THE LEMON FOR MALARIA.
A happy chance has led Dr. Magliori to the discovery of an agent of this
sort which was traditionally in use by certain Italian families. It is an
exceedingly simple thing--merely a decoction of lemon. It is prepared by
cutting up one lemon, peel and all, into thin slices, which are then put
into three glassfuls of water and the whole boiled down to one glassful.
It is then strained through linen, squeezing the remains of the boiled
lemon, and set aside for some hours to cool. The whole amount of the
liquid is then taken fasting. It is well known that in Italy, Greece, and
North Africa, they often use lemon juice or a decoction of lemon seeds, as
a remedy in malarial fevers of moderate intensity; and in Guadaloupe they
use for the same purpose a decoction of the bark of the roots of the lemon
tree. All these popular practices tend to show that the lemon tree
produces a febrifuge substance, which resides in all parts of the plant,
but which would seem to be most abundant in the fruit. In fact, among the
popular remedies employed against malarial infection, that which I have
just described is the most efficacious, for it can be employed with good
effects in acute fevers.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197