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Isak de Vos ill

Surgeon’s journal


On the 15th of this month Isak de Vos, the cooper from Middelburg in Zeeland, came to me with complaints. He had a sharp pain in the side, found it hard to breathe and was coughing badly. I prescribed a bloodletting of ten ounces and a geroon of plaster with resin. I also prescribed something against cooking (prescription 9), of which he took a warm teacup every hour or two.
This person came to me again on the 1st of August 1762. He complained about vomiting and a headache. He had an infectious disease, so I gave him two drachms of pulverized emetic. He then got some sort of stiffness over his body, for which a sudorific mixture (prescription 2) was prescribed.

 

Prescription 2: every two hours a spoonful against fever

R/ Misce fac mixtura sudorificans [mix and make a sudorific mixture]

  • Cornu cervi usti [burnt cornu-cervi]: ℥ ß
  • 69
  • Sal tartari vitriolati [potassium carbonate; against fever]: ana
  • Sijrupus [de] limonibus [lemon juice]: ℥ ß
  • Aqua cinamoni [cinnamon tea]: ʒ II
  • [Aqua] cardui benedicti [tea with an extract of a blessed thisle] : ℥ III
  • [Aqua] melissethee [melissa tea]: ℥II

 

  • ʒ drachma = 3 scruple, so approximately 4 g
  • ℥ uncia = ounce = 8 drachmae, so approximately 31 g
  • ß = ½ of the given amount
  • āā en ān: and ānn = ana (Gr.) take an equal amount of all