Chap. XVI. Of Parotid Swellings

These are the disorders in the head, which generally require the help of medicines, but under the ears, it is common for parotides to arise; sometimes in health, when an inflammation commences there; sometimes after long fevers, when the violence of the disease settles in that part. This is a kind of abscess: and therefore requires no peculiar method of cure. This one caution, however, is necessary, that if the swelling came without any preceding distemper, repellents should first of all be tried: if the disorder proceeds from any illness, that method is hurtful; and it is more expedient to have it maturated and opened as soon as possible.