIRITS, TINCTURES, WATERS, &c.