Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 246

=Suppositories of a.s.saftida.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA a.s.sAFTIDae (Ph. U. S.).

_Prep._ Tincture of a.s.saftida, 1 oz.; oil of theobroma, 320 gr. Let the tincture evaporate by exposure to the air until of the consistence of a thick syrup, and proceed as for suppositories of carbolic acid.

=Suppositories of Belladonna.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA BELLADONNae (Ph. U. S.).

_Prep._ Alcoholic extract of belladonna, 6 gr.; oil of theobroma, 354 gr.

Proceed as for carbolic acid suppositories.

=Suppositories of Carbolic Acid with Soap.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA ACIDI CARBOLICI c.u.m SAPONE (B. P.). _Prep._ Carbolic acid, 12 gr.; curd soap, in powder, 180 gr.; starch, q. s.; mix the carbolic acid with the soap, and add starch, q. s., to make of a suitable consistency; divide into 12 equal parts, and make each suppository into a conical or other convenient form.

=Suppositories of Colocynth.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA COLOCYNTHIDIS (Sp. Ph.).

_Prep._ Colocynth, 30 gr.; salt, 1 dr. Evaporate to a due consistence.

=Suppositories of Morphia with Soap.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA MORPHIae c.u.m SAPONE (B. P.). _Prep._ Hydrochlorate of morphia, 6 gr.; glycerin of starch, 50 gr.; curd soap in powder, 100 gr.; starch, q. s. Mix the hydrochlorate with the glycerin of starch and soap, and add starch q. s.

to form a paste of suitable consistence. Divide into 12 equal parts, each of which is to be made into a conical or other convenient form of suppository.

=Suppositories of Tannic Acid with Soap.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA ACIDI TANNICI c.u.m SAPONE (B. P.). _Prep._ Tannic acid, 36 gr.; glycerin of starch, 50 gr.; curd soap in powder, 100 gr.; starch, q. s. Mix the tannic acid with the glycerin of starch and soap, and add starch q. s. to form a paste of suitable consistence, divide into 12 equal parts, each of which is to be made into a conical or other convenient form of suppository.

=Suppositories, v.a.g.i.n.al.= _Syn._ SUPPOSITORIA v.a.g.i.n.aLE (Guadrist). _Prep._ Liquid chloride of zinc, 5 minims; sulphate of morphia, 1/2 gr.; mix with 2 dr. of the following paste:--Thick mucilage of tragacanth, 6 parts; white sugar, 3 parts; starch, 9 parts. Mr Druitt prescribes in leucorrha:--Tannin, 10 gr., with mucilage of tragacanth, q. s.

=SURGERY.= "This word," says Brande, "in its modern acceptation, may be defined as the practical application of science, in the use of all mechanical and instrumental means, for the removal of diseases and the relief of human suffering."

One of the earliest professors of the ancient art of surgery, of whom history affords a reliable record, was Hippocrates, a Greek, who lived in the fifth century of our era, and who seems to have been a man of considerable skill for the period in which he flourished, since he could set fractures, reduce dislocations, and perform other important operations. About two centuries after Hippocrates the studies of surgery, anatomy, and medicine were prosecuted with evident success at Alexandria.

The Alexandrian school produced some able surgeons, one of whom, Ammia.n.u.s, invented an instrument for crushing the stone in the bladder, and was thus the first to practise the now important surgical operation known as lithotrity. At the beginning of the Christian era Celsus practised the art of surgery in Rome; he appears to have been the first to operate for cataract, and to apply ligatures to arteries after operations. It is curious to note that so practical a people as the Romans held the art of surgery in comparative contempt, and banished its professors, whose services they discarded, for the practice of spells, incantations, and charms.

In the sixth century lived tius, who conceived the idea of dissolving urinary calculi by the administration of internal remedies; and in the tenth, Avicenna, who, it has been conjectured, invented the flexible catheter, and was the inventor of the instrument now known as Hey's saw.

In 1271 the Paris College of Surgeons was founded, and the College of Surgeons of London in 1460, and the Edinburgh College in 1505.

The most prominent figure in the annals of surgery of the 16th century was Pare, a man of great originality of thought, whose works exercised a considerable influence over his own contemporaries, and for many years subsequently. Towards the end of the 17th century lived Wiseman, serjeant surgeon to Charles II. Wiseman was a man of considerable ability, and was the first to demonstrate that gun-shot wounds were not of a poisonous nature; and that therefore the old practice of applying painful and caustic dressings to them might most advantageously be abandoned. A contemporary of Wiseman was Young, of Plymouth, who merits notice as being the first who performed the flap-operation in amputation.

In the 17th century also lived Frere St Cosme, a French monk, who obtained considerable fame as an operator for lithotomy, for the performance of which he regarded himself as especially chosen by Heaven. In the 18th century lived in England Cheselden and Douglas, two eminent lithotomists; John Hunter, Pott and Ley; in Scotland, Benjamin and John Bell and Monro; and in Ireland, O'Halloran and Deases; whilst in France flourished Pet.i.t, celebrated for his treatise on diseases of the bones; from Germany, Rechter and Haller.

In this century (1784) was founded the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In the present century there are few branches of science in which greater progress has been made than that of surgery. From amongst the most eminent of the English surgeons of the present century we may select the following names:--Abernethy, Blizard, Astley Cooper, Brodie, Dalrymple, Guthrie, Aston Key, Liston, Stanley, Travers, Arnott, Bowman, Erichsen, Fergusson, Prescott Hewett, Hilton, Lane, Lawrence, Paget, Spencer Wells, Marshall, Christopher Heath, Durham, Bryant, Nunn, Lee, H. Smith, Mason, and Pollock.

=SUSPENDED ANIMATION.= See ASPHYXIA.

=SWAL'LOW.= Three or four species of _hirundo_ (Linn.) pa.s.s under this name. It was once held in great repute in medicine. Even the excrement was included among the simples of the Ph. L. 1618. The swallow is an insectivorous bird, but, like the sparrow and rook, is much persecuted for its good services. It has been calculated that, directly and indirectly, a single swallow is the humble means of lessening the race of one kind of insect alone to the extent of 560,970,489,000,000,000 of its race in one year.

=SWEEPING.= Before commencing to sweep, the floor should be strewed with a good amount of damp tea-leaves, saved for the purpose; these collect the dust and thereby save the furniture, which as far as practicable should be covered up during the process. Tea-leaves may also be advantageously used upon druggets and short-piled carpets. Light sweeping and soft brooms are desirable if these latter are to be operated upon. Many a carpet is prematurely worn out by over-violent sweeping.

In sweeping thick-piled carpets, such as Axminster and Turkey carpets, the servant should always be instructed to brush the way of the pile; by following this advice the carpets may be kept clean for years; but if the broom is used in a contrary direction, all the dust will be forced into the carpet, and soon spoil it.

=SWEET b.a.l.l.s.= _Prep._ Take of Florentine orris root, 3 oz.; ca.s.sia, 1 oz.; cloves, rhodium wood, and lavender flowers, of each 1/2 oz.; ambergris and musk, of each 6 gr.; oil of verbena, 10 or 12 drops; beat them to a paste, form this into b.a.l.l.s with mucilage of gum tragacanth made with rose water, pierce them, whilst soft, with a needle, and, when they are quite dry and hard, polish them. Worn in the pocket as a perfume.

Some persons varnish them, but that keeps in the smell.

=SWEET BAY.= _Syn._ LAUREL; LAURUS n.o.bILIS (Linn.), L. The fruit (LAURI BACCae; LAURUS--Ph. L.), as well as the leaves (LAURI FOLIA), are reputed aromatic, stimulant, and narcotic. They were formerly very popular in coughs, colic, hysteria, suppressions, &c.; and externally, in sprains, bruises, &c.

=SWEET'BREAD.= The thymus gland of the calf. When boiled, it is light and digestible; but when highly dressed and seasoned it is improper both for dyspeptics and invalids. (Pereira.)

=SWEET FLAG.= _Syn._ ACORUS CALAMUS, L. A plant of the natural order _Orontiaceae_. The rhizome ('root') is an aromatic stimulant, and is regarded by some as a valuable medicine in agues, and as a useful adjunct to other stimulants and bitter tonics. It is sometimes employed by the rectifiers of gin. The volatile oil obtained from it by distillation is employed for scenting snuff and in the preparation of aromatic vinegar.

=SWEET'MEATS.= Under this head are properly included confections, candies, and preserves, in sugar; but, as generally employed, the word embraces all the sweet compounds of the confectioner.

Sweetmeats, as well as cakes, blancmange, and jellies, are not unfrequently coloured with deleterious substances, the consequences of which are always pernicious, and in many instances have proved fatal.

Gamboge, a drastic cathartic; chrome yellow, red lead, orpiment, emerald green, and various other pigments containing lead, a.r.s.enic, copper, or other poisons, have been thus employed. The whole of these may be readily detected by the tests and characteristics appended to their respective names.

The colours and stains which may be safely employed to increase the beauty of these articles are noticed under STAINS and LIQUEUR.

=SWEETS.= Home-made wines: British wines.

=SWINE-POX.= See POX.

=SYDENHAM'S LEN'ITIVE.= _Prep._ Take of rhubarb (recently grated or powdered), 3 dr.; tamarinds, 2 oz.; senna, 1/2 oz.; coriander seeds (bruised), 2 dr.; boiling water, 1 pint; macerate for 3 hours in a covered vessel, and strain. An excellent stomachic and laxative.--_Dose_, 1/2 to 1 wine-gla.s.sful.

=SYL'VIC ACID.= _Syn._ SILVIC ACID. The portion of common resin or colophony which is the least soluble in cold and somewhat dilute alcohol.

=SYMBOLS.= In chemistry are representations of one atom of each of the elementary bodies, by the capital initial letter with or without the addition of a small letter of their Latin names. As C, for _carbon_; Fe (_ferrum_), iron; O, _oxygen_, &c.

Symbols, Alchemical[217]--

[Footnote 217: This list of alchemical and botanical symbols and abbreviations is a reprint of that contained in the 'Lexicon of Terms used in Medicine and the Allied Sciences,' now being published by the New Sydenham Society, under the Editorship of Henry Power, M.B., and Leonard W. Sedgwick, M.D.]

Acetum [symbol]

Acetum destillatum [symbol]

Acidum [symbol]

Aer [symbol]

Aerugo [symbol]

Alumen [symbol]

Alembic [symbol]

aether [symbol]

Amalgama [symbol]

Ammonium [symbol]

Aqua [symbol]

Aqua fortis [symbol]

Aqua pluvialis [symbol]

Aqua regia [symbol]

Arena [symbol]

Argentum [symbol]

a.r.s.enic.u.m [symbol]

Auripigmentum [symbol]

Aurum [symbol]

Aurantium [symbol]

Baln. arenae [symbol]

Baln. mariae [symbol]

Baln. vaporis [symbol]

Baryta [symbol]

Bis.m.u.th [symbol]

Borax [symbol]

Calcaria [symbol]

Calcaria usta [symbol]

Camphora [symbol]