Part 14
Swellings which arise on the feet, either spontaneously or otherwise,
when neither the swellings nor the inflammation subside under the
use of cataplasms, and although sponges or wool, or anything else
be bound upon the sound part; but the swelling and inflammation return
of themselves again, an influx of blood
[p. 343]into the veins is the cause,
when not occasioned by a bruise. And the same story applies if this
happen in any other part of the body. But blood is to be abstracted,
especially the from the veins, which are the seat of the influx, if
they be conspicuous; but if not, deeper and more numerous scarifications
are to be made in the swellings; and whatever part you scarify, this
is to be done with the sharpest and most slender instruments of iron.
When you have removed the blood, you must not press hard upon the
part with the specillum, lest you produce contusion. Bathe with vinegar,
and do not allow a clot of blood to remain between the lips of the
wounds, and having spread greasy wool with a medicine for bloody wounds,
and having carded the woof and made it soft, bind it on, having wetted
it with wine and oil. And let the scarified part be so placed that
the determination of the blood may be upward and not downward; and
do not wet the part at all, and let the patient be put upon a restricted
diet and drink water. If upon loosing the bandages you find the scarifications
inflamed, apply a cataplasm of the fruit of the chaste-tree and linseed.
But if the scarifications become ulcerated and break into one another,
we must be regulated by circumstances, and otherwise apply whatever
else appears to be proper.
