Treatment of Paralysis

Abstract

If any part is weakened, let it be rubbed with olive oil, but first give an enema: and if copious bleeding is indicated, use the veins of head and tongue. Sweeten the water drunk with sugar and cinnamon, or infuse with hydromel, sugar and iris, for wine alone is bad for the nerves. Roasts are useful food. Sage, marjoram, calendula, the true primula, wild thyme, origanum, laurel, dwarf elder, garden thyme and juniper, boiled together with a fox in water, make a bath to immerse the paralytic: or you can make a fomentation by soaking towels in the hot liquor, and let the vapours given off be absorbed by skin and mouth and nose. And massage the affected limbs with balsam of Peru and other balsams. Roast brain of hare, together with conserve of rosemary and powdered nutmeg, prove useful. Purge with such drugs as senna, turbith and agaric: and a vomit does no harm. The so-called sarsaparilla, macerated with guaiacum in warm water, makes a drink which dislodges the coarse humours of the body and expels sweat through the fine pores of the skin.