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CHAP. 24.—PISSELÆON AND PALIMPISSA: SIXTEEN REMEDIES.

We have already1 described the way in which liquid pitch and the oil known as pisselæon are made. Some persons boil the pitch over again, and give it the name of "palimpissa."2 For quinzy3 and affections of the uvula, liquid pitch is employed internally. It is used also for the cure of ear-ache, for the improvement of the sight, and as a salve for the lips; and is employed for hysterical suffocations, inveterate coughs, profuse expectorations, spasms, nervousness, opisthotony, paralysis, and pains in the sinews. It is a very excellent remedy too for itch in dogs and beasts of burden.

1 In B. xvi. c. 22, and B. xv. c. 7.

2 "Pitch boiled over again."

3 Fée says, that this statement is quite beyond all belief. Indeed there is little doubt that tar taken internally for quinzy, would only tend to aggravate the complaint. He states that a solution of tar in water is sometimes used internally with success for pulmonary phthisis. Bishop Berkeley wrote his Siris, on the virtues of Tar-water as a medicament, having been indebted to it for his recovery from an attack of colic.

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