A Colic Foment.
Take Camomile flowers 2 ounces; Juniper and Bay berries, each 1 ounce; Crude Salt Armoniac half an ounce; boil in water 3 quarts to 2 quarts, adding at last, Seeds of sweet Fennel, Caraway, Cummin and Anise bruis'd, each half an ounce; to the strain'd add Brandy 1 pint, mix.
This is useful, not only in a terrible flatulent or wind Colic, but also in the terribly tortoring bilious Colic, for when the Pain rages intollerably, as though the very Guts would break, and the Sick is so excessively costive and shut up, that even the strongest Cathartices cannot work their way through: Then it is that these Foments come in to our assistance, like help sent from Heaven; for by gratifying the Muscles of the Abdomen, with a pleasing warm irrigation; revivng native Heat, driving off Flatus's, letting loose the spasmodic knot, and re-establishing due Peristaltic Motion through the Intestines, they happily assist the Purges to do their Business to purpose, and break off the Disease.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710