Tes iatrikes kartos, or, A treatise de morborum capitis essentiis & pronosticis adorned with above three hundred choice and rare observations ... / by Robert Bayfield ...

CAP. CXI. De Oris Tortura, seu Distortione.

TOrtura oris, The writhing of the mouth is a distention thereof, proceeding either from the muscles of the face, or the nerves of the third and fift Conjugation, or those which de∣scend from the first and principal vertebrae of the neck.

Tortura oris, quae ultra sex menses producitur, aut nunquam, aut difficulter curatur, teste Avicen∣na. If this unseemly affect hath no consent or agreement, the cure is so much the easier. Quae per spasmum sit tortura oris, in morbis acutis, letha∣lis est, teste Rhase.

A certain Gentlewoman vexed with the Con∣vulsion of the mouth, was thus helped: ℞ Pil∣lularum aurearum, ℈ i. pil. de succino, ʒ ss. f. pil. num. v. These she took when she went to bed, the same night her neck was annointed with Oil of Sassafras; in the morning she took ʒ ss. of Pil. Ruffi; and again the said Oil was used with

Aqua vitae, the Oil being wanting, the following was used with most happy success: ℞ Unguenti martiat. magn. ℥ i. olei laurini, petrolei, castorei, terebinthinae, ana, ʒ ss. olei de Lateribus, ʒ i. misce. But first, the neck was fomented with Aqua-vitae, in which was infused Nutmegs, Cinnamon, Cloves, Pepper, & theriaca Andromachi; she eat Nutmegs often; to the nostrils and top of the head was used oil of Amber: She chewed on the sound side Pellitory of Spain, and was often pur∣ged with the following Pills: ℞ Pillularum foeti∣darum, ℈ i. castorei pulv. ʒ ss. pil. Ruffi, & de succino, ana, ʒ i. f. pil. num. vi. and thus she was cured beyond all expectation.

Another Gentlewoman afflicted with Tortura oris, was helped chiefly by the use of this Un∣guent; Unguenti martiat. ℥ ss. olei sassafr. & succini, ana, gut. v. misce. with which her neck was often annointed.

Gaergarismus etiam ex ruta, salvia & stoechade, commendatur.

Plura de Tortura oris vide in meo Enchiridio Medico, lib. 3. cap. 3.