Book III OF SyVPHILIS 289

it five hours before breakfast, and at that time there is no harm
in allowing him to drink some white wine, even undiluted. 'The
application may be continued for ten days, and if, after this,
the mouth begins to be ulcerated and there is a considerable
amount of sputum (saliva) ejected, this should not be checked,'7?
but left alone till the mouth is seen to be badly affected, then
wash it with milk or barley—water, and mulberry syrup'7' or
rose—honey. Later, when you want to heal the ulcers, wash out
the mouth with astringents and alum, and use them as a gargle.
I ought also to point out the advantages and disadvantages of
using this ointment. 'The advantages are: It will be mar—
vellously effective in stopping the pains and dissolving the
gummata, either while the ointment is being applied, or later;
the ulcers will hea!, and all the pustules will disappear. But
it has certain peculiar disadvantages and defects. In the first
place, the ointment has an offensive smell; a more serious dis—
advantage is that the mouth and palate become ulcerated, and,
for fifteen days and more, filth of the foulest and most repulsive
possible kind collects in the mouth.  No food can be masticated,
the patient can drink only with difficulty, the teeth become
luxated, he cannot sleep, and in short, all through this period,
there can be no more painful experience. Moreover, in many
eases, though the disease is cured, the patient is afflicted with
palsy (trembling), and often the malady recurs.

TThese same empirics have also devised the cure by fumiga—
tions. 'They place the patient on a pot, wrap him up well in
towels, so that not even the mouth is visible, then burn a mix—
ture of cinnabar'7? and incense; by this fumigation the patient
becomes surprisingly hot, and sweats. But this treatment is
very drastic, and I have never ventured to use it for the whole
body. However, I regard it as highly beneficial when used for
certain parts of the body, for instance, the legs and arms, when
there are present sphaceli,'73 or malignant gummata, or pains,
or ulcers that rebel against treatment. But otherwise I warn
you against this method, and not to trust to the Empirics, for
their procedure is most rash; they have even ventured to admin—
ister internally (by the mouth) quicksilver and. what they call
precipitate, and they make pills of these, as though quicksilver
had the same force whether applied externally or swallowed.
They use cinnabar, because in it is, potentially, quicksilver.

If I am asked whether baths are good for this disease, for