A Cataplasm in a Quinsy.
Take Figs 4 ounces; Album Gracum half an ounce; Flower of Sulphur, long Pepper, each 1 dram; Brandy 2 ounces; Chymical oil of Wormwood 16 drops; Diacodium as much as will serve, beat them all in a Mortar 'till well mixt. To these may be added Swallows or Pigeons Dung, lay it to the Throat, from Ear to Ear, and renew it as often as it drieth.
Altho' a Quinsy be an Inflammation, and Repellers mostly have place in the very beginnings of Inflammations; Yet, in this Case, they are by all mens to be avoided, because the part being affected being full of Salivary Glands, if by Refrigerating and Repelling things wrongly applied, the Saliva be thickened, the Tone of the part debilitated, and the Obstructions increase'd and rendered more difficult, it cannot otherwise be, but that the Sick must be Suffocated.
Now in this Distemper, the main Scopes we are to drive at, are to Liquify the Pituita, and comfort, and empty the Glands: And these Intentions are serv'd best by such sort of warm external Applications and Gargles: Cure being taken at the same time, to cut off, and prevent greater Inflammation, and a Flux to the Part, by plentiful Bleedings, Glysters, Epispasticks, and by proper Internals to appease the angry rage of the Spirits, and allay the Effervescence of the Blood and Humours.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710