CHAP. XXV. Of the cure of a Scirrhus.
THe Cure of a Scirrhus chiefly consists of three heads. First, The Physitian shall prescribe a convenient diet, that is, sober and moderate feeding, tending to humidity, and indif∣ferent heat; for his manner of life, let it be quiet and free from all perturbation of an∣ger, grief and sadness, as also abhorring the use of venery. The second is placed in the evacuati∣on of the antecedent matter, as by Phlebotomy, if need require, and by purging, by procuring the Haemorrhoids in men, and the Courses in women; let purgations be prescribed of Diacatholicon, Hi∣cra, diasenna, Polypody, Epithymum, according to the mind of the learned Physitian. The third consists in the convenient use of Topick medicines, that is, emollient at the beginning, and then presently resolving, or rather such as are mixed both of resolving and emollient faculties, as Ga∣len teaches; for by the use of only emollient things there is danger of putrefaction, and a Cancer; and only of resolving there is fear of concretion, the subtiler part being resolved, and the grosser subsiding.
The emollient shall be thus: ℞ Rad. alth. lib. s. rad. liliorum ℥ iij, coquantur in aqua com. pisten∣tur, trajiciantur per setaceum, addendo olei chamaem. & lilior. an. ℥ ij, oesipi humid. ℥ ss, emplastri dia∣chyl. alb. cum oleo liliorum dissoluti ℥ iij, cerae albae quantum sit satis, fiat cerotum. Or, ℞ gummi ammo∣niaci, galb. bdellii, styracis liquidae in aceto dissolutorum, an. ℥ i, diachyl. mag. ℥ i ss, olei liliorum, & ax∣ungiae anseris, an. ℥ i, ceroti oesip. descriptione Philagr. ℥ ij, liquescant omnia simul, cerae quantum sit satis, ut inde fiat cerotum satis molle. When you have sufficiently used emollient things, fume the tumor with strong Vinegar and Aqua vitae, poured upon a piece of a Milstone, Flint, or Brick heated ve∣ry hot; for so the mollified humor will be rarified, attenuated and resolved; then some while af∣ter renew your emollients, and then again apply your resolvers to wast that which remains, which could not be performed together, and at once; for thus Galen healed a scirrhus in Cercilius his son. Goats-dung is very good to discuss Scirrhous tumors; but the Emplaister of Vigo with a double of Mercury is effectual above the rest, as that which mollifies, resolves, and wastes, all tumors of this kind.