Treatment of external boils

As for the emptying and methods of treating tumors at the beginning, these are the methods common to hot boils and to hot tumors that are not boils, if, as we have already explained, there is no fear of turning the matter back to some noble organ, as ignorant doctors mistakenly do . And special measures for treating boils consist of dissolving what has accumulated in it, and this is achieved in two ways. In the first of them, they take the direct path, if the disease does not go too far beyond the usual, that is, they try to bring the matter to maturity, turn it into pus and cause an abscess to open; at the same time, it is necessary to monitor the state of the patient’s strength and take care of them so that they do not suddenly fall from pain during the autopsy, because many people then die, fainting from exhaustion. Therefore, it is appropriate for you, O physician, to observe how significant the patient’s powers are and to protect them in ways known to you. You must feed someone suffering from an abscess good food, unless the boil is in the abdominal viscera - then, if necessary, you have to lighten the diet.

And the second method, due to the compulsion of circumstances, deviates from the direct one. It is used if the disease is very terrible and the boil goes beyond the usual in size, so that the doctor is afraid to wait for ripening, so as not to hasten the death, or if it is known that natural force is not enough to cause the ripening of all matter, and that, if you try to ripen it, it will lead to completely different consequences. In this case, it is impossible to avoid a puncture, while being careful not to touch the noble organs adjacent to the boil with the iron, for which the touch of iron is dangerous.

The same should be done if you feel that the matter is too thick to ripen, or you are afraid that the inherent warmth in the organ is too little to cause ripening, or you are afraid that, due to its deficiency, it will cause not true ripening, but some other change , or the boil is located near the joints or noble organs and there is a fear that it will damage them. Even if, in bringing matter to maturity, you rely on adhesive or ripening-promoting medications, it is possible that the adhesives will prevent air from passing through the pores, and those promoting ripening will set in motion weak heat, and all this will cause decay of the organ. Therefore, in such cases, you cannot do without a deep incision and a far-penetrating puncture, and then, after this, you use extremely dissolving and drying drugs. The puncture and incision should go along the fibers of the nerves of a given organ, unless, of course, they want to stop the action of the organ, fearing a spasm; then the fibers are cut crosswise, and the patient is saved from what they were afraid of. The direction of the fibers in most organs, except some special organs, runs along the body, and you also find that the longitudinal direction of the fibers everywhere, except in some special organs, such as the forehead, coincides with the direction of folds and wrinkles in the skin.

Water, oil, or anything containing fat should not be brought near the pierced or cut area, and if it needs to be washed, then wash it with water and honey or water with wine or vinegar. If after the puncture the pain and burning in the tumor intensify, apply a medicinal bandage made from lentils, and if there is no such need, then use healing medicines and plasters.

Know that a puncture creates ichor, dirt and fistulas, but if this is really necessary, then there is no other trick. It is best to wait until ripening if the boil has formed in fleshy areas that are not rich in nerves and blood vessels. Know that pine cone-shaped boils, protruding, with pointed heads, rarely need piercing, either before or after ripening.