what are Piles and Gravels conditions?? how would they have been treated? Ray Ezell, M.A., RPA Senior Archaeologist Michael Baker Jr., Inc. 5088 West Washington Street Second Floor Charleston, West Virginia 25313 304/769-2112 [email protected]

From my 1935 Taber's Medical Encyclopedia. Gravel: Crystallin dust or concretians of crystals from the kidneys, distinguished from true calculi by the absence of definite structural arrangement. Generally made up of phosphates, calcium, oxalate and uric acid. DIET: (a) uric acid: reduce animal fats to lowest point; supply it's place with milk, fruit, vegetables, farinaceous foods, salad; purin-free diet. Forbid sweetbread, kidney, liver, spleen, pork, fat, fish, sweet foods, yolk of eggs, excess of tea, coffee or cocoa. Prescribe abundance of pure water or alkaline waters and plenty of salt. (b) oxalic acid: diet chiefly animal food; any kind of meat, bird or fish (except glands); plenty of fat (except yolks of eggs); stale bread, rusks, sago, rice, tapioca, weak coffee, well-diluted whisky. Klemperer says avoid milk, eggs, sweetbread, jelly, liver, fruit, vegetables, tea, cocoa, chocolate, pastry and cakes. Hemorrhoid, Pile A tumor in form of dilated blood-vessels in the anal region. external h. Cutaneous and thrombotic, outside the sphincter. TREATMENT Sitz baths; hot or cold applications; vaseline, or surgical treatment. internal h. venous, arterial and capillary, within the sphincter but beneath the mucous membrane. TREATMENT Local applications of heat or cold. Laxatives. Rest in bed. Operation, ligature, injection, ointment and excision, crushing, clamp, and cautery. DIET: meat only once a day; fruits, vegetables, rice, etc. abundantly. No coffee, spices or alcohol. This last sounds really uncomfortable...Crushing????????? EdrieAnne