CHAP. XVIII.Of an asthma.
This is a common complaint with aged persons; and there is none more troublesome. ’Tis difficult of cure; but some relief is easy: and that will depend as much on the place as on all other considerations together.
The great care in this respect is that the air of his residence be neither thick nor damp.
The smoke of London is very bad; andthe ill smells from many of the trades carried on there are likewise hurtful. No person subject to an asthma should live near tanners in the country, nor tallow chandlers, or the like offensive trades, in London.
Exercise at proper times is highly beneficial in this case. Walking or riding before dinner and supper are particularly useful.
Frequent washing the feet in warm water, and good rubbing with dry cloths afterwards, is also highly serviceable.
All cold and viscous foods must be avoided. The stomach must not be suffered to be empty, nor must it be loaded. The food should be of the richest kind that can be proper for persons advanced in years; and to assist digestion, two or three dishes of good green tea, made carefully and taken with little sugar and without milk, should be drank constantly, two hours and a half after dinner.
Vegetables must be avoided: and one great caution should be, not to drink too much of any liquor whatsoever.
Bleeding is usually necessary; and the condition of the blood will shew whether it should be in larger or smaller quantity; andwhether or not it will require to be soon repeated.
If the blood be sizey, several bleedings will probably be wanted; and the same condition of it shews that the body can spare those quantities. It shews also, that without these bleedings medicines can take no effect.
After all this, the greatest preservative against sharp or repeated fits is the famous gum ammoniacum. A quarter of an ounce of this being dissolved in half a pint of water, two spoonfuls should be taken, according to the symptoms, every night, or every second or third night.
This method will prevent many fits, and abate the severity of those which cannot be avoided.
Thus the old man, even against the fury of this worst disturbance of his life, as well as all the rest, may live happy: and he ought to value that happiness the more, because he will owe it to his own discretion.